Christianity and Popular Culture

From The Culturally Savvy Christian by Dick Staub

(speaking about the 60's)  The locus of spiritual dialogue was migrating out of the church and into popular culture.  The convergence of these contemporary forces would crack the foundations of organized religion, erode its authority and confidence, and, in many ways, displace it as the center of spiritual influence.  In a lightning-rod moment, John Lennon quipped that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.  In a subsequent press conference, Lennon explained that he was actually deploring the rising influence of everything popular and the diminishment of religion: "I could have said TV or cinema or anything else that's popular.  Or motorcars are bigger than Jesus... I'm not knocking Christianity or saying it's bad, I'm just saying it seems to be shrinking and losing contact... We [the Beatles] all deplored the fact that it is, you know.  And nothing better seems to be replacing it."  

But something was replacing it.  Media consultant Michael Wolfe said recently in The New Yorker, "I really believe entertainment in a lot of ways has become a way for people to come together.  It has, in fact, become - I'm convinced of this, it's become a replacement for religion; in the same way people used to quote scripture, they're now quoting Seinfeld."

What do you think?  Has popular culture become the main "locus theologicus," as Staub would say, that is, the main place that people encounter God in our culture?

prophetic property damage

The same night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.  Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pull beside it.  Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height.  Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering. 

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him.  But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.  (Judges 6:25-27)

A while ago, my friend Matt was teaching on this passage.  Matt did an incredible job teaching that day about God’s yearning for justice, and His passion for things to be set right.  It was inspiring to say the least.  It was also during this teaching that I was moved to ask a question.  I’m not entirely sure that Matt wanted his audience to leave asking this question, but regardless, this was the question that burned in my mind for the remainder of the day: under what circumstances is property damage okay?

Let me fill you in with my thought process a little bit before exploring this one.  I spent the last five years of my life in Bowling Green, OH before moving here to Kent.  Bowling Green is a neat, little college town surrounded by cornfields.  Like any other neat, little college town in the Midwest, Bowling Green could be considered a party town.  There are days every now and then, that the entire town seems to be one big drunken, sloppy, mess. 

This is where Girls Gone Wild enters the picture.  Girls Gone Wild has a tour called the “Wildest College” tour.  Essentially, they tour the nation in a big party bus, traveling from college town to college town, buying drinks for people, filming the results, and making a crapload of money off of it. 

To be completely honest with you, I hate the whole concept of Girls Gone Wild, and I wish nothing but bad things upon the people who created/run it.  So you can imagine my frustration when the Girls Gone Wild “Wildest College” tour bus came to Bowling Green, and parked only a few blocks away from my apartment.

I had always wanted to force some kind of confrontation when the film crew came to town, but to be honest, I hadn’t really thought about what the confrontation should look like.  So when Matt taught about Gideon tearing down his family’s Asherah poles, something popped into my head.  Would it be wrong to spray paint “date rape” on the side of the Girls Gone Wild bus? 

Something about that phrase on the side of that bus seems so right.  Partially because I believe you are just calling it by its proper title.  And secondly, it would be great for others to be forced to think about it in that way too.  Everyone from the casual passer-by to the film crew would have to read that and at least compare the two actions. 

So what do you think?  Under what circumstance, if any, is property damage okay?  Is my little plot to speak prophetically about pornography justifiable?  

Top 3

Top 3 movies that Christian authors should stop quoting/giving detailed plotlines for:

1. Braveheart

I blame John Eldridge for this movie getting so much attention.  This is the epitome of an epic, macho movie.  There are swords, people’s heads getting chopped off, lots of blood, hardly any women, and freedom, lots and lots of freedom.  This is also one of the only movies with nudity that pastors will still promote (normally nude scenes are deal breakers for promotion from the pulpit).  I like this movie, as do a lot of people.  This is for good reason, it’s a very decent movie, it won a lot of awards, and told a compelling story despite being a period piece.  All the same though, Christian authors need to leave this one alone for a while.  Its been done too often, and it has lost its meaning.  Not to mention, it is starting to ruin the movie for me a little bit.  I can’t watch Braveheart anymore without thinking about Christian popular culture.    

2. Lord of the Rings trilogy

You know this is a series of books, right?  I hear they are very good.  Seriously though, the only thing that quoting a movie based off of a book says is “I don’t like books.”  That may or may not be true, but that is what it conveys. 

3. The Matrix

Yes, I know, Neo’s choice between the red pill and the blue pill, resulting in his becoming aware to the oppressive system of evil robots who have hijacked everyone’s brains is a good visual for our own decision to accept the gospel story.  Yes, I know there is a ton of biblical allegory within the movie:  Trinity, Zion, Nebuchadnezzar, Neo as a Christ figure known as “the one,” that bald guy with the weird facial hair as a Judas character, Morpheus.  Actually, that last one is from Greek mythology.  Starts to feel like new-agey pantheism when you throw that one in there, doesn’t it?  Despite the allegory, Christian authors need to stop quoting this movie.  Why?  Because it is over-used and played out.  There are other allegories out there, other great visuals for the gospel’s transforming power.  There may even be better allegories.  Perhaps, allegories that are not followed up by two embarrassing, poorly thought out sequels. 

