Sent an email or LinkedIn message to the vicar, got this response: "Hello Greg So kind of you to comment on the 1984 Night Thoughts' song. Sorry you didn't pick up that it was supposed to be ironic and the last line of the song was intended to point that out - "Don't remind me that the Christian way has something to do with a cross". Obviously it failed. The time restriction of Night Thoughts never allowed an in depth analysis of the theme. Mind you it's 38 years ago now - in the days before the UK had 24 hour TV and had an epilogue every night before the screen went blank. There are no epilogues nowadays. You will be pleased to hear I haven't sung on TV for many years now and hopefully my inadequacy in getting the Gospel across didn't do any lasting damage and may even be forgiven. Every blessing Norman"
@RobinCarmody Thanks for the date, I have seen the other closedown featuring the same guy on Night Thoughts, I had to check that it wasn't the same one.
The Night Thoughts here is *completely* beyond parody (if I didn't know it was real, I'd find it hard to believe it was) - and not even the only one with this bloke to have appeared on RUclips. The actual date of this clip is Thursday 9th August 1984. "Love Is All Around" is actually a very good song *in this version*, though for a while in the 1990s it was hard to believe it ever had been.
Got an e-mail or LinkedIn message from the vicar: "Hello Greg So kind of you to comment on the 1984 Night Thoughts' song. Sorry you didn't pick up that it was supposed to be ironic and the last line of the song was intended to point that out - "Don't remind me that the Christian way has something to do with a cross". Obviously it failed. The time restriction of Night Thoughts never allowed an in depth analysis of the theme. Mind you it's 38 years ago now - in the days before the UK had 24 hour TV and had an epilogue every night before the screen went blank. There are no epilogues nowadays. You will be pleased to hear I haven't sung on TV for many years now and hopefully my inadequacy in getting the Gospel across didn't do any lasting damage and may even be forgiven. Every blessing Norman" So yes, it was meant to be ironic (although perhaps he meant sarcastic).
My response to Night Thoughts: Night Thoughts Greg Palmer Kingston Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Greater London Recently, the good Reverend Norman Grigg came on the telly and started singing a little song about how "a Christian ought to be nice", and about how Jesus was "meek and mild". Give me a break. Let me tell you the truth about Jesus Christ. He was the "Lamb of God", sure, but he was also the "Lion of Judah". He was not nice, he was kind. However, he was not softness and light all of the time. He criticized the Jewish religious leaders for holding on to empty traditions while ignoring their fellow human beings’ very real needs. He demonstrated through his example how true religious leaders ought to behave, how they ought to care for those under their authority. Some of the things - actually, a lot of the things - he said to these oppressors could not be described as “nice” in any way. But Jesus didn’t care about being nice. He cared about righteousness, about waking the religious leaders up to their cruelty and hypocrisy, and giving them a chance to repent and do better. At times, people can be won over with gentle words. At times, they need a conk on the noggin to see sense. Jesus did both. Jesus stood for the kingdom of heaven, for truth, for repentance and salvation, forgiveness and hope. He came to tell the truth, to heal the sick and wounded, to save lives. If he had to step on a few toes to do it, he was willing to do so, even at the expense of being perceived as “not nice.” So, when someone tells you "a Christian ought to be nice", they don't know a lot about Christ. (A good source for this material is from: medium.com/publishous/jesus-was-not-nice-and-you-shouldnt-be-either-7b785c723954 )
Exactly ten years after this clip, Wet, Wet, Wet was a number one with the same song!
That vicar did another Night Thoughts where he sang about politics, and it sounded EXACTLY THE SAME AS THIS ONE.
Sent an email or LinkedIn message to the vicar, got this response:
"Hello Greg
So kind of you to comment on the 1984 Night Thoughts' song. Sorry you didn't pick up that it was supposed to be ironic and the last line of the song was intended to point that out - "Don't remind me that the Christian way has something to do with a cross". Obviously it failed.
The time restriction of Night Thoughts never allowed an in depth analysis of the theme. Mind you it's 38 years ago now - in the days before the UK had 24 hour TV and had an epilogue every night before the screen went blank. There are no epilogues nowadays.
You will be pleased to hear I haven't sung on TV for many years now and hopefully my inadequacy in getting the Gospel across didn't do any lasting damage and may even be forgiven.
Every blessing
Norman"
I think, for the sake of my sanity, I need that Night Thoughts to end with a fade to black and white and the words "Great Job" etched on the screen.
@RobinCarmody Thanks for the date, I have seen the other closedown featuring the same guy on Night Thoughts, I had to check that it wasn't the same one.
The Night Thoughts here is *completely* beyond parody (if I didn't know it was real, I'd find it hard to believe it was) - and not even the only one with this bloke to have appeared on RUclips.
The actual date of this clip is Thursday 9th August 1984. "Love Is All Around" is actually a very good song *in this version*, though for a while in the 1990s it was hard to believe it ever had been.
Got an e-mail or LinkedIn message from the vicar:
"Hello Greg
So kind of you to comment on the 1984 Night Thoughts' song. Sorry you didn't pick up that it was supposed to be ironic and the last line of the song was intended to point that out - "Don't remind me that the Christian way has something to do with a cross". Obviously it failed.
The time restriction of Night Thoughts never allowed an in depth analysis of the theme. Mind you it's 38 years ago now - in the days before the UK had 24 hour TV and had an epilogue every night before the screen went blank. There are no epilogues nowadays.
You will be pleased to hear I haven't sung on TV for many years now and hopefully my inadequacy in getting the Gospel across didn't do any lasting damage and may even be forgiven.
Every blessing
Norman"
So yes, it was meant to be ironic (although perhaps he meant sarcastic).
wow-the days when TV stations closed down for the night...a bygone era
Thursday 09th / Friday 10th August 1984
This preacher's full of it. Jesus himself said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
My response to Night Thoughts:
Night Thoughts
Greg Palmer
Kingston Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Greater London
Recently, the good Reverend Norman Grigg came on the telly and started singing a little song about how "a Christian ought to be nice", and about how Jesus was "meek and mild". Give me a break. Let me tell you the truth about Jesus Christ. He was the "Lamb of God", sure, but he was also the "Lion of Judah". He was not nice, he was kind. However, he was not softness and light all of the time.
He criticized the Jewish religious leaders for holding on to empty traditions while ignoring their fellow human beings’ very real needs.
He demonstrated through his example how true religious leaders ought to behave, how they ought to care for those under their authority. Some of the things - actually, a lot of the things - he said to these oppressors could not be described as “nice” in any way.
But Jesus didn’t care about being nice. He cared about righteousness, about waking the religious leaders up to their cruelty and hypocrisy, and giving them a chance to repent and do better. At times, people can be won over with gentle words. At times, they need a conk on the noggin to see sense. Jesus did both. Jesus stood for the kingdom of heaven, for truth, for repentance and salvation, forgiveness and hope. He came to tell the truth, to heal the sick and wounded, to save lives.
If he had to step on a few toes to do it, he was willing to do so, even at the expense of being perceived as “not nice.”
So, when someone tells you "a Christian ought to be nice", they don't know a lot about Christ.
(A good source for this material is from: medium.com/publishous/jesus-was-not-nice-and-you-shouldnt-be-either-7b785c723954 )