“Of course the very fact that nowadays we look upon convictions as personal possessions is a symptom of the disappearance of the Christian mind” (Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, p. 40).
Father Abraham Had Many Sons
“‘Wherefore we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb. 12:28-29). Let those words, reverence and godly fear, roll around in the mind and heart while you sing through some inane song, …
Don’t Touch That Remote
“Thou shalt have no prerequisites: Every television program must be a complete package in itself. No previous knowledge is to be required. There must not be even a hint that learning is hierarchical, that it is an edifice constructed on a foundation. The learner must be allowed to enter at any point without prejudice” (Neil …
Music Heard Down the Driveway
“When Saul was in a blue funk, David’s music would soothe him (1 Sam. 16:14-17). When the musicians of the Temple came to prophesy, they did it with musical instruments (1 Chr. 25:1). When certain children wanted a jig, they played a pipe (Matt. 11:17). When the prodigal son returned home, the residents of that …
An Alter Eden
“The city is the direct consequence of Cain’s murderous act and of his refusal to accept God’s protection. Cain has built a city. For God’s Eden, he substitutes his own . . .” (Jacques Ellul, The Meaning of the City, p. 5).
Infotainment
“Those who run television do not limit our access to information but in fact widen it. Our Ministry of Culture is Huxleyan, not Orwellian. It does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously. But what we watch is a medium which presents information in a form that renders it simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical and noncontextual; …
Propriety
“Rejection of a particular kind of music for worship is not the same thing as a rejection of that kind of music. I like jazz, I like rock and roll, some of it, I like classical, I like the blues, and I love the psalms. Now give this hash of musical interests and appreciations, you …
Audio Reading of Post
Then or Now
As Edmund in Mansfield Park put it, “We do not look in great cities for our best morality”
Gotta Monger Something
“The executive director of the National Religious Broadcasters Association sums up what he calls an unwritten law of all television preachers: ‘You can get your share of the audience only by offering people something they want’” (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, p. 105).
The Born-Again Lobotomized
“The evangelical Church at large has opted for the superficial in worship. Devotees whoop and holler their way through trite upbeat songs; sometimes the songs are even blasphemous. At a conference, I once saw grown Christians jumping up and down, lustily singing away, with hand motions, splish-splashing in the blood of Christ. And when the …