CRN.Info and Analysis

In a recent post over at Slice, Ingrid returns to a common theme - music. Her take is that certain styles of music are acceptable and certain styles are not - and this seems to apply to everyone. She offers a polemic by her husband to make her point.

The essay by Tom Schlueter reminded me of the comments by John MacArthur regarding the wearing of suits in church. On the one hand both the opinion of MacArthur and the opinion of Schlueter make sense… they even have some validity. Yet the shared flaw that renders their opinions incapable of being applied universally is their ethnocentric position.

In other words, their instructions may have value – in their narrow context. The problem is they both elevate their preferences to universal codes that all must follow.

For example: Tom Schlueter gives two examples of purely instrumental brass music – in the style of swing and fanfare, respectively. In the first “The trumpets led the brass in a clear call to listeners: get up and dance” the other calls the listeners to “Come and worship God.”

His conclusion: The [fanfare] brass in the second example tells us there is royalty present. The percussion at the end of the fanfare speaks not of dance and flesh, but of honor and respect and reverence. Different message entirely. And he is right – swing brass bids us come and dance, fanfare brass bids us recognize authority and honor.

But his application is flawed. He rightly differentiates the two biddings, but then sets up a false dichotomy – that honor and respect are valid modes of worship, but celebration and dance are of the flesh. His conclusion of swing, if used as a call to worship would be “Get up and dance… Women should start flaunting their stuff in front of men on the dance floor. This would not be worship at all, but rather a gross insult to the Almighty.”

I’ve been in worship services where people danced – I doubt God was insulted.

The problem is not one of style of music, but context and assumption. First the assumption, Schlueter first assumes dance is fleshly and swing calls women to flaunt their stuff – this I will summarily dismiss. The context is worthy of discussion.

Tom Schlueter uses a 9-11 memorial as an example of appropriate music – solemn music would be appropriate, a Broadway tune… not so. I agree. And if the point of worship is the “honor and respect and reverence” of God, then a fanfare might work. Where he fails is the recognition that maybe the point of worship is (at times) to dance and celebrate. And in this swing may work well.

If Schlueter had stuck to an argument that music should evoke appropriate responses given the situation of worship, then I could have agreed. But he could not, he had to insert his cultural version of what is appropriate in style and overlay those expectations on us all.

That’s it folks! Look no further for the reason why we all in decline. According to this slice post, from this ABC news story, the problem is hygiene! Now why didn’t I think of that?! All these kids coming into our churches, wearing the latest fashions of tattered jeans and bed head - they just need a good shower! Maybe if we had Colgate come and do a 45 minute presentation in all of our churches, we would be rid of the slobbery. Better yet, we can have the ushers hand out disposable toothbrushes at the door. And maybe we can get people back into those polyester three-piece suits again! Remember… the Lord looks at the hygiene, the clothing style and how well you are able to color coordinate your clothing.

**this post contains many facetious statements. While I do believe that our society is becoming more brash, rude and crude, I have no clue how that corresponds to hygiene, clothing choice and how those two affect the current state of the church.

In the controversial post below, Chris Lyons pointed out how Ingrid was so encouraged by a listener who wraps and sells flowers for a cult in the evening. We get the full story in this article later, that this man was unable to find work and was forced to do this job at night for the Moonies.

My first thought was “I wonder if she would extend the same grace to a purpose driven pastor that was unable to pay the bills and took this job.” I could see the headlines now… “purpose driven pastor supports cult practices.” I really think this is a matter of showing grace where you want to, and upholding the law where you want to. It is acceptable for a believer to work for a cult until they can get a full time job, but Rick Warren can’t partner with secular organizations to help eradicate human poverty. No one is saying that it is wrong for this guy to enjoy VYC America’s programming –not any more wrong than a Buddhist monk enjoying the teachings of Rob Bell.

