The ME Congregation, In Defense of the Faith, Wednesday, April 27, 2011, by Wendy Wippel
Porn and Paper Pastors, Pyromaniacs, 21 April 2011, by Dan Phillips
The second article reminded me of something that happened to Mel and me while we were on a mini-vacation in Yalta, way back in early 2000. We were watching tv in our room due to the rain pouring down outside. We came across TBN and watched it for a little bit. Maybe I've written about this before? I don't remember. Anyway, the next channel was an MTV knock-off channel. There are a lot of those here. Later that evening, we turned the tv on again and again just flipped through channels. There was TBN with Jan Crouch walking around a stage all dolled up in a very short skirt, very high heels, long painted fingernails, face painted and hair poofed, her shouting about the devils and saying over and over again "Ha ha, Devil!" We were totally disgusted, especially when we realized that we were so close to Turkey and this is what kind of "Christian" programming they were getting. Made us sick. Mel clicked to the next channel and it was 'soft' porn, which is actually just plain porn. The MTV knock-off had switched to their evening programming. We were shocked, not expecting that at all. Mel switched back to TBN and I made the comment, "Which is better? 'Christian porn' or secular porn?" Both channels were equally as bad. Within Christianity, the Church goes after one exciting thing after another, and when the new one gets old and boring, the Bride of Christ just finds something else to titilate her senses. From speaking in tongues, to being slain by the spirit, to laughing or barking uncontrollably, to The Shack - one thing after another, each more disgusting than the last. I see no difference between the two, 'Christian porn' and secular porn - both appeal to our senses and drag us down into filthiness of the worst kind.
Anyway, off the soapbox now. I liked the first article for almost the same reasons as I like the second. The author has hit the nail on the head with our self-help generation and how we approach the Scriptures. I've been trying to teach Sunday School this way - telling the Bible stories from both the Old AND the New Testaments as they were meant to be told: all pointing to Jesus Christ!! Although we call them the Heroes of the Bible, David, Moses, Elijah and all the rest were just sinful men used by God and their lives each, in some way, point us to Christ. Each story points us to the cross. (Each story is TRUE, not fiction - I use the term 'story' like I would in 'the story of my life'.)
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