Entertainment, An Evangelical Heresy

[apothanein kerdos]

In quoting Schaeffer:

The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and monolithic consensus which surrounds us

[Openly Curious]

Thanks for the article Marnie,

Tozer was a great man as I have always found his writings to be heart provoking and stirring with the insights that he had. I must say that reading the article there were places that hit home with me in areas. But I think the over all jist is that just the old fashion way of preaching the gospel is simply not good enough any more and we have reverted to other means to win the masses. For it is the will of God that He has chosen the foolishness of preaching to confound the wise. It is through preaching and the hearing of faith that saves the lost. And the word says that the "JOY" of the Lord is our "STRENGTH" and somehow we've looked away from the joy of our salvation that makes us strong as our own carnality has gotten a foothold. The article stirs one within to take another look at what we are allowing to happen to us as the people of God setting our focus back on the right track. Thanks again for the article as it does hit home.

blessings

OC

[apothanein kerdos]

The "joy" is not found in hedonistic entertainment though. We are called to change the culture, not appeal to it and appease it. It's okay to be entertained, but when this becomes our central focus of worshiping God or sharing the Gospel, we have lost our way.

We are to find joy in Christ and that He has saved us from our culture, not in entertainment. The "old fashioned way of preaching the Gospel," if not effective, is the fault of the congregation and not the message.

[Openly Curious]

We are called to preach the gospel not change our culture and it is God's job to change the individuals and if we preach people will be forced to make a decision for Christ once they are in the church they will be trained up in the Lord until they come to a place of maturity in the Lord and thus take on the work of the ministry themselves.

It is not for us to "find" joy in Christ for the word says, He is our JOY the joy of our salvation is our strength for it was good to have been reminded of this within this article because one can reflect back to the day of thier salvation and draw strength from it to be forgiven for the first time and to know you was saved without a doubt and hell was no longer and issue if you would have died without Christ. We have joy already.

OC

[Guest]

And the problem is defining what constitutes "entertainment".

Your comment is a probing one, right?

Exactly

[Axxman]

Since the entire diatribe against talented Christians included ONE reference to scripture we can conclude that this is nothing more than misguided and misplaced opinion.

Certainly I can agree that the modern American Christian church has succumbed to worldliness...and his point was made by quoting the ONE scripture from Matthew 7 that he did. However, his rant against Christians being untalented and amateurish was biased and uncalled for. I am not so naive as to think that "some people" go to church for the wrong reasons, but to paint and criticize the entire church with such a broad stroke without any objective style, is tragic.

My church is very entertaining. I am wholly blessed by the level of talent that God has assembled. However, I am no less moved when random members are chosen to lead worship, and their talent level is less than normal. Does Tozer actually think that God is less pleased by "amateurish" praise? Or is God pleased to be praised by his people regardless of talent or skill.

Again, I can agree with him that there are some pastors and churches that have it wrong. My problem is that he makes NO exception for churches that do have a solid balance of scriptural teaching and talent.

BTW...it takes some nerve to say he would rather go see a Hollywood movie (worldliness)...than experience a church play, because he thinks they lack acting skill.

[Marnie]

Axxman, you make an interesting point in support of mediocrity. I'll give you credit for wanting to argue with Tozer!

From my own experience in publishing, I refuse to work for so-called Christian authors anymore. The bulk of what passes for Christian fiction is embarrassing in the extreme; poorly conceived, poorly produced, but brilliantly marketed. The contempt on the part of Christian publishing houses for their target audience is evident in their mass production of books trotted out by at best B and C list writers. Many of these writers, by the way, couldn't make in the traditional world of publishing, so they turned what meager talent they have to the Christian world because, let's face it, we're suckers. I recommend Franky Schafer's Addicted to Mediocrity: 20th Century Christians and the Arts

"Entertainment" is anything that appeals to man's base nature. A lot churches today use gimmicks as "hooks" to get people in the door. The problem is, these people are attracted by things that appeal to their flesh--they want a diet of goat food. When you try to appeal to their spirits--feed them sheep food--they leave. So what ends up happening is that in order to keep the goats happy the church no longer feeds the sheep.

I for one would rather have a 10 sheep in the congregation than 100 goats.

[ayin jade]

So what ends up happening is that in order to keep the goats happy the church no longer feeds the sheep.

Then the sheep leave, and the church is spiritually emptier.

[Vickilynn]

So what ends up happening is that in order to keep the goats happy the church no longer feeds the sheep.

Then the sheep leave, and the church is spiritually emptier.

Shalom,

I have found the opposite to be true in our church.

We reach out with drama teams, musicals, family activities, very Contemporary Christian music, Music concerts, etc.

All these bring people in to hear the Gospel. Some of these people would never walk into a "traditional" church. They come is, they get saved, they get baptized and most of them walk with Jesus and serve right here in our church. The Word preached is MEAT MEAT MEAT! And the sheep do get fed as well as the young tender ones that are needing to grow in the knowledge of the Word.

So yeah for whatever means G-d uses to bring the Good News to the dying and to build up the Body for His service and our worship to Him! You can call it "entertainment", I call it being contemporary and open to however G-d is moving to speak to the masses.

[Marnie]

So what ends up happening is that in order to keep the goats happy the church no longer feeds the sheep.

Then the sheep leave, and the church is spiritually emptier.

Yeah, I mean that's basically Paul's teaching to the Ephesians! It's not rocket science. It's interesting, I have only been saved a relatively short span of time compared to most of you, but coming in from the outside, what attracted me was the preaching of the Word because it met a need I had and continue to have. I don't think anybody is saying there should be no music or no movies or whatever in the church.

My pastor, I think, has struck a good balance in this area. We do things; like our world famous fellowship dinners, and chorale presentations for the edification of our church, not to get people into the church. Everything we do, with the exception of our evangelistic outreach programs, is for the spiritual growth of our members. In terms of how we bring new members in, it's simple. We go and get them, like we're supposed to do. We are have been taught to witness; how to share our faith, and it's been very effective. We have grown from about 35 when I first joined to well over 80 today. And we have a church full of sheep and very few goats. The goats come in, and if they don't like the sheep food they leave. We don't cater to them. We are not "seeker sensitive," we are Holy Ghost sensitive.