I come from a line of tree-loving folks. My grandfather was a nurseryman by trade.
I still remember the humongous, grand old pine tree in the front yard of our little rental house when I was just around the age for starting school. I’d climb way up into that tree; or hang out under its long branches that left plenty of tent-like room for us neighborhood kids to play in. I remember having a tea party under there and trying to wear high heels my mom loaned me.
But alas, this was when they were building the infamous 405 Freeway through LA and our entire block (Spruce Street) was going to be wiped out by it, so we had to move (just a few blocks away into another little rental house our landlord had).
The day before they were scheduled to remove “our” tree (and probably the house, but it was the tree we cared so much about), my mom drove me over there and we just sat in the car saying goodbye to it, I think my mom shed a few tears. My dad who didn’t join us for that trip probably thought it was a little silly.
Alas, trees don’t stay the same over time. They grow old and die from various reasons. It is part of the fall, so we can mourn a tree like all else, I guess. I know I am really fond of some of mine. Pine trees are not the greatest for climbing. Pitch is a real possibility. That never bothers children, however.
Speaking of pitch . . . Art told me that all the Peachree named streets in Atlanta actually got named that for “pitch trees.” Those were all the Georgia pines that produced pitch. I never heard that before today in the waiting room at the Center for the Visually Impaired on West Peachtree St.
Tree man told me Georgia Pacific started in Georgia and then moved out west to cut down redwoods and once they got all of those they moved back into Georgia to plant the massive pine tree farms. He said it only takes 25 years to grow a loblolly pine to lumber size. We discussed that after I told him that son had to learn to calculate how much lumber could be gotten out of a tree as part of the 4-H Foresty program. Part of the measuring involved walking a straight line out from the tree. I think that was yhe hardest part for son😅
Taylor Swift’s lyrics may not be Christian-friendly, but I don’t think that they are demonic exactly. (I’ve seen other posts by Kirk Cameron that have struck me as exaggeration.) There has been a lot of “hate” coming at her from Christian folks, which I think is what she is responding to.
Such as these lyrics mentioned in that post:
~ “They’re gonna crucify me anyway” ~
~ “Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best
Clutchin’ their pearls, sighing, ‘What a mess’
I just learned these people try and save you
‘Cause they hate you” ~
~ “God save the most judgmental creeps
Who say they want what’s best for me” ~
So it sounds like she’s not “anti-Christ”, but “anti-judgmental-Christians”.
*****
There are over 700 comments on that post, so obviously I did not read them all, but one brief discussion caught my eye. One man pointed out that the photos used with the post were not even real photos of her.
A woman replies, “It’s to show you the wickedness in her.”
The man responds that that is bearing false witness, and the woman replies that “calling out wickedness is not bearing false witness”.
Well, yeah, using fakes photos to make your point is indeed a form of bearing false witness.
One of the comments in that discussion used a photo from a former concert tour of Swift’s to supposedly illustrate that she is demonic. The photo shows her surrounded by a bunch of cobra-type snakes.
A while back, I had seen on Facebook a photo of that used to “prove” that Swift is a devil-worshiper or something. At that time, I had looked into it and found that the photo was from the concerts she was doing a few years ago after Kanye West was saying some bad stuff about her. One of the things he said was that she was “a snake”, so she used that imagery as she sang one of her songs. (My details may be a bit off, but this is the gist of it all.)
It is too easy to read into symbolism, and come to conclusions that the artist/singer/author never have intended. Pretty sure it was C.S. Lewis, although I can be mistaken on that, who wrote that he was amused by the people who insisted that certain things in his writings had meanings that he never had in mind.
Thankful you can read all those comments, Kizzie.😳 Thanks for setting me straight! So sorry for posting that. I will straighten out my friend now who sent it to me😅 I really know nothing of Swift and should not post anything about her. Perhaps those horrid lyrics are even not the true lyrics? I never listen to her so know nothing about the songs she sings.
