by Neil Postman

First published in 1985 Amusing Ourselves to Death still presents remarkably relevant and helpful social commentary. Nearly 25 years after he wrote, Postman’s words seem more like prophecies than observations.

His work centers on the shift from print to television as the primary medium for receiving public information. He then investigates the effects of this shift, which happened during the last half of the 20^th century, on American culture.

Ultimately, he argues that because of this shift “the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense.” In fact, public conversation about topics like “politics, religion, news, athletics, education, and commerce” has descended to foolishness and drivel.

When the printing press delivered the primary content of cultural communication to the people, these “conversations” were driven by coherent, serious, and rational thought. Now that television has replaced printed words as the primary deliverer of this information, “all public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment.” Thus, amusement and triviality replace the coherent, serious, and rational.

Please don’t dismiss this word as just another caution about the enormous amount of junk on television. While that is much needed, this warning is far more. Postman warned, and I believe rightfully so, that television as a deliverer of information will turn all serious matters into junk.

This issue is important to Christians for at least two reasons. First, many of us make decisions about topics of great cultural significance (i.e. our vote in an election, our support for a particular public policy, our idea of quality education, our definition of justice, etc.) on the basis of what we hear and see on television. In other words, we are formulating our worldview using information that is designed and delivered for one purpose: entertainment.

Second, this shift is driving many churches and Christians toward a television-style, entertainment-driven mindset concerning their religion. Our thirst for amusement knows no boundaries and we certainly don’t limit them at the point of our faith.

Think carefully for a moment about whether your faith (or the dominant expressions of it) is defined more by coherent, serious thoughts or entertainment.

“Christians in a gluttonous, denial-less, self-indulgent society may struggle to accept and to begin the practice of fasting. Few Disciplines go so radically against the flesh and the mainstream of culture as this one. But we cannot overlook its biblical significance.”[1]

Fasting is an important component of biblical Christianity and one we must not ignore. The Bible introduces and encourages it as an instrument for individuals and groups to align themselves more closely with God’s will and purposes. In fact, Jesus assumed fasting as part of life for his disciples (Matthew 6:16) and certainly for those of us who would follow him after his ascension into heaven (Matthew 9:15).

The Bible describes several specific purposes for entering a time of fasting. Men and women in the Bible fasted to strengthen their prayer (Ezra 8), to seek God’s guidance (Judges 20), to express repentance (Jonah 3), to express concern for the work of God (Nehemiah 1), to overcome temptation (Matthew 4), and to express love and worship to God (Luke 2) to name only a few. Without exception in the Bible, fasting is an instrument used for a specific purpose related to intimate fellowship with God.

As some have pointed out, fasting in the Bible is not exclusively about food. Although the term is not used in 1 Corinthians 7, for example, the abstinence from sexual intimacy with your spouse can be called a fast. Thus, fasting from other things that might distract us from intimacy with God like television or hobbies can benefit us.

With this in mind, however, the overwhelming majority of texts about fasting in the Bible are related to food. At the most basic level, fasting is a physical expression of our dependence on God and his word for sustenance (Matthew 4). Therefore, abstinence from food and the resulting physical “hunger” for food captures the heart of fasting and demonstrates our reliance on God most effectively.

So I invite you to swim against the flow of our indulgent culture and seek God’s guidance concerning fasting. Consider prayerfully substituting a time of intense prayer for eating during a regular meal time.[2]

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[1] Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), 160.

[2] Obviously, if you are pregnant, nursing, or have significant health issues, please consult a physician before fasting.

On June 17, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“Unless the Church redefines how she understands and uses this medium, television preaching may (in the long-run) do more harm than good for the spread of the gospel.”

I return to the subject today to present two final reasons televised preaching poses a threat to worldwide evangelism.

Televised preaching places too much emphasis on the gifts of the communicator.

The gospel message is simple and powerful. Any person who receives God’s salvation is equipped to share it. In fact, the most effective witnesses are often the individuals who have most recently tasted this gift. As remarkable as many communicators are, the gospel is not an instrument for highlighting man’s ability and televised preaching often fosters the exaltation of communicators.

Televised preaching provides a medium for sharing the gospel that is not reproducible in every context.

Effective televised preaching breeds dependence on a televised preaching. For example, when a person living in a remote part of the earth is saved through a televised sermon, the only tool for evangelism he knows is a video sermon. In modeling television evangelism we have provided him a life-changing message in a form that will often impede his spiritual development. Without accompanying discipleship through personal investment persons reached by televised preaching might equate it with evangelism.

Like any technology, video can be a useful instrument for broadcasting spiritual messages and a catalyst for spiritual formation. I am not arguing that the Church should jettison video technology or calling for a boycott. Ridiculous extremes are too prevalent and ineffective.

The church must recover the biblical commission for evangelism and make a clear distinction between our use of video technology as a means for spiritual formation and the illusion that televised sermons will reach the world for Christ. Televised sermons can NOT fulfill the Great Commission. Disciples have been and always will be made through personal investment.

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight a final characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

God’s movement included an invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past.

Again, you might recall that the Israelites gathered to hear God’s Word read and they responded by confessing their sin. A group of men stood and led the people to worship God.

They called the people to worship Him by recounting His faithfulness to the Israelite nation throughout previous generations. In fact, Nehemiah 9:5-37 records their act of remembering God’s work from creation to their present day.

One reason so many individuals and churches fail to see God’s power manifested in His extraordinary movement stems from our terrible memory. Many people are too ignorant biblically to know what God did in the past. Others are so preoccupied with what God can do for them today to care about what He did in the past. Still others are too busy to remember God’s faithfulness in even their own lives last week.

Our short memories hinder our worship God. And our dispassionate worship hinders our ability to experience the extraordinary work of God. We will value God supremely (or worship Him) when we consider more fully the breadth and depth of His work in our lives and throughout history.

Until we understand and embrace God’s extraordinary work in the past to the degree that it elicits worship, we are not likely to see His extraordinary work in the present.

God, we ask you to lