Okay, I know people are going to hate me for this, but I am going to show you a video and give you my take on it. Ok so here is the video.
Ok, so the message of the skit was obviously about a girl following Jesus, she walks away from Him, enticed by the world, gets trashed and Jesus comes and saves her. Pretty straight forward, but before I go on does anyone see a problem? The issue with the skit is not entirely the message, because Christ came and died for all mankind TO save us because we are wretched and he is willing that no man should perish, that is not the issue. The issue is the fact we need a skit and an attitude in Christendom. I do not know whether this was at a church or a theater, these days they are about the same; but what is troubling to me is the attitude that the Bible no longer has a sufficient relevancy to this world. Even though 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that:
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
When I have gone through all the tribulations in my or my families life, never once did I find comfort out of the vacuous entertainment of people trying to portray a scriptural proof through a play, though at the moment it may strike an emotional chord of circumstantial similarity with the audience. Yet, it does not have a lasting impact that when the hard times come one says, "Ah! I know what to do! I remember the play I once viewed awhile back, the expression on the actors face and the interpretation of the scriptural truth gives me comfort." No, when we face our trials we lean on Scripture as the daily supplier of our needs and comfort; anything trying to represent a truth, only receives that truth from Scripture itself. More of these things, though, are meant for the world; like somehow a 10 minute skit can bring one to the knowledge of repentance and faith without ever supplying a Scripture is just insane! When did media become somehow more effective than the Bible? Last I recall, the Bible has been influential to all of society for the past 2000 years and has been in the hands of many countless changing generations, yet somehow NOW it is irrelevant and we need to make it more "hip" or "cool."
Plus I take issue with the fact that during this skit they played Lifehouse, yes they are professing Christians and yes I even happen to like their music. But they are not Christian artists and are still a secular band, just like I do not think we should be playing secular music in our churches I do not agree with this the same. That, however; is a pettier issue.
The main issue is the mentality of Christians that we NEED hip, catchy music in order to get the world to come to us; we NEED skits and plays in order to feed people with truth; we NEED television programs and books, ipod styled display screens and more "relevant" messages to attract the mass. It is called seeker sensitive, and what it fails to do is supply the church with the spiritual food we need, and it is focusing the church to much on the world and not enough of Christ. There is a part in which we are called to be ye separate ( 2nd Cor 6:17,) what all that entails is still a mystery to me, but when we can go into a church and see no difference between the personal lives of the members that attend than that of the unsaved, we have a problem. When the youth groups are so focused on the music, entertainment and the mediocrity of life, (not giving place to the things of God) that the statistics of Christian teen sex is essentially the same as the world; we as a church as a whole better heed the warnings to the churches in Revelation. Christians will struggle and fail as long as they are on this planet, but falling into a pool and fighting to get out, and falling in and swimming around are two separate things; let us all work out our salvation (Phillipans 2:12) for the time is coming when we will give an account for our talons and we do not want to run the risk of finding out that we invested far little than we could have.
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It is not the skit entirely that I have a problem with, it is this seeker senisitive movement that places art above scripture. I am just tying it into this other movement, because it seems like entertainment has take prescedence over the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThat is my issue.
(The Last Christian Generation- by Josh McDowell) “Today's distorted cultural view of Christianity, truth, and reality has changed the way our nation's young people define faith and what it means to be a Christian.
ReplyDelete" The Christian faith has been under attack in this culture for decades and because most believers haven't been equipped to know why they believe, the very foundation of Christianity within the Church has eroded. If trends continue, the next generation of the Church will not even be rightfully called Christian."
In his research, McDowell has uncovered some startling statistics. For example, among churched youth:
* 63% don't believe that Jesus is the Son of the one true God.
* 51% don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
* 68% don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a real entity.
* It has been estimated that between 69% and 94% of churched youth are leaving the traditional church after high school, and very few are returning.
* Only 33% of churched youth have said that the church will play a part in their lives when they leave home.”
Another alarming note * One extensive study showed that among church youth over half cannot affirm that an objective standard of right and wrong exists.
Because each person's idea of truth is based on their unique culture, and because all people are created equally, the new tolerance decrees that no one person can claim to possess a superior truth, or a truth that is "more true" than other people's truths. Rather, all truth claims are equally valid.
The idea of equal truth claims has profound implications for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ and absolute standards of right and wrong. These implications include the death of truth, the disappearance of virtue, the demise of justice, the loss of conviction, the privatization of faith, the tyranny of the individual, the disintegration of human rights. The dominance of feeling, the exaltation of nature, and the descent into extremes.
This is why the authority of God’s word MUST be taught. Not interpreted and left SOLEY to artistic expression.
Seeker sensitive is the correct conclusion here. We have an entire generation of youth that has to be entertained and can’t handle listening to a good old fashion sermon which has been the sufficient way for thousands of years.
No! We now have to bribe them w/ bells and whistles. This is why we have youth that are veering away from biblical values at an alarming rate. Distorted beliefs lead to distorted values, and that affects our attitudes and actions.