I’ve never really bothered to look at the “top 25 most played songs” list on iTunes but I was spinning through the stuff on my iPod this morning and thought I would take a gander. Nothing too surprising really, but I thought it worth sharing as it gives a nice snapshot of my current musical tastes. If you’re also an iPod user, how about you post your 25 most played songs list to your own blog / LJ, and leave a comment here with a link?

1. I’ve been thinking about you
   Damae (feat. London Beat)
2. Tourniquet (Signal Boost Mix)
   Evanescence
3. Fly again (Scumfrog radio edit)
   Kristine W
4. Hung up (SDP Extended Vocal)
   Madonna
5. What’s up
   4 Non Blondes
6. Poison (live version)
   Alice Cooper
7. Light
   Benassi Bros.
8. (I just) died in your arms
   Cutting Crew
9. Radar love
   Golden Earring
10. Tainted love
    Marilyn Manson
11. Black velvet
    Alannah Myles
12. Everytime we touch
    Cascada
13. Bad boy
    Cascada
14. Winter born - this sacrifice
    The Cruxshadows
15. Sandstorm
    Darude
16. Sweet child o’ mine
    Guns ‘n’ Roses
17. From Paris to Berlin (radio edit)
    Infernal
18. Furious angels
    Rob Dougan
19. Toxic
    Britney Spears
20. Miracle
    Cascada
21. Cant stop the rain
    Cascada
22. Heaven
    DJ Sammy
23. Taking over me
    Evanescence
24. Cant fight the moonlight (Graham Stack radio edit)
    LeAnn Rimes
25. Run to you (extended mix)
    Novaspace

The “odd song out” is Tourniquet (Signal Boost Mix) - a remix of my own, taking the track from the live album (”Anywhere but home“) and from the earlier studio album (”Fallen“) and blending them. One of the better mixes I’ve made, supplanting either of the “real” tracks as having “most played” status in the playlist.

The news was first reported on the 18th of June, 2005:

Crucified nun dies in ‘exorcism’

Police say the 23-year-old nun, who was denied food and drink throughout her ordeal, had been tied and chained to the cross and a towel pushed into her mouth to smother any sounds.

A priest and four nuns were charged with imprisonment leading to death.

Then on 20th of June, 2005, the BBC reported “Crucified ‘exorcism’ nun buried” offering little more information than the original article did. For those people who post to online dicussion forums, this news article was similar to posting a “me too!” comment to a thread just to pull it back into the forefront of discussions. Cynical assessment, I know, but it felt like the BBC was simply trying to keep media attention on the tragedy.

Things went quiet on the story until 21st September, 2005 when the BBC reported

‘Crucified’ Romanian nun exhumed

The body of a trainee nun who was allegedly crucified in an exorcism at a monastery in eastern Romania has been exhumed, the state news agency reports.

A first autopsy concluded the nun died due to dehydration, exhaustion and lack of oxygen, state news agency Rompres reported at the time.

The agency quoted defence lawyer Maria Ilisei as saying that they hoped a second autopsy would uncover “the real causes of the death”.

“It will be a complex affair to provide all the answers that remained unanswered from the first examination.”

Finally, today, there’s a report that brings appropriate closure to things

Priest jailed for exorcism death

A Romanian priest has been jailed for 14 years for conducting an exorcism that led to the death of a nun who he believed was possessed by devils.

The Orthodox Church, which described the Tanacu incident as “abominable”, has promised reforms, including psychological tests for those seeking to enter monasteries.

It banned Corogeanu from the priesthood and excommunicated the four nuns.

After hearing the sentence, Corogeanu said: “We will appeal and hope that it will succeed. We didn’t expect this sentence, but this is the judge’s decision. We will pray to God for help.”

This whole saga reminds me of a bible story from the book of Acts (chapter 19, verses 13-16 if you want to look it up):

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Things go bad, and people get hurt, when you start trying to meddle/dabble in the supernatural and relying on your own strength. God cares deeply about people and calls believers to be a force of good, moving people and society toward greater and greater degrees of life. Clearly this priest wasn’t listening to God - had the nun really been afflicted by an unclean spirit, the methods show he was using natural means to try to deal with what ought to have been a supernatural event, thereby moving in his own strength. God can, and frequently does, free people from the influence of unclean forces without resorting to means. On the other side of the debate, this priest clearly wasn’t listening to God if she’d not been afflicted by an unclean spirit as he’d have been told not to do this abominable event in the first place. It angers me that the priest can say, “We will pray to God for help” - he’s not listening to God! He doesn’t give a rip about what the caring Creator has to say. The man’s clearly using religion to further his own ends, and a 14-year jail term sounds perfect. Let’s just hope that in that time he has a change of heart.

I heard the news that The Police had reformed to perform for the Grammy awards, and there was a rumour that they would tour. Thanks to a co-worker I have a link: they are playing St Louis on July 2^nd! I’m excited (to say the least) … having spoken to the venue in question already about tickets!

There’s a joke that says,

In European Heaven,

• the English are the police
• the Germans are the mechanics
• the French are the cooks
• the Italians are the lovers
• and the whole place is run by the Swiss

In European Hell,

• the English are the cooks
• the Germans are the police
• the Swiss are the lovers
• the French are the mechanics
• and the whole place is run by the Italians

Well, I’m soooo glad that the joke didnt say “the lovers are English” given a recent news article that said:

Britons ignorant about sex, survey reveals

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly one in three Britons think that if a woman jumps up and down, washes or urinates immediately after sex, she can prevent pregnancy, a survey revealed Monday.

