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Blood Washed Heretic
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 167
| Posted 9/12/2003 7:30 AM (GMT -6) |   | We lost two remarkable souls today.
John Ritter was one of the funniest men in show business, but also a uniquely compassionate human being. He pioneered in the movement for greater understanding of cerebal palsy, hosting a telethon and campaigning for those with CP to be de-institutionalized at a time when many were still being misdiagnosed as being developmentally disabled. He passed away today, on his daughter's birthday.
Johnny Cash was a more controversial figure, but equally outstanding. He decried the gaps in justice and opportunity between the poor and the rich, and remained a committed believer up to his death this morning at age 71. His musical career is legendary, spanning six decades and producing 14 number one songs on the country charts, though he was largely ostracized by the country community as an "Outlaw". The video for his latest single "Hurt" was nominated for six Moonmen at this year's Video Music Awards. The word "legend" is overused in our vernacular, but I feel it applies to The Man in Black.
In essentials, unity; In matters of opinion, liberty; In all things, love. | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 9/12/2003 7:50 AM (GMT -6) | | I believe Johnny Cash was a Christian...
ohnny Cash, Singer Known as 'The Man in Black,' Dies at 71
September 12, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Johnny Cash, a towering figure in
American music spanning country, rock and folk and known
worldwide as "The Man in Black," died Friday. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which
resulted in respiratory failure," Cash's manager, Lou
Robin, said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in
Nashville.
He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT.
"I hope
that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash
family to find comfort during this very difficult time,"
Robin said.
Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a
two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach
ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV
Music awards, where he had been nominated in seven
categories.
Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic
neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.
Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk
the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's
persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the
working man and downtrodden.
Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice,
which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing
about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He
wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to
record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.
"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who
built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy
Named Sue" was a comical story of a father who gives his
son a girl's name to make him tough. "The Ballad of Ira
Hayes" told of the drunken death of an American Indian
soldier who helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima
during World War II, but returned to harsh racism in
America.
Cash said in his 1997 autobiography "Cash" that he tried to
speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in
the entertainment media, not to mention the political and
educational establishments."
Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding
something of value in his simple records, many of which
used his trademark rockabilly rhythm.
Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was
born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry!
Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship
and recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major
influence.
He won 11 Grammys -- most recently in 2003, when "Give My
Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal
performance -- and numerous Country Music Association
awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in
1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1992.
His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne
Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who
co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her
husband in hits such as "Jackson," died in May.
The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years,
and he was host of his own ABC variety show from 1969-71.
In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup
with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson.
In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with
rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American
Recordings. And he was back on the charts in with the 2002
album "American IV: the Man Comes Around."
Most recently, Cash was recognized for his cover of the
Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" with seven nominations at last
month's MTV Video Music Awards. He had hoped to attend the
event but couldn't because of his hospital stay. The video
won for best cinematography.
He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and
acted in films and television shows.
In his 1971 hit "Man in Black," Cash said his black
clothing symbolized the downtrodden people in the world.
Cash had been "The Man in Black" since he joined the Grand
Ole Opry at age 25.
"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle
clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to
wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with
it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since."
John R. Cash was born Feb. 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Ark.,
one of seven children. When he was 12, his 14-year-old
brother and hero, Jack, died after an accident while sawing
oak trees into fence posts. The tragedy had a lasting
impact on Cash, and he later pointed to it as a possible
reason his music was frequently melancholy.
He worked as a custodian and enlisted in the Air Force,
learning guitar while stationed in Germany, before
launching his music career after his 1954 discharge.
"All through the Air Force, I was so lonely for those three
years," Cash told The Associated Press during a 1996
interview. "If I couldn't have sung all those old country
songs, I don't think I could have made it."
Cash launched his career in Memphis, performing on radio
station KWEM. He auditioned with Sun Records, ultimately
recording the single "Hey Porter," which became a hit.
Sun Records also launched the careers of Presley, Roy
Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.
"Folsom Prison Blues," went to No. 4 on the country charts
in 1956, and featured Cash's most famous couplet: "I shot a
man in Reno/ just to watch him die."
Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and
the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American
Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live
at prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music
hits.
Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and his
rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly
thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he
battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life.
He blamed fame for his vulnerability to drug addiction.
"When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio
someday. I never thought about fame until it started
happening to me," he said in 1988. "Then it was hard to
handle. That's why I turned to pills."
He credited June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968, with
helping him stay off drugs, though he had several relapses
over the years and was treated at the Betty Ford Center in
California in 1984.
