Why Certain Types of Music Make Our Brains Sing, and Others Don’t
“our prediction of musical events remains inexorably bound to our musical upbringing. To explore this phenomenon, a group of researchers met with the Sámi people, who inhabit the region stretching between the northernmost reaches of Sweden and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.” - Neroscience News
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[Kevin Miller]Your refusal to provide the source information is unethical behavior and suggests strongly that you may have misused it in some manner. Apparently, there is something about the source of your information that you do not want to be known because it will reflect badly on your actions or views in some manner. Your lack of integrity in engaging in such actions is conduct that is not befitting a Christian.There are likely hundreds of similar testimonies from occult practitioners across the internet.It just takes a simple google search to find them. I’m surprised you doubt the authenticity of personal knowledge from an occult practitioner.
Well, if we’re going to disallow whole classes of instruments and genre due to occult use, it’s worth noting that Tchiakovsky’s Rite of Spring is homage to a human sacrifice (girl dancing herself to death), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is built around a pantheistic poem by Schiller “An der Freude”, and a whole lot more. So if we apply Rajesh’s thought pattern uniformly, it’s going to be awfully quiet in the church. I’d have said we’ll hear crickets, but crickets have a role in some native American mythologies. Pretty much any instrument and genre has some association with paganism and idolatry.
And really, Rajesh, if we’re going to demand sourcing and impugn Kevin’s motives based on his failure to adhere to your standard….ahem, sauce for the goose, Rajesh. Reality is that Kevin is doing what Paul does often, to appeal to what others ought to know. And yes, I agree with Kevin that you ought to know this, and therefore you ought to be acting on this knowledge.
For whatever reasons, you choose not to act on this knowledge. OK, your choice, but that doesn’t mean that these truths are not out there. Anybody who visits, say, the Field Museum in Chicago is going to realize that various cultures around the world use various instruments and genre, and hence if you try to proscribe genre, instruments, and the like due to guilt by association, you’re going to end up with un-Biblical silence in the church.
Just as was demonstrated in this thread by myself, referencing articles about the Sami and the nature of the music genre used for this study, joik.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[RajeshG]You really come up with some wild theories. I just cut and pasted some quotes and you suspect misuse. Perhaps you’re just reflecting some guiltiness of your own from prior misuse of quotations yourself.Your refusal to provide the source information is unethical behavior and suggests strongly that you may have misused it in some manner. Apparently, there is something about the source of your information that you do not want to be known because it will reflect badly on your actions or views in some manner. Your lack of integrity in engaging in such actions is conduct that is not befitting a Christian.
I don’t think it’s displaying a lack of integrity to not wish to provide a link to an occult site on this Christian forum.
[Kevin Miller]You really come up with some wild theories. I just cut and pasted some quotes and you suspect misuse. Perhaps you’re just reflecting some guiltiness of your own from prior misuse of quotations yourself.
I don’t think it’s displaying a lack of integrity to not wish to provide a link to an occult site on this Christian forum.
I have never misused any quotations, here or anywhere else.
Providing full source information does not equal providing links.
In any case, the refusal to substantiate source information offered for supposed evidence renders that “evidence” worthless.
I am not going to waste any time interacting with unsubstantiated information.
[RajeshG]Well, of course you’re going to say that. That’s my position as well.I have never misused any quotations, here or anywhere else.
Providing full source information does not equal providing links.Well, then, what exactly do you expect for “full” source information? It’s not like I could hide the source from search engines. All you would have to do is cut and paste a sentence or two into a search engine and you would get the exact article I drew the quotations from. That’s not that hard, if you really wanted to look at the source.
In any case, the refusal to substantiate source information offered for supposed evidence renders that “evidence” worthless.How would providing the source give the information presented by the occultist any more worth? If you had the source, would you say, “Oh, now I can completely believe this occultist testimony in everything he or she says” ?
I am not going to waste any time interacting with unsubstantiated information.This just sounds like an excuse you’re using to keep from answering questions you’ve been asked. If you really wanted to know the source, you could find it, and then you would likely argue the credentials of the occultist anyway. Which would only serve the point I was making with the quotations. Whether the occultist is a rock musician or one randomly found on the internet, you can’t automatically trust the reliability of their statements. Their perceptions are skewed by their experiences.
