Super Bowl Sunday And The Next Big Thing

[Mike Vande]

My friend Dave wrote this, and asked for feedback on it. What do you think?

Super Bowl Sunday And The Next Big Thing


by dave carter

I will be the first to confess that I am not a big fan of television sports, so my opinion of NBA Playoffs, the World Series, and yes, even the Super Bowl, is colored by a filter of indifference. Given that the upper-terrace seats at Houston’s Reliant Stadium this Sunday are going for $1,950.00 each, I am obviously in the minority. Those are the “cheap seats”...and the total capacity for the facility has been expanded to 72,000. Oh, my, this is big business. If my memory serves me correctly, commercial spots go for something like $1,000,000 per 30 seconds (?). I cannot fathom how many billions of dollars change hands because of Super Bowl Sunday—both legitimately, and illegitimately. And for what? The bottom line? (Forgive me for this) It is a made-up event...a pseudo-event…a very expensive, very successful one, but a pseudo-event nonetheless.



Increasingly, our society exists financially and emotionally from peak to peak as we struggle from pseudo-event to “holiday” to pseudo-event to “holiday.” We do whatever we must to survive today in order to make it to next week’s Big Thing. Unfortunately, within minutes of being over, the work, the adrenalin, and the rewards of The Big Thing have begun to dissipate. Within 24 hours even the memories have started to fade and we begin to look toward The Next Big Thing. Just as in destructive drug use, promiscuity, and violence, these are symptoms of addiction, but on a grand scale. Listen to the Word of God from Isaiah 29:8, ...when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, ...he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched…(NIV). In the midst of the mightiest and wealthiest nation the world has ever known, we are a people who hunger and thirst...yet we chase after dreams, and schemes, and fantasies instead of seeking real food and real drink.



I fear the Church has fallen into this same routine. Every year or so, someone writes a “best-seller” that will revolutionize our faith and daily walk in Christ. Enormous segments of Christendom rush to buy and buy, and do and do, and teach and teach, and attend and attend. Within months, the writers and speakers of caution begin to tear at the success of that year’s particular Christian “Big Thing” (people were getting tired of it anyway) and it fades into the obscurity of the discount rack. Over the past few years The Bible Code, The God Chasers, The Left Behind Series, The Purpose Driven Church/Life/et al, and The Prayer of Jabez have each had their moment in the sun and we are left restless in the wake of their passing. We are right now looking to our Church leaders to find for us The Next Big Thing. This is big business.



In every human endeavor there are those who have a keen sense of what’s coming. Those who by instinct, training, and/or discernment have a knack for getting on a band wagon early enough to maintain the attitude and position of “a leader.” This year, just in time to cover the distance between Christmas and Easter, those in the know will be encouraging us to see previews of Mel Gibson’s The Passion. We will be urged as families and congregations to rush to movie theaters immediately upon its public release. We are going to be handed flyers at the doors of our churches and we will be invited to buy study guides, and books, and eventually copies of the DVD. We will be greeted by a month’s worth of sermons, and a season of study groups. For half-a-year we will listen to discussions and arguments about the merits and demerits of the movie and its impact upon the minds, hearts, and lives of the lost, the saved, and the almost-maybe saved. This is very big business.



I think Mel Gibson is honestly trying to satisfy an urge that has driven him to make this movie. I pray that the spirit behind that drive is the Holy Spirit. I hope that I am wrong in my attitude and that millions are led to Christ. I know that it is being fed into a very efficient promotional campaign and I am reasonably sure it is this year’s Next Big Thing. Can God use this movie to advance His Kingdom, no matter the motive of mankind individually and collectively? Absolutely. The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice (Phil. 1:18NIV). My concern is for those persons who exist from peak experience to peak experience, and for those congregations that are artificially maintained through regular infusions of pseudo-events. We cannot live healthy lives of growth if we are being trained to live out our spiritual existence from crest to crest of waves manufactured by the newest, biggest, and brightest Next Big Thing Wave Machine. The higher the crest, the deeper the trough—and it is in the trough where the trials and routine of real life unfolds. As excitement fades from the seductions of a “party” atmosphere, so does genuine interest and commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church. Hebrews 13:8 tells us, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (NIV).



