the master's commission
Yesterday, a group of well-meaning teenagers and youth leaders came and stirred up quite a bit of emotion. I felt like I was watching the Jesus Camp trailer, and it really scared me.
I've posted about this before, so I'll skip straight to the point. Yesterday's collage of emotional, fire-and-brimstone, guilt-driven manipulation was, without a doubt, one of the most empty experiences of my life. There was no solid Truth in the performance yesterday. None whatsoever.
Of course, there are those who will say that "it could have affected someone in a very positive way". But I'm afraid the only effect that can be produced from it is a shallow, empty view of what Christianity means. Christians are not simply people who won't go to Hell when they die. It's so much more complex and whole than that, and it's very harmful when we fail to communicate it.
The Truth has not been spoken, and the consequences of that are what we see at Alma Heights. People have to THINK. We do not provide a clear basis for belief; rather, we dim the lights, play sappy ballads, and scare people into belief. THAT, my friends, is directly from the pit of hell, and I grow weary of seeing it at our school. We have got to stop hiring Jesus-squads and start treating people like adults. We have got to stop manipulating people's emotions by subjecting them to PDF's and altar calls. We have got to give people reasons to believe, solid reasons, truthful reasons, intellectual reasons. If we do not change this, we are raising up soldiers and sending them into the battle with no armor.
We don't need people telling us how ungrateful we are that we go to a Christian school. We don't need people telling us how we aren't trying hard enough. We don't need people telling us how much we'll regret going to Hell when we die. We need the gospel of grace, and we need it desperately. Until that happens, Alma Heights will continue in it's apathy and hypocrisy, and there will be no end.
Please pray for me, and for our school, as we are in desperate need of it.
I've posted about this before, so I'll skip straight to the point. Yesterday's collage of emotional, fire-and-brimstone, guilt-driven manipulation was, without a doubt, one of the most empty experiences of my life. There was no solid Truth in the performance yesterday. None whatsoever.
Of course, there are those who will say that "it could have affected someone in a very positive way". But I'm afraid the only effect that can be produced from it is a shallow, empty view of what Christianity means. Christians are not simply people who won't go to Hell when they die. It's so much more complex and whole than that, and it's very harmful when we fail to communicate it.
The Truth has not been spoken, and the consequences of that are what we see at Alma Heights. People have to THINK. We do not provide a clear basis for belief; rather, we dim the lights, play sappy ballads, and scare people into belief. THAT, my friends, is directly from the pit of hell, and I grow weary of seeing it at our school. We have got to stop hiring Jesus-squads and start treating people like adults. We have got to stop manipulating people's emotions by subjecting them to PDF's and altar calls. We have got to give people reasons to believe, solid reasons, truthful reasons, intellectual reasons. If we do not change this, we are raising up soldiers and sending them into the battle with no armor.
We don't need people telling us how ungrateful we are that we go to a Christian school. We don't need people telling us how we aren't trying hard enough. We don't need people telling us how much we'll regret going to Hell when we die. We need the gospel of grace, and we need it desperately. Until that happens, Alma Heights will continue in it's apathy and hypocrisy, and there will be no end.
Please pray for me, and for our school, as we are in desperate need of it.
posted by John Mark at 5:32 PM
1 Comments:
I've got my own opinions of it that I won't place online right now. I will, however, say that I think your assessment may be off in some points, but accurate in others.
I'd love to discuss this a bit "offline" when you have a chance.
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