Again, if you’re going to appeal to anthropology—e.g the traditional religions of the Yoruba—to buttress your theories, you owe it to those responding to you to actually educate yourself on it, at least at the level of someone who’s read National Geographic enough to have some feeling for how peoples around the world actually live.
But again, the trouble when you do is that you’re going to learn that the arguments you’re making against rock & roll and the like apply equally to the kind of music you like, and it will force you to come to grips with the reality that to “buttress” you’re arguments, what you’ve done is to completely abuse the disciplines of logic and anthropology.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[Kevin Miller]Just forget it. Someone who was interested in truth and in having an edifying discussion in good faith would have given the exact source info as a non-active link on the very first request.Well, of course you’re going to say that. That’s my position as well.
Well, then, what exactly do you expect for “full” source information? It’s not like I could hide the source from search engines. All you would have to do is cut and paste a sentence or two into a search engine and you would get the exact article I drew the quotations from. That’s not that hard, if you really wanted to look at the source.
How would providing the source give the information presented by the occultist any more worth? If you had the source, would you say, “Oh, now I can completely believe this occultist testimony in everything he or she says” ?
This just sounds like an excuse you’re using to keep from answering questions you’ve been asked. If you really wanted to know the source, you could find it, and then you would likely argue the credentials of the occultist anyway. Which would only serve the point I was making with the quotations. Whether the occultist is a rock musician or one randomly found on the internet, you can’t automatically trust the reliability of their statements. Their perceptions are skewed by their experiences.
I posted this on my blog today. It treats many indisputable realities about spiritual warfare and professional occultists.
Spiritual Warfare and Professional Occultists: Indisputable Realities
God inerrantly, infallibly, and indisputably attests to us repeatedly in Scripture of the fully authentic existence and practices of many professional occultists (for example, magicians, wizards, people with familiar spirits, and sorcerers). Scripture speaks of these people in many passages from Genesis 41 to Revelation 22. [This link is not to my blog post but to another article about the occult on my blog that I linked to in my blog post.]
Based on this indisputably true divine revelation, we must understand all of the following truths as being indisputable realities about spiritual warfare and professional occultists:
Professional occultists have existed throughout most of human history, exist in our day, and will continue to exist throughout all the future times of human existence.
Professional occultists have had fully authentic knowledge of fully authentic occult practices. They continue to have that fully authentic knowledge.
Professional occultists have fully authentically engaged in those fully authentic occult practices and continue to do so.
Professional occultists have had and continue to have fully authentic sources for their obtaining fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices and for their learning how to fully authentically engage in those fully authentic occult practices.
Professional occultists have had and continue to have fully authentic capabilities of transmitting fully authentic knowledge of how to engage in fully authentic occult practices.
Professional occultists have been and will continue to be among the chief enemies of God, His people, and unbelievers who are seeking to hear God’s Word and learn of the faith (cf. Exod. 7-9; Acts 13:6-8).
Application
Because of all of these indisputably true realities about fully authentic professional occultists, we can say with absolute certainty that unbelievers have provided and can provide fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices. They have done so, can do so, and continue to do so without any need for any biblical information from any source.
God’s people, therefore, must not hold to the exceedingly dangerously wrong notion that information about the occult that is not from the Bible is inherently false, inauthentic, unreliable, and untrustworthy. Rather, they must properly heed such information and profit fully from it so that they fully obey God’s command for us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11).
[RajeshG]Oh, spare me the theatrics. There is no legitimate reason you need a link to a source you could easily find yourself. You’ve ignored enough of my questions and declared legitimate issues as “off-topic” enough that I find it hard to take you seriously when you talk about “having an edifying discussion in good faith.”Just forget it. Someone who was interested in truth and in having an edifying discussion in good faith would have given the exact source info as a non-active link on the very first request.
[RajeshG]Seeing as how you are making this claim again, I’ll ask you the question again which you’ve previously ignored. An occultist online claimed the following:I posted this on my blog today. It treats many indisputable realities about spiritual warfare and professional occultists.
