Powerful Video!!

This is one EXCELLENT example of why I am Baptist. Local church autonomy!

The drama was excellent -- powerful -- impacting. It illustrated the Gospel in that it demonstrated that Jesus is ALWAYS faithful, and to the child that wanders, He is always there, praying for us, calling to us, desiring our return to fellowship with Him.

To those who saw only "sensual" dancing and heard only "worldly" music -- obviously, you were not the intended audience. "When Jesus heard [it], he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:17).

I am familiar with the "regulative principle," and with the cultural fundamentalism that declares all dancing as "sensual" and thereby "unchristian," and with those who believe drama is 'using art to lie'... I am glad that they have their church to worship in their way. I do not condemn them. I wish I could expect like treatment from them. I don't.

I will follow NO principle or tradition outside those of Scripture. I cannot find where Scripture condemns this -- or many other types of art as a means of communicating the message of Jesus. And thank GOD for that!

 

Bless you brother - I was tearing up too! I was thinking of God's love and promise as I viewed this that He will never leave or forsake me.
In gratitude Lord.....

:godisgood:

 

Wow, that is a tear-jerker. Thanks for sharing :godisgood:

 

SFIC: I'm curious. Since neither you nor I were at this 'event', how do you know that the gospel wasn't preached at the end of this drama and that people weren't invited to give their life to God? I've been involved in some of these dramas within my own church and it's definitely an opportunity to witness to people who wouldn't ordinarily be there. Do we really have to limit ourselves to just giving an explanation/altar call? Can we not be creative (since that is how God made us) in a variety of ways to present His gospel, each using their talents God has gifted them? There is no reason your hellfire & brimstone can't work alongside my drama and arts without cancelling each other out.

 

Sure there is a reason they can't work alongside each other. You cannot use the world to win people to God. Ye cannot eat at the table of the Lord while drinking from the cup of devils.

 

Huh....Imagine that. You may want to tell Jesus that "eating at the table of 'devils'" is not the way to win people to Himself.

I'm sure Zacchaeus would be shocked too:

"And, behold, [there was] a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich...And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw [it], they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore [him] fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:2, 5-10).

Although I'm sure the Pharisees would agree with you:

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they (Pharisees) say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they (Pharisees) say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children" (Matthew 11:18,19).


Yeah, I guess Jesus got it wrong when he talked to that filthy Samaritan lady at the well too. And that prostitute taken in adultery...Well, we can give The Lord a break on that one -- I mean, He wasn't IN the brothel, after all...

You don't WIN the world based on where YOU are, you win the world where THEY are, in language and through means THEY understand. At least, that's what Paul did:

"For though I be free from all [men], yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all [men], that I might by all means save some.And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with [you]" (I Corinthians 9:19-23).

This does not require compromise as you might imagine -- but it does require compassion. It doesn't require being OF the world, but it does require being IN the world. It doesn't require sinning, but it DOES require sharing the Gospel in the language and on the level of those you wish to win.

The Church FAILS to win the world because they cannot receive or accept this truth. They are too "holy," too "separated." And God help them on THAT DAY for "burying their talents"....

 

I am neither for or against. I am glad the church I attend doesn't do that, however. :laugh:

 

I agree, I wouldn't be caught prasing the Lord through dance... :thumbs:

2Sa 6:14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

 

Is that how you feel about David?


2Sa 6:14 Then David danced before the LORD with all [his] might; and David [was] wearing a linen ephod.

Edit: Oops. You were being sarcastic, weren't you?

 

At least you didn't say you were for it before you were against it before you were for it.....:laugh:

 

Well said JDale. Yes, we Christians have failed in many ways to win the world, hence the numbers that have stopped attending churches and yet the huge paradox of seekers. Our world is desperate for the truth of God and salvation.
It saddens me to see well-meaning Christians condeming others and a video portraying God's love, as 'eating at the table of devils'. Reminds me of a saying both my mother & grandmother used to make that "a person can be so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good". I think I would prefer to eat with Jesus and Zaccheus and do some earthly good. The drama is a 'tool', as you say JDale, to share the Gospel in the language and on the level of those you wish to win and SFIC you still haven't answered my question - "How do you know there wasn't an explanation of the gospel and invitation given after the drama was presented?" Please don't do a 'sensual dance with strobe lights' around the issue :laugh: - a simple yes, no, or I don't know, will suffice.

 

That was just stupid.

 

Clarify please.

 

That was my reaction to some of the condemnations of the video too....

 

It was dumb. It had no clear biblical content or biblical expression. It was murky at best in its presentation. That is not the product of a mind saturated in the richness of Scripture. It is the product of a mind saturated in the things of the world. The end, of this girl and "Jesus" (I suppose) walking away arm in arm is a gross misrepresentation of the Bible, where we will be worshipping Christ.

Even if it could be demonstrated that there is some biblical content by preaching before or after (or both), it is a trivialization of the message to do it with cheesy drama backed up by an largely unintelligible song, which was trite at best in its intelligible parts.

The gospe of Christ deserves better than this third-rate junk. We should be dedicated to proclaiming a God, high and lifted up, not brought down. We should be proclaiming a Christ such as is found in Rev 1.

Consider this:
Revelation 1:12-18 2 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Is there anything in this video that even remotely begins to approach the picture of glory that is found in what the Bible says about Christ? Should we really imagine that we will be waltzing across the stage with this Jesus? Hardly ...

Why do we think we need this kind of stuff? Is the message of the gospel really that poor and ineffective that it cannot be communicated without silly dancing and stupid choreography to a cheesy song and stage production?

 

Ah, yes....I seem to recall some New Testament characters who went around, condemning what God was doing, and claiming it to be the devil's work....

 

I'm fine with those of you who say, "I don't like it." I really am. Opinions are super.


I just have problems with people saying, "That's not of God." With that statement, you've crossed into a whole 'nother realm.....

 

And weren't there some NT characters who went around condemning what the Satan was doing, claiming that it was God's work?

An argument like you have made here is hardly helpful in discerning the nature and meaning in modes of communication. Some have wrongly considered the work of Satan to be the work of God, and others have wrongly considered the work of God to be the work of Satan.

This fits one of the two categories. In order to establish which, we must consider Scripture. What we have in this thread is a bunch of people who are talking about their emotional response (tear-jerker ... honestly, I found it hard not to laugh ... in between rolling my eyes at the utter stupidity of it). Why not evalute this in light of the revelation that God gives us in Scripture of his nature?