One of the most gifted musicians in history, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 " 1750), set Christian theology and the Gospel to music. Bach"s music reflects his strong convictions. He faithfully read and studied the Bible, along with all the writings of Martin Luther. Bach has been called the "composer"s composer whose analytical mind, belief in God and melodic genius led him to create some of the greatest religious music we have."
This music giant wrote every kind of music except operas. He is also credited with introducing a new fingering technique to play keyboard instruments with five fingers instead of four as had been previously practiced. The thumb was previously not used. He created new scales, composed over 200 cantatas, more than 250 chorales and numerous concertos. Amongst his many magnificent achievements are St. Mathew"s Passion and the Magnificat.
Before beginning his musical compositions, Bach commonly wrote JJ (Jesu Juva " help me Jesus) or INJ (In Nomie Jesu " in the Name of Jesus). At the end of each manuscript he would write SDG (Soli Deo Gloria " To God alone be the glory). Bach taught his students that unless they committed their talents to Jesus Christ they would never become great musicians. To Bach all his musical creativity was the result of his faith, study of the Scriptures and devotional life. Alfred Einstein described Bach as one of the greatest masters and geniuses of all time.
I try to apply this in my life every way I can. One example is I writeJJon topevery exam or paper I am doing for UNT and SDG at the endof it. Interestingly not one teacher has asked me what it means. Two Things: Jesus Help Me and Only Glory be to God.
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Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.
You seem to be a very dedicated and gifted young man--thanks for the stand you take at the uni! Ilike your approach too--one day someone will ask and you will get the oppurtunity to shine.
Thank you but I don't anything that any other Christian wouldnt do. We all needgoodChristian support and fellowshipas well asshare with each other. I see you like soccer.Socceruse to be such ahuge part of my life. You stillkick the ball around?
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Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.
I still play--indoor right now. I also was the assistant coach at our high school here. I am a Manchester United fan--that is why my sig is Man U man. The main reason I still play and am involved is that I surendered it to the Lord, many years ago. It was too big a part of my life,and I felt that 'tug' you get when He wants you to listen to Him about an area in your life. I resisted for a while,rationalizing that it, in and of itself isn't wrong--which is true. But, my prioroities were skewed, and He wanted me to put it, and Him, in their proper order. One day, I finally got tired of the turmoil, and I was practicing. I picked up the ball, booted it away, and said , out loud, to God that I didn't care if I ever touched a ball again, that I wasn't going to resist Him any further. Immeditely He said--Okay, now use it for me. You know the principle about if you hang on to something, you lose it, but if you lose it , for His sake, you gain it--well, that is absolutely true. I cannot tell you the many oppurtunities that it brought me.
Do you still play? BTW, I noticed on one of your other posts that you mentioned R C Sproul. I listen to him many days, and I get cds from him--great teacher. One I would recommend that is very similar, is Ken Boa( Reflections Minisries). He sends out cds each month, and they are anything but 'fluff' theology. Very similar to Sproul, as I said. The other main resource I use is Ravi Zacharias. He is more on the apologetics side, but his Bible teaching is very sound and poignant.
That is great how you use soccer for God's glory. Indoor soccer is so much fun. I started playing soccer at 4 and have played non stop till I graduated high school. I don't play like a use too. I use to play in one of best leagues probably inthe country, the Coca-Cola Classic in Richland Hills in Texas. The club team I was on was the Texans and we worked hard; spring, summer, fall, winter; we played. I also played on a Olympic Development Team for my region for a while. Inhigh school I played threeyears of varsity and by my senior yearearned second leading scoreronmy team. Recently we played on a coed indoor team with some of the guys and girls of old and tore it up. We had fun and won our division and it brought back a lot of memories. I don't run like a use too but I still have most of my ball skills.
How long have you been playing?
Iwill defintately check those guysout. Thanks
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Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.
I have played for 33 years. BTW, we won our match last night, 6-1--I had 2 assists, but no goals. We have 4ws, 2 ls, and are in 3rd place. Shouldn't have lost either--but we will do well--hopefully!
I have played for 33 years. BTW, we won our match last night, 6-1--I had 2 assists, but no goals. We have 4ws, 2 ls, and are in 3rd place. Shouldn't have lost either--but we will do well--hopefully!
I guess you have beat, 33 years. Two is assists is great; to me assists are more important than goals, itshows you are always contributing to the team and always in the action. Congrats on the match. Goodluck to you. Talking about soccer is getting me all excited inside.
Do you playFIFA Soccer onXBox? Mybrother alwayspicks Real Madrid, your team, when we playeach other.
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Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.
One of my sons plays, and he recruits me occasionally, but I don't play enough to be very good, nor do I like having to convert soccer moves to thumb moves--it ain't natural!If they ever come up with a virtual reality game that responds to your reflexes, then, I'll be all over that one! I played striker in college, but mainly have played center mid, and sweeper since, and do score occasionally, but I love to distribute and to hold the ball in the midfield, and even when I play sweeper, i am careful about my distribution, always looking for a quick transition or to at least keep posession. I think passing , especially under pressure, requires more skill than turn and shoot . I also tend to be very defensive minded and love slide tackles--maybe too much!
Definitely Check It Out...