Spiritual Warfare and Professional Occultists: Indisputable Realities
God inerrantly, infallibly, and indisputably attests to us repeatedly in Scripture of the fully authentic existence and practices of many professional occultists (for example, magicians, wizards, people with familiar spirits, and sorcerers). Scripture speaks of these people in many passages from Genesis 41 to Revelation 22. [This link is not to my blog post but to another article about the occult on my blog that I linked to in my blog post.]
Based on this indisputably true divine revelation, we must understand all of the following truths as being indisputable realities about spiritual warfare and professional occultists:
Professional occultists have existed throughout most of human history, exist in our day, and will continue to exist throughout all the future times of human existence.
Professional occultists have had fully authentic knowledge of fully authentic occult practices. They continue to have that fully authentic knowledge.
Professional occultists have fully authentically engaged in those fully authentic occult practices and continue to do so.
Professional occultists have had and continue to have fully authentic sources for their obtaining fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices and for their learning how to fully authentically engage in those fully authentic occult practices.
Professional occultists have had and continue to have fully authentic capabilities of transmitting fully authentic knowledge of how to engage in fully authentic occult practices.
Professional occultists have been and will continue to be among the chief enemies of God, His people, and unbelievers who are seeking to hear God’s Word and learn of the faith (cf. Exod. 7-9; Acts 13:6-8).
Application
Because of all of these indisputably true realities about fully authentic professional occultists, we can say with absolute certainty that unbelievers have provided and can provide fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices. They have done so, can do so, and continue to do so without any need for any biblical information from any source.
God’s people, therefore, must not hold to the exceedingly dangerously wrong notion that information about the occult that is not from the Bible is inherently false, inauthentic, unreliable, and untrustworthy. Rather, they must properly heed such information and profit fully from it so that they fully obey God’s command for us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11).
A bone is a useful place to keep a spirit bound, or even the shade of some ill intended persons that need straightening out. It is a living container, a perfect lure for those more pesky spirits that crave the form of flesh.
So is it accurate to say that the shade of some person can be bound in a bone? Is it consistent with what we know of spirits in the Bible to think that “pesky spirits” can be lured into a bones and thus bound up?
Since your claim is that occultists provide “fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices,” then your answer must be that the information I quoted is fully authentic and reliable.
Here is another statement about bones from an occultist on a different website:
Also, human bones may contain impure energies which will not serve anyone, unlike animal bones which are imbued with pure and natural energy. Human remains contain energetic imprints made by the intentions, will, and even reactions of those they belonged to. This makes them impure as opposed to animal remains which are attuned to the natural flow of things.
Human spirits can be disruptive through those energetic prints, whereas the spirits of animals rarely disrupt the natural flow of things and they’ve most likely never broke through the flow, since it is their condition of existence. Unless your own will is to bind and control human spirits, working with human remains may be disruptive.
So do believe that human spirits can be bound and controlled through the use of the bones that their bodies had? Since your claim is that occultists provide “fully authentic information about fully authentic occult practices,” then your answer must be that the information I quoted is fully authentic and reliable.
No, I am not going to allow you to control the discussion in this way. If you deny what God says is true, then we do not have anything further to discuss. Everything that I said is indisputably true based on what God says. If you deny anything about what God says about the professional occultists that He speaks of in the Bible, you are wrong and God is right.
Furthermore, we know with absolute certainty that none of the professional occultists in Scripture got any of their information from God, His holy angels, any godly servants of God, or anything in Scripture yet they were fully authentic professional practitioners of the occult. That proves that they have had fully authentic sources of that information that are not from the Bible. It also proves that they are fully capable of transmitting that fully authentic information to others and have done so.
Any claims that anyone might make that occultists cannot have and cannot transmit fully authentic information about the occult in our day and practice the occult fully authentically in our day would be false claims.
[RajeshG]Asking you questions is “controlling” the discussion?No, I am not going to allow you to control the discussion in this way.
If you deny what God says is true, then we do not have anything further to discuss.And I haven’t denied things that God has actually said.
Everything that I said is indisputably true based on what God says.Does God actually say that all occultists everywhere are always accurate in everything they say? If someone says that, they would be wrong.
