The Show-Time Religion

 

     In the 1960’s, the court system in the United States systematically began removing God from any and all areas of public life.  Society has now replaced God with the entertainment industry and its media technologies.  Amidst the moral relativism of our time, we have come to accept the gospel of the media as absolute truth.  What is this gospel of the media?  It is that image is everything.   The media gospel has now permeated all areas of society.  However, most disturbing to this author, is the media invasion of the church and family.

     Sadly, the “church” as it is known today has either abandoned or is ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ as manifested in the New Testament.  Postman is wise in referring to the Second Commandment in his analysis, saying that those “who are in the process of converting their culture from word-centered to image-centered might profit by reflecting on this Mosaic injunction” (246).  The mainline churches of today though, have bought into the idea that image is everything and entertainment takes precedence over preaching.  “Preaching” as it exists today has become show business.  In show business, truth is irrelevant; reaching the “market” is everything.  The result is that style has become the end all.  The church is becoming more symbolism than substance. 

     How has entertainment invaded the church?  Churches are no longer known for powerful preaching, but for using entertainment as a tool for church growth.  Frivolous diversions and amusements eventually destroy hunger for real worship and preaching of God’s Word.  Advocates in the church of new mediums maintain that if biblical principles are presented, the medium doesn’t matter.  That is pure nonsense.  If entertainment can really change hearts, why not go all out?  Have a wrestling match and the referees would quote Bible verses amidst the wild chaos.  That would draw a crowd.  The content would still be biblical.  The scenario is extreme, but it does indeed indicate that the medium can corrupt and cheapen the message.

     The media saturation in the home is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of media influence.  Susan Neuman states that “Children did not appear to be cognitively passive at all while watching television” (296). That’s the scary part.  Ms. Neuman tends to focus on what positive aspects children can garner by watching the television.  The heinous aspect of television is that a producer is controlling the content, not the parents.  As a society, persons are filling themselves up with knowledge, but knowledge of what?  The tenets of humanism are pumped into homes on practically an infinite basis.  The tenets of God are not taught anywhere; not in school, home, television, or church.  The schools teach evolution; other viewpoints need not apply.  Television teaches there is no absolute truth.  In the home, children are taught to let the television be the babysitter.  Finally, in church, one is now taught that the ends justify the means by way of movies, “Cappuccino and Christ” and rock bands.  Is it any wonder this society has become morally bankrupt?

     As this author ponder the conclusions, it is depressing that even those who write material such as this, struggle with entertainment.  This author loves to be entertained just as much as the next fellow.  I haven’t read my Bible today.  However, I have watched the “Nightly News”, “The O’Reilly Factor”, and “Hannity and Colmes”.  I even watched these before starting this essay.  Entertainment is alluring.  Sometimes even Christians, who take occasion to lash out at it, are sucked in by it.  What is evident is a culture clash of faith versus human nature.  Human nature is easily captivated by images or objects the mind can see.  Faith however is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  The conclusion of the Bible is proved though, even if by my own example:

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Are we better than they? Not at all.  For we have previously charged

both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.  As it is

written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;”(Romans 3:9-10).

 

The church would do well to heed the mosaic injunction found in the second commandment.  However, attendance in churches would be sure to fall off… the cliff!  The god of the masses is now found at the altar of entertainment and could it be that the god of most mainline churches is… dare I say… the money from a large congregation, paying for the entertainment no doubt.  Remember next time, while walking into that marble palace of a church… It’s Show Time!

 

 

 

Works Cited

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Postman, Neil.  “The Medium Is the Metaphor.”  Currents of Inquiry.  Ed. Nancy Morrow and Marlene Clarke.  Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998.  242-250

 

Neuman, Susan B.  “Television And Reading in the Lives of Young Children.” Currents of Inquiry.  Ed. Nancy Morrow and Marlene Clarke.  Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998.  292-313

 

New King James Version.  Nashville: Word Bibles, 1997.