Tonight in corporate worship they played a clip from “Prop 8, the Musical” in which Jack Black pretends to be God and quotes some Bible verses wildly out of context. I’m still chewing on it. I can’t get my mind around, “wow that’s how the worlds sees God and those who follow Him.”
Here’s my notes:
It is sad that’s the way the world sees us. But I think often it’s a reflection of us, not God.
But I can also understand why they think that. Sometimes I think Christians can be their own worst enemies.
‘You pick and choose’…there’s an element of truth in that. We seem to get caught up on certain sins, when God just sees all sin as equally bad as another.
I know it’s uber-trendy to diss ourselves over stuff like this but the Bible clearly states that in the last days, it will be “as in the days of Lot”. I think the truth is that we’re seeing Biblical prophecy fulfilled in front of our very eyes. And if it’s Biblical prophecy, we can’t change it, stop it, or protest against it with any kind of productive outcome.
Interesting. We do have a tendency to say we believe in the whole bible and are either afraid of some verses or ignore it.
Is this video what we consider persuasive dialog in the public square? I am conservative theologically, but do not consider myself part of the political “religious right.” Are both sides not to be treated with dignity as we dialog, debate and persuade others to true convictions that we hold? Can we not stand firm on principles without denigrating one another? Both sides are smashing the public square to bits. Read Os Guiness’ The Case for Civility.
We need to change our tone and approach (in this case as viewed from those advocating gay marriage, but equally done by Christians opposed and multiple other issues).
Because we do not show dignity and respect to the person with whom we disagree, and create caricatures of one another (very obvious here), we completely lose our hearing amidst the audience whom we most need to dialogue and persuade. In this particular case, the video shows a disregard for a Christian interpretation which separates Ceremonial Law undone in Christ (shellfish) from Moral Law (homosexuality—see comments at http://www.worshiptrench.com/?p=593 for distinctions).
This shows a shallow understanding of the beliefs of those that differ from them. If I feel like I am not understood by you, why would I listen to you. If during the video you caught yourself saying, “Hey, that is not an accurate picture of what I believe or why I hold my beliefs,” you should then be extra careful you aren’t portraying someone with whom you disagree in a similar fashion.
Christians have done the same thing as the Prop 8 musical folks. We need to listen to one another, taking on the best arguments of each side in constructive dialog, not the worst caricaturization.
Hey Man, have not talked to you in a while. How is it going?
Billy – Are you really suggesting that the world have a high opinion of Christians? Jesus clearly said that the world will hate you and revile you on the account of me. For me we are in greater trouble when we allow our churches to actually begin to care more about how the world views us rather than how God see’s us.
Preston,
No – the Bible’s clear, the world will hate us. That’s not the concern here.
My heart’s just broken for lost people – and man, these guys are really, really lost. They are believing layer upon layers of lies. They buried in a shelter of deception keeping them from the truth. My heat breaks for that.
I keep asking, “How do we bring truth to someone who’s so blind and deceived?”
Thanks for clarifying Billy. I ask myself this question everyday and my heart yearns and breaks to see the lost saved. I personally think a majority of the problem is we have doctrines that are so illogical and inconsistent that any thinking person is immediately turned off and tunes us out. But that’s just my opinion.
[It's still legal - and always God-honoring - to air messages like the following. (See Ezekiel 3:18-19.) In light of government backing of raunchy behavior (such offenders were even executed in early America!), maybe the separation we really need is the "separation of raunch and state"!]
In Luke 17 in the New Testament, Jesus said that one of the big “signs” that will happen shortly before His return to earth as Judge will be a repeat of the “days of Lot” (see Genesis 19 for details). So gays are actually helping to fulfill this same worldwide “sign” (and making the Bible even more believable!) and thus hurrying up the return of the Judge! They are accomplishing what many preachers haven’t accomplished! Gays couldn’t have accomplished this by just coming out of closets into bedrooms. Instead, they invented new architecture – you know, closets opening on to Main Streets where little kids would be able to watch naked men having sex with each other at festivals in places like San Francisco (where their underground saint – San Andreas – may soon get a big jolt out of what’s going on over his head!). Thanks, gays, for figuring out how to bring back our resurrected Saviour even quicker!
Hey Billy, How are things going?