If history has taught us anything, it is that believing in a lie is easier than believing in the truth. I believe there are five areas in which we, as the Body of Christ, have compromised our core beliefs. It starts with the media culture, and it ends with the media culture.
3. We like our show. Have we turned Sunday morning into a Broadway production? Don’t get me wrong. I like technology just as much as the next person. There’s nothing wrong with using videos, theatrical lighting, or drama during church services. But when it gets in the way of God, then it’s become a problem. When every moment on Sunday morning is programmed, is there any place for God or the Holy Spirit to move? Especially when churches have three or four services, every element is on a schedule. Somehow we have believed the lie that people must be entertained and that we have to create the ultimate experience in order for people to come back week after week. What about creating an atmosphere for a Holy Spirit experience for once?
4. We live by a schedule. Christians are just like everybody else. Our lives are programmed by our schedule. We have to check our Blackberry every five minutes in order to keep on pace. For most Christians, we fit Sunday morning in and perhaps a mid-week small group and a once-a-month trip to the food pantry to help the poor. But what we don’t have time in our schedule is to think about who God is. What is his character? And how do I serve his will? And are we really changing our world? These things require attention to the moment. They require the ability to think or to contemplate. But today’s media culture does not allow us to do that. We must occupy every moment of our time with some activity in order to be productive. The schedule dictates who we are and determines our lives.
5. We serve a media culture. All of the above would not be possible unless we serve a media culture. Yes, I said it. Christians serve the interests of today’s media culture just like every one else. And, by doing so, we are just as likely to accept and desire the instant gratification of power, wealth, materialism and consumerism. The media culture goal is to put you and I at the center of our universe. In one form or another, we become our own god. What we want and desire is more important than anything else in life. By doing this, we can almost justify anything in life—profit at all costs no matter who gets hurt in the process. The media culture has changed the Body of Christ, and we don’t even realize it. That’s the true tragedy. It’s truly heartbreaking to realize we have been deceived, and few of us recognize it.
God will have a perfect Church. It may not be today. But, perhaps in a hundred years or a thousand years. The question is will we wake up and start to reflect the church God desires? Will we become the people of God that God desires, or will be continue to be defined by the media culture? Will we leave a godly legacy for our children or grandchildren or a form of Christianity in name only? These are the questions we must ask ourselves if we are willing to ask them in the first place. Unless we are willing to take an honest look at the media culture and its consequences, we will only fool ourselves into believing we are changing this world. Believing a lie is always easier than believing the truth because it requires no effort on our part. We simply go with the flow.
Our leaders, society and the media culture tell us what to believe so why not keep believing it? You will not be a popular person if you question the conventional wisdom of today’s media culture or what the Church considers to be the work of God. Don’t expect to make any friends. But if you want to think for yourself, then ask yourself the above questions. Take an honest look at yourself, your motives. what you believe and why you believe it. It will lead you to the profound truth that we are not doing what God wants us to do, but we are puppets of the media culture. And, ultimately, it will lead to God’s truth about you and the world we live in. The truth is never convenient. But it is the Truth worth fighting for.
This is very well written and thought out thank you for posting it.
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