Theologise

The Sandman

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 03:59:00 +0000

When you were a child your parents took you to the beach and collected a little jar of sand for you. They put it on your nightstand so every morning you would see it and remember your trips to the beach. It was a very special jar of sand.

But every night while you slept, the Sandman came and stole a grain of your precious sand. You didn't notice at first. Who could notice one grain of missing sand? But the weeks and years went by, and one morning you woke up and noticed there was sand missing from your jar!

What happened? How did it disappear?

Your hearing is like that jar of sand. And every crash cymbal hit, every hammer strike, every engine rev, all the loud noises that damage your hearing are like the sandman coming every night to steal your sand. One morning you might wake up and notice some hearing is missing!

New Song! You Got To Feel That

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:08:00 +0000

Content Warning: Explicit Language

This song is in a musical I am writing about an abused kid who runs away to Los Angeles and becomes famous, but not for the reasons they wished.

In particular, You Got To Feel That is about getting out of your head, getting over negative self-talk, and doing something positive.

Don't think it. Feel it.

(C) 2019 Ken Bussell.

Jesus, You Are My Rock

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 18:42:00 +0000

This song is an exercise in patience, restraint, and delayed gratification. It is based on a parable of Jesus, has progressive atonement theology, avoids gender bias, and encourages bodily response beyond just singing. It was written from a deeply personal perspective, when faced with shifting sands all around me, who do I turn to, and where do I make my stand? The words are just as meaningful for me today as ever.

It takes 5/8 a long time to process through a two-chord progression in 4/4. If you're a math person, have fun with that. One cool thing about it... it makes each song section unique. It also helps the song last over ten minutes.

Originally written in 2003, I have performed this song hundreds of times in churches. Only recently have I been recording and mixing it in my dining room. And I have a laundry list of unfinished issues with it.

1. No auto-tune vocal correction. It needs it.
2. No elastic audio rhythm correction. Also needs it.
3. No large diaphragm condensers. All dynamic mics. Not good.
4. No automation.
5. No mastering.

The list of compromises is long. But I'm tired of waiting for things to be perfect. I hope you enjoy it.

Match Made in Hell

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 21:17:00 +0000

This is What You Get - New Music Video

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 09:45:00 +0000

This is my second-ever music video editing project. It's another original song written by myself and Heidi Davis. This one is also from the musical "The Ripper: Song of the Knife."

Recording for this song went a little easier. The drum parts are simpler, the instrumentation is stripped down, and there is no guitar solo. I had to record bass and guitar direct (in my breakfast nook), so the tones are all in-the-box (Pro Tools).

I do like the Waves GTR plugin though. It has several PRS presets that sound great, offers multiple mic and cabinet arrangements, and has lots of stomp effects that get the job done. I used it for both guitar and bass tones.

Her Demon - New Music Video

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 09:21:00 +0000

I took my first video editing class back in 1996, and soon after I began working on a local television show using a Commodore Amiga with Video Toaster (until we upgraded to an Avid nonlinear system). It only took 22 years for me to finally edit my first music video.

We recorded all the video in one evening at the Bach to Rock music studio in Tanasbourne. My son Luke did all of the videography. We followed a scratch track because I had not finished the final mix for the song. So I had a lot of work to do to get the song mixed AND edit the video together.

John Oliver on Criminal Justice Reform

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:22:00 +0000

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver deserves a lot of credit for their reporting on the American criminal justice system. I put together a comprehensive playlist of all the issues they've covered, including police, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and prisons. If you don't believe there is a need for sweeping criminal justice reform, watch all 20 videos. You will change your mind.

Hunting and War: Why Conservatives are Like Klingons

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 09:56:00 +0000

Hunting. It is the temporary return to human predatory dominance in the wild. Be it by rifle, shotgun, bow, blade, or bare hands, hunting is predatory.

But what if animals were equal with humans? What if, because we have technology, we humans were able to find a way to survive on this planet without ever killing animals? Is that what Sikhs hope that humanity can achieve? Check out this page for an interesting spiritual discussion on killing animals in self defense only.

I mean, when we are our best selves, don't we try to only kill other humans in self defense, or the defense of others? There's not another good reason, is there? If you take a baseball bat to my car, I'm not allowed to shoot you, am I? Only if a person's safety and/or life is involved, right? This is what we all understand?

False Prophets

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 05:04:00 +0000

From a determinist view, false prophets are allowed to exist by God. Do they therefore serve some purpose? Perhaps false prophets exist to push the church off of its doctrinal certainty? Do they not inspire the church to study the scriptures, to develop arguments and debate them, and to ultimately discover new realities that would have otherwise remained hidden beneath a warm blanket of blessed assurance? Yes they do.

I deny the charge of false prophet. But to those who claim otherwise, I respond with an offer of dialogue. Let's study and debate our scripture together. Perhaps we will discover new realities together?

On http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/semper-reformanda/ it says this:

Music Update: What Am I Doing?

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 04:46:00 +0000

I am going through figuring out a cloud backup solution for my Pro Tools data, thinking I have it figured out now, and I'm watching the files begin the long, arduous process of syncing. This derails my current recording project temporarily as I resolve this important and neglected issue.

I did do some tracking of my guitar solo for the upcoming A-side single that I am releasing with Torchsong Entertainment. There is also a B-side (obviously), and that still needs to have all of the instrument tracking, plus drum editing, plus vocal channel and all that...