                        

Top 3 movies that Christian authors should start quoting (but still not give detailed plotlines for because that is an unnecessary practice):

1. The Motorcycle Diaries

This is a Spanish language movie (yes, you will have to read sub-titles, lazy) about Ernesto “Che” Guevara and his friend traveling through South America on a motorcycle.  I know that the plotline doesn’t scream gospel story, but I think that's okay.  Maybe one of the most powerful scenes takes place when Guevara swims across a river to celebrate his birthday, not with the respected doctors, and religious leaders who wanted to celebrate with him, but the colony of lepers that he and his friend traveled so far to care for. 

2. Into the Wild

I know that I am contradicting myself with this one, because, yes, this movie is based on a book, but hear me out.  The book, Into the Wild, is pretentious, and celebrates Christopher McCandless like he was Jesus’ second coming.  The movie, however, while it does give McCandless a fair share of praise, gives some time to the heartbreak of McCandless’ parents, and really plays up on the conclusions McCandless reaches, in his dying breath, about God, and community.  Not to mention that this is a story about the joy that comes from rejecting the things that the world has to offer, especially the worship of material wealth.  This is a message the church could stand to hear from time to time. 

3. Read a book, and stop quoting movies

Seriously.  Try quoting a book.  It is so much easier than trying to quote a movie.  On top of that, people sound smarter when they quote books.  Don’t believe me?  Try reading a few chapters out of the Organic Church, and then reading a few out of The Celebration of Discipline, and tell me which author comes across as smarter.  Now, I am not saying that Neil Cole is a dummy, or even that he is less intelligent than Richard Foster.  I’m sure Neil Cole is brilliant, but when you read the Organic Church, you get the feeling that Neil Cole watches a lot of TV.  When you read The Celebration of Discipline, you get the feeling that Richard Foster reads a lot of classic Christian literature. 

If that is a little too prideful for you, try this, people feel smarter when they get done reading a synopsis and quote from a book, than they do a movie.  I dare say people are actually intellectually better off when authors quote books rather than movies.  Don’t get me wrong, I like movies as much as the next guy, but there are a lot of movies that urge you to take your brain out while you watch them.  I know what you are thinking, there are bad books too (I’m looking at you, Tom Clancy), but I am willing to bet that there are more good books out there than there are good movies out there. 

On top of that, the reader of the Christian book has obviously already come to some sort of peace about the written word, otherwise they wouldn’t be reading a book, they would be waiting until the Kirk Cameron version of your book was released straight to DVD.  So it is not as if you have to worry about losing your audience by quoting a book.  

 

All I am trying to ask for is a little variety here.  

Tag

From Jason

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag 

I was in the ROTC program as a freshman in high school.  Gym was a completely miserable experience for me as a skinny, uncoordinated, uncompetitive kid in middle school.  So when I was told that ROTC was a physical education credit, and I would never have to take a gym class ever again, I thought this was a no-brainer.  This was not quite as bad as you would think.  There was very little macho competition, most everyone in the class was as nerdy or nerdier than I was, and my dad was very proud to see one of his sons wearing a navy uniform (which I looked really lame in).

I kissed my wife within three hours of meeting her for the first time (Take that Josh Harris!).  I was 18 years old, but she was only 15. 

My favorite band of all time might be Pedro The Lion.  I especially like the album, It's Hard to Find a Friend.  You can check out videos of the main song writer here. 

One time in January, after not smoking for a long time, I bought a pack of cigarettes and started chain smoking on the cold two hour drive from my parents house back to Bowling Green.  After about five or six cigarettes in a row, I became sick to my stomach.  I tried to pull over at the last minute, but it was too late.  I threw up all over my steering wheel, and in my lap.  My car smelled like puke for the next three months, and it was just too cold to have the windows down for very long.  I didn't smoke for about a year after that happened. 

My brother and I considered spray painting the words "date rape" on the side of the girls gone wild bus when it came to town a couple of times.  After discussing it and deciding that we would be theologically justified (maybe, maybe not) to do the deed, the jerks didn't come back to town anymore.  Maybe this was God sparing me from having to spend the night in jail. 

I wish that United Statesians (myself included) did not drive cars, but got by almost completely on riding bikes, trolleys, and trains.

I don't actually have a lot of friends who blog, and most of the blogs I read are written by people who don't know I exist, so I am going to create a dream team of sorts for my tag list.  These are the people I think should start blogs and respond to this tag.  

