Now This… May 2, 2008
Posted by Jack Hammer in : Children, Culture, Jack Hammer, Standards, Worldliness , 3 comments
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Television, Smell-a-vision, Aitch-e-double-hockey-stick-A-Vision.ÂÂ
We can’t live with it. We can’t live without it. Some do, but most won’t. We need our nightly news-fix. We love our commercials. Quality time with the remote — Priceless. Channel surfing is the new sport. It is our babysitter, our nightly pacifier, our family unifier. Touch my couch, and you are welcome. Touch my coffee table, and you are forgiven. Touch my piano, and you are sophisticated. Touch my television, and you are ignorant, presumptious, meddling.ÂÂ
American culture is television. We live it. We imitate it. It imitates us. It pushes us. We push it. We follow it. It follows us. We teach with it. It teaches us. We need it. It needs us. It is us.ÂÂ
Should we have a television? Should we watch television? Why should we watch television? How should we watch television? What does television say about us? What does it teach us? How does it affect us.
May is televison month on JackHammer. Hard to watch while your hammering, but it makes a nice sparky arch when it explodes. Fireworks! And we aren’t even to July yet.ÂÂ
Stay tuned!
Culture Crucified - Christian Crucified March 19, 2008
Posted by Jeff Voegtlin in : Culture, Separation, Worldliness , 3 comments Print This Post
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Crucifixion is one of the most cruel forms of execution mankind has conceived. It is a punishment reserved for only the most vile criminals. No self-respecting citizen would want anything to do with someone who is punished in this way. Crucifixion means shame, reproach, mockery, and ostracism for everyone who aligns themselves with the one that is executed in this way. That the philosophy of someone who was crucified would be helpful in any way is pure foolishness and it’s true that anyone who’s hanged on a tree is cursed.
Crucifixion not only executes; it stigmatizes. So when the Apostle Paul writes,
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross or our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
there is significance to a Christian and culture that cannot be ignored. Galatians 6:14
teaches us that the world and its culture deserves from Christians all the shame, reproach, mockery and ostracism that a crucified criminal deserves. It also teaches us that Christians should live in a way that receives all the shame, reproach, mockery and ostracism from the world and its culture that a crucified criminal receives.
Christian, the cross of Christ should change the way you view the world. It should change your worldview. Can you despise the world? Can you mock the world? Can you heap shame and reproach on its culture? Alternatively, does the world approve your lifestyle or reproach you for it? Are your worldly friends ashamed to be around you or do you fit right in? Does your Christianity make you do anything that is a mockery to our culture? You see, the cross of Christ changes a man so that the world views him differently also…
Culture Decay—But Who Cares? part two March 17, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : Culture, Fundamentalism, Worldliness , 4 comments Print This Post
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As I write this, we are in the midst of a presidential primary and down to two democratic candidates, as history will show, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In this last week, the media has finally revealed the incidiary statements of Obama’s long time friend and pastor, Jeremiah Wright (decent articles about it here, here, and here).  This is the man that gave Obama the title of his bestselling book, The Audacity of Hope, married him, baptized his two daughters, and was the long-time pastor of the church of which Obama has been a member for twenty years.  Obama says he had no idea that his pastor was like this. Obama doesn’t think that these comments need separate him from Wright, because they are only a few things that he said among, you know, mainly good. Then again, Mussolini got the trains to run on time. And imagine if another candidate said, “This man, David Duke, has influenced my life almost as much as anyone—I do separate myself from some of what he says—but he is a good man.” How would that go down?
The media talks about this like it’s old news and yet I had heard nothing about it. The mainstream media, that I know of, has said nothing about Obama’s regular usage of the terms hoodwinked and bamboozled on the campaign trail, especially in areas where his crowds were huge numbers of African Americans, terms utilized by Malcolm X in speeches that were borrowed by Spike Lee for films They are code language for many African Americans. Imagine if anyone
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Culture: What’s Not to Love February 27, 2008
Posted by Kent Brandenburg in : Culture, The World, Worldliness , 19 comments Print This Post
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You hear the light, syncopated throb of the trap set, the pound of snare followed by the light rake of the wire brush on the cymbal, and then start the cat calls, loud whoops and hollers, because the teenagers know what it means. You’re quiet and they’re loud, because you both know. Your silence repudiates what the sound means. Their rowdiness signals reception. They love it. You don’t. Should they love what they’ve heard? Should they even accept it?
The World, That’s What (James 4:1-6)
In an examination of genuine saving faith, James in chapter four exposes characteristics of the world. To start, everyone should know that God is an enemy to anyone who is a friend of the world, that is, affectionate with the world, all the drives and impulses that would be associated with it. The unwillingness to break from the world’s culture comes because of this affection (”friendship,” James 4:4, philia) for the world. And then when someone loves the world, the world no longer hates the person. If you are “of the world,” the world loves “its own” (John 15:19). The way the world treated Christ is how it will treat the friends of Christ, so if you can get along with the world, you can know why.
The term “world” refers to the man-centered, Satan-directed system, which is hostile to God, Christ, and the Christian. It’s not talking about the globe, about terra firma, or about anything physical. It’s talking about the spiritual reality of a Satan-directed, man-centered system hostile to the Lord and His nature and work. It refers to all the values, the mores, the lifestyle, the ethics, the morals, and the institutions of the world as they are established apart from and antagonistic to God.
The goal of the world is self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-control, self-
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The Fat Lady July 30, 2007
Posted by Jeff Voegtlin in : Music, Worldliness , 4 comments Print This Post
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First, a general statement about generalities. Anyone can find an exception to a generality. But, generalities are generally true because, generally, they apply to the majority of the particulars. Someone who denies the general truth by pointing out a particular exception is more comfortable with the doubt and uncertainty of human reasoning and is not being honest with the truth.
Second, while I have not made this application in any of the posts I’ve made this month, others have turned the focus of my writing toward music for worship–music used in church. But I’m not talking about worship music. I’m talking about all music. I don’t want to separate the sacred from the secular. I assure you that I understand that some music that is appropriate for any part of life is not appropriate for worship. But my conclusion would be, that music that is NOT appropriate for any part of life is surely NOT appropriate for worship. Except that, in a way, all music worships something.
Finally, to bring together my first post and my second post, if we are not to love the world, neither the things in the world; and if we can observe how the context of our culture/world through music expresses its love of, or worship of its things–the flesh, the eyes, and pride; we should be able to see what music we should not love.
Now let’s be honest. Have you ever seen the music on MTV or vh1; CMT or BET? It doesn’t take long to plainly see and hear music that worships the lust of the flesh - sensuality, sexuality, women, promiscuity, etc. You can also see music that worships the lust of the eyes - eyes that are never satisfied, eyes that are covetous, desiring materialism, cars, things, etc. And you can see and hear music that worships the pride of life - it pays homage to good old number one. It serves self. It is in rebellion against authority. In our culture, it is easy to see and hear these types of music and it should be easy to then stay away from that worldly music.
In another culture, they may use different music to worship its worldly elements — the flesh, the eyes, and pride. But honestly, seeking Christians, in any culture should be able to apply these principles to their own culture and their own music.