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Neuroscience as the Answer to God

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 04:35:00 +0000

Neil DeGrasse Tyson in the youtube video "The Moon, the Tides and why Neil De Grasse Tyson is Colbert's God" implies that neuroscience is the frontier of science that will answer the deepest questions about humanity, who we are, why we do what we do, etc.

He proposes an experiment where a person is shown a painting while simultaneously having their brain stimulated in the "painting liking" areas. His intuition is that the result of the experiment would be the person liking the painting. He then goes on to state that such a result "will tell us that all emotion is simply what gets stimulated in your brain and what does not. All belief systems that are not evidence based would be triggered by simply what gets triggered in your brain and what does not. And so that is all I think in the future of neuroscience." (6:29)

The Artificial Intelligence Singularity and the Book of Revelation: Why Elon Musk is Wrong

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 04:18:00 +0000

Let me tell you a story.

In the Book of Revelation, the Bible describes a place and time where humans cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast.

It says that the beast has a name, and the name can be counted with a number. And it says the number is 666.

If this place and time is the future, then it might be now, since the Bible is so old. Some Christians believe we are living in the “end times.”

So what is the beast? And what is the mark of the beast? And why does it tell us to count it with a number?

Top Hat King Royale Guitar Amp, Paul Reed Smith Standard 22 Electric Guitar, ONE TAKE Guitar Solo

info@theologise.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 10:53:00 +0000

I just rediscovered this. It's me using my personal favorite guitar amplifier, a Top Hat King Royale combo, hand built in TX, all tube 35w Vox AC30 Top Boost clone. I have it running through a '90s era Marshall 1960B 4x12 speaker cabinet with stock 75w Celestion speakers. I'm playing a Paul Reed Smith PRS Standard 22 guitar through a BOSS CS-2 Compression Sustainer pedal and a BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay pedal. A Budda Bud-Wah kicks in at the climax(?). I am playing to a wonderfully slow, bluesy, Pink Floyd style backing track through a killer pro PA in a room acoustically designed for small rock concerts... And then I just did a couple of one-take improv solos and recorded them through the webcam on my Macbook using Photo Booth and the built-in mic. SMH.

Have a listen anyway. It's not bad...

I Have Always Been A Rebel: Freewill and Omnipotence

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Tue, 14 May 2019 21:07:00 +0000

Black Widow Spider

I have always been a rebel.

Ever since I was young I wanted to figure things out. I always asked why. I was inquisitive about everything, but I was especially fascinated with nature. I wanted to know what everything was. I have a bookshelf full of nature fields guides and natural science books I collected as a kid. Knowledge felt powerful to a powerless child.

I caught a black widow spider in a jelly jar when I was in first grade. I caught lots of animals as a kid. I made a traveling zoo with my red wooden wagon by filling it with jars full of all the creatures I could catch. I took it around the neighborhood and asked people to pay me to see it. So yeah, I thought every black spider I caught was a "black widow."

What Does the Bible Say About Marijuana? An Exhaustive Study Part 3: Drunkenness From Genesis to Psalms

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 22:45:00 +0000

Question: How does the Bible describe drunkenness?

As we discussed in our last article, one of the primary arguments against Christian Recreational Cannabis Use (CRCU) is the belief that marijuana intoxication is similar to drunkenness and should be prohibited based on the Bible's prohibition of drunkenness. But is this the correct view? Are the Biblical descriptions of drunkenness in fact similar to the effects of cannabis intoxication? In order to find out, we will need to examine the Biblical evidence.

To do so, I have searched the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible for all instances of the word "wine," all verses that include the words "merry" and "heart," and all variations on the word "drunk," including "drink," "drinking," "drank," and "drunkard." Many of the verses that included the words "wine" or "drink" were regarding drink offerings and did not offer insight into the question at hand. Many other verses were regarding the prohibition of alcohol use for special groups of people at special times (Levites, Nazarites). And while these verses may lend weight to other arguments against Christian Recreational Cannabis Use (CRCU), and we will be sure to look at them more closely in future articles, they do not provide evidence of what the Bible says that drunkenness is, and therefore are of no help in determining whether drunkenness is similar to marijuana intoxication. But from the results, I have narrowed down the list to all of the passages that include specific descriptions of alcohol use and drunkenness, which we will look at in order of appearance.

What Does the Bible Say About Marijuana? An Exhaustive Study Part 2: Categorizing Cannabis

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 15:02:00 +0000

Question: Does the Bible's prohibition of drunkenness apply to recreational marijuana?

In our last post we agreed that the Bible teaches that drunkenness is sinful. But does this also apply to marijuana and Christian Recreational Cannabis Use (CRCU)? Are drunkenness and marijuana intoxication the same from a Biblical perspective? Many Christians believe they are. In fact, this is one of the arguments most often proposed by opponents of CRCU. Here is the argument in its simplest logical form.

The Bible teaches that drunkenness is sinful.
Cannabis use is similar to drunkenness.
(Therefore) Cannabis use is sinful.

What Does the Bible Say About Marijuana? An Exhaustive Study Part 1: Introduction

info@theologise.com (Theologise) — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:09:00 +0000

Question: Is it wrong for a Christian to use marijuana for recreational purposes?

Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to the first installment in a series of posts that will study everything the Bible has to say about marijuana. For the purposes of this series, we will focus primarily on the question of recreational marijuana use, specifically referred to hereafter as Christian Recreational Cannabis Use (CRCU).