TV & Movies – More than Entertainment
The day after my post on banal thinking, John Piper posts this article on why he doesn’t have a TV and rarely goes to movies.
It’s interesting that Piper acknowledges that he would likely disagree with Mark Driscoll, who is currently my most-listened-to preacher. Driscoll views it almost as a duty for Christians to watch some TV and movies in order to understand the world we are trying to reach. Minutes 21 to 24 in this video contain an example of his thinking.
Piper on the other hand, does not see a connection between watching TV or movies and his effectiveness as a preacher. On the contrary, he sees it as potentially damaging. His concerns with TV in particular are “its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects”, and its consumption of valuable time.
The difference between the two viewpoints is the purpose and mental discipline with which you view these shows. If your purpose is to figure out why people watch these things, you’re going to watch it differently, and be less susceptible I think, than if you are looking to be entertained, or are just “unwinding”.
I know myself though. When it comes to TV and movie watching, I’m more inclined to be a Piper than a Driscoll. And I personally believe the Driscoll-type viewers are extremely rare.
There is so much more in Piper’s short article. I urge you to read it.
A Conversation with Death on Good Friday
From John Piper’s blog yet again:
CHRISTIAN:
Hello, Death, my old enemy. My old slave-master. Have you come to talk to me again? To frighten me?
I am not the person you think I am. I am not the one you used to talk to. Something has happened. Let me ask you a question, Death.
Where is your sting?
DEATH, sneeringly:
My sting is your sin.
CHRISTIAN:
I know that, Death. But that’s not what I asked you. I asked, where is your sting? I know what it is. But tell me where it is.
Why are you fidgeting, Death? Why are you looking away? Why are you turning to go? Wait, Death, you have not answered my question. Where is your sting?
Where is, my sin?
What? You have no answer? But, Death, why do you have no answer? How will you terrify me, if you have no answer?
O Death, I will tell you the answer. Where is your sting? Where is my sin? It is hanging on that tree. God made Christ to be sin—my sin. When he died, the penalty of my sin was paid. The power of it was broken. I bear it no more.
Farewell, Death. You need not show up here again to frighten me. God will tell you when to come next time. And when you come, you will be his servant. For me, you will have no sting.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Following Christ
From John Piper’s blog today:
Today, sixty-four years ago, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He is known by many for one main sentence. It is worthy of Holy Week.
Here is the context of his most famous quote:
The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. (The Cost of Discipleship, 99)
Leave and go:
- “a death like that of the first disciples – leave home and work to follow him”
- “a death like Luther’s – leave the monastery and go out into the world”
I don’t believe that I have really left anything and gone anywhere as a follower of Jesus. I don’t feel a personal calling. Perhaps the answer is in his previous blog. Perhaps a “personal call” is not necessary. Perhaps, even, it’s American arrogance.
Former DG staffer, Jonathan Dodson has posted a helpful article that challenges us to re-examine our Western paradigms of gospel conversion. Here’s a key quote:
Gospel change in some cultures is more gradual than instantaneous. The American Evangelical tradition of “deep consciousness of personal sin followed by a sense of joyous liberation” is not common to all cultures. Missionaries labored for years before they saw a single conversion, and even then, the conversions were sometimes very different than what they expected. Cultures that are more communal experience conversion differently that cultures that are highly individualistic. In many African and Asian cultures, conversions come in pairs or families instead of by single individuals. Not all gospel change happens identically, especially across cultures.
Offense and Wrath
Listened to the John Piper sermon “The Greatest Thing in the World” which reviewed Romans 1-7 in the midst of his 8 or so year long series on Romans.
The whole thing was outstanding, but two things struck me:
1) We are so much more offended and agitated about injustice done to man than rather than the constant offenses God that we all are guilty of.
The infinite, all-glorious Creator of the universe, by whom and for whom all things exist (Rom. 11:36) – who holds every person’s life in being at every moment (Acts 17:25) – is disregarded, disbelieved, disobeyed, and dishonored by everybody in the world. That is the ultimate outrage of the universe.
Why is it that people can become emotionally and morally indignant over poverty and exploitation and prejudice and the injustice of man against man and yet feel little or no remorse or indignation that God is so belittled? It’s because of sin. That is what sin is. Sin is esteeming and valuing and honoring and enjoying man and his creations above God. So even our man-centered anger at the hurt of sin is part of sin. God is marginal in human life. That is our sin, our condition.
This reminded me of conversations I’ve had over the years with Christians who, in political discussions, emphasize standing up for our rights. They are much more concerned about their right to freedom than about the offense to God. (It’s convicting to me that the first thing I think about is how other people manifest this sin rather than think about how I manifest it. Need to work on that…)
2) We deserve the unbridled wrath of God
Piper says that Rom 3:24-25 are the most important verses in the Bible, and he goes on to break down phrase by phrase. What struck me was the phrase “as a propitiation”. The text of the sermon says:
“As a propitiation” is precious because it means that the wrath of God that we deserved was removed. Christ absorbed it, and took it away. He became the curse for us and took away the judgment of God. God was propitiated.
But when you listen to it, he adds a description that is much more powerful. He describes propitiation as satisfying the wrath of God. Then he sets the scene — Jesus standing in front of God the Father saying “the people are as wretched as you say they are, every one of them, and they deserve the full force of your wrath. I am offering myself, your perfect, sinless son, to take on that wrath for them to as a propitiation.”
Take the time to listen. It’s good stuff.
