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(10/12/18 3:08pm)
As music filled the air with various voices and instruments, many people at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument knew what it meant. There was a concert going on, and Indiana Bible College were the ones putting on the concert. IBC tries to do a concert on Monument Circle every year, as a way to outreach into the communities of Indianapolis and anyone who may be downtown at the time.
The college had been preparing for weeks, with practices, sound checks, and outreach times throughout the week leading up to the concert on October 5. The students and staff of Indiana Bible College are very focused on doing what they feel Jesus has directed them to do. This is one of the many reasons why the college has Reality Week, which is a week of inviting people from the neighborhoods surrounding their campus to the downtown concert, a block party at Calvary Tabernacle the day after the concert, and our regular church services on Sundays.
People had even stopped to watch and listen to the college practice, at least an hour before the concert was scheduled to start. The concert actually began a few minutes after 7 p.m. and mostly everyone downtown near the Circle was excited to find out what this meant. Indiana Bible College began to sing songs that had been sung at church by them before, on their recording albums, as well as some new songs that even church members of Calvary Tabernacle (like myself) had not heard from IBC yet.
It was a wonderful experience to be able to witness people worshipping Jesus right in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. That night is one I will never forget, since downtown was transformed into a figurative church service by the atmosphere that was welcomed by many and introduced by the college. I had been going to this concert for years since I attend the church, and this year was the best one I had ever experienced. The music was solely focused on Jesus and helping others to focus on Him. If one truly wanted to feel Him, it was very easy to feel Him in that atmosphere.
The lyrics that the crowd seemed to connect to most were “I was hopeless and knew I was lost, and death and darkness were my only songs. I needed someone to come rescue me, and mercy heard my plea.” The song that these lyrics are from is named What Your Mercy Did for Me. I believe these lyrics resonated most with those attending since the words perfectly portray what it is like to be human. Sometimes, or even most times in some cases, we feel hopeless, worthless, and as if death or things that we know will lead nowhere good are our only options.
The song later says “every morning mercy will restore me, I will proclaim. Even if the world may fall before me, I will proclaim.” These words speak to why we, members of Calvary Tabernacle, continue to serve Jesus with everything we have. We may mess up sometimes and do things that we ourselves don’t even agree with, but we know that He will forgive us and help us to become better people. This is why I feel that this song is the most impactful one sung that night, since the song really hones in on the struggles of humanity and shows one of the reasons why we continue to serve Jesus the way that we do.
In between the various IBC groups who performed (Choir, Chorale, and Praise) the pastor of Calvary Tabernacle, Paul Mooney, spoke and explained more of our apostolic beliefs. He spoke for around a total of four minutes, and one point that he made truly stood out to me while listening. He explained why the Bible college comes to the Monument Circle- Americans “are losing sight of how precious liberty and freedom is… we don’t want anybody to forget that this nation provides liberty and freedom for the individual.” By bringing this point up, Pastor Mooney was able to draw an analogy between the soldiers who died to secure our liberty and Jesus, Who died in order to give a new heart, mind, and spirit to every person who follows Him with his or her whole heart.
After the pastor of Calvary Tabernacle was done speaking, the Indiana Bible College Choir came back to perform a few more songs, which also seemed to resonate with members and newcomers alike. To close out the concert, Jason Gallion, the Indiana Bible College campus pastor and dean of students, came up to where the various groups had been performing. He ended the concert by telling everyone about the block party the Bible college was going to have the next day, October 6th, as well as providing service days and times for anyone who wanted to visit Calvary Tabernacle. “If you’re looking for a great church, we invite you to Calvary Tabernacle,” he said in closing.
(09/28/18 4:45pm)
Emily Knox, an associate professor at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is very passionate about the history of Banned Books Week. Although she was not present at the Banned Books Week centered on whether or not banned books should be celebrated, she did an interview for a podcast entitled Examining Ethics by Christiane Wisehart.
Wisehart was at the event Wednesday night and played clips of her interview with Knox. Wisehart discussed a wide range of subjects concerning banned books, from common myths about book banning to the different types of censorship concerning books.
The first myth that Wisehart and Knox discussed was the fact that many people assume that the kinds of books that are challenged are filled with vulgarity and perverse content. However, some of the very first books that were banned were religious texts. Knox said that texts are typically banned in response to a crisis or change in society.