A year ago, Brian Gordon, the well-known new age energy coach, cited some writings of Erwin McManus on his blog. He definitely tweaked McManus’ words to fit his own ideas and philosophies in the process. Well, the ODMs went nuts over this! They went on and on about how this new-aged energy coach has similar theologies as McManus, and how he was really teaching unbiblical energy philosophies. All of it could not be further from the truth. In fact, when Gordon read what the ODMs were writing, he immediately contacted McManus, ashamed of the negative publicity he had brought him.

It’s amazing how certain groups are unable to see past their own logical processes. For example, if you follow the link in the original article to the VYC America webpage, you will find a video that says

Music Till Dawn will provide a relaxing contemplative atmosphere, where the Holy Spirit can speak to quieted hearts

relaxing contemplative atmosphere? If that was on Doug Pagitt’s website, he would be speared to death by the ODMs for it. There would be all types of arguments as to why we shouldn’t have contemplative prayer where God speaks to us individually. Sola Scriptura! But, somehow contemplative spirituality is ok for VYC America. I am just wondering when the double standard is going to be recognized.

Sometimes the truth is so much better than anything you could make up. Tonight, we can witness a case in point.

First, just to establish some context: As many readers may know, one of the frequent “discernmentalist” sites we take to task for injurious action toward the Body of Christ is Slice of Laodicea (SoL). Slice’s primary mode of operation is to place itself in a position of sanctimonious judgment over anyone/anything its primary author deems to fall short of her shallow, externalist view of Christianity. Unfortunately, Sol’s author is also a radio personality with a larger-than-average platform from which to spew her “discernment” on unsuspecting masses.

Frequent readers of SoL will recognize that one of its author’s primary sources of scorn against the modern church is its lack of older hymns and “proper” externals (with “proper” being defined as 1950’s idealized church culture). And so it is no surprise that SoL would publish an article like this one (here is a link to a screen-capture (and a full one), since it is highly probable that its author will attempt to make it disappear into the ether, as if it never happened).

In this article, SoL’s author begins by staking out a “moral” high ground:

I have heard hip, healthy young Christians laugh about the musical format at VCY America during the wee hours of the morning. Over the night hours our radio network airs quiet hymns and instrumental music interspersed with Scripture readings and devotional thoughts from the host, Vic Eliason. Oh, if only these young people could read the mail that we get.

Before we go on, it should also be noted that the author trumpets, with great pride, her vastly over-inflated ability of “discernment”. With this “gift”, she is able to spitefully trash all sorts of Christian brothers and sisters - Rick Warren, Ravi Zacharias, Rob Bell, Bill Hybels, Mark Driscoll and many more - along with casting aspersions at entire bodies of believers all over the world. For instance, her magnified powers of ‘discernment’ have recently been raking Ravi Zacharias over the fires of hell for not mentioning the name of Jesus in a prayer during a program on the National Day of Prayer. Continue Reading »

Remember in scripture where it tells us that God will provide holy men to feed the lowly spiritual peons. And that when the spiritual peons are spiritually hungry, they are to go to the holy man, the one who can truly fill them up. But, if the spiritual peaons are not getting spiritually fed (whatever that means), then it is the fault of the holy man. mmm… that passage really spoke to me.

I find it really hard to believe that people still believe this stuff. I mean, that should have flown at the window when Luther presented the biblical idea of the priesthood of beleivers. When most people say that they are not getting fed, it usually doesn’t mean that their souls are suffering due to what is happening at church. It usually means that they just want more theology taught to them from a hired holy man, to hide the fact that they really don’t have an actual relationship with the living God. Really what we have created is a spiritual consumer culture. I come. I get fed. I leave. If my spiritual life isn’t vibrant, it must be because the man who has the seminary degree isn’t feeding me right.