If you deny anything about what God says about the professional occultists that He speaks of in the Bible, you are wrong and God is right.Have you started using the word “professional” in front of occultist in order to try nuancing the conversation so that you can deny the words of some occultists because you ould claim they are not “professional” ones? If any occultist, whether professional or not, disagrees with God, then they are wrong and God is right.
Furthermore, we know with absolute certainty that none of the professional occultists in Scripture got any of their information from God, His holy angels, any godly servants of God, or anything in Scripture yet they were fully authentic professional practitioners of the occult. That proves that they have had fully authentic sources of that information that are not from the Bible. It also proves that they are fully capable of transmitting that fully authentic information to others and have done so.And no one in this thread has claimed that occultists can never be accurate. They certainly can be at times, but it’s also true that they worship the Father of lies. They may be accurately passing along lies that Satan has given them. Don’t you believe that Satan “abode not in the truth” from the beginning? If you deny anything about what God says about Satan in the Bible, you are wrong and God is right.Any claims that anyone might make that occultists cannot have and cannot transmit fully authentic information about the occult in our day and practice the occult fully authentically in our day would be false claims.
So yes, occultists can pass on accurate infformation, but one also has to admit that their information can be wrong. If one fails to admit that, then they are disagreeing with God.
[Kevin Miller]I have not made any claims that information from occultists cannot be wrong. You, however, are not understanding what the biblical data proves. The biblical data proves indisputably that fully authentic professional occultists have transmitted fully authentic information about fully authentic occult activities. Your only other option is to hold that all professional occultists have gotten and/or get all their information directly from demons. There is no Bible to support such a notion.So yes, occultists can pass on accurate infformation, but one also has to admit that their information can be wrong. If one fails to admit that, then they are disagreeing with God.
Consequently, you do not have any biblical basis to assert that information from occultists that does not directly contradict Scripture has to be false unless proven to be true. Moreover, you do not have any Bible by which you can claim to legitimately evaluate which occult practices are authentic and which are not. Furthermore, God does not authorize you or anyone else to sample, experience, etc. the occult to make such evaluations.
The bottom line is that God demands complete rejection of the occult. There is no biblical justification for any use of any kinds of occult instrumental music in any form by God’s people in any aspect of their lives.
[RajeshG]But the way you are presenting your point sure makes it seem that way.I have not made any claims that information from occultists cannot be wrong.
You, however, are not understanding what the biblical data proves. The biblical data proves indisputably that fully authentic professional occultists have transmitted fully authentic information about fully authentic occult activities.See, right here. Your very next sentences show my point. It sounds like you are claiming that the Bible says occultists can’t be wrong since they transmit FULLY authentic information.How am I suppose to interpret that other than you claiming that occultists can’t be wrong?
Your only other option is to hold that all professional occultists have gotten and/or get all their information directly from demons. There is no Bible to support such a notion.And that is not the only other option.
Consequently, you do not have any biblical basis to assert that any information from occultists that does not directly contradict Scripture has to be false unless proven to be true.Since I haven’t asserted that, I don’t know why you are even mentioning it.
Moreover, you do not have any Bible by which you can claim to legitimately evaluate which occult practices are authentic and which are not. Furthermore, God does not authorize you or anyone else to sample, experience, etc. the occult to make such evaluations.Here again, it sounds like you are saying that occultists can never be wrong since we have no way of evaluating whether they are wrong. Actually, I think comparing some of their statements to Scripture is an excellent way of showing that they actually CAN be wrong. They can also be right, of course, but since you say that their statements can’t be evaluated, I’m not sure why you have such certainty that their information is FULLY authentic.
The bottom line is that God demands complete rejection of the occult. There is no biblical justification for any use of any kinds of occult instrumental music in any form by God’s people in any aspect of their lives.Which would eliminate pretty much any instrumental music at all, since all kinds of instrumental music has been used by the occult.
[Kevin Miller]This is totally false and pure question begging. You have zero proof that this is true. No matter how much searching you may claim that you have done on occult sites or other sources, this is an impossible statement to prove. You do not have any valid basis to make these claims.Which would eliminate pretty much any instrumental music at all, since all kinds of instrumental music has been used by the occult.
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