The Passion is a very graphic movie in its portrayal of the effects of violence on the human body and psyche. It is not appropriate for everyone, no matter what those who stand to gain from its promotion tell us. I am not convinced that this sort of “realism” is beneficial for any reason. Apparently, all of the dialog in this movie is in Aramaic, which is an interesting artistic touch of authenticity, but the obvious result will be a disconnect between the film and the viewer in terms of rational understanding through language. Other than music, sound effects, ambient noises, and variations of stress, pitch, and juncture in dialog, the movie is focused on having a visual impact. This places a compounded emphasis upon the intensely explicit nature of the violence. There are some things to which we should maintain as much naiveté as possible. It is my duty as husband and father to shield my family from the horrors of which humanity is capable—whether in real life or “at the movies”—regardless of spiritual or artistic intent. Remember, this movie is not the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, no more than any other artist’s rendition of the past two millennia. It is an imaginative icon just like any crucifix on any wall or around any neck. Our attitude toward this film should be the same as for any other icon. As for me and my household: We will stay home and we will stick with The Bible.



Please think this through. Do we, as the Church, really want to endorse the opening of these gates? Do we really want to agree that over-the-top graphic depiction of brutality is acceptable in this case? Do we really want to make this the exception to the rule that all children, especially our own, should not be allowed to view material rated “R” for violence, or, for that matter, “R” for any reason? What will we be communicating to our 12-16 year olds? Do we really want to encourage the next producer/director/actor to take the next step in “upping the ante” of what is acceptable Christian viewing? David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband murdered. By advocating The Passion we will have set the precedent for graphic violence in “Christian Approved” movies…perhaps we now need to witness the intimate scenes between the leading characters so that we can fully appreciate the depth of their sin and degradation. Don’t laugh and don’t “pooh-pooh” this comment—it’s coming.



Once images are burned into the brain at any age, they cannot be eliminated. The advocates of this movie say, “You will never be the same.” Friends, that same thing can be said about many, many experiences of all sorts—I wouldn’t take that as necessarily a good thing, especially for children. I’m sure that there are going to be church groups who will be prepared with “lay counselor training” to talk to viewers as they leave the theater...to explain to people what they just witnessed...to help them regain their composure...to lead them down the Roman Road to salvation or commitment. We need to keep in mind that tearing someone down emotionally, and then putting them back together must be solely the work of the Holy Spirit. Left in the hands of mankind, this Gestalt technique becomes little more than Fundamentals of Brain Washing & Manipulation 101. Not that many years ago we used to publicly burn people at the stake in order to discourage apostasy and to encourage “right living.” This film may be an effective tool in moving some people toward Christ, but at what cost? Did God find it necessary to have the minutia of the Crucifixion described in gory detail within the Gospels in order for “the lost” of the past 2,000 years to really understand what Jesus went through for us?



Great art, even good art, doesn’t have to scream at you, or fly in your face—it suggests more than it states and there is a subtlety in its layers of experience and communication. As a culture, however, we are demanding more, and faster, and stronger of everything—with sexual situations, inappropriate language, social crudity, explicit verbal and physical violence, scatological “humor” (potty jokes), degrading depictions of individuals, and bigotry masquerading as “tolerance” heading up the list of apparently desirable and effectual entertainment “hooks.” It breaks my heart to see aspects of this same trend creeping into the sanctuary, up the aisle, and onto the platform of our churches—all in the name of becoming more relevant to our society...of becoming more comfortable for the worldly among us...of increasing our numbers. God forgive us.

Yes, we are a nation who hungers and thirsts, but there is only one real, true, and lasting answer to those needs: A personal relationship with the living Jesus Christ, Himself; not a well crafted movie, not the latest book, and not The Next Big Thing. "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare (Isa. 55:1&2; NIV). For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink (John 6:55; NIV). Amen

[Gerald Creasy]

Had me Amen-ing up until he started tearing into "The Passion"


The Jewish community will do enough of a hatchet job on it.