June Carter Cash was the daughter of country music great
Mother Maybelle Carter, and the mother of singer Carlene
Carter, whose father was country singer Carl Smith.
Together, June Carter and Cash had one child, John Carter
Cash. He is a musician and producer.
Singer Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter from his
first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Their other three
children were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. They divorced in
1966.
In March 1998, Cash made headlines when his
California-based record company, American Recordings, took
out an advertisement in the music trade magazine Billboard.
The full-page ad celebrated Cash's 1998 Grammy award for
best country album for "Unchained." The ad showed an
enraged-looking Cash in his younger years making an obscene
gesture to sarcastically illustrate his thanks to country
radio stations and "the country music establishment in
Nashville," which he felt had unfairly cast him aside.
Jennings, a close friend, once said of Cash: "He's been
like a brother to me. He's one of the greatest people in
the world."
Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with
encouraging him to pursue a singing career.
"My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me
working through the cotton fields. She said God has his
hand on you. You'll be singing for the world someday."
Cash lived in Hendersonville, Tenn., just outside of
Nashville. He also had a home in Jamaica.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/12/obituaries/12WIRE-Cash.html?ex=1064369378&ei=1&en=034ea3fe47481b0d | | Back to Top | | |
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BBBCanada
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 2763
| Posted 9/12/2003 3:01 PM (GMT -6) | | This guy also died this past week. I remember the incidents in the story. This is a sad story. 
AIDS Activist Jason Robertson Dies at 23
Wed Sep 10, 6:02 AM ET U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Jason Robertson, whose battle to attend school as a boy with AIDS (news - web sites) in the 1980s helped other children with the virus overcome its stigma, has died. He was 23.
Robertson died this past Thursday in his mother's home in Granite City.
"Until the end, he was more concerned for our feelings than for himself," said Tammie Robertson. "He told me, 'Mom, I'm sorry I made you cry so many times and that I was such a burden.' ... But he was never a burden."
Robertson was diagnosed with the virus that causes AIDS when he was 5 years old. He contracted the virus through blood products used to treat his hemophilia.
At his mother's suggestion, the Granite City School District designated a special classroom in a trailer to shield him from controversy.
But he was lonely without contact with other children, so she asked the district to let him attend regular classes. The district refused, siding with parents who feared, contrary to medical fact, that their children could become infected through casual contact.
A federal judge ordered the district in 1988 to admit the child to regular class.
Tammie Robertson said on the first day of classes, her son had to walk past angry parents shouting "Back to the trailer!"
"Jason forgave them, and I forgive them," she said. "They didn't know any better. It was the early days of AIDS."
When Robertson was 8, his family moved to South Roxana, Ill. There, he once again faced placard-waving demonstrators on his first day of school.
"He was a tough little fella. He showed a lot of courage," said the school's then principal, Dorothy Stickels.
Robertson's struggle made him a symbol of the fight against AIDS discrimination. But to his family, he was a boy who dreamed of living a normal life, who loved baseball, comic book superheroes and wrestling.
Robertson became close friends with Ryan White, an Indiana boy with AIDS whose legal struggle to attend a grade school in his state became a national story in 1985.
When White died in 1990, Robertson "ran off and locked himself in his room and cried," his mother said. "To him, it was like losing his big brother."
With money from a suit filed against the companies that supplied the tainted blood products that made him sick, Robertson bought a car and house of his own.
As the drugs that kept full-blown AIDS at bay began to aggravate his hemophilia, Robertson stopped taking medication.
"He wanted to live at least a couple of years without pain," his mother said.
Brandon
"Corporations are simply the kind of structure that rises when hordes of people need to be managed, and after spending some time in a large church, I've found that our spirituality does not exempt us from these inefficient and dehumanizing practices."--Steve Lansingh's review of "The Office" at The Film Form | | Back to Top | | |
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shell
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 280
| Posted 9/12/2003 3:12 PM (GMT -6) | | | That is heartbreaking. I hurt at the thought of adults treating a child like that. I can't even fathom it. How sad that he has died. | | Back to Top | | |
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shell
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 280
| Posted 9/14/2003 5:50 PM (GMT -6) | | quote:
Originally posted by BBBCanada
shell,
I hear ya, I hear ya. Have a question for ya. How should people respond in a situation LIKE this? On one hand I wouldn't want to put my children in harms way especially when it comes to a deadly disease that we know next to nothing about. Obviously, in this case, the Jason's mother didn't die from social contact with her own son. So I think the parents of the other children went ballistic for nothing. Good 'ol "herd mentality" for ya! But how would you handle a situation when we don't know all the relevant facts? I mean, even in this case Jason's mother says, "They didn't know any better. It was the early days of AIDS." Should any precautions be taken? If so, how would you handle them?
