Month: July 2008

the Beatles were a Christian band

photo by headphonaught

from e-mail…

The Telegraph ran an article yesterday that reports John Lennon called the Beatles a Christian band and that he himself was a big fan of Jesus Christ.

The statements were part of a 1969 interview with The Beatles front man while he was taking part in a bed-in for peace with Yoko Ono.

As for his infamous statement about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus at the time (which I would tend to agree with)…

“It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he says. “Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ‘cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.”

He blames “the hypocrites” for being too “uptight” in reacting to his comments. “If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of Him and His message.”

Reminds me of a couple things…

  • “Christian is a great noun but a poor adjective.”
  • And perhaps “Jesus is the only way to God – but there are many ways to get to Jesus.”
  • Someone once asked Gandhi if he was a Christian. His reported response was, “Ask the poor. They’ll tell you who the Christians are.”
  • My dad shared some of his thoughts on what a Christian is on the latest Something Beautiful Podcast.
  • Jamie Moffett also shared some of his thoughts and ideas on Something Beautiful 1.6.

I have a feeling that many people are going to get up in arms and upset because John Lennon claimed to be a fan of Christ and suggested that the Beatles might have been a Christian band.

I wonder what the root of the issue is. Is it because Lennon claimed the Beatles were “bigger than Christ.” Is it because they used drugs? Is it because they sang about love and peace? Is it because they hung out with the Maharishi? Is it because John Lennon sang, “Imagine no religion… imagine there’s no heaven?” Or is there something deeper going on?

What about you? How would YOU define “Christian.” How would you explain the Christian “religion?” Does belief in heaven, hell and religion make you a Christian? Does dis-belief in those things make you a non-Christian?

Related ::
Telegraph :: ‘Bigger than Jesus? The Beatles were a Christian band’
SSL :: Christian is a poor adjective

Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria


Screen shot of Jos Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Just discovered that Google Earth has updated their satellite images of Jos, Nigeria.
Awesome! The streets don’t line up at all but maybe some folks from Jos can build a KML file of some of the SIMS and Evangel Hospital sites in the city…. (hint hint hint)

I built a basic Google Earth (KMZ) file to highlight one or two things I could distinctly see – but its not very extensive or comprehensive by any means. Download the file and then open it in Google Earth to see the new imagery.

Related ::
Google Earth
Google Earth :: Jos Nigeria KMZ file
Photos from my 2006 trip to Jos
Photos of the football/soccer stadium mentioned in the KMZ file :: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CWF photos from Nigeria 2007
CWF :: Christian Wrestling Federation

Random web stats for the day

I always have fun with web stats. Google Analytics is probably my favorite stats tracker. We have AWstats on our server – but it doesn’t do near as good of a job tracking WordPress posts.

But for those of you who are interested… here’s our the top posts/pages that were viewed from July 6 – July 11 (for the entire casadeblundell.com domain).

Justin Farmer to leave WFAA (written Jan 8, 2008)
Newt Gingrich on InTouch (written July 9, 2008)
Ellis County churches (and beyond) (written March 12, 2006 – updated since)
SSL links

275 of the visits came from the United States with 148 visits coming from Texas and 42 of those coming from Irving and 6 coming from Sulphur Springs.

58% of you use Internet Explorer (booo!) and 33% of you use Firefox (yeah!).

Only 10 of the visits were from dial-up or slower connections (possibly cellphone use).

There were a couple unique keywords used to find our domain through search engines… including cynthia izzzzzaaaaaguuuuuuuiiiiiiireeeeeeeeee and enormous butt (which brought 6 visitors apparently to a picture by brandi).

So there you have it. Random stats for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
Now I think I’ll go check out the stats for encounter.

re: Simply living simply

Suzanne at Adventures in Daily Living shared some thoughts and ideas on how to live simply. She shares the following list from A Vision Splendid:

1. Living within our means in a small house with no debt
2. No commercial TV
3. Cooking from scratch
4. Finding old ‘sturdy’ items second hand rather than a constant supply of cheap ‘made in china’ items that need replacing every 12 months
5. Spending quality family time together
6. Baking our own bread
7. Brewing our own beer
8. Fixing things ourselves
9. Growing what we can
10. Doing our own renovations
11. Using the town library as a resource
12. Buying local produce
13. Composting our food scraps
14. Minimising plastic packaging on foods
15. Avoiding petrochemicals in products
16. Work on a completely cash budget
17. Changing all lights to CFLs
18. Line dry the washing
19. Menu planning
20. Buying Australian grocery items where local not available
21. Stockpiling
22. Managing my home in a single binder
23. Getting ahead by applying the 6P principle
24. Having a planning day once a week
25. Having a cooking day once a week
26. Work hard at ‘saving’ through the year for an annual holiday
27. Using old fashioned items and remedies – e.g. washup with sunlight soap, put eucalyptus oil on your hankie if you feel a cold coming.
28. Wear an apron to keep your clothes clean
29. Turn the TV off and read out loud to my children
30. Wear hand me downs
31. Avoiding food additives and chemicals

The original list also contains some ideas for a “family eco-challenge.” Are you and your family doing any of these things? Anything you would add to the list?

Related ::
Adventures in Daily Living :: Stay Home Day
A Vision Splendid :: Our Simple Life
SSL :: Simply living simply pt 1
SSL :: Simply living simply pt 2
Shaun Groves :: Simplicity