[Mike Vande]

I like it. A few things;
First, I believe the going length for commercials is now 20 seconds, but you are right about the price per spot being better than 1 meg.
Second, I am and have long been suspicious of "next big things" as such, but I am not sure you can say they are never what God has in mind for the time and place they occur. You could concievably go back as far as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, the Cumberland revivals, Charles Finney and so on in establishing their roots, and come forward through Billy Sunday, Azuza Street, Amy Semple McPherson, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, those three really poorly-made movies that came out in the late 60's early 70's depicting the rapture (whatever they were called), Toronto and Pensacola in showing that they are not always bad anymore than they are always good.
Third, creeping worldliness has been a dynamic the church has dealt with for centuries. I heard a guy say more than five years ago than the church is on a five-year delay behind the current fads and fashions, and his contention was that thong bathing suits would be acceptable wear for church-going women by now. Well, unless you know something I do not, he was wrong. Even more often than the Next Bit Thing pops up, someone starts screaming that the church is going to hell in a handbasket, and the result is everything from mennonite/amish communities to bombed abortion clinics. I am not saying you advocate either extreme, or that I found this composition to be encouraging either one, but guys like you and me who tend to see things in black and white have to remember that one way or another, the church always survives.

You wanna know what scares me? The idea that if the American church loses its freedom in our society, the whole world will collapse and the church will die out worldwide.We ain't the only bunch God has, nor are we the best God can muster, and God is not an American. It may mess with some heads, but God isn't even a Republican. But, maybe that's just one more aspect of the worldliness that has crept into the church, the idea that we can legislate Christianity back into our culture rather than evangelize it. IN the meantime, what I am looking for is a Godly place to stand somewhere between preaching retribution and judgement for the American church beause of its polluted worldly nature and gullibilty in following after whatever looks like the Next Big Thing, and going down to the beach in a thong bathing suit myself, which I think we can all agree would be a tradgedy of biblical proportions for everyone who witnessed it. But then, who knows? Maybe it would discourage others from doing the same thing.
..

[Mike Vande]

Had me Amen-ing up until he started tearing into "The Passion"
The Jewish community will do enough of a hatchet job on it.

Isn't that the point? Nobody wants to see anything wrong with "The Next Big Thing" because they want it to BE "the Next Big Thing". Folks are counting on it for a lot of reasons. I used to say the movie "the Last Temptation Of Christ" would have been virtuallyand universally ignored had it not been for the fuss the church kicked up in response to it. So far, the response to "The Passion" has stirred the church up again, even though very few folks have seen it. If this is paranoid, well, maybe I am , but doesn't that sound like a public relations victory to you? How many of us will beat a path to the theatre to watch a movie with dialogue we can't understand because we want to support this poor guy who's being beaten up by the Hollywood establishment for making a movie about Jesus? That's almost too good to be true...

Oh, and how many times in the past can you remember making a derogatory comment about Jews and/or the Jewish community prior to this whole magilla? If we ain't careful, we could start feeling might put out at those folks, and God doesn't like it when we do that...

Vande

[rough_rider]

Mike V wrote:

That's almost too good to be true...

That has been in the back of my mind for sometime now. Yes, this is to many of us Christians "the next big thing". I hope and pray this movie is not just Mel Gibson trying to satisfy an urge, but obeying the leading of the Lord. Yes I plan on seeing the movie and taking several unsaved with me, no doubt while standing in line that very thought will cross my mind; Is this just to good to be true?

[Mike Vande]

Yes I plan on seeing the movie and taking several unsaved with me, no doubt while standing in line that very thought will cross my mind; Is this just to good to be true?

Considering the violence everyone says is depicted in the film, will you be taking any kids?

Vande

[amydawn]

I understand the significance of the argument of the timing and the obedience of the production of the movie... and we'll never know about Mel Gibson's obedience or lack thereof. We can know of our own in determining whether to go and who to take.

