Posted by Hemant Mehta on: 04.03.2006 /
In lieu of a church visit this week, allow me to write about why I enjoy Christian media. Please note that I’m not mocking the religion at all, but I am making light of the way Christians expose their message.
It’s no surprise to anyone here: I genuinely enjoy watching Joel Osteen. I also enjoy watching any number of preachers on TV that speak the fire-and-brimstone rhetoric that tells me I’m doomed. When I go to a hotel, it has become a habit for me to check that my Gideons Bible is there and that Trinity Broadcasting Network is on the TV. I look forward to receiving my Charisma magazine each month, and I love getting my Focus on the Family newsletters. Even better are the church pamphlets that tell me I’m hellbound.
How did I become addicted to these things?
Well, first the positive. I enjoy watching Joel for the same reason many Christians don’t watch him– it’s Christian-lite! He’s not solely dependent on the Bible to make a point. Instead of using the Bible to write a sermon, it always seems to me that he wrote the sermon with a life lesson in mind, and then consulted the Bible to back up his points. And I walk away from watching him thinking, “I do need to make better use of my time!” instead of “I should read Mark because Chapter 2 (or whatever) said some interesting things about Jesus.” Obvously, the former sits better with Atheists.
Another great part about Joel is that while he leads the king of all megachurches, I’m not drawn to him on TV because of the extravagant setup of his church/basketball arena. Unlike other megachurches that depend on the sheer enormity of itself to bring people in, I’m drawn to Joel’s message. You could have him speaking in a tiny room with an audience of 4, and I know he’d speak the same way with the same passion.
There aren’t many places on TV (outside PBS) where you ever get to see anyone giving a speech. Christian TV is one of them, though, and they have some very good speakers. I’d take that over most of the stuff on other channels.
Some negative: I love that I can hear a different point of view, which might be why I’m drawn to all this. Of course, I think my own framework of Atheism is “right,” so when I see someone saying I am going to Hell if I don’t succumb to the Word of God, I have to laugh because I “know” they’re wrong. I’m certainly not scared. And since scaring people seems to be the reason why they say such things, I am amused that it’s not working.
Charisma Magazine also shows me a world I didn’t know existed. I enjoy the advertising of the (approximately) 23128937182 conferences going on each month, hosted by the same pastor husbands with their big-blonde-haired wives. I’m not ripping on them at all (I’m sure Atheist conventions wish they had just a fraction of the attendees of any of these Christian conventions)– it all just seems so homogenous. Even the ads for the conventions are all the same. The inset Glamour-Shot poses of the hosts, the globe in the background, and the photoshopped image of all the speakers together in a row.
Charisma also has a column called “Persecution Watch” which I enjoy because I have never thought Christians were persecuted. I’m not condoning any sort of violence from non-Christian groups at all. But it seems the Christians are only being “persecuted” in countries where missionaries entered to try to convert non-Christian people. And then they act surprised when they’re told they’re not welcome. The locals didn’t want to be “saved” so they rebelled. Again, the violence is bad– Just ask the missionaries to leave. But why is it persecution when you’re trying to bring your religion to people who don’t want it, and they don’t want you there? Some of these stories are legitimate, but if you’re truly not being allowed to practice Christianity, I firmly believe Atheists would be right at your side in terms of giving you the right to worship.
The homogeneity of the people in the Christian media is another great reason to watch Trinity Broadcasting Network. The people who are on TV are, again, always the same always-happy husband-wife pair who agree on everything and think those crazy Atheists are trying to stop their way of life. How can I not watch that?! It’s just a strange feeling when “your people” are the enemy of those on Christian TV, and to be able to hear what they say about you– to be a fly on that wall– and to hear how they stereotype us Atheists into a cartoony, satan-worshipping caricature– is too good to pass up.
The icing on this whole cake is reading my Focus on the Family newsletter. And I say this without trying to politicize anything. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Dan Savage and his advice column Savage Love (typical advice: If your wife is not satisfying you, go have an affair), because I find him to be funny. He may take it too far at times, in my opinion, but he stresses the importance of personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Dobson, on the other hand, stresses complete control and the pursuit of Heaven. I like to read what he says because he is a man that’s so well-respected in his community. But he also despises everything I stand for, and since I think I’m a good person, I can’t understand why he feels that way. Well, I know why he feels that way… but I can’t understand why people like me don’t make him stop and think he might be a *little* bit wrong…
Don’t even get me started on the magical “Jesus mat” that came in the mail which will bring me good fortune (Apparently, if I stare at it, Jesus’ eyes will open… staring… starting… darn, nothing happened).
Moral of the story: Christianity works best for non-believers when we hear stories that sound like something we would see or do. Joel tells me to not be dishonest by telling a story from his college days (Hey, I went to college, too!) and then supports his message with a story from the Bible. Dobson tells me I shouldn’t be dishonest because Proverbs 6:16-19 says so (as he does in the April issue of Charisma). Period. Who would I be more inclined to listen to?
On a similar note, the conference advertising and the Christian TV shows show people who seem so contrived and *not* like the people I’d see on a regular basis (Can anyone else imagine Benny Hinn or Jan Crouch at your workplace?)… It’s a different world. And if you want me to join you, you have to appeal to me. That’s not even close to happening.
Leave a Reply
Comment by: Ir
1 04/3/06 3:17 AM | Comment Link |Hemant wrote:
It sits better with me too and did so when I was a Christian. I always preferred sermons which included ‘life lessons’. I was in a Bible study for about 8 years which included a 45 minute lecture each week and one of the best parts about it was that the lecturers were trained that it was essential for them to include ‘personal applications’ (i.e. life lessons) in their lectures. The best sermons I’ve heard all include those life lessons. I mean, what’s the point in a sermon which leaves you knowing more Bible verses than before, but acting and thinking just the same, in all other respects?
I’m glad you can laugh at it Hemant. It used to bother me a lot how often and how much Christian mischaracterized atheists when I was more regularly listening to their teaching.
Comment by: Peter in Pennsylvania
2 04/3/06 5:11 AM | Comment Link |I think your understanding of these “celebrities” is pretty dead-on accurate. I always caution people, however, not to think that they and their public personas are anything like “mainstream” ‘christianity. They are reality TV stars, radio stars, et cetera. They aren’t “real people” to you and me. In many cases I think they put on a public face that is totally different from what they are.
I ignore them myself, even for the entertainment value… I’m not sure they all even exist. ;-)
Comment by: Julie C.
3 04/3/06 10:22 AM | Comment Link |I appreciate your thoughts on this. Sermons without application are annoying and generally boring. But when believers fail to attempt to understand scripture you get some pretty wacked out stuff that passes as personal application. I am the first to admit that everything is subject to interpretation, but some intellectual honesty is generally a good thing as opposed to a mere emotional reading that looks at how things affect my life. anyway… I too enjoy Dobson for entertainment value… ;)
Comment by: NCxian
4 04/3/06 10:49 AM | Comment Link |If you think atheists are stereotyped in a way that causes you pain, try to imagine the plight of us poor non-evangelical, non-fundamentalist, non-politically-right, non-big-haired-blond Christians! The media image of Christianity is so skewed, we have to identify ourselves by what we are not. (cf. “not kitten-eating!”)
Maybe that’s why we’ve developed some kind of comradery here at OTM. We’re two groups of sadly misunderstood (and nice, and maybe a little defensive) people. :)
Comment by: Rick
5 04/3/06 11:36 AM | Comment Link |If anyone is a true fan of Dobson and Focus on Family (FOF), I apologize in advance.
After the FOF media dances about “Spongebob is turning kids gay”, some of us jokingly refer to FOF as focus on fascism.
Comment by: Linda
6 04/3/06 12:06 PM | Comment Link |Ah the Jesus mat…. who sent those out, I keep hearing about people ALL OVER getting them…
Comment by: Pam Hogeweide
7 04/3/06 2:47 PM | Comment Link |i adore this posting of yours hemant. i’ve been an admirer of all your posts here at OTM, but this one is my fave. i’ll tell you why - because you articulate so well the dyfunction in our community. you know how an outsider can spend time at your house and pick up on the weirdnesses of your family that you’re blind to because “that’s just the way it is?” your surveys and critiques are like that to me, and dysfunction in the family of Christendom is perhaps at it’s highest in mass media and the conference industry. (don’t even get me started on the triple digit ticket prices for these things…)
yes, great advice
that’s it. and for christians the best example of this being done is when Jesus stepped out of eternity into humanity and became one of us . Kind of like that song, What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us… (sorry, can’t remember who sang it, but it had a great message)
hemant, thanks again for indulging Jim and all of us in the wacked out world of evangelicalism. I can imagine God in heaven saying to his angelic crew, “Hey, my American followers are getting too weird even for me. Who can we assign to help straighten them out?”
