Entertainment, An Evangelical Heresy

[Christ's Free Servant]

Beware of churches with stages for the worship band. Why elevate the band over the worshippers. Kinda says yer there to worship the band doesn't it? It's an audience of one and He can see your heart wiithout the stage. I had a hard time separating my proffesional musical self from my worship musical self and wound up leaving the worship team. The stage didn't help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Geroike and All,

We must be so careful that we do not judge others by our own experiences. Sometimes God speaks to us about something in our lives and he means it for us alone. But, then something we hear triggers a memory of what we learned and we think that others have had the same experience or perhaps the same motivation, and so we have this tendency to interpret other situations based upon our own experiences. The Bible talks about not comparing ourselves by ourselves - it is not wise.

I have known people who have judged me by their own experiences. Over 20 years ago I was in a church in OH. I was honestly seeking to obey God with all my heart in using the spiritual gifts he had given me for his service, so I volunteered for ministry. This pastor saw "volunteering" as prideful. He and the elders "assumed" that because I volunteered to serve the Lord that I must be doing it for the wrong reasons. They didn't ask me. They did not even try to get to know me. They were judging me by themselves, because as I later learned, they had at one time volunteered for ministry because they wanted to be "seen of men." So, they assumed this was also my motivation. They were not used to people honestly and sincerely desiring to serve the Lord with all their hearts, minds and souls. So, they privately and secretly made their judgment of me and their sentence - I should not be permitted to serve. How wrong of them!!

My point is this: It sounds as though you had a problem with pride and God dealt with your heart. But, that does not mean that everyone on a "stage" has the same problem or that people will worship them just because they are on a stage. We can not make those kinds of assumptions. Again, it goes back to priorities and focus and our relationship with Jesus Christ. You can have a band off-stage that is prideful and not walking with the Lord and even living in sin and you can have a band that is on stage whose focus is Jesus Christ and worshiping him and is humbled before God on a regular basis. What things look like on the outside are not a true indicator of what is going on in the heart, unless of course we are talking about outward sin and rebellion. The Bible says that man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. Let's be careful we are not making judgments based upon outward appearance alone.

Stage or no stage, I would be in favor of the band being off to the side so that they are not the focus of attention. The purpose of the stage would be merely for acoustical purposes. Elevating them would be so that we could hear them better.

[Iryssa]

*smile* I love reading your posts, Sue; I think God's given you a gift for words.

While I do believe that we can use our own experiences to teach others, I absolutely think we should refrain from assuming that others will necessarily experience the same thing (and I know I've been guilty of assuming that, too). You know your own weaknesses in this area, and that's great! But remember that people are individuals, not just clones of one another.

Romans 14:1-4 says:

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man

[Christ's Free Servant]

*smile* I love reading your posts, Sue; I think God's given you a gift for words.

Iryssa,

Thank you for the compliment. If anything I say comes out good, then it truly is from God, because I have always had a problem with my words not coming out right, so to God be the glory, great things HE has done!!!

I didn't understand something you said and I tried quoting it and then it got lost and I don't know how to retrieve it, but it was the last thing you said before you quoted the scripture. You were saying something about people not being clones and being individuals. Did you think I was implying that people were clones? And, if so, how? I don't understand the context of what you are saying or why you said it. Please help me to understand.

[Iryssa]

*smile* I love reading your posts, Sue; I think God's given you a gift for words.

Iryssa,

Thank you for the compliment. If anything I say comes out good, then it truly is from God, because I have always had a problem with my words not coming out right, so to God be the glory, great things HE has done!!!

I didn't understand something you said and I tried quoting it and then it got lost and I don't know how to retrieve it, but it was the last thing you said before you quoted the scripture. You were saying something about people not being clones and being individuals. Did you think I was implying that people were clones? And, if so, how? I don't understand the context of what you are saying or why you said it. Please help me to understand.

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No, sorry...the "you"s in that paragraph were just sort of speaking generally to anyone...shoulda been more specific about that. I was just agreeing with you that people are different, rather than having all the same traits and experiences...I'd meant to quote you on this:

My point is this: It sounds as though you had a problem with pride and God dealt with your heart. But, that does not mean that everyone on a "stage" has the same problem or that people will worship them just because they are on a stage. We can not make those kinds of assumptions.

But I guess I forgot *sheepish grin*

[Gerioke]

Beware of churches with stages for the worship band. Why elevate the band over the worshippers. Kinda says yer there to worship the band doesn't it? It's an audience of one and He can see your heart wiithout the stage. I had a hard time separating my proffesional musical self from my worship musical self and wound up leaving the worship team. The stage didn't help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Geroike and All,

We must be so careful that we do not judge others by our own experiences. Sometimes God speaks to us about something in our lives and he means it for us alone. But, then something we hear triggers a memory of what we learned and we think that others have had the same experience or perhaps the same motivation, and so we have this tendency to interpret other situations based upon our own experiences. The Bible talks about not comparing ourselves by ourselves - it is not wise.

