Friday, May 23, 2008
Too Close Too Home
MMI links to this parody item:
I weep for the church. We deserve so much of the attack that we get, and this is illustrative of why. There are real people that behave in a fashion that here is portrayed as silly. What are we to do?
Parody is a good solution sometimes, but I am not sure that the people that really need to hear the parody will in this instance. They are more likely to shout "AMEN!" than get the message. How does one reach out with grace to the ungraceful? Or do we simply write them off?
Which raises the question in my mind - Do you think Jesus wrote the Pharisees off? He certainly did not afford them the grace and understanding He did the more profligate sinners like prostitutes and tax-collectors. How do we know when someone's heart is hardened beyond reachability? Does such a state even exist?
How do we balance the need to set ourselves apart from such foolishness with the command to reach out to both the world, and people like this?
I have no answers to this one, only questions.
Technorati Tags:parody, bible translations, grace, heart hardnening, questions
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MUSKEGON, MI – In the days leading up to July 6th, the U.S. government and private technology experts issued warnings that hackers involved in a loosely organized contest planned to attack thousands of computers across the country. Although the contest is over and the severity of the damage is unknown, it is certain that at least the owners and users of BibleGateway.com have fallen victim to one hacker's malicious and deceptive onslaught. The attack involved breaking into BibleGateway.com's computers and switching the online versions of the King James Bible and the Amplified Bible. The results of this assault echoed through sanctuaries and chapels all across the nation.The power of parody lies in its reflection of reality, and as someone that has actually been shouted at over Bible translations, I had to read very deep into this before I understood its true nature.
[...]
Unfortunately, for some users who were slightly less observant, passages from these mislabeled Bible versions made their way into PowerPoint slides and sermon notes all across the country. One of the more controversial debacles occurred at the American Fundamental Baptist Association National Conference on July 12th, where pastor and co-chair of the AFBA Jimmy Rainford accidentally quoted and displayed a verse from the Amplified Bible instead of his authorized KJV on three 20-foot screens during an evening sermon. More than 11,000 of the 13,000 appalled attendees walked out of the stadium while over 100 attending pastors' wives fainted in their dismay.
I weep for the church. We deserve so much of the attack that we get, and this is illustrative of why. There are real people that behave in a fashion that here is portrayed as silly. What are we to do?
Parody is a good solution sometimes, but I am not sure that the people that really need to hear the parody will in this instance. They are more likely to shout "AMEN!" than get the message. How does one reach out with grace to the ungraceful? Or do we simply write them off?
Which raises the question in my mind - Do you think Jesus wrote the Pharisees off? He certainly did not afford them the grace and understanding He did the more profligate sinners like prostitutes and tax-collectors. How do we know when someone's heart is hardened beyond reachability? Does such a state even exist?
How do we balance the need to set ourselves apart from such foolishness with the command to reach out to both the world, and people like this?
I have no answers to this one, only questions.
Technorati Tags:parody, bible translations, grace, heart hardnening, questions
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