I wonder who nominated you :-)
Comment by: Mike C
8 04/3/06 3:12 PM | Comment Link |Hemant,
You really need to expand your circle of Christian media. I’m sure after hanging out with us at Via Christus the other night you realize that not all of us Christians want to be lumped into the same category as Dobson, TV preachers, and Charismatic conference hosts. I can see why you might find them merely amusing, but personally I find them offensive because as a Christian I feel like they’re misrepresenting my faith and making the rest of us look bad.
My recommendation? Start subscribing to other Christian magazines like Sojourners, Relevant, and the Wittenburg Door (the world’s pretty much only religious satire magazine :) ). In fact, if you email me your snail mail address I’d even consider buying a subscription to one or two of them for you.
I think they’d give you even more evidence that there’s a lot of different ways to be a Christian out there, and not all of them are as close-minded as what you see on TBN or listen to on Focus on the Family.
Peace,
Pastor Mike
Comment by: Pam Hogeweide
9 04/3/06 10:48 PM | Comment Link |mike’s offer is genereous…the wittenburg door is hilarious. i was just rereading a couple of backissues yesterday. it is my dream to be published within it’s austere pages…:-)
Comment by: NCxian
10 04/4/06 3:31 AM | Comment Link |You might also try a magazine like The Christian Century, Hemant. It is mainstream enough that I imagine it is at your library, so you can take a look without committing.
I’m a big fan of “speechifying” too. (I know it is called “rhetoric” but if you use that term, people think you are a scholar or something, but I am just a fan). My favorites are from Martin Luther King and, fortunately, more and more are available on line. A living preacher you could listen to on line that you might find interesting is Tony Campolo. At his website, there are a dozen or so sermons, http://www.tonycampolo.org. Tony is an evangelical, but is not “right”. (I started to define that, but I think it works in several ways.) He is funny with out being ridiculous.
Comment by: Hemant
11 04/4/06 9:08 AM | Comment Link |Mike–I agree with your assessment. I know that most of the media I see is not representative of all Christians. But it is what a *lot* of people see and associate with Christianity– I think any “persecution” or anti-Christian sentiment that people perceive is due to those representations, not the type of Christianity I saw at Via Christus.
Though I do think that Charisma is a fair portrayal of the religion. Am I wrong on that?
And while I appreciate the offer for the subscriptions, I think I have enough Christian literature that has been sent to me recently to last me quite a while :) Thanks, though.
– Hemant
Comment by: NCxian
12 04/4/06 12:14 PM | Comment Link |Hemant, you are teasing about Charisma magazine being a fair portrayal of the religion, right?
Comment by: NCxian
13 04/4/06 1:00 PM | Comment Link |Oops, I didn’t mean to suggest that Charisma was somehow unfair. It is a fair portrayal of a very small slice of protestant Christianity.
It would be like picking up the White Sox fanzine and saying, “this is all I need to know about Major League Baseball”!
Comment by: Jim Henderson
14 04/4/06 4:23 PM | Comment Link |Charisma is a fair portrayal of the fastest growing segment of christianity in the world as well as the largest social movement ever - pentecostalism
Comment by: Kari
15 04/4/06 6:39 PM | Comment Link |Here’s more media: of the pentecostal persuasion, with no pink hair: The church I go to offers their sermons on line: http://www.westgatechapel.com. Would that qualify as 1/2 of a church attendance?
Comment by: Jim Henderson
16 04/4/06 6:44 PM | Comment Link |Welcome Kari
Whats 1/2 of a church attendance?
Comment by: Kari
17 04/4/06 7:56 PM | Comment Link |I was only kidding, isn’t he supposed to visit so many churches per your agreement? I’m listening to the sermon even as I type, and there is a mention of church media that Hemant might find interesting, but it’s a complete 180 from what the present’mega church’ philosophy is.
Comment by: Mike C
18 04/4/06 10:59 PM | Comment Link |I think it’s probably an oversimplification to say that Christians are mostly being persecuted in places where they’re coming in from the outside and bringing Christianity to people who don’t want it. Some of the biggest hotspots for persecution these days are places where Christians have existed for centuries and yet they are being surpressed by hostile governments.