I can see your point that looking back now with more information we can see how ridiculous their actions were, and at the time they were reacting out of fear...but the WAY they did it was so incredibly ugly and shows how low we as humans can go when reacting out of fear and ignorance. Low enough to emotionally harm a child. Reading that article and just looking at my own 8 year old, who has been severely chemically sensitive in the past, and therefore has had to be "different" from the other kids, and suffered through some ignorance on the part of others, and then to magnify that 1,000 times to even touch what this little boy went through just makes me shudder.
I wouldn't be concerned at all today to send my kids to school with or be close friends with someone with AIDS. I would do my best to limit the potential for blood exposure and leave the rest in God's hands. I don't mean that in a trite way. I just would not let a disease like that stand in the way of developing a loving relationship. If it was something contagious through normal contact, that is a different story. I would put precautions in place to protect my child, but in the most loving, sensitive way possible. I think preparing yourself with information is the best way to not act ignorantly in situations like that one. Although like you said there wasn't much information available...which makes it more difficult.
What would you do?
Shell
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BBBCanada
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 2763
| Posted 9/15/2003 2:56 AM (GMT -6) | | First, I would not put ANOTHER person in harms way. I have no right to do that. Putting my self in harms way is one thing. To put someone else in harms way is a different sort of question (unless of course it is the lesser of two evils).
I totally agree with you that the angry parents should never have treated Jason this way. But I say this on the basis that children can’t deal with their emotions like adults can. But there is nothing inherently special about being a child should that they shouldn’t be treated this way. To treat adults this way is JUST AS DEHUMANIZING.
In one sense though, I can’t blame the parents for wanting to protect their children especially in light of the little known facts at the time. However, to isolate, demean, etc, is sooo not cool. If, say for example, someone could spread a disease by social contact, then I think the onus is on the person to quarantine themselves instead of asking those that don’t have the disease to quarantine themselves. It is much easier to do it that way anyhow. All in all, people should be treated with the utmost respect under the circumstances.
By the way, what do you mean that your 8 year old is “chemically sensitive?”
Brandon
"Corporations are simply the kind of structure that rises when hordes of people need to be managed, and after spending some time in a large church, I've found that our spirituality does not exempt us from these inefficient and dehumanizing practices."--Steve Lansingh's review of "The Office" at The Film Form | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 9/17/2003 12:04 PM (GMT -6) | | This is taken from Prism E-pistel of today.
dlw
3.JOHNNY CASH, RIP: A Memorial,
by Dwight Ozard.
Johnny Cash was my hero. Why? Because Cash always
found ways to ground his life and art in authentic
and biblical - and therefore often messy - faith.
THO' YOU TRAVEL INTO HELL, I AM THERE
Johnny Cash was my hero because he refused to draw a
divide between what is "authentic" Christian music
and what isn't. He believed that he could burrow
deep into any song - regardless of the source - and
find something of the Redeemer at work in it. His
catalogue is filled with examples of this
commitment. From the traditional country gospel
songs that he recorded and played throughout his
career to the darkest and (existentially and
literally) violent "outlaw" cowboy and prison songs
that explored the darkest aspects of our human
condition to the broken, near nihilism of the
"alternative" rock songs he baptized on his final
four American discs, Cash refused to try to resolve
the difficulties or quandaries of life and suffering
with a quick gospel bridge or chorus. Cash instead
did with the darkest songs what Jesus did: He
entered his songs wholly and completely -
incarnating them - at once affirming the experiences
that shaped their darkness or hope and finding ways
to suggest God was at work in all of it. In short,
he redeemed them - unearthing a holiness and
bringing grace to them in way that can't be done
from a distance.
NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS
Cash was my hero because he understood that
following Jesus meant being a man of the people,
regardless of their weaknesses. Indeed, Cash knew
his own frailty too well ever to judge the
brokenness or sinfulness of another, creating a kind
of inclusiveness in his friendships that was, well,
Christ-like. Those who counted him as friend became
the most unique and delightful juxtaposition of
characters imaginable: Evangelists and punk rockers,
counter-culture gurus and conservative presidents,
rhinestone cowboys and outlaw rebels and cons all
might be found in his home or on his tour bus. In
the late '60s, for example, when most of the country
music establishment (and evangelical establishment
for that matter) was, at the least, folding their
arms and harrumphing at the growing counter-culture
(and frequently responding in far less gracious
ways), Johnny Cash took another path. Even as he was
cultivating a deep friendship with Billy Graham (and
becoming a regular at his crusades), he began
spending long hours with the best representatives of
the youth culture. He remained friends with Bob
Dylan, Neil Young and others to his death, trying to
understand their restlessness with North American
culture and, more often than not, encouraging that
restlessness. He was all things to all men, as the
Scriptures say, and not once was his integrity
called into question.
HIS STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS
Cash was my hero because as he aged, he managed to
incarnate the biblical notion (too often lost on
this generation of muscular believers) that the
Spirit takes residence in our frailty and uses it to
God's glory. In the winter of his life, Cash's
distinctive voice, once nearly seismic, wavered
under the ravages by time, hard living and disease.
And yet the work he completed in the last decade
stands with the best of his career. Why? Where the
younger Cash might have sung forcefully through a
lyric, he was, in his weakness, forced to cling to
every syllable for dear life, as if it might be his
last, singing through a frailty that gives the song
an air of dynamic, painstakingly beautiful
immediacy. It's yet another example of a great
artist - and theologian - at work, as Cash has taken
his weakness and transformed it into his strength.
Indeed, while his voice may have been less than it
was, his singing had never been better.
THE MAN IN BLACK
Finally, Johnny Cash was my hero because he
understood that being a believer meant living for
others, especially for those who suffer, are broken,
and are marginalized. He would have nothing of a
gospel rooted only in the "sweet by and by" or one
that blamed those who suffer for their anguish.
Instead, he worked ceaselessly on behalf of the
"least of these, my brothers," speaking out for
civil rights, the rights of workers and small
farmers, perhaps especially, prisoners. His prison
concerts were legendary, creating an affinity with
"cons" that remained to his death.
This commitment to faith-based social activism was
especially evident in the Vietnam War, where Cash's
enigmatic and courageous response still is
suggestive of a model for genuinely patriotic
dissent today. In his music and his words, Cash made
it clear that he agreed with those who waved
placards and signs in protest for civil rights or
against the war - a brave act in the chest-pounding,
flag-waving, 'my country right or wrong' world of
country music. But what set Cash apart from so many
anti-war protesters was his obvious and genuine
compassion for those who were fighting. He made it
clear: While he believed "our boys" shouldn't be
over there, they still needed support and grace, so
he and June traveled frequently into the battle
zones to perform and visit the hospitals, offering
comfort and mercy.
I thought of Mr. Cash often this spring when
listening to those who sought to squelch all dissent
as the country moved toward war with the phrase "you
must support our troops." Cash provided a model for
doing that (and doing it well, I might add) while
still retaining the ability to oppose the war in
which they fight. In fact, whenever I encountered
someone countering opposition to the war with that
"what about the boys?" argument, I would answer only
two words:
Johnny Cash.
May he rest in peace.
** ** ** ** **
THE MAN IN BLACK, by Johnny Cash
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber
tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have
on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his
crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and
charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and
me.
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held
back,
Up front there oughta be a Man in Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that
could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believin' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have
died,
Believin' that we all were on their side.
Well, there's things that never will be right I
know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few
things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my
back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black.
(John R. Cash, copyright 1971 House of Cash, Inc.)
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 9/19/2003 1:42 PM (GMT -6) | | Taken from another board.
In Defense of Johnny Cash
quote:
Brother Vinny:
I have a caveat to make before I begin: I don't know whether Johnny Cash is in heaven or not. I sincerely hope so, and if I had to judge by his fruits alone (those I can see, of course), I'd at least have to say he may have made it (or if not straight to heaven then purgatory first [see 1 Corinthians 3:13-15]). But, as I cannot know the condition of his heart, I just don't know.
But I prefer to be an optimist. :smile:
You see some people (myself included) would like to see as many people as possible saved, even if their theology doesn't accomodate easy-believism access to heaven. Conversely, there are those who (even though they may profess to have faith in a God who saves based upon a strength of an answered alter call and regardless of the convert's actions thereafter), want to see hell as crowded as possible and will use whatever esoteric tidbit of biographical data as basis for their judgment.
Such is the case that I've seen by a moderator of TheologyWeb. Before Johnny Cash was even a week in the ground, there was someone ready to commit him to eternal flame.
