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Another Voice: Christian Media
Just a quick link here- Mark LaRoi has a post on the topic Ashley posted on, Christian Media- worth adding into the discussion:
Christian music…Christian movies…Christian alarm clock…
I've been thinking again, (uh oh!) and reading this question on a thread at Gospel Flava prompted me to finally put my thoughts out in the open. Here is the question:
“I really need your help. My senior project is on the Christian Music Ministry and what exactly makes a song “Christian”.”
Read it, see what you think, comment if you have your own two cents (either here on
Ashley's post or @
Mark's 'Pieces of a Whole' )
Christian monks invented the alarm clock to help manage their prayer times. So, yes, Christian alarm clock, absolutely.
Thanks Ilona for adding more to the conversation; I look forward to reading Mark's post.
Atlantic, now there is a piece of information I didn't know!
Sometimes I think the entire difficulty is in the fact that the state of Christianity involves one of being, not just belonging. One of the important aspects is that of jurisdiction, our place of authority. We are to occupy in this world, so whatever is under our hand or in our "house" is ruled by our allegiance to Christ and ought to "become" Christian. We have become so proprietary in marking things as 'Christian' due to the philosophical conflict in modern times of renaming and denying all things "Christian".
It became something of a 'backlash', as it were. I am still mulling things around in my head, but I lean much more to the emphasis on being who we are in a manifested way- "letting our light shine" in the larger sense of verbalizing our faith more ( this would include all media). Stop marking things "Christian" and let the essence of what we as Christians produce be manifestly Christian.
This is the harder way, but often that is truth going against the flow of the false and counterfeit. It demands of us a real and radical faith, one that is witnessed to the world that is offended with us for the sake of Christ. Maybe then... we would not have so much confusion about what real Christianity looks like. The true will always expose the false, just by its presence and contrast.
It is a broader approach to resolving the issue of defining and elevating Christian art, but as I said I am leaning toward this being the only real answer- the only one that will release us from this never ending circle that the Church of today finds itself.
In the meantime, the tares grow up with the wheat and we put up with all sorts of "christian" kitsch, marketing our spirituality to us. I'm not against it all, in any way... I like reminders of my faith on daily objects.
I guess what I've come to is that the emphasis should be on raising the bar for art, for expression, and aiming towards a target rather than mooning over what low standards there are. "Taking the precious from the vile" in approach.
I found a couple other posts that address issues we're discussing as well (ah, the serendipity! :-) )
Ben Witherington on evangelical youth and youth ministry: The 4% Doctrine-- Where Are our Evangelical Youth Going?
David Wayne in Transforming Sermons: The odor of personal ambition:
"I have been reading much about the life of Jesus lately and the cross and it occurs to me that the way of Christ is the way of death to self, not the way of Christian celebrity. I can't blame my own sin on someone else, but in answer to the question about why this is not being addressed in the popular Christian media, I think the answer is that the popular Christian media is, ipso facto, the largest cause of pastoral ambition."
Thanks for linking Ilona. This is a great looking site and I see I'll be digging through the archives for a while!
Neat link Atlantic! Unfortunately I've only been able to see half the page so far because of my slow dial-up connection, but I'll patiently keep trying. :D
Those are some awesome clocks, Atlantic, thanks for the link!