I have seen Kirk before when he starred in a movie and he showed up along with other actors at a pre-screening event. He seemed like a likable guy and honest at that time. I can see from what you wrote that his reputation is damaged by those who speak negatively about him. I don’t keep up with him either. Just saw him that one time.
All of that — I know next to almost nothing about Taylor Swift — also can be a reminder to believers / us that people are watching (they are watching and listening to how we behave, how we speak, the attitudes we carry around, whether we love or just judge others, including those outside the church or outside our particular “tribe”).
What is our witness — to them and to the world? What do they see or hear from us?
I obviously continue to be a gullible fool! God still loves me despite my failings! He is so good. Praying for us all not to get stuck spending time on worthless activities. I need to stay in God’s word even more and neglect all the distractions.
I was reading in Hebrews 2:1-4 this morning, and tried to answer the question of when the triune Godhead shows up in those four verses.
I came up with:
• Father God spoke through the angels and worked signs and wonders
• Jesus shows up in salvation and doing signs and wonders
• The Holy Spirit shows up in giving spiritual gifts to people
Does anyone see something different than what I came up with?
My concern, if I had one, would be TS mocking. So what does she have to substantiate she has been maligned by “Christians”. She justifies mocking a faith in her lyrics. So we just immediately lambast “bad Christians”?
Yes, we all need to watch our words and behaviors as we represent our Lord. Would I want to attended her concert and shout “good for you” as she mocks believers? Would that be healthy for our kids? She mocks us all…so why do some seem to be on “her side” justifying her behavior because of “bad Christians”?
I’m so sorry if my comment was taken personally, definitely was not meant that way — it actually was meant more in just a general way as those criticisms of believers frequently are heard by all of us. Sometimes it may be baseless, but other times perhaps not — which was what prompted my generalized comment.
The faith has always had its critics, and it’s often aimed at what those critics see as flaws in the way the faith is portrayed. Who hasn’t heard the charge of hypocrites?
My former pastor once said that could have been someone’s actual experience with believers or a church that exhibited that tendency, or it could be the critic him or herself just throwing the charge out because it’s such a common one. We can’t know but should allow for either to be the case.
In a fallen world, we’ll all misrepresent the faith at times.
NJ – To me, there is a big difference between mocking believers and actually being demonic or a witch or whatnot, which some believers are accusing her of. I have seen the posts by Christians accusing her of those things; it is not a matter of just taking her word for it.
Sadly, a lot of unbelievers mock us, and that breaks my heart – for their sake as well as ours.
This is something I wrote on Facebook, to my Christian Friends list, after sharing much of what I wrote above:
~ “I am not writing this to promote Swift or her albums. Personally, I don’t listen to her music. My aim is merely to point out that we need to be careful about the assumptions and accusations we make – about her or any other public person. We need to be more concerned about not purposely or even accidentally breaking the ninth commandment against bearing false witness than we are about broadcasting what we read that certain celebrities or politicians are doing and saying.
There is WAY too much false “information” on social media, and sadly, many of the people writing or sharing that stuff are fellow Christians. Just because a page we follow or post we see is by someone who is a Christian, or even a Christian minister, does not mean that they are infallible. Sadly, it doesn’t even mean that they are not purposely being deceptive. (Although I truly believe that those are in the slim minority.)” ~
A dear Christian friend had once shared a video on Facebook in which a man I was not familiar with was talking about a story that had hit the news, about someone in the public eye, and he was even kind of chuckling in a salacious manner. I shared with her the further information that had come out that the story had been merely a nasty rumor based on incomplete information.
Her response shocked me for two reasons. She said that she would not discuss this with me, because the man in the video was a Christian minister, and therefore she trusted his account of the story. It shocked me to learn that this man was actually a minister, and it also shocked me that she believed what he said just because he was a minister.