1.  Jeremy - my brother, and occasional partner in talking about committing crime

2.  Wes - anything Wes says is funny, whether he means it to be or not.  He is honestly one of my consistently favorite people.

3.  Bevin - my young South African friend in Bowling Green

4.  Jake - seriously, you could at least post your photography or something for my viewing pleasure

... and I only have four people on my dream team, but none of them actually even have blogs, so who cares?

it's cool to hate

I think I might have learned to hate when I was in high school.  Elementary school is not really a time where you run into a lot of social hierarchy.  There is some, but it is below the surface, and there are generally only a few kids here and there that are truly outcasts (God be with these individuals, wherever they are today).  In middle school, however, all the hierarchy comes to a head.  I didn’t feel it too much in 6^th grade, but in 7^th grade, it hit me like a punch in the gut.  Suddenly, there it was:  cool kids, uncool kids, cheerleaders, football players, skateboarders, preppies, freaks, poor white trash, gang bangers, untouchables.

But I didn’t hate anyone yet, and no one was really my enemy.  The reason for this is not because I was popular, in fact, far from it, but because I was unsure of my social standing at this point.  I still had dreams, as I think many do when first confronted with the social hierarchy, of climbing the ladder and being popular.  Looking back on this is laughable.  If you were to follow me around during my middle school years, you would know that every day was proof that I was not cool enough, witty enough, or smart enough to ever get very high on the ladder. 

By the time high school rolled around, I was jaded and bitter.  I knew my place, and I knew it wasn’t really going to change in the next four years.  It’s around this time that I really learned to hate.  I hated the whole system, and the people who enforced it.  I hated people who topped the social hierarchy, and did their best to keep others in their respective places.  I hated social climbers, willing to step on others in order get a higher place, I hated teachers who seemed to reinforce the hierarchy, and at times, appeared to down right enjoy it.  I hated school spirit, football games, and pep rallies.  Most of all, I hated seeing people get picked on, almost as much as I hated being picked on. 

Allow me to clarify for a moment.  Some of this anger was probably holy.  Some of the anger was simply anger about injustice, and dehumanization.  Such things should make us angry, and we should feel no need to hide that or apologize for it.  Instead, we should make every effort to confront those who would oppress, or exploit others, while comforting those who have fallen victim to predators and systems of injustice.  What was going on in my youth, however, was not all holy.  In fact, the majority of my anger led to sin, specifically self-destruction, and the destruction of others. 

Let’s fast forward.  I’m almost twenty-five years old now.  Jesus saved me from self-destruction almost eight years ago, and he continues to show me the difference between his hate of injustice, and sinning in anger.  But I still have my doubts that I have completely made my peace with high school.  I must confess that even my desire to work at a high school is in hopes of making it a safer, less miserable place for students who feel the weight of the system.  I still find myself thanking God that I don’t have to attend the pep rallies, and irritated at teachers who “loved high school so much they wanted to come back and teach at one.”  I still get angry at all the homophobic things that were said, and are still said.  I still feel my heart pushed towards hate from time to time.  But I hear God saying “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.”

Where there's a will, there's a way

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.

"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

Let us all be extremely cautious in assuming that God's will, or plan conforms to our own, and let us be weary of any leader who does not share that caution.  

Johnson, Gene. "Palin: Iraq war 'a task from God'." Yahoo News. 3 Sep. 2008. Yahoo. 6 Sep. 2008 .

the unconventionals

This is a story from my work journal (I had to keep a journal of work experiences to keep from going insane last year).  Last year I worked at a school for individuals with behavioral disorders, and special needs.  The entry is from late November, and the names have been changed.  

Brian sat down in gym and refused to get up.  This is not unusual.  I believe if Brian had his way he would probably lay on his mat all day.  Aaron stopped playing basketball and walked over to where Brian lay crumpled up on the floor.  I was nervous, of course, because Aaron reaps very little other than destruction, especially in the past couple of weeks.  Today was different though.  

Aaron walked over to Brian and asked to walk with him.  Ms. Chloe, their teacher, explained that Brian did not want to walk at the moment, but that we wanted him to.  Aaron did not seem to understand entirely, but maybe he understood more than I gave him credit for.  Aaron reached out and held Brian's hand and again signed to us that he wanted to walk laps with Brian.  Brian began to punch himself in the face, also unfortunately, normal.  At this, Aaron looked upset an taken aback.  

"Trol!" (Control) Aaron shouted, as if to bring our attention and aid to Brian.

There was something about the look on Aaron's face at that moment.  Aaron looked worried, and troubled.  It was a look of compassion.  I was astounded.  Aaron, the destructor, showed concern for someone else.  Was it possible that even Aaron, one of the most self serving individuals I have ever met, felt moved by the plight of another person?  

God moved in my heart at that moment, convicting me about the way I viewed the kids that I worked with.  God works in us all, even the unconventionals.  Maybe especially the unconventionals.