Quote:
How
can the church reach post-Boomers? Not
by emphasizing biblical truth, says
Biola exhibit
Fifty years ago, Richard Niebuhr
famously identified five different
beliefs Christians hold about engaging
culture. Now, it seems, two Southern
California professors are creating a new
Christ and Culture for the postmodern
age. And a lot of Christians aren't
going to like it.
Biola University sociologist Richard
Flory and University of Southern
California religion professor Don Miller
are the creators of "Recovery of
Ritual," a new exhibit at Biola
that, according to the Los Angeles
Times, "explores challenges that
churches face in attracting younger
worshipers."
Four categories are depicted: Reactors,
which use "nostalgic efforts that
focus on the recovery of reason, seeking
to roll back the clock on our postmodern
culture;" Imitators, who
"hijack portions of popular culture
and inject a Christian message;"
Reappropriators, who thirst for
orthodoxy and are transfixed by the
smells and bells of liturgical churches;
and Innovators, who want to reinvent the
church and focus on "intimate
community."
Of these, the Times reports, only the
Reactors are treated with derision.
"The centerpiece of this section is
a small television that shows
talking-head shots of academics and
pastors defending Christianity through
the use of Scripture," reports
William Lobdell. "On the wall are
political cartoons from the 1920s,
magazines from the 1950s and current
books, all giving the same message: The
only hope for Christianity against
modern culture is hammering away at
biblical truths."
And around the TV in an endless loop,
Lobdell notes, "is a small electric
train with 'Facts' as its engine,
'Faith' as the second car, and 'Feeling'
as the caboose." The Times doesn't
note it, but this metaphor was made
famous through Campus Crusade's
"Four Spiritual Laws," which
may be one of the "outdated tracts
or pamphlets on how to become a
Christian" that's noted in the
exhibit.
Since this exhibit is at a traditionally
conservative Christian school, expect a
reaction from some "Reactors"
who won't be pleased with such disdain
for "hammering away at biblical
truths." The modern gospel of
"relevancy" has come under
criticism from some of the most
prominent post-boomer evangelicals
(though "authenticity" is
still as broadly embraced as the Times
suggests). Nevertheless, using popular
culture seems to be seen as a shortcut
for reaching "these kids
today."
Witness, for example, Crescent Heights
United Methodist Church in West
Hollywood. The church has a Broadway
tune sing-along that brings in 40 people
a week. "The music people love, to
my mind, is sacred," Pastor John
Griffin told The New York Times in
Sunday's edition. "I don't see
music divided into sacred and secular.
If it touches people, or lifts people,
that's sacred."
But will tunes from
"Oklahoma!" and "La Cage
aux Folles" keep the seats filled?
Maybe and maybe not. Check out another
piece in the Los Angeles Times:
In September of 1992, [Mark] Tomaino was
a 31-year-old evangelical Christian who
was questioning his faith and had
resigned as lay leader of the singles
ministry at the former Melodyland
Christian Center in Anaheim. When a
friend from an Internet bulletin board
announced that she was attending The
Rocky Horror Picture Show one evening,
Tomaino caught [amateur theater troupe]
Midnight Insanity's extravaganza at the
Art Theatre. Tomaino attended the next
week's show, volunteered for the troupe
and never looked back.
But it wasn't the film that got him, he
says. "When I missed church for a
few weeks, nobody would call," he
tells the Times. "But if you missed
anything at Rocky, somebody calls and
asks if you're OK."
Midnight Insanity even has a crisis
hotline. "We've had calls from
people who are at the end of their rope
and wouldn't call a regular
hotline," Tomaino says. "We're
not trying to rush [them] to the
hospital. We [tell them] we care, and to
say 'hi' at next Saturday's [Rocky
Horror] show. Then they have something
to look forward to."
Expect quite a few folks in the
Innovators group to clip and save that
story as evidence that a church emphasis
on community is the answer to a
postmodern world. |
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http://ctlibrary.com/7367
Today, Christafari manages still to make
their following believe that christafari are "missionairies
preaching the gospel".
Their methods are classic, according to BIOLA where Mark
Christafari had his "biblically sound
education". This is one of the classics in the
BIOLA exhibition, that of the "Imitator".
Quote:
| Imitators,
who "hijack portions of popular
culture and inject a Christian
message;" |
|
In interviews, Mark Mohr speaks about the reason why he
went to BIOLA.
Quote:
| "The
best advice I was ever given was to go
to Bible College so I could be
theologically and doctrinally
sound," |
|
CLICK
TO VERIFY
But when you check this
"gospel", it's two different ones:
The first one is that you got to change from being a
Conscious man praising JAH HEADOFCREATION into a
babylonian. Just look for example at the "Ex-Rasta
stars" on Lion Of Zion. they all trimmed their
dreads of, and are now ballheads. In fact, christafari
only accepts "dreads" when they are fashion
dreads.. In all other cases they're labeled as pagans or
deceivers.
"god", ofcourse, is a term. Like king, or
president. And it has a pagan origin. Christafari's
message is that when you praise the NAME of JAH you can
only do it to reach people who also praise the NAME of
JAH, but in reality you want to give them the message
they should no longer call upon the Most High by His
Name but ionstead start to speak abvout some spirit
called "god" who teaches you to "obey
authorities".
Christafari's second gospel is more simple. It's
"buy my music. Become a fan and get
hooked to our created culture. Let's plug the
gap in the industry".
Now, when christafari starts to "respond" to
all of this, it's allways the same. They give lecture or
sermon or rant on the need to preach the Gospel.
They just don't tell their listeners how they have TWO
gospels. And none of them is the real one.
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