Janice - Please don’t feel bad. You are not a fool! We all tend to believe things at times that turn out not to be true, or not to be as good or as bad as we originally thought.
You may find it interesting to know that Nightingale “accuses” me of being too naive about people. It’s kind of funny, because I tend to be that way with people “in real life”, but am very skeptical of things I see online.
Janice – I also meant to respond to what you wrote about God still loving you despite your failings. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that God still loves me and puts up with me despite all my failings. Recently in prayer, I was thanking Him for his patience and longsuffering, because I am sure that I have tested those too many times, and yet He has not given up on me, and His word says He never will. Praise God!
In thinking of my friend who sent it, she cares greatly for children. I think she was focused more on young people being deceived and influenced by the lyrics than on anything to do with Swift personally.
I was thinking of the demonic activity all around us that influences the unkowing to twist God’s word. I have just been in lengthy discussions with my friend who does not know the Bible very well. She hadcwatchef a Noah’s Ark movie that had so obviously taken God’s word and changed it in various ways. It was unbelievable, even no rainbow in the story. It was sickening how deceptive it was in so many ways.
To see this post with those lyrics just made me more aware of the demonic influences working to deceive and those suseptible to being used.
Sitting here on a zoom meeting of a 2-hour government public hearing with no one from the community commenting now for the past 30 minutes; host is doing his best to ad lib as they are obligated to keep the meeting open for the full time. (So 30 more minutes.)
Wandering Views 
dj – Don’t pine over Janice’s pine if it gets cut down.
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Big brother, no need to needle us like that.
mumsee
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Go ahead, make fun.
I come from a line of tree-loving folks. My grandfather was a nurseryman by trade.
I still remember the humongous, grand old pine tree in the front yard of our little rental house when I was just around the age for starting school. I’d climb way up into that tree; or hang out under its long branches that left plenty of tent-like room for us neighborhood kids to play in. I remember having a tea party under there and trying to wear high heels my mom loaned me.
But alas, this was when they were building the infamous 405 Freeway through LA and our entire block (Spruce Street) was going to be wiped out by it, so we had to move (just a few blocks away into another little rental house our landlord had).
The day before they were scheduled to remove “our” tree (and probably the house, but it was the tree we cared so much about), my mom drove me over there and we just sat in the car saying goodbye to it, I think my mom shed a few tears. My dad who didn’t join us for that trip probably thought it was a little silly.
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Alas, trees don’t stay the same over time. They grow old and die from various reasons. It is part of the fall, so we can mourn a tree like all else, I guess. I know I am really fond of some of mine. Pine trees are not the greatest for climbing. Pitch is a real possibility. That never bothers children, however.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Speaking of pitch . . . Art told me that all the Peachree named streets in Atlanta actually got named that for “pitch trees.” Those were all the Georgia pines that produced pitch. I never heard that before today in the waiting room at the Center for the Visually Impaired on West Peachtree St.
Tree man told me Georgia Pacific started in Georgia and then moved out west to cut down redwoods and once they got all of those they moved back into Georgia to plant the massive pine tree farms. He said it only takes 25 years to grow a loblolly pine to lumber size. We discussed that after I told him that son had to learn to calculate how much lumber could be gotten out of a tree as part of the 4-H Foresty program. Part of the measuring involved walking a straight line out from the tree. I think that was yhe hardest part for son😅
LikeLiked by 2 people
A friend set this about Taylor Swift’s lyrics. I had no idea. Swifties are under demonic influence.
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https://www.facebook.com/share/p/RSoEXVzqPUeR4hdM/?mibextid=xfxF2i
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Taylor Swift’s lyrics may not be Christian-friendly, but I don’t think that they are demonic exactly. (I’ve seen other posts by Kirk Cameron that have struck me as exaggeration.) There has been a lot of “hate” coming at her from Christian folks, which I think is what she is responding to.
