Couldn't Help Noticing

The New Morality

What a curious morality music video shows on TV convey to my teenage daughter.

Many of the young female divas (like Mariah Carey) are astonishingly brazen in their highly cynical use of explicit sexuality to sell their CDs. They are basically offering up soft porn—wearing lingerie, touching their breasts and thighs with their hands as they ‘dance’, embracing attractive men in ways that, to this old fuddy duddy at least, look remarkably like televised foreplay.

I guess this is not a surprise really. It is so absurd that even non-Christians are questioning the message we convey to our young girls (see this article).

And yet, in a remarkable twist of moral uprightness, at the end of a new video clip by ‘The Veronicas’, one of the artists ... how do I put this ... “gives the camera the bird”, I think is how they say it these days. That is, she makes an obscene gesture with her middle finger. The surprising thing was that they (I presume the TV station) pixellated the gesture so as to partially obscure it.

What a curious blend of moralities.

Letters from the sub-editor II

“Greeting.”

Perhaps my earlier CHN was overly harsh. I can see why it would be necessary to insert this word as a subheading at the beginning of one of Paul's letters. A lot of us, struggling to come to terms with the Lord's Word and having only the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us, might have read Paul's first words to the Corinthians and thought:

Now wait a minute. Is this the beginning of the letter or the end? Or is it something completely different? Paul appears to be introducing himself as the writer of the letter, speaking with divine authority as an apostle of Christ Jesus. He seems to be saying that the letter is written to the church of God in Corinth, and mentioning some powerful ideas such as grace, and peace—ideas that we know from reading other letters of Paul are key to summarizing the gospel that he stands for. At least that much is clear.

But how grateful I am that the sub-editor has told me that this is a greeting. Were it not for this important piece of information, I would have paused in puzzlement, at least for a brief moment, to wonder whether or not I had started reading in the middle of the letter.

The only thing I wish is that the sub-editor could have specified whether these were introductory greetings or concluding greetings. As it is, I shall have to solve this tangled problem for myself. I wonder if context will give me a clue.

Apart from the completely redundant nature of this subheading, the more serious point is that a word like “Greeting” simply encourages me to skip over the first few verses of what God is saying as if it were nothing more than a “Hello” or a “Dear Fred”, safely ignored without changing the basic meaning of the text. This is not so, and as a result the editor's uninspired heading has misled me. Grr.

Jim Elliot, Martyr

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. (Jim Elliot)

A Briefing reader has pointed out that this coming Sunday, 8 January 2006, marks the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot and four fellow missionaries at the hands of the Auca Indians in Ecuador (with whom they were trying to share the gospel). Many Auca Indians subsequently turned to Christ when Jim's wife and daughter returned to live and work with them after Jim's death.

If you've never heard or read about Jim Elliot, I strongly encourage you to do so. There's a variety of information about him available on the net, and also in books such as The Journals of Jim Elliot and the accounts by his widow Elisabeth, Through Gates of Splendour and Shadow of the Almighty.

Quite some time ago I read Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity. In it, Elisabeth shares the story of how she and Jim met and how their relationship progressed. I remember being struck by the great length of time between when they admitted their affection for each other, and when they finally married—a delay caused largely by Jim's desire to share the gospel with those who hadn't yet heard about Jesus. Now there's a man who clearly grasped Colossians 3:1-4:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

You may like to reflect on the stirring hymn the five men sang with their families before they flew to meet the Indians and then to meet their Saviour (see below). It goes to the tune ‘Finlandia’.

WE REST ON THEE (by Edith G Cherry, circa 1895)

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Yes, in Thy Name, O Captain of salvation!
In Thy dear Name, all other names above;
Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.
Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.

Go to Church, Win a House

Want to boost the attendance at your local church?

Maybe you should point out the latest church-growth technique from America to your church council.

A church in Texas offered raffle tickets to those who attended their New Year's Eve services. What was the prize for the winner of the raffle? Free resources at their bookshop? Ten new Bibles for the winner's home group? A quilt made by the ladies' society?

Those answers are off by about $119,980; instead, the church gave away a new house, worth $120,000.

A member of the congregation (who is a contractor) offered to build the house for the cost of materials only, paid for by the church. The only catch was that the winner had to be in attendance to claim the prize.

On a television interview, the pastor said that it was a way of reaching out to new people. When asked by the reporter why the church didn't give the house away to a needy family, the pastor said that he had hoped that the person who won the house would be a “person of need.”

The news report also showed video clips from the service, which resembled a game show. The ten finalists were called up to the stage and given a key. Only one of the keys would open the mock front door of the house. So, one-by-one, the ‘contestants’ tried his/her key in the lock. Finally, a middle-aged mother of two unlocked the door to win the house.

This is just another way churches are pushing the envelope to attract new people. Of course, the motivation is not wrong. However, as usual, it is the method that falls woefully short of faithful Biblical Christianity.

I wonder about how a church plans to handle those who people were attracted to its services only by the raffle tickets and game show atmosphere? How do you help the transition of someone who comes one week for the emotional thrill of possibly winning a house to the next week where they have to sit through a 30 minute sermon on Romans? Imagine the letdown of that person who shows up to church the next week with no raffle drawing but just a few songs, a sermon and a prayer. (That is assuming the church intends to attempt such a task.)

I am reminded of 2 Timothy 4:3 where Paul exhorts Timothy to preach the gospel because a “time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth...”. While preaching the gospel seems outdated and ineffective in a materialistic culture, it is still the “power of God for salvation.” Not even the gratitude that comes from receiving a free residence has the ability to turns someone?s heart from idols to the true and living God. Only the power of the gospel can accomplish such a monumental feat.

Merciful God

Over the last week I have been reminded of God's amazing mercy. Though we are willfully disobedient at times, God patiently and lovingly forgives us when we repent. We can look back at the history of Israel through the Old Testament and see evidence of God's mercy time and time again.

When I explain this to a new Christian or a non-Christian, it seems perfectly reasonable. After all, God is God. Of course he loves. Of course he forgives. That's the whole point of Jesus' death.

But when I apply this to my own life, it is suddenly astounding. And extremely humbling.

May we never forget the incredible mercy of our great God. And may we never think that we no longer need it for ourselves.