religion sucketh

Overall church attendance in America is decreasing, yet the population in America is increasing.

Why?

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield officially releases October 13, 2009, but you can get it now at Amazon. I’ve got my copy for review on the way from Thomas Nelson. From the trailer it looks to be a good read. Wonder if it’ll be in Lifeway or Family =)

I came across a Twitter conversation where people are debating whether or not the slang word “sucks” is inappropriate. Anyways, it got me thinking: who determines what is evil? Sure, the Bible is very clear on a lot of things that it deems evil (sex outside marriage, murder, lying, lusting after someone who isn’t your spouse, etc.), but what about those things that it doesn’t talk about?

When my grandmother was my age, “humbug” was just as bad as “bullshit”.

What about other things that, even within the church, spark arguments as to whether or not they are evil?
Music, video games, alcohol, tobacco, violent sports, movies, books, TV shows, etc.?

The one argument church people keep throwing at me is 1 Thessalonians 5:22 which some translations say to avoid every appearance of evil, while others leave it at avoid evil (click here for more on the translation differences).

But who is making the determination of what is or is not evil if the Bible is not explicit in the matter?

Some people deem Halo 3 to be evil because it simulates murder; others argue that because it is simulating war, the killings are no more murder than when an American soldier defends himself by killing an enemy soldier.

I actually heard one person say that “drinking is not a sin, but as Christians we are supposed to ‘Abstain from all appearance of evil’, so to drink would appear evil in the eyes of the world.”

WHAT?!?!?

So drinking alcohol is not a sin, but because the world (in this person’s eyes) sees it as evil, we shouldn’t do it?

It’s the same with language; the church doesn’t deem what is or is not appropriate – the world does.

Personally speaking, you won’t offend me by using cuss words in my presence, but at the same time, I view words like “idiot” and “loser” (used in a derogatory way) to be just as demeaning as “bitch” or “asshole”.

But that’s just me.

I could keep going with topics like music, movies, etc., but you get the point.

Any thoughts?

Ed Stetzer posted a blog several months ago about things he was tired of hearing said from the pulpit. Of course, being a pastor, church planting guru and traveling to many churches every year, he’s heard a lot. Me, I’m not a pastor, but I’ve been in church my whole life so I decided it’s time to make a list of things I’m sick of hearing, from a lay-person’s view. So over the next several days I’ll be posting different things that I’ve heard pastors, church leaders, evangelists and others say that, in my opinion, just aren’t very smart.

Up first: blaming TV/music/internet/video game/etc. for the condition of our society.

Are there movies that go too far?

Yes.

Same for the internet, music and video games. But I’m tired of hearing people say things like “the entertainment industry is to blame” yet they never once ask “Where are the parents?”. I went to see The Last House On the Left and The Haunting In Connecticut last week. At Last House I saw a woman with a child that was clearly very young; couldn’t have been older than 10. In The Haunting a mother brought her two young sons – the oldest looked about 6 or 7. Now, The Haunting In Connecticut wasn’t that bad (got a PG-13 rating), but it was still too much for two children under the age of 8. On the other hand, The Last House On the Left was too much for some of the adults in the theatre, much less a child. Seriously? A teenage girl is raped, people are brutally murdered and a man’s head is cooked in a microwave. Yeah, that’s a family movie for you. So before you start preaching that Halo 3 is training our children how to kill, maybe you should go after parents, both the ones that allow their children to watch things they shouldn’t and those that don’t pay attention to what their kids are watching and listening to.

I mean, has society been numbed by what is shown in movies, on the nightly news, on various websites and in video games? Sure. And I won’t make any excuses for what I watch or listen to but the difference here is I’m a grown man. I can make my own decisions. However, when I have children there is no way they will be playing video games like GTA or watching movies like Last House.

In my opinion, one of our society’s biggest problems is that too many parents either don’t care what their kids watch/listen to, or else they have a false assumption that their children can handle images and lyrics that are adult in nature. I don’t care if your ten year old is “mature for his age”; he’s still TEN!!!!

Same thing with the internet. I know too many parents who let their kids go in their room, shut the door and get online. First off, if you think your kids aren’t smart enough to work around content filters, think again. Secondly, porn isn’t the only problem; internet predators are just as big of a problem.

Any thoughts on any of this?