Some examples:
China - Christians came to China as early as the 5th century, and have had a sustained presence there in modern times since the 1600’s and yet currently the Chinese government is actively exterminating any unregistered house churches (i.e. Christians who refuse to bow the knee to the Communist Regime).
Sudan - The north part of the country and the government is ruled by an extremist Islamic sect that is currently engaged in outright genocide against the largely Christian population in the south.
Indonesia - has had a mixture of Christian and Muslim populations for centuries, and often violence breaks out between the two.
India - has had a consistent Christian presence since New Testament times. According to tradition St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to India - and in fact I have a friend who is “St. Thomas Christian” from India (i.e. he was raised in a church that claims it’s heritage back to Thomas). And yet there are Hindu extremists who have attacked and killed Christian missionaries and ministers there for preaching their faith.
Iraq - Christians have likewise been present in Mesopotamia since the time of the Apostles. Until this most recent war they were left in peace and allowed to practice their religion freely. Unfortunately now Iraqi Christians have become “guilty by association” with the American invaders (despite the fact that most Iraqi Christians are pacifists) and so have become the target of insurrectionist violence.
So again, persecution is not just about unwelcome outsiders forcing their religion on others.
Personally I believe in a free marketplace of ideas. I think missionaries of any religion ought to be free to preach their message in a non-coercive way anywhere in the world, and people of every country ought to have the freedom to listen, consider the issues for themselves, and make their own choice regarding which religion or worldview to follow without fear of violent persecution. So even if Christian missionaries are not welcomed by the dominant population of an area, as long as they are not doing anything except freely and non-manipulatively sharing their beliefs, I don’t think anyone should have a problem with that. No one is forcing anyone to convert to the missionary’s religion or even listen to what they have to say.
Just my .02…
-Mike
Comment by: NCxian
19 04/5/06 5:38 AM | Comment Link |Hemant: If you are really interested in the wide variety in Christianity, I just stumbled on a good website. http://www.religioustolerance.org
This link (if I do it right) will take you to a menu of articles on the varieties of Christian association/practice.
Jim: Good point about the fast growth of pentecostalism. Has Hemant signed on for a pentecostal event?
Comment by: NCxian
20 04/5/06 5:41 AM | Comment Link |Trying to turn off the link. sorry!
Comment by: Jim Henderson
21 04/5/06 10:43 AM | Comment Link |NC we’re working on it
Comment by: Peter in Pennsylvania
22 04/5/06 12:19 PM | Comment Link |Rick said “some of us jokingly refer to FOF as focus on fascism.”
Don’t apologize, that is HYSTERICAL!
Comment by: Char
23 04/5/06 7:07 PM | Comment Link |Actually Hemant, I used to work for one of those TV preacher types, who even occasionally got to preach at Lakewood Church in Houston when Joel’s Dad John was the pastor.
My biggest problem with these guys is personal theology. If the point of the religion is “what’s in it for me” then I think “self” has become god. I don’t think that is what Christianity is about.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
24 04/5/06 7:10 PM | Comment Link |Char
For those who are unfamiliar with the “whats in it for me” downsides of pentecostal theo - could you go into a little more detail
Comment by: Char
25 04/5/06 8:36 PM | Comment Link |Jim,
First of all this is just stuff I’ve run into - I’m no expert and haven’t lived in what was characterized to me as “The Word of Faith” or “Name it and claim it” culture aside from my work experience. Let me also put in the disclaimer that I think my work experience there mirrors other experiences I’ve had within more mainstream evangelical Christian culture that “prays a prayer of salvation” and is focused on whether I, personally, get to go to heaven. (Wondering if I just opened Pandora’s box)
In either case, the individual involved lays claim verbally to what they want (health, wealth and heaven) and identifies “faith” as believing *really hard* that it will come true. Unfortunately, the individual’s focus is me-centered. How do I get what I want? I want heaven/avoid hell - ok, I pray this prayer (magic formula). I want health, wealth, success, whatever - then I have to have “faith” it will happen.
If an individual’s life is self-focused, if they are #1, how can they be called a Christian? The original sin in Genesis was Adam & Eve placing themselves above God. Becoming a Christian is about reconciling with God, placing Him back in His position - Godhood and “un-god”ing ourselves.
