Movement 111

platform
exctusive preachin€
Gan the Ghurch afford to turn people away?
The Church agonises over its lopsided
demographic, While its lack of diversity has
many factors, it is preaching that causes me to
put pen to paper (digits to keyboard?) for
Platform.
I suspect that the preacher
was very naive
ln a sermon I heard recently, the preacher
started off by talking about the occult and how
dangerous it is. Fair enough. But he then went on
to talk about his prison visiting, when he had met
a lot of murderers who claimed that they have no
knowledge of their actions, that in fact people
who practised the occult had made them do it and
so they had no control over their actions. I can
understand people being persuaded to do
something by someone who is extremely charismatic
but the preacher's view was that occult
forces were responsible for the murderers'
actions, and that as Christians we have to be wary
and do our best to fight against this. I suspect
that the preacher was very naiVe and looking for
the occult, or the Devil, to be responsible for the
murder's actions. After all it can be difficult to
come to terms with the evil that people can do of
their own accord. Perhaps it is easier to blame
outside influence or agency?
Yet witches, wizards and magic are and always
seem to have been prevalent in our stories and
culture. Harry Potter is merely the latest manifestation.
Preachers telling people these things are
all evil may upset fans, but shows a worrying
cultural gap between the Ghurch and the
mainstream.
Next the preacher started discussing the evils
of modern music. He talked about how easily
music can influence people and how most modern
music encouraged sex, homosexuality and a lot of
other immoral actions. We don't have to look too
far to see there's some factual basis to this
argument - jrist look at Eminem, who sings about
having sex with his own mother. However the
assumption is again that people are easily
influenced, so much so that many may act out the
lyrics. Would the preacher then also bewail TV,
books, magazines? I think I can guess the answer
to that question. Unfortunately with people who
are so easily influenced the only solution is that
they don't see any of those influences. But this is
impossible to arrange as we need to find out who
those people are and then deny them anything
which could influence them, which as far as I am
concerned is something which takes away their
basic right of free choice.
Again, the preacher called us, as Christians, to
stand up to modern music and not listen to it and
tell all our Christian friends not to buy any of it.
This really annoyed me. I have a major problem
with people condemning something they have not
experienced themselves. Just because someone
else tells you something is offensive, you should
still inform yourself to make your own opinion,
particularly when it is something that is very big,
like popular music. I also detest the implied view
that if you do this you are not Christian.
The preacher finally moved onto drugs and how
dangerous they are. I'm firmly in the anti-drugs
camp so no problems there. However he then went
on to say that we should not allow anyone who
uses, or has used, drugs into our churches. This I
have a problem with as I thought a church, the
community which happens to use a building, is
meant to minister to people who have problems,
some of which may be highly complex.
The views and values a Ghurch should
hold must be informed by love
The views and values a church should hold must
be informed by love. People of all ages and noncriminal
persuasions should be comfortable in our
churches, both the buildings and the communities.
lf a church community genuinely loves people for
who they really are and recognises their freedom
as individuals, I imagine fewer of the shock stories
the preacher resorted to would occur. And will not
people come to have a better regard for a
Christianity that loves rather than just condemns?
I suppose the main problem with the preacher was
his implication that people who don't do all the
things he thinks are necessary to being a Christian
are not Christian. The trouble is that most of these
things are being done by many people in our
society, particularly younger people and even
(shock, horror) people who might choose to call
themselves Christian. There comes a point when
so many people ignore your message you have to
staft questioning the content of the message. That
doesn't necessarily mean abandoning principles
you hold dear, but may just go some way to
helping the Church grapple with its own internal
diversity problems.
lUflkPibe
Warwlck Chrlstlan Focus
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