It was one of a string of revelations in the survey carried out by the Family Planning Association (fpa) at the start of Contraceptive Awareness Week.

It turns out that those fantastic Apple adverts - two guys standing there who introduce themselves “Hi, I’m a Mac / and I’m a PC” - have been redone for different countries. The conversations are remarkably similar but obviously localized. Take a look at the UK versions and compare with the original USA versions.

A head-to-head comparison of the 2:

USA Version UK Version Mac: Hello, I’m a Mac PC: …and I’m a PC Mac: I’m into doing fun stuff like movies, music, podcasts, stuff like that PC: I also do fun stuff like timesheets and spreadsheets and piecharts Mac: Ok, uhh, no by fun I mean more in terms of … for example it would kinda hard to capture a family vacation, say, with a piechart. You know? PC: Not true. Mac: Oh? PC: For example this light gray area could represent hang out time whereas this dark gray area could represent just kicking it. Mac: Yeah, no, I feel like I was there. Mac: Hello, I’m a Mac PC:  …and I’m a PC Mac: I’ve been doing fun stuff like movies, music, podcasts PC:  And I also do fun stuff like spreadsheets and timesheets … and piecharts Mac: Yeah, PC, it’s quite hard to capture a family holiday with, say, a piechart PC:  Not really. For example, this light grey area could represent shinanigans and tomfoolery while this dark grey area could represent hijinks and you see here we further divided hijinks into capers, monkey-business and just larking about. Mac: Wow. I feel like I was there.

I saw this reported on the BBC News website and it stimulated some thoughts:

Moroccans hail ‘miracle worker’

Thousands of people queue up every day with a bottle of water or bag of sugar to see Morocco’s latest sensation - a traditional healer.

Torbi el Mekki, the man being hailed as the miracle healer of Skhirat, a village about 30km south of the capital, Rabat, says he can cure any disease from HIV/Aids to cancer.

They quote the healer as saying

“I do this in the name of God. I do not do it for money, if I wanted to do it for money I would gain billions every day. But I don’t need money because I am already rich from land that I inherited.”

Later in the article they quote from a medical doctor who says

We cannot say he’s miraculous. He is a healer like many others before him. In most cases they fail. It’s a question of time.

Their claims pose problems for the medical profession, he says, as many healers tell patients to stop taking their medicine.

It’s very dangerous: a while ago there was an epileptic patient who had taken drugs to stabilise himself. Another healer told him to stop his treatment; he did, but after several days he died.

One defining factor of the church that we go to is how money is handled. On Sunday morning when the collection baskets are passed, it’s always made clear that the offering is only for committed members of the church and that visitors should let the baskets pass on by. Other times it’s made perfectly clear that we’re not money driven. The western church is very aware of the scandals of the past. The “prosperity message” that some churches preach (also known as the “health and wealth” gospel) has turned sour in people’s mouth, showing itself for the poison that it truly is. It’s interesting to see, in the article, that the desire to make money rather than further spiritual ends is pulled out as the mark of a charlatan; the healer made a point to say “I do this in the name of God. I do not do it for money” when dismissing suggestions that he is a charlatan. While he is Muslim, and Morocco might be a North African country, it seems that charlatans are a world-wide phenomenon, following similar practices the world over.

Jesus said,

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

and the Apostle Paul, writing to a young pastor, said

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Note: the love of money is a root of all kinds - not the usual mis-quote “money is the root of all evil”. Money is a tool and can be used for good or ill, evil results when we make an idol out of it, when we give it our devotion and love. We need to see ourselves as stewards of something that we do not own. We administer our finances, but the money is God’s, and we should hold loosely to it, use it as He wills, balancing good stewardship with generosity. The antidote for a love of money is found in the teaching of Jesus:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love God, Love people and use money to serve the goals that result.

A coworker sent me this link - from the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper (online edition)

Beer and the Bible

By Tim Townsend

In a back room at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, about 50 people gathered on a recent Wednesday night to talk rock ‘n’ roll.

Theology at the Bottleworks is run by a wildly successful congregation of young St. Louisans called The Journey. The Schlafly program is part of the church’s outreach ministry. And it works.

(Read the whole thing: Beer and the Bible)

Coming from England, I find it mildly amusing to look at the cultural battles here in the USA with the eye of an outsider. Back in England they’re fighting the anti-Sunday-trading “Keep Sunday special” campaign. Here in the USA certain quarters of the church are fighting abortion, alcohol and gay marriage (with greater and lesser degrees of success).

The Post-Dispatch article goes on to say

At last year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, members overwhelmingly reaffirmed their traditional stance on alcohol by passing a resolution that expressed “our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing, and consuming of alcoholic beverages.” Baptists within the denomination who oppose such a strict view of alcohol use argue that the Southern Baptist position is based on denominational tradition, not Scripture.

My observation of The Journey as a church (again, as an outsider) is that they’re a solid, healthy, growing church … and I have to applaud them for a willingness to go “sacred cow-tipping” and challenge the cultural stereotype of being anti-alcohol - Theology at the Bottleworks sounds like my kind of small-group!