"That's Entertainment!" (White Horse Inn) [1of5]

This is posted with permission of the White Horse Inn. For more information on this episode and other episodes visit: http://www.whitehorseinn.org


(Credit to Youtube user Brokenman777 for the opening clip)

February 3, 2008 Commentary:
That's Entertainment!

Hello and welcome to another broadcast of the White Horse Inn. Well there's no business like show business. And from the look of things, the church in America agrees. I don't even need to recount examples in order to substantiate that claim. If you have been around a fair number of churches these days you are bound to know what I am talking about. I used to think that American Christianity was just accommodating to the general cultural trend that Neil Postman described in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. But after reading a spate of culture histories, have come to realize that the church actually helped create our culture of entertainment. Once upon a time the church was the only show in town, for rich and poor, princes and peasants the spectacle of the Medieval Mass was high drama. In fact the relative difficulty of the Reformation in reaching the lowest classes was probably to some extent at least due to the attachment of the masses to mysterious rituals, processions, morality plays, and similar attractions. Convinced that the Bible should be heard, read, and understood by everybody in their own language the Reformers introduced Europe to wide-scale literacy with an emphasis on an educated ministry for a well instructed laity.

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Our subject is "That's Entertainment: Confusing Church and Theater from Finney to the present."




Oldtruth.com has been dealing with the issues presented in this program for a few years now. You can find a lot of information involving various topics concerning the "seeker"-sensitive movement here:
http://www.oldtruth.com


TeamPyro has been deals alot with the "emergent church" of digressives. You can find information here:
http://teampyro.blogspot.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• rick
• warren
• newspring
• church
• granger
• robert
• scheuller
• Aimee
• Semple
• McPherson
• pentacostalism
• bill
• hybels
• white
• horse
• inn

[NeoConvert]

I wanted to watch (after having just watched the "Crossless" and "Christless" series), but 40 seconds in it is just too painful. I'm wincing.

[LaneCh]

I know. That's why I included them. I had a guy overseas who doesn't see this kind of thing, and he said he was horrified. It gets good about 2 minutes in on each video, though. That's when the WHI start talking. :)

[NeoConvert]

Yeah I was admittedly bein' a little hyperbolic. To be honest, this (that is, what is being portrayed here) is "where I come from," but only because I come from about every theological confusion you can imagine.

Anyway, I love your materials here Lane. Let me join the line of well-wishers and grateful brothers.

Was baptized two weeks ago, and getting married two weeks from today.

Osteen's right... it just keeps gettin' better and better.

(KIDDING!)

[LaneCh]

Congratulations on your marriage and baptism!

I can relate with you about growing up with theological confusion. I grew up SBC and the video presented in the first 2 minutes of this video is actually from the business (I refuse to call it a church) that I attended right before I left all that nonsense.

Thanks for the encouragement, too. Take care.

[skalapunk]

The apostles turned the world upside down 2000 years ago.

Nowadays, the world is turning the church upside down, instead of the other way around :(

[budcarfan]

Do you think we could have talked Jesus into singing back up?

This is sad, very very sad.

But good video Lane, very enlightening.

[FAITHandLOGIC]

I wish they'd put Andy Stanley and North Point ministries on here.

[nettieheartful]

its such apostacy entertaining goats!

[Mojosbigstick]

"And malt does more than Milton can

To justify God's ways to man"

AE Housman

[JamesBondClark]

Ive been listening to the White Horse Inn since the beginning. After all Michael Horton is a Biola grad like me.

Its nice to see it now on YouTube as I do my entire career between Asia and Europa. Not much BIBLE being taught here in the Catholic part of the Netherlands, or the Protestant part of Holland for that matter. The Dutch are the most atheistic country in Europa.

Keep up the good work!

[bingcro]

whats this got to do with the white horse inn

[strech7951]

please tell me you don't mean that is an SBC church?

[mariel1225]

But we will never get anywhere with understanding or true peace with one another when we continue the sectarian practices that Jesus himself forbid. Not saying because I adhere to an older tradition I am right, none of us resemble the early church that was started by Christ and his followers. Perhaps that is what the coming kingdom will be- no weird practices or "smells and bells" just the complete and total joy of being in the presence of the Lord like the first church was.

[albybabeee]

In some of these churches lots of folks bring Bibles. It's not always that easy to discern seeker friendly churches.

[garansbarans]

The first scene was from a church you used to attend?

:,(