Obviously, these comments aren’t to say everyone in either of the aforementioned camps are like this, but…
we all definitely got some twisted theology going on here!
Comment by: Mike C
26 04/8/06 10:52 PM | Comment Link |Funny, I’ve almost never found that to be what people mean when they use the word “faith”. You must be hanging out with different sorts of people than I’m used to.
I usually find that people mean something like the biblical definition of faith: “Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” In other words, it’s a concept more akin to hope for the future and trust in a person. If I say that I have faith in God, I don’t primarily mean that I believe in the existence of someone I know is not really there. I mean that I trust in him the way I trust my wife or a friend.
I guess in a philosophical sense I use faith to mean a choice to believe in a foundational idea that cannot be proved by any other means. For example, a rationalist or a scientist might have faith in the validity of human reason (i.e. that our reason can present us with an accurate representation of reality). Now of course you can’t prove that this is true, because to prove it you would have to use rationality, the very thing whose validity you’re trying to establish. Thus you have to make a leap of faith. One must simply choose to believe in the validity of human reason as the starting point for all other rational pursuits.
I think the existence of God is much the same way. You can neither prove nor disprove his existence (though there is inconclusive evidence either way). At some point you must simply make a leap of faith one way or the other so that you can get on with your inquiries.
At any rate, that’s how I define faith.
Comment by: Mike C
27 04/10/06 10:32 PM | Comment Link |ummm…. what?
Comment by: DL
28 04/11/06 5:45 PM | Comment Link |I too understand the comedic value of televangelists. I just miss the salad days of Brother Swaggert. You could always tell when he was working himself into a good crying jag. Or those “scholarly” roundtables where the white haired old men would nod sagely at his craptacular pronouncements. Or Brother Tilton. He was a goofball of the highest calibre. Or the crass salesmanship of Jim and Tammy. The crazies today seem a pale imitation. Or perhaps I’ve just lost my sense of humor somewhere along the line. But thanks to your article, I’ll try again.
Comment by: E.X.
29 04/21/06 3:03 PM | Comment Link |Hemant, your article rocks. I wish I could get this published in the Christian magazine I work for. One thing I do want to mention to everyone is that we ‘enlightened’ Christians need to cut the Big Haired Christians some slack. Even though the majority of people I get mad at these days are ‘narrow-minded’ Christians, I run the risk of being arrogant and all kinds of other stuff I want to accuse them of. We like to point the finger at the people so unlike us who we find it hard to love and distance ourselves from them (after all, it’s up to us to redeem the public image of the Christian faith), but I don’t know that this is more of a God thing than an ego thing. What takes real, supernatural humility is to stand with them even when we don’t agree with them, love and listen to them, and try to understand them as best as we can. That’s what we want them to do.
There was a time in my life that I didn’t call myself a Christian although I fully was following Christ. Part of that time I was living in a Muslim country, and the word/label “Christian” had so many meanings there that had nothing to do with my faith; I preferred to talk about faith with my friends based on the realities of it rather than labels that came with too much baggage for any one person to dispose of.
Then here in the States, I still found that I wanted nothing to do with the baggage that not-Christian people in my life felt came along with the term “Christian.” Having not grown up in a white American evangelical Christian community, I didn’t get the Big Haired People and thought they were full of it and evil. The first time I saw The Angry Guy on TBN, I was so horrified I called in to find out if it was for real. On another occasion, I saw some Big Haired theatricals on TBN and called in to express my distress. The guy I spoke to was very interesting. I didn’t appreciate the way he talked over me and answered my questions before I finished speaking, but he made a very good point. He told me he was a long-haired surfer guy who used to find the Big Haired Couple scary. But here’s the Scripture he quoted at me: “God uses the foolish things to shame the wise.” I thought it was pretty cool that he was calling the BHC ‘foolish.’ We ended up having a nice talk and prayed together. I still didn’t ‘like’ him, but I was reminded that he was still my brother even if we disagreed on what should or shouldn’t be on TV representing our faith.