The second myth discussed was that the people who challenge books are ignorant people who hate books and reading. However, as Knox and Wisehart pointed out, evidence would suggest that people who challenge books do it because they love books and believe in the power of reading.
Wisehart said that challengers typically view books as “holy vessels” because of the power that these objects hold. Knox says that words are important, and books have an outsized influence on our culture. Wisehart also went on to say that banning books is a symbolic or performative act since ideas cannot be banned.
Another myth that was busted was the opinion that some people hold that Banned Books Week is just a marketing ploy. Books are actually rarely banned today, whereas censorship is still in play. This opinion does not take into account what the challengers are trying to do, which is change the make-up of what is acceptable. The library profession tends to say that it is the job of parents to discuss with their children which reading materials are appropriate, not the library or school’s job.
Jeff McCall was the next and last speaker of the night. McCall is a communication and theater professor at DePauw University. He is also a former journalist who wrote a book entitled Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences. He did not agree with the view that it is solely a parent’s job to manage their children’s reading materials.
He says that while parents do need to be responsible for what their children read, our society has institutions to help parents. He said that as a society we have laws against selling liquor or tobacco to minors, and we have TV rating systems, which suggests that is our duty as a society to monitor age appropriate materials.
He is also opposed to the name “Banned Books Week” because banning has an emotional overtone. He says that instead we should follow Canada’s example and name it Freedom to Read. He also went on to say that the phrase “banned books” creates an emotional response that elicits an extreme temperature in people.
He feels as though we need to make a distinction between the selection of materials and the banning of materials. He says that conversations regarding reading materials in question should be focused on the selection process. He went on to say that we respect professional’s decisions on what books should be allowed, but that we must remember these professionals are not infallible since they are human like the rest of us.
He also said that when people come in to raise a concern, these people are not goofballs but these people have genuine concerns and should be listened to. Something that people need to do, according to McCall, in these battles is weighed and balance the fact that there are reasons behind not choosing books for curriculum.
He went to discuss the fact that there are differences between cultural and governmental pressures when it comes to reading materials. He holds the opinion that governments should not referee materials. He says that school boards and school administration do indeed have the authority to choose books based on what they believe the community’s values are.
He concluded his thoughts by saying that we need to focus on the principles at stake and not just circumstances. We get worked up concerning the circumstances and not the principles of matters.
(09/21/18 4:33pm)
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s latest book, Fear: Trump in the White House, provides readers with an in-depth view of Trump’s first few years in office. He gives readers insight into many White House meetings, ranging from topics like immigration, tariffs, the soldiers in Afghanistan, and many more important issues. The book provides a detailed look at how Trump makes his decisions and what issues seem to be the most important to him. Another thing Woodward discussed in the book are the different ways that the Trump campaign team worked in order to make sure that he appealed to the American voters. Overall, Fear is a well written book that details Trump’s political life, starting with the 2016 election and following his political life up until late 2017, with some mentions of 2018 events as well.
I liked that the book gave readers insight to different conversations that Trump had with various people. The dialogue was detailed and very insightful. The dialogue really brought the book to life and made it more interesting. Another thing I liked about the book was that it provided reasoning behind why some White House staff ended up resigning and which issues ultimately lead to their resignation. I thought this was an important part of the book because the media sometimes speculates without knowing the reasoning behind why some people resign, so I think it is important to know the actual reasons behind why some people chose to resign.
One thing I disliked about the book was that it didn’t seem to follow any type of timeline. I feel that it may have been better if the book had been written in chronological order of events, instead of hopping all over the place. The book seemed to go from one event and then go to an event that happened before the previous event that was discussed. I feel as though the book would have been better and made more sense if it actually followed a timeline of events. Another thing I disliked about the book was that it did not explain the importance behind certain events. I feel as though the book would have been better if it had discussed the importance behind some of the discussions and topics talked about in the book.
I feel that the book would have been more enjoyable if it had discussed why certain discussions and events were important, since these details would have provided even more insight to the policies that were discussed throughout the book. I am not typically interested in politics, so I would have liked to know the reasons behind why some policies were being discussed and were deemed as important discussions.
Another thing I disliked about the book was that at certain points I feel that it did not have enough details for certain events. The book was very focused on conversations, which I felt helped make the book more interesting, however I think the book would have been better if it had provided more details other than conversations. The conversations provided great insight into different happenings within the White House, but I feel that more details would have provided even more and in some cases, better, insight into the events that were discussed.