Monday, August 25, 2008

Cultural Christianity (funny but depressing)


After my last posting on Obama vs. The Rain Prayers I thought it can't get any worse than this. Well, it has. I came across this website which collects a different image of Jesus created by Christians from all over. I don't know if the site is run by non-Christians or not, but clearly Christians have domesticated Jesus to an extent where the Son of God, Lord and Savior, the God-Man who is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who is worthy of glory and honor and power and praise, the Lamb who was slain from the foundations of the world, is reduced in total to "Jesus is my friend." Awww. Isn't that sweet. Like, my favorite Jesus, like of all time, is like, the Buddy Jesus from that, like, Dogma movie.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present: Jesus of the Week (in stereo & Technicolor [tm] )

And I heartily recommend this particular Jesus, which comes from our brothers across the sea, The French. Be sure and click the link at the end of the commentary for more alien Jesus fun. (granted, this last one is not a Christian contribution)

It is a sad indication that Western Christianity has little if any ability to present the Lord Jesus Christ to its culture in any way that is faithful to who Jesus really is - that is, the Jesus of the New Testament. Most of the best cultural and pop cultural presentations of Christ actually come from non-Christians these days (for example, Spielberg's Amistad). I would loved to be proved wrong on this. Any takers?

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Christians Being Stupid

So here's a video I just saw about a guy who wants God to send rain on Obama's acceptance speech in Denver later this month. It's so smarmy I want to vomit. Nevertheless, a deeper question remains. If a Christian does not agree with some (or even all) of Mr. Obama's platform, is this the appropriate recourse as a Christian? How about praying for God to work in and through the election process, or that God would move a particular politician to change their views on an issue. Lord knows tons of progressive Christians have done so for the last eight years (the ones who aren't staging protest rallies, that is). Furthermore, if a prayer request for supernatural intervention is on the table, why not just shoot for the moon and call down the thunder. Why not do as Moses did when Korah rebelled and the earth swallowed them up (Numbers 16:28-35). Or James and John when the Samaritan village refused to let Jesus in and they asked him, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and consume them." (Luke 9:51-56). Oh wait, Jesus rebuked them when they said that.