Since then, I’ve found myself working in vastly different worlds, sometimes among wonderful atheists or don’t-know-what-I-believes, sometimes among annoying Christians. But I’ve chosen to call myself a Christian in both environments. If I choose to separate myself from the Christians I don’t naturally like or agree with, I run the risk of becoming religious in my own way– making up my own rules, standards, and systems for me to adhere to and thus feel in control and one-up. If I truly believe that Christ came to save us from our self-made religions (we really are so religious by nature, ey?), then I need to get over myself. Even if that means hanging out with people who don’t fit into my religious inclinations, whether because of their culture, style, opinions, or whatever. It’s so freaking hard. But I’ve been very very ‘blessed’ by the discovery of beauty in people who I would once have written off as being FOF (freaks of fascism). They may subscribe to King James’ often-bizarre newsletters, but there are many things I can learn from them.
Comment by: Elango
30 04/24/06 11:16 PM | Comment Link |Interesting take on a lot of Christian evangelists! I agree with most of your comments about the shady characters characters on TBN. I find it hard to believe your statement that you had never known that christians were persecuted till you saw the program on ‘persecuted Christians. I assume that you are indian in background and unless you had been living in a cave for the last few years, you would surely have heard of the Australian missionary and his 5&6 year old boys burnt alive in Orissa because of their ministry among lepers…who in pre-british(hindu)India used to be buried alive…There was stories almost everyday when the fundamentalist hindu party was ruling India of churches being burnt, pastors attacked…you get the story! You also seem to sympathise with the efforts to drive missionaries out because the ‘people didnt want them’…maybe you should then start a movement to drive out all the snake oil sellers (Swamis) from India proselytising for Hinduism in the States using Yoga, free sex and Pot in their ashrams…I dont think a lot of Americans want them there, either! As for the characters on the Hindu TV channels in India spouting pseudo intellectual nonsense looking like they are just recovering from their latest hashish ‘hit’, the less said the better! BTW, I am an Indian in India who’s has spent quite a few years in the States.
Comment by: Deano
31 04/25/06 4:58 PM | Comment Link |Hey Just quickly, that Australian father and his two sons were supported by my church here in Queensland Australia.
His wife and daughter came to our church a few years back, and his wife spoke on how God had worked through her life after her husband and sons’ deaths. Both her and her daughter were plannin to, and are now back in Indonesia working amongst the lepers once again.
I think that shows great love for the people, and great courage.
Comment by: Natalie
32 05/11/06 9:46 AM | Comment Link |Check out http://www.lifechurch.tv for a more ‘relevant’ church. There is a live broadcast on sundays @ 10;00 and 11:30 A.M. CST. It’s our internet campus. People watch the worship, message and then chat online in the “lobby”. You m ight like it. In fact the message series is “Girls Gone Wild Bible Style” It’s worth a look.
Comment by: Karol
33 05/11/06 10:21 PM | Comment Link |I am a third generation “classical pentecostal” and my husband is an Assembly of God minister (forth generation “classical pentecostal” and we were missionaries in Africa for almost a decade. I earned by B.A. in English at an Assemblies of God Bible college. We are not unaware of the “laytrash” that is out there. (My husband’s term for the next theological novelty that comes out in book form or is presented through the media.) The “name it and claim it” and “Word of Faith” garbage are not sanctioned by “normal” pentecostal movements. I just need to post this for the record. The televangelists make me ashamed to be put in the same category as a pentecostal/ charismatic because they do not speak for me. When my husband was attending Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, I used to watch Gene Scott on TV for entertainment value. (He had a large independent charismatic church in So. Cal at the time.) One night, he brought out house plans and asked people to send in money designated for his new house. I was stunned. At least he was honest about what he wanted, but I think it was a gross misuse of the power of television. Then, a few weeks later, one night he told the TV audience that he had enough money to build the house and furnish it too!!! I was moritified. These people do not speak for me. Yes, I believe in Christ as the savior, but so do Methodists, Catholics, and Presbyterians. The comment that Christianity is all about “me” is true for some Christians, just as life being all about me is true for some people who are not Christians. Selfish people can exist within any grouping of any sort. Christ’s love was selfless. My need for Christ is not based on a fear of hell-fire, but on how having Christ in my life here and now makes daily life and its struggles so much easier because I never struggle alone. My fear is not so much of discomfort (hell), but of alienation and separation from God relationship-wise for all time. That would truly be hell for me. Is that all about me? Possibly, but not in a way that I think would shame other Christians to be associated with me.