Such as these lyrics mentioned in that post:
~ “They’re gonna crucify me anyway” ~
~ “Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best
Clutchin’ their pearls, sighing, ‘What a mess’
I just learned these people try and save you
‘Cause they hate you” ~
~ “God save the most judgmental creeps
Who say they want what’s best for me” ~
So it sounds like she’s not “anti-Christ”, but “anti-judgmental-Christians”.
*****
There are over 700 comments on that post, so obviously I did not read them all, but one brief discussion caught my eye. One man pointed out that the photos used with the post were not even real photos of her.
A woman replies, “It’s to show you the wickedness in her.”
The man responds that that is bearing false witness, and the woman replies that “calling out wickedness is not bearing false witness”.
Well, yeah, using fakes photos to make your point is indeed a form of bearing false witness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of the comments in that discussion used a photo from a former concert tour of Swift’s to supposedly illustrate that she is demonic. The photo shows her surrounded by a bunch of cobra-type snakes.
A while back, I had seen on Facebook a photo of that used to “prove” that Swift is a devil-worshiper or something. At that time, I had looked into it and found that the photo was from the concerts she was doing a few years ago after Kanye West was saying some bad stuff about her. One of the things he said was that she was “a snake”, so she used that imagery as she sang one of her songs. (My details may be a bit off, but this is the gist of it all.)
It is too easy to read into symbolism, and come to conclusions that the artist/singer/author never have intended. Pretty sure it was C.S. Lewis, although I can be mistaken on that, who wrote that he was amused by the people who insisted that certain things in his writings had meanings that he never had in mind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thankful you can read all those comments, Kizzie.😳 Thanks for setting me straight! So sorry for posting that. I will straighten out my friend now who sent it to me😅 I really know nothing of Swift and should not post anything about her. Perhaps those horrid lyrics are even not the true lyrics? I never listen to her so know nothing about the songs she sings.
I have seen Kirk before when he starred in a movie and he showed up along with other actors at a pre-screening event. He seemed like a likable guy and honest at that time. I can see from what you wrote that his reputation is damaged by those who speak negatively about him. I don’t keep up with him either. Just saw him that one time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All of that — I know next to almost nothing about Taylor Swift — also can be a reminder to believers / us that people are watching (they are watching and listening to how we behave, how we speak, the attitudes we carry around, whether we love or just judge others, including those outside the church or outside our particular “tribe”).
What is our witness — to them and to the world? What do they see or hear from us?
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Janice – Believe me, I only read a few of those comments. I was not about to try to read even close to 700!
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I obviously continue to be a gullible fool! God still loves me despite my failings! He is so good. Praying for us all not to get stuck spending time on worthless activities. I need to stay in God’s word even more and neglect all the distractions.
I was reading in Hebrews 2:1-4 this morning, and tried to answer the question of when the triune Godhead shows up in those four verses.
I came up with:
• Father God spoke through the angels and worked signs and wonders
• Jesus shows up in salvation and doing signs and wonders
• The Holy Spirit shows up in giving spiritual gifts to people
Does anyone see something different than what I came up with?
LikeLiked by 1 person
My concern, if I had one, would be TS mocking. So what does she have to substantiate she has been maligned by “Christians”. She justifies mocking a faith in her lyrics. So we just immediately lambast “bad Christians”?
Yes, we all need to watch our words and behaviors as we represent our Lord. Would I want to attended her concert and shout “good for you” as she mocks believers? Would that be healthy for our kids? She mocks us all…so why do some seem to be on “her side” justifying her behavior because of “bad Christians”?
NJ
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so sorry if my comment was taken personally, definitely was not meant that way — it actually was meant more in just a general way as those criticisms of believers frequently are heard by all of us. Sometimes it may be baseless, but other times perhaps not — which was what prompted my generalized comment.
The faith has always had its critics, and it’s often aimed at what those critics see as flaws in the way the faith is portrayed. Who hasn’t heard the charge of hypocrites?