I have known people who have judged me by their own experiences. Over 20 years ago I was in a church in OH. I was honestly seeking to obey God with all my heart in using the spiritual gifts he had given me for his service, so I volunteered for ministry. This pastor saw "volunteering" as prideful. He and the elders "assumed" that because I volunteered to serve the Lord that I must be doing it for the wrong reasons. They didn't ask me. They did not even try to get to know me. They were judging me by themselves, because as I later learned, they had at one time volunteered for ministry because they wanted to be "seen of men." So, they assumed this was also my motivation. They were not used to people honestly and sincerely desiring to serve the Lord with all their hearts, minds and souls. So, they privately and secretly made their judgment of me and their sentence - I should not be permitted to serve. How wrong of them!!

My point is this: It sounds as though you had a problem with pride and God dealt with your heart. But, that does not mean that everyone on a "stage" has the same problem or that people will worship them just because they are on a stage. We can not make those kinds of assumptions. Again, it goes back to priorities and focus and our relationship with Jesus Christ. You can have a band off-stage that is prideful and not walking with the Lord and even living in sin and you can have a band that is on stage whose focus is Jesus Christ and worshiping him and is humbled before God on a regular basis. What things look like on the outside are not a true indicator of what is going on in the heart, unless of course we are talking about outward sin and rebellion. The Bible says that man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. Let's be careful we are not making judgments based upon outward appearance alone.

Stage or no stage, I would be in favor of the band being off to the side so that they are not the focus of attention. The purpose of the stage would be merely for acoustical purposes. Elevating them would be so that we could hear them better.

I would agree with this except we have PAs to project the sound. The band doesn't need to be elevated

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It's not just my pride that was the issue. Having been a professional entertainer for so many years I became a studier of human nature. Playing in a worship band, you get the same kind of responses that you would get in a club or concert. You would get cetain people who may not "worship" you but there would be enough adoration to make it uncomfortable. And there are the people that are keen on getting on stage for the attraction. Even the pastor would sometimes get carried away with the compliments were it almost seemed idolatrous. Worship musicians are supposed to be lead by the spirit, but when you look out into the congregation and notice certain people giving you the wink or thumbs up it kinda tells you that they don't see God in it. They are being entertained. I don't know if I've clarified myself or not but music ministry can be a tricky experience.

[Christ's Free Servant]

No, sorry...the "you"s in that paragraph were just sort of speaking generally to anyone...shoulda been more specific about that. I was just agreeing with you that people are different, rather than having all the same traits and experiences...I'd meant to quote you on this:

My point is this: It sounds as though you had a problem with pride and God dealt with your heart. But, that does not mean that everyone on a "stage" has the same problem or that people will worship them just because they are on a stage. We can not make those kinds of assumptions.

But I guess I forgot *sheepish grin*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, thanks for clearing that up for me. See you around!!

[Christ's Free Servant]

It's not just my pride that was the issue. Having been a professional entertainer for so many years I became a studier of human nature. Playing in a worship band, you get the same kind of responses that you would get in a club or concert. You would get cetain people who may not "worship" you but there would be enough adoration to make it uncomfortable. And there are the people that are keen on getting on stage for the attraction. Even the pastor would sometimes get carried away with the compliments were it almost seemed idolatrous. Worship musicians are supposed to be lead by the spirit, but when you look out into the congregation and notice certain people giving you the wink or thumbs up it kinda tells you that they don't see God in it. They are being entertained. I don't know if I've clarified myself or not but music ministry can be a tricky experience.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gotcha! I guess this is one of the reasons why A. W. Tozer was so against Christian entertainment. He knew the pitfalls. And, it is one reason I have issues with churches that put too much focus on the praise band as their means of drawing in large crowds of people. It puts the focus on man and not on God. And, that is why I suggested placing the praise band on the side where they are not the focus or even in the back. The point is to hear them, not to see them.

[apothanein kerdos]

The article is correct in some aspects (Christians should not rely solely on entertainment) but in the end it becomes nothing more than dualistic, gnostic garbage. Entertainment can (and it) be used by God. If entertainment was not created by God, then where did it come from? Man can only pervert thus if God did not have His hand in entertainment what is entertainment a perversion of?

Just because the author is respected doesn't mean the article is correct. In fact, it's borderline heresy.