Not all pentecostal ministers are the same. I know this may be hard to believe, but some are actually well educated with proper professional training. The people on the TV do not represent what actual pentecostal churches are like or how church services function. That is something I need to post. If you don’t believe me, attend a Sunday morning service in a large Assembly of God church in a major city and you will not see anything like what you see on television.
As far as martyrs go, there are now approximately 300,000 people currently being martyred around the globe each year. It has stepped up from when my husband was at Fuller in the late 80’s from being about 30,000 people martyred a year. Most of these people are not white missionaries. They are Christians killed within their own countries simply for being Christian. It has gotten so much worse in less than 20 years since my husband began tracking the stats while in graduate school. So, while I have never been persecuted for being a Christian, I recognize that there are millions who experience true persecution just for what they believe about who God is. How many people must be persecuted to produce the (approximately) 300,000 martyrs that currently are murdered each year?
Comment by: David
34 06/11/06 8:01 PM | Comment Link |Very good article, I totally agree with you. The sad thing, however, is that from the outside it all looks the same. But TBN, for example, is far from representative of Christians or church, most of whom secretly watch it for laughs when they’re out of town.
Comment by: Bonny
35 05/13/07 6:53 PM | Comment Link |I agree with much of what you say but find that Mike C.’s comment of 04/08 sums up what faith is all about. It isn’t necessarily the choice between God, Budda, Mohammad or any other diety, it is just faith in something bigger than yourself and an attempt to reason againist all the cruelness and ugliness of this world. But it would be silly to assume that Christianity is all inclusive. That would be equal to saying that Earth is the only planet in the galaxy that has any form of life. Then we are back to the “me”-ism of faith. To “believe” in anything other than “self” is to have faith. To believe that the sun will rise every morning in the east and set every evening in the west is faith. There is no way to “prove” that tomorrow will be the same as today. We base that “faith” or “knowing” on history. The same is true for believers of faith. Every “faith” has a history founded in truth and we choose to believe as we choose to watch the sun rise and set. It’s that simple.
But I totally agree about the TV preachers and speakers. The minute that someone tells me that I must do thus and so or I’m going to be doomed to hell then I have to laugh too. But the laughing is always followed by a deep sadness and anger. Anger for assuming to be smarter than the God I believe exists and loves us all. I call him God because that is where my history lies, not because I do not believe in the existance of Budda or Mohammad for all to call and pray to them. I have only 2 scriptures that are my “Bible”, I can’t quote them verbatum and I don’t even know where they are written and it doesn’t matter. The first is “And this a say to you: Love the Lord your God, love your fellow man and love yourself as you love others”. And the second is “For God gave His only Son so that all who follow him will be saved”.
The first is self-explanitory as it speaks to love and the second tells me to follow the teachings of someone who came before me (history) and was wiser and smarter than I will ever be. So to sum it up - history teaches me how to live in a way that others find pleasing.
Too bad all the “modern” day preachers have forgotten the basics. Maybe if they had stayed on the tried and true (e.g. the sun rising and setting) then you would not be so turned off to God. And believe me, you are far from alone. In fact, most days I feel that Christians, as a whole, are being persecuted because of the preachers who have forgotten their roots. And I also wonder if it is not because of them that we no longer have the right to pray in school and why we have had to remove the 10 Commandments from our government buildings. The old addage goes - swing the pendulum too far one way or the other and it has to swing back accordingly.
Comment by: normanspalding
36 02/11/08 12:26 PM | Comment Link |The bible and any human mentioned there is a P poor excuse for the project of fun and thats what the STUPID VERY STUPT OVER CREATOR BUILT!!! THIS IS CERATION A FUNCTION OF THE LORDS AND HUMANITY IS A FUNCTION OF THE LORDS IMPOSABLR OF THE CONSEPT OF FAILURE IN ANY WAY ASK THE LORD YA DONT REMEMBER THIS NEVER BELEIVE !!! ASK THE LORD IN PERSONAL PRAYER AND LEY YOUR CREATORS CONVERSATION RECORDED IN YOUR DNA BEFORE STARS AND PLANETS EXOERIANCE WITH YOU NOW IN ALL THINGS NORMAN REMINDS YOU DO THIS TAKE ALL OF NORMANS FRASED CONTENT TO THE LORD IN PRAYER JUST LIKE NINEVEH DID WITH JONAH!!!!