y wife showed me this rather humorous site with a serious message, and I wanted to pass it on. I cannot fully endorse everything on this site because it crosses a line in its humor that I’m not completely comfortable with.
However, it illustrates the idea that I often talk about here — that we need to re-examine what we do as “church” to make sure that we are not drifting away from the intent of Jesus. It’s a series of short videos that are spoofs of NBC’s “The More You Know”. So, for a chuckle, and some thought-provoking humor, check out: The Church You Know.
Steve;
I really liked the videos. They seem to have that rare gift of demonstrating absurdity by being perfectly serious. It was great.
Riely
Ditto Riley’s comments for me. I emailed to the site to a few friends.
Steve, I loved the videos! Erica & I just about cried we were laughing so hard! Thanks for the recommendation!
The use of parody is often particularly illuminating due to its juxtaposition of reality with the absurd.
Despite the quality of the videos, they strike me as dealing with surface issues akin to treating a symptom rather than the cause of the disease.
For example, the one on titles points at the inherent silliness of calling a human being “one to be reverenced”, a general meaning of the term reverend, without addressing the cause; that is the organized church’s use, for the most part, of a military/corporate command structure. The structure itself suggests that spiritual authority is authorized by our Father to command individuals. This perspective is the cause of much harm in the body of Christ far beyond the symptomatic reverend, et al, titles. Additionally, it is very hard to justify in light of several different places in the NT that speak otherwise to issue of authority.
The videographers simply drawing attention to problems will unfortunately not bring change. The disease of not understanding the in-dwelling Christ as the core reality of a walk with God must be addressed. Individuals must grasp by faith what God has provided for change to occur.
ded, Very good points, and a fair analysis. (By “fair”, I mean “appropriate and balanced”, not “simply mediocre”!!) Thanks for adding that perspective onto it.
steve
ded,
I agree with your points, unless of course, the only point of the video is to get people thinking and questioning the cause of these ‘symptoms’ in the first place; while a deeper treatment of the systemic problems at hand are needed for change to be accomplished, it’s a little difficult to make a video on “a military/corporate command structure” that’s not going to be totally off of people’s radar.
The fact that the videos got you to voice and think of exactly what you did, may just be the best proof that they are, in fact, accomplishing a significant purpose… to provoke people to question why they did/didn’t like them, and what they are really about.
Brian,
Point taken…the videos accomplish their intent. My concern is that people will watch the videos and remain “off the radar” as you call it. Yet, this illustrates a spiritual principle: people find what they seek, get what they ask for, and enter from doors on which they knock.
A question for Riley Allen…
Does one share in corporate sin when they decline to stand up against abuse of a fellow human being for fear that the authorities may do the same to himself?