I have heard Johnny Cash's testimony, and seen the fruit in his works. A master musician, Johnny often recorded the beloved hymns of his youth (including one of my favorites, "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)," with the Carters), and wrote quite a few himself (my favorites of his being "Redemption" and "Meet Me In Heaven"). When he wanted to try his hand at filmmaking, he made a short film depicted the event's of Jesus' life, The Gospel Road. And when he turned his hand toward writing fiction, his novel, Man In White, focused on the conversion of the Apostle Paul and that event's immediate fallout.
Johnny was by no means sinless, and he chronicled many of his mistakes in his autobiograhies (he had two: Man In Black and the simply-titled Cash).
Johnny may have believed in some odd ideas. The moderator here mentioned something about reincarnation, and I've read Johnny's words describe the theorhetical workings of a Native-American dreamcatcher. But little idiosyncracies like this shouldn't be enough to condemn the man. (There are also those who mistakenly think the Pauline epistles are the prime source of doctrine for the Body of Christ-- a heresy dating as far back as Marcion-- but I wouldn't judge such a person worthy of condemnation solely for that!) .I don't see such small quirks as sufficient reason to demolish a man's testimony.
In the end, Johnny Cash's fruits are all we have to go on.
Thank you for your fruit, Johnny. It is my sincere hope that you were caught up into Jesus' waiting arms.
“
[In response to a reporter pressuring him on denominational standpoint.]
I finally settled on a fundamental answer. "I, as a believer that Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, the Christ of the Greeks, was the Anointed One of God (born of the seed of David, upon faith as Abraham had faith, and it was accounted to him for righteousness), am grafted onto the true vine, and am one of the heirs of God's covenant with Israel."
"What?" [The reporter asked.]
"I'm a Christian," I said. "Don't put me in another box."
-- Johnny Cash, in the introduction to his only novel, Man In White (1986)
”
I have a caveat to make before I begin: I don't know whether Johnny Cash is in heaven or not. I sincerely hope so, and if I had to judge by his fruits alone (those I can see, of course), I'd at least have to say he may have made it (or if not straight to heaven then purgatory first [see 1 Corinthians 3:13-15]). But, as I cannot know the condition of his heart, I just don't know.
But I prefer to be an optimist.
You see some people (myself included) would like to see as many people as possible saved, even if their theology doesn't accomodate easy-believism access to heaven. Conversely, there are those who (even though they may profess to have faith in a God who saves based upon a strength of an answered alter call and regardless of the convert's actions thereafter), want to see hell as crowded as possible and will use whatever esoteric tidbit of biographical data as basis for their judgment.
Such is the case that I've seen by a moderator of TheologyWeb. Before Johnny Cash was even a week in the ground, there was someone ready to commit him to eternal flame.
I have heard Johnny Cash's testimony, and seen the fruit in his works. A master musician, Johnny often recorded the beloved hymns of his youth (including one of my favorites, "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)," with the Carters), and wrote quite a few himself (my favorites of his being "Redemption" and "Meet Me In Heaven"). When he wanted to try his hand at filmmaking, he made a short film depicted the event's of Jesus' life, The Gospel Road. And when he turned his hand toward writing fiction, his novel, Man In White, focused on the conversion of the Apostle Paul and that event's immediate fallout.
Johnny was by no means sinless, and he chronicled many of his mistakes in his autobiograhies (he had two: Man In Black and the simply-titled Cash).
Johnny may have believed in some odd ideas. The moderator here mentioned something about reincarnation, and I've read Johnny's words describe the theorhetical workings of a Native-American dreamcatcher. But little idiosyncracies like this shouldn't be enough to condemn the man. (There are also those who mistakenly think the Pauline epistles are the prime source of doctrine for the Body of Christ-- a heresy dating as far back as Marcion-- but I wouldn't judge such a person worthy of condemnation solely for that!) .I don't see such small quirks as sufficient reason to demolish a man's testimony.
In the end, Johnny Cash's fruits are all we have to go on.
“
"I'm a Christian," I said. "Don't put me in another box."
There was a long pause and he [the reporter] said, "Really, Adolf Hitler was a Christian."
"He was not," I argued. "There was nothing Christlike in what he did."
"How do you know?" he asked.
I thought for a minute. "I don't really know," I said, "but Jesus said, 'By their fruits ye shall know them,' and I've seen his fruits."
"Where?" he asked.
"At the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem," I said.
--Johnny Cash, Man In White Introduction
”
Thank you for your fruit, Johnny. It is my sincere hope that you were caught up into Jesus' waiting arms.
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