I am absolutely disgusted with what we have created — an obese community of beleivers. We have so much knowledge of God, so many resources available to us, and so many freedoms to pursue our faith… but we still cry out “FEED ME!” to those who have studied the exegesis of Hebrew and Greek texts (and I graduate on Friday with one of those degrees, so I can say that). AS if they have some magic spiritual food that will make everyone full. What we need is pastors who don’t see it as their job to feed people. We need pastors who make a living out of making people HUNGRY enough for God, that they go on a relentless pursuit of Him.

And for the last time… where in scripture does it say that exegetical preaching is going to save the world?

by the way, if you haven’t checked out this blog, you absolutely MUST!

Ingrid’s got the book of life. And while she doesn’t reveal who’s in it, she does reveal who’s out:

The term evangelical now can mean anything from a homosexual and his lover at an Evangelicals Concerned support group in New York City, Jim Wallis waving around Karl Marx’s Das Kapital , Shirley Dobson and her Reform Jewish universalist Rabbi, Greg Boyd and his hand-wringing semi-God, Brian McLaren and his hell-free, atonement-free, New Age Shift crusade, Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven madness, Rob Bell and his “human-product” Bible, Mark Driscoll and his toilet mouth pastorate, Doug Pagitt and his Desperate Housewives theology, and so forth and so on.

So to recap the following groups are just plain Jesus hatin’, hell bound miscreants:
Democratic/politically liberal Christians in the vein of Jim Wallis
Traditional, baby boomer Christians in the vein of Focus on the Family (Sorry dad)
Younger evangelicals in the vein of Greg Boyd.
Emerging/Emergents in the vein of Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt.
Younger Reformed Christians in the vein of Mark Driscoll
1st Century wannabe Christians in the vein of Rob Bell.

Which pretty much just leaves Ingrid and her blogroll. Well maybe, after all she finished the sentence of condemnation with “and so on and so forth”. It kind of reminds me of the old joke:

A man arrives at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asks, “Denomination?” The man says, “emerging.” St. Peter looks down his list, and says, “Go to room 24, but be very quiet as you pass room 8.”

Another man arrives at the gates of heaven. “Denomination?” “Non-denominational.” “Go to room 18, but be very quiet as you pass room 8.”The man says, “I can understand there being different rooms for different religions, but why must I be quiet when I pass room 8?” St. Peter tells him, “Well, the ODMs are in room 8, and they think they’re the only ones here.”

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus could get into heaven if Ingrid was the gatekeeper.

With the recent movie “Expelled” getting some press I assumed that it wouldn’t be long before the Ben Stein “Christmas Tree” email started floating around again. Well I was right!

As of this morning I had 3 messages in my email about Ben Stein and his declaration on “Christmas Trees”. Only problem is the email isn’t true. Of course it has some truth but much of the “commentary” has been fabricated. And some of the items in the letter are outright lies attributed to Ben Stein. You can read the whole situation at Snopes.com

In this age of information you would think that Christians, of all people, would do due diligence if/when launching an email, blogging, or internet slander campaign.

[UPDATE: Please see the notes at the bottom of this post, as Ingrid has removed the referenced article and apologized for her actions.]

Ingrid pulls out her amazing voo-doo magic / discernment once again in the Cast of the Baffling Beauty. Cornerstone Church in Chandler, AZ is having a Mother’s Day service that celebrates the image of God in our mothers. Here is a clip from their advertisement

In our culture, image is everything. This Mother’s Day at Cornerstone, we’re celebrating a different image though. We’re celebrating the image of God that has been placed in our moms and women. We’ll discover the fullness of the image of God and how we can carry that image to a world that needs it! Women and men alike, come ready for the best Mother’s Day you’ve had!