That said.... to the comment about the graphic images burnt forever in the minds of viewers - that type of thing -- people DID watch it happen the first time, you know. Will the movie truly accomplish "over-the-top graphic depiction of brutality" for us to question acceptability? Doesn't the Word say he wasn't recognizable as a human? Do you think they will show Him mutilated to that extent? I doubt it.

I agree that it is wrong to manipulate emotions to disengenuously force the appearance of a salvation experience. On the other hand, I wonder what the real-life people who were actually there experienced as viewers. (Disclaimer to that thought - I know this will be a man-made representation of events.)

[amydawn]

Considering the violence everyone says is depicted in the film, will you be taking any kids?

Vande

I know your question wasn't directed to me, but I'm watching it alone (or with other adults) first to make that determination.

[Mike Vande]

My friend sent me this in response to my reply.

Mike,
thanx for responding so quickly and with good insights. I hope that I'm not coming down as saying that I'm opposed to good christian books, events, etc.--but I'm concerned that they are increasingly becoming more of a distraction from the personal witness of the Gospel. One major dif between "major events" of the past is the sheer numbers of people who are reached by media that was way outside of imagination even 100 years ago. My major objection with this movie is that people like Stroble are saying that the quality of the production, the historic research, and the graphic "realism" makes it not just a better artistic production...BUT a must for all christians 12/13 up to see. I fear damaging some God given sensibilities in kids whose parents would never let them go to R movies or play M video games. I started out being more "for" than "against" this movie...but Sunday night/Monday morning my heart...and then my head began to take a dif position. My hope is that maybe this paper can be a step toward balancing out the voices that are shouting endorsements--even if my platform is a small one. I plan on sending it to some national ministries.

Friend, God bless and keep you,
dave

[Gerald Creasy]

Had me Amen-ing up until he started tearing into "The Passion"
The Jewish community will do enough of a hatchet job on it.

Isn't that the point? Nobody wants to see anything wrong with "The Next Big Thing" because they want it to BE "the Next Big Thing". Folks are counting on it for a lot of reasons.

It can only be "the point" if I ever bought into "the next big thing" go-with-the-flo-ism, which, as an adult, I never have.

Nor with the "next big thing" in the Pentecostal world either, and the list there is just as long with the locked down "D" topic just being the latest.

I used to say the movie "the Last Temptation Of Christ" would have been virtuallyand universally ignored had it not been for the fuss the church kicked up in response to it. So far, the response to "The Passion" has stirred the church up again, even though very few folks have seen it. If this is paranoid, well, maybe I am , but doesn't that sound like a public relations victory to you? How many of us will beat a path to the theatre to watch a movie with dialogue we can't understand because we want to support this poor guy who's being beaten up by the Hollywood establishment for making a movie about Jesus? That's almost too good to be true...

Actually I wanted to see the movie since ever since I became a BIG Mel Gibson fan (It was the scene in The Patriot where he laid out a bunch of British soldiers with a tomahawk that won me over)

AND because the Leftist community is so against it.

Oh, and how many times in the past can you remember making a derogatory comment about Jews and/or the Jewish community prior to this whole magilla? If we ain't careful, we could start feeling might put out at those folks, and God doesn't like it when we do that...

Vande

I don't ever recall making a derogitory comment about the Jewish community ever. I was stating a simple fact, with the leader of the Anti-Defamation league already calling Mel an anti-semite.
Last night I listened to a call in Show with Host Mike Gallagher where he had some Jewish offical talking bad about the movie.

The Jewish community is out to censor this movie and that's a simple fact.

It is not bigoted (hi, Tim!) or Derogatory to state what they are openly trying to do.

[rough_rider]

Yes I plan on seeing the movie and taking several unsaved with me, no doubt while standing in line that very thought will cross my mind; Is this just to good to be true?

Considering the violence everyone says is depicted in the film, will you be taking any kids?

Vande

yes, but they will be 15 and up.

