“Their amusements bore them . . . their devices for saving time have banished leisure from their country.”

In C. S. Lewis’s Pilgrim’s Regress, a character who serves as a Guide tells the characters John and Vertue of a modern-like country. This quote may be a bit confusing, especially at first, since I’m pulling it out of the midst of a specific context (what happens when people do that with the Bible?), but [...]

Read Full Post »

Christianity and marketing

The marketing culture of American consumerism and American evangelicals are strange bedfellows, but, make no mistake about it, American evangelicalism is drunk with marketing. Entire ministries are built upon employing the right marketing techniques. Even the most conservative corners demonstrate a penchant toward marketing strategies and tricks. If you do not believe this to be [...]

Read Full Post »

Observations on a growing and influential cult

Since moving out to Central Seminary for graduate and then post-graduate work, I have always had “secular” jobs, jobs outside the scheme of church and para-church organizations. Working closely with many non-Christians on a daily basis, I have been able to observe closely an interesting religion to which my co-workers adhere. I speak, of [...]

Read Full Post »

On Comfort and Cameron’s debate tonight

Probably many of you know (much better than I) that Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron are going to be on Nightline tonight debating some atheists. I have posted on Cameron and Comfort before (back in my sarcastic days).
Joshua Sowin provides a good critique (HT: JT). Evidently, Comfort can not only “scientifically” prove the existence of [...]

Read Full Post »

Second in entertainment to the theater

Here’s more Tozer from the sermon I linked yesterday. The sermon is wonderful. There are not many better ways to spend forty minutes of your time than listening to this message.

Because we’re not worshippers, we’re wasting other peoples’ money tremendously, we’re marking time, we’re spinning our wheels with the axels up on wood-blocks, burning the [...]

Read Full Post »

Back to bashing the theater

It has been a while since I made any remarks about the theater, that blessed form now fully accepted by American evangelicals and fundamentalists, not only without hesitation as secular entertainment, but also–in the spirit of the utmost profanity and blasphemy–now thrust upon us on every side as viable Christian worship. Since American Christians, despite [...]

Read Full Post »

Tozer on amusement and entertainment

In his 47th sermon on John, “Let not your heart be troubled,”* Tozer has a few good things to say about amusement and entertainment.
I believe that amusements were created by the devil to take the minds of dying men off of their dying. I believe that entertainment and amusements are the work of the enemy [...]

Read Full Post »

Ron Howard tells it like it is

"This is supposed to be entertainment, it's not theology."
No, this is not Rick Warren, Tronn Oilham, the CEO for Every Tribe Entertainment or your Vacation Bible School director. This is Ron Howard, telling it like it is. Of course, Ron Howard is wrong. He is certainly trying to say something about God. But in another [...]

Read Full Post »

Religious movies and the regulative principle

We are nearly finished now. I have been discussing the presumption that movies (or drama, by inference) should be used for evangelistic ends. I know I have been testing the patience of my readers with this, but I try not to get caught up in the time-defying fury of blogging. Your patience has been appreciated. [...]

Read Full Post »

paleoevangelical: Dever on Entertainment and Church Dramas

paleoevangelical: Dever on Entertainment and Church Dramas
This is more of the same. I do enjoy having people like Mark Dever on my side.

Read Full Post »

Some Neil Postman for a Monday morning

from Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York: Viking Penguin, 1985), 8-9.

“The clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation. I might add that my interest in this point of view was first stirred by a prophet far more formidable than [...]

Read Full Post »

Spurgeon’s protege finally speaks out on the idea of the religious movie

I originally believed that this quote was by Spurgeon himself. I was listening to a sermon called “Deviant Worship” by Sam Horn and he read this quote, attributing it to him. It seems it was actually made by Archibald Brown, Spurgeon’s student and contemporary, the man who conducted Spurgeon’s funeral. This entire tract seems like [...]

Read Full Post »

Speaking of religious movies

Here you go, people. If we can 50 of us to get together and go to Michael W. Smith’s new movie Second Chance, we could WIN him to come and LEAD WORSHIP at our church!
Can somebody shout glory?!? Does that pump you up about Jesus or what?
Let’s get the list going NOW! Sign yerself up!

Read Full Post »

A continued response to the idea of religious movies: Tozer on acting

We have been discussing of late the idea of the religious movie. I began with a response to Jason Janz’s article “Why We Say ‘Gospel.’” My next article attempted to show that all movies are entertainment, and as such they should not be used for corporate worship or gospel presentations. Then I asked Joel Zartman [...]

Read Full Post »