So, they are obviously not glorifying the physical beauty of mothers and women. They are attempting to celebrate the heart and image of God within the female soul. As a guest speaker, they will be having Hilary Griffith Peele, the former Miss Arizona and 2007 contestant in the Miss America pageant, speak for their special day. Well, this obviously has Ingrid’s spidey-sense tingling. She writes the following

So the mother who is bombarded with the world’s expectations of beauty must now come to church on Sunday and be, well, bombarded by the world’s expectation of beauty. Rather than find an elderly saint who has walked with God for 50 or more years to speak to women about what really matters before God, they get a 22-year-old beauty pageant contestant so women of every age and circumstance will be sent the message that real beauty lessons should come from a woman who is willing to parade across a stage in a bikini in front of men to be judged like a piece of meat.

I love how Ingrid absolutely loves to look solely at the externals. There is nothing in the way of what she will be speaking on, her theology, her credentials, etc. It’s all about her body and how she has flaunted herself like a piece of meat. Ingrid has probably never heard Ms. Peele speak, and probably not done the research to find out what she stands for. She just assumes that a 50 year-old woman is more qualified than a younger women, just becasue of a hobby that they younger has (she also seems to imply that a less-attractive 50 year-old woman is best).

I find it interesting that Ingrid doesn’t put this up in her article, found on the same website from the first quote

She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University in December 2007 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is currently an on-air personality at KGCB Radio Shine 90.9 FM, where she hosts a Christian music program weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Hilary lives in Glendale with her husband, Justin, whom she married in February 2008.

So, we aren’t talking about some blonde twit with nothing to say. This is an educated woman, serving in a Christian media outlet. Maybe Ingrid is just upset because Peele’s show gets higher ratings?

______________

UPDATE: Ms. Peele has graciously replied to Ingrid and our article (please see her comment below from 2008/05/11 at 12:47 AM). With even more context provided, it will be interesting to see if Ingrid retracts her diatribe. -Chris L
______________

UPDATE: Ingrid has removed her original post regarding Ms. Peele’s appearance at Cornerstone Church, and has issued an apology. While it is not our policy to delete articles as if they had never happened, I am updating the article (both here and in the body) to recognize Ingrid’s apology and repentance in this matter. Thank you, Ingrid. -Chris L

Ingrid criticizes Doug Pagitt for using a clip from a popular TV show to illustrate a point about church.

I guess its only ok when she does it.

Ingrid engages in guilt by association tactics again by trying to link Jeff Foxworthy’s belief’s with Ravi Zacharias because they appeared at the same event together.

The event in question occurred on September 13th, 2007 and was entitled, “Is America Really Christian?” After looking around the blogosphere for a bit I found two blog entries that contain first hand accounts of the event in question. The first has disappeared from the web, but Technorati saved a snapshot of it for us to enjoy:

Challenge to the soul September 14th, 2007 Yesterday we trekked through rain, wind, and traffic while heading to Atlanta to hear Ravi Zacharias and Michael Ramsden speak on the topic of “Is America Really Christian?” Such a strong, powerful, and passionate message of Jesus Christ who crosses all cultural boundaries

The other comes from a myspace blog:

they covered everything from various world-view philosophies - and the flaws in them to explaining in the most beautiful of terms Salvation — and what comes next!

Her account of the message delivered by Ravi and others continues:

in order for America to be “Christian”, the people that belong to America must be Christians.. not just in name, or because their grandmother and granddaddy were.. but because they were called, and they consciously made the decision to cast aside who they were — and become born again in Christ. <---- that really shot me straight in the heart, i mean -- how many people have i made the mistake of asking if they were Christians -- when i really should have been asking if they were a follower of Christ? do they know Him? have they known Him, but He's become one of those friends that they put away when they "grew up" and became a mature adult?
and, for us Christians -- have we become so "mature" in our lives that we no longer feel the "need" for God, unless something breaks down, or the money is getting tight..or a loved one is sick? in our minds, does God become a vending machine that we drop in a few good deeds for someone we may not like, or pray an eloquent prayer at Bible study, or even put a little extra in the offering basket -- and we expect to have our wants answered in a timely manner..and wonder why if the answer was "no"?

Doesn’t sound like Jesus is disappearing to me.