[Mike Vande]

It can only be "the point" if I ever bought into "the next big thing" go-with-the-flo-ism, which, as an adult, I never have. Nor with the "next big thing" in the Pentecostal world either, and the list there is just as long with the locked down "D" topic just being the latest.

My guess is that anyone who is into the "Next Big Thing" would say exactly the same thing, that they don't follow fads and trends. I ain't saying you are, but somebody is, and that is incontrovertable.

Actually I wanted to see the movie since ever since I became a BIG Mel Gibson fan (It was the scene in The Patriot where he laid out a bunch of British soldiers with a tomahawk that won me over)

Yeah, I want to see it too and for much the same reason, except that I was more taken with Mel in "Payback" than "The Patriot". But I don't think Mel is in this one, I think he just directed it.

AND because the Leftist community is so against it.

Well, the Hollywood left is. SO far, I ahevn't heard Howard Dean come out against it, and that guys is so far left he's in another playing field.

I don't ever recall making a derogitory comment about the Jewish community ever. I was stating a simple fact, with the leader of the Anti-Defamation league already calling Mel an anti-semite.
Last night I listened to a call in Show with Host Mike Gallagher where he had some Jewish offical talking bad about the movie.

The Jewish community is out to censor this movie and that's a simple fact.

It is not bigoted (hi, Tim!) or Derogatory to state what they are openly trying to do.

Not trying to paint you anti-semitic, just wanted to point out that this thing is likely to be a cause of discord between the Jewish community and the Christian community in this country, and some from a lot of different corners love to capitalize on that sort of thing. You never said anything against the Jewish Community up to this point, but now you have. That's a good reason to be suspicious of something cvomes out of the modern day Babylon any way you look at it. And hey, I am not sure it can be incontrovertably said that the every single member of the Jewish Community is out to censor the movie, even if some of their more public faces are. There is a lot of paranoia about right wing politics in the Jewish community, and has been ever since the Holocaust, and really, can you blame them after that? I'd be a little weird about things that made my racial group look bad too if that had happened to white anglo-saxon protestants. Let's just see what happens to the movie and what it's like before rushing to judgement one way or the other on it.

Vande

[Pastor Gary]

That Moses and the Burning Bush --- just trying to be a show-off. Way too flashy.

Hear about Noah and that big showy boat he built? Man, what does he think he is, the next big thing?

Mike, your friend has apparently outright rejected God's ability and desire to inject himself into our daily lives and popular culture as He chooses. I believe God works through artists, musicians, writers and, perhaps, Mel Gibson to make Himself real to people.

You left off one poll option.
"This curmudgeon anti-everything attitude itself is the next big thing."

or even a simple NO.

[Mike Vande]

That Moses and the Burning Bush --- just trying to be a show-off. Way too flashy.

Hear about Noah and that big showy boat he built? Man, what does he think he is, the next big thing?

Isn't there a difference between the times God says to do something and when some guy decides to do it for himself?

Mike, your friend has apparently outright rejected God's ability and desire to inject himself into our daily lives and popular culture as He chooses. I believe God works through artists, musicians, writers and, perhaps, Mel Gibson to make Himself real to people.

I think you are missing his point. He isn't opposed to people getting blessed by the movie or God using it, but rather to idolatry and chasing after false gods in the form of experience, which I think you have to admit happens with this sort of thing a lot, and which I have read your words decrying on this site, or at least one of the other two.

You left off one poll option.
"This curmudgeon anti-everything attitude itself is the next big thing."

Now you're just being mean. What happened, did Dave gore a sacred cow or something?

or even a simple NO.

Seriously, I tried to put a "NO" option on the poll, and thought I had. But, it either didn't work right or I did it wrong somehow. If you can redo the poll part and include a "NO" option, please feel free. But it may not be necessary, seeing as how you have managed to register a "NO" quite emphatically. Sorry about your cow...

Vande

[amydawn]

Now you're just being mean...

Interesting... are you now the defender of 'nice' posting? You are calling these kinds of shots now????

Relax. Don't stone me.