My former pastor once said that could have been someone’s actual experience with believers or a church that exhibited that tendency, or it could be the critic him or herself just throwing the charge out because it’s such a common one. We can’t know but should allow for either to be the case.
In a fallen world, we’ll all misrepresent the faith at times.
LikeLiked by 2 people
NJ – To me, there is a big difference between mocking believers and actually being demonic or a witch or whatnot, which some believers are accusing her of. I have seen the posts by Christians accusing her of those things; it is not a matter of just taking her word for it.
Sadly, a lot of unbelievers mock us, and that breaks my heart – for their sake as well as ours.
This is something I wrote on Facebook, to my Christian Friends list, after sharing much of what I wrote above:
~ “I am not writing this to promote Swift or her albums. Personally, I don’t listen to her music. My aim is merely to point out that we need to be careful about the assumptions and accusations we make – about her or any other public person. We need to be more concerned about not purposely or even accidentally breaking the ninth commandment against bearing false witness than we are about broadcasting what we read that certain celebrities or politicians are doing and saying.
There is WAY too much false “information” on social media, and sadly, many of the people writing or sharing that stuff are fellow Christians. Just because a page we follow or post we see is by someone who is a Christian, or even a Christian minister, does not mean that they are infallible. Sadly, it doesn’t even mean that they are not purposely being deceptive. (Although I truly believe that those are in the slim minority.)” ~
A dear Christian friend had once shared a video on Facebook in which a man I was not familiar with was talking about a story that had hit the news, about someone in the public eye, and he was even kind of chuckling in a salacious manner. I shared with her the further information that had come out that the story had been merely a nasty rumor based on incomplete information.
Her response shocked me for two reasons. She said that she would not discuss this with me, because the man in the video was a Christian minister, and therefore she trusted his account of the story. It shocked me to learn that this man was actually a minister, and it also shocked me that she believed what he said just because he was a minister.
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Janice - Please don’t feel bad. You are not a fool! We all tend to believe things at times that turn out not to be true, or not to be as good or as bad as we originally thought.
You may find it interesting to know that Nightingale “accuses” me of being too naive about people. It’s kind of funny, because I tend to be that way with people “in real life”, but am very skeptical of things I see online.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Janice – I also meant to respond to what you wrote about God still loving you despite your failings. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that God still loves me and puts up with me despite all my failings. Recently in prayer, I was thanking Him for his patience and longsuffering, because I am sure that I have tested those too many times, and yet He has not given up on me, and His word says He never will. Praise God!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In thinking of my friend who sent it, she cares greatly for children. I think she was focused more on young people being deceived and influenced by the lyrics than on anything to do with Swift personally.
I was thinking of the demonic activity all around us that influences the unkowing to twist God’s word. I have just been in lengthy discussions with my friend who does not know the Bible very well. She hadcwatchef a Noah’s Ark movie that had so obviously taken God’s word and changed it in various ways. It was unbelievable, even no rainbow in the story. It was sickening how deceptive it was in so many ways.
To see this post with those lyrics just made me more aware of the demonic influences working to deceive and those suseptible to being used.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is the horribly twisted Noah movie:
https://slate.com/culture/2014/03/noah-movie-biblical-accuracy-how-the-darren-aronofsky-movie-departs-from-the-bible-story.html
This does not tell all of the changes.
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Sitting here on a zoom meeting of a 2-hour government public hearing with no one from the community commenting now for the past 30 minutes; host is doing his best to ad lib as they are obligated to keep the meeting open for the full time. (So 30 more minutes.)
He should have brought some entertainment.
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Now the moderator is going through several of the slides for about the 5th time …
“Slide 45 …” (again)
Humming.
Wish I could leave but I want to make sure I don’t miss anything like a sudden meltdown by someone … I think everyone must be dozing off.
This is real journalism folks, the thrills and the excitement.
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oops. DJ pushed the wrong send button and sent that to the zoom!
mumsee
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