From: gt6223b@prism.gatech.EDU (Jerry B. Ray)
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
Subject: Re: U2's de-nomination
Date: 15 Sep 92 01:22:37 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Sep14.211836.10937@meaddata.com> johnt@meaddata.com (John Townsend) writes:
>
>My, my.  As usual, your flamethrower just scares the devil out of me.  Sorry I
>couldn't respond sooner, but I've been out of town in the (gasp) real world.
 
'As usual,' huh?  Well, John, i can't remember ever flaming you before, but
with posts like the one i'm responding to, i wonder how i avoided it.  I
could have gotten by for quite a bit longer without an asinine response like
the one you finally came up with.

>Who cares about the crowd?  There's more than enough vulgarity, dope smoking,
>alcoholism, total disrespect for any kind of authority, and blasphemy oozing
>from the stage to keep me away.  Mild language, my arse.  Bono cusses a blue
>streak around Eddie Murphy.  Rather tame?!  Compared to what, Madonna?
 
I guess you've never seen U2.  I don't know what the heck you're basing these
accusations on.  'Bono cusses a blue streak around Eddie Murphy'?  Ever
HEARD Bono (or Eddie, for that matter)?  All of Eddie's movies are rated
'R,' while 'Rattle and Hum' was 'PG-13' with a grand total of 3 (count'em)
'cusswords' (f---, f--- it, and bull s---, for those who are counting) and
only ONE of the three was uttered by Bono.  Bono might have said 5 or 6
'cusswords' during the show i saw on Zoo TV.  

'Tame...Compared to Madonna...'  Gimme a break.  Madonna is a sexual pervert.
U2 has NO sexual content in their show.  Give me facts, not half'arse,'
unbased accusations.

'Dope smoking, alcoholism...'  I guess drinking a beer or champagne (as they
did after they won the MTV award the other day) makes them alcoholics.  Am
i an alcoholic because i took communion at a Presbyterian church (real wine)?
As for 'dope smoking,' the only record i have of that is a rumor that Bono
may or may not have taken a hit off of a joint handed him from a crowd.  I
condemn drug use, and this incident (if true) was disturbing, but i wasn't
there and it is purely a rumor.  It happens.  If that constitutes dope 
smoking, then i've seen worse at CHRISTIAN concerts (no joke).

'Total disregard for authority...'  I have no idea what you're basing this
on, so i'll not respond.  Once again, i ask for FACTS to address, not
inflammatory, unbased accusations.

'Blasphemy...'  Right.  Blasphemy like the following:

'I was there when they crucified my Lord'--When Love Comes to Town

'In waves of regret, waves of joy
 I reached out for the one i tried to destroy
 You, you said you'd wait until the end of the world'-Until the End of /World

'Spirit moves in mysterious ways
 Lift my days and light up my nights'-Mysterious Ways

'Feel like trash
 You make me feel clean...
 I guess it's the price of love
 I know it's not cheap'-Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

'You carried the cross and my shame'-I Still Haven't Found...

'We'll claim the victory Jesus won'-Sunday Bloody Sunday

'Rise up, rise up with wings like eagles
 You'll run, you'll run, you'll run and not grow weary.
 This love lasts forever
 Take my hand'-Drowning Man

'A new heart is what i need,
 Oh, God, make it bleed'-Like a Song

Not to mention '40' which is basically the 40th Psalm set to music, or
many of the other 'spiritual' songs on albums that i don't own (yet)

Or maybe you consider statements like 'The God I believe in isn't short
on cash, mister' to be blasphemous when directed at crooked televangelists.
Give me ONE bleedin' example of a 'Blasphemy' uttered by U2, on or off
stage.  C'mon, I dare you...

>I'm not offended by this junk (certainly not by your definition of the word),
>I'm just as PO'ed as I'm sure God is when he looks on it as it is perpetrated
>by people who claim Him for a hobby.  Explain to me how Bono & Co., if they are
>Christians, get to be held to a lower standard of conduct than, say, Mike
>Warnke.
 
Well, since i just refuted most of the junk that you spent a bit of time
and effort listing because it 'doesn't offend you,' then what's left to get
God PO'd (say, isn't that blasphemy?) (other than two people who claim to
be Christians having a verbal slugfest in front of lots of other people who
claim to be Christians, that is...).  I don't hold U2 to any standard.  It's
not my job.  I enjoy their music, and do not find myself stumbling because
of it (quite the opposite), so i listen to them.  If you can find it, read
Dan Harling's post from a couple of days back about the offensometer, and 
standards, etc.  He stated my point much better that i could.  I'm not
much of a writer when i'm pissed off.
    
>// John Townsend             "I thought I was      
>// Mead Data Central          wrong once, but         
>// 8891 Gander Creek Dr.      I was mistaken."         

Perhaps you'd better think again.

JRjr


-- 
'Hear the tale of a fallen people, destined to wander their broken land.
Their eyes are vacant, full of empty meaning, and what they're missing they
just don't understand.  Beyond the dark horizon, out where the people are
crying, a Morningstar will be rising, rising to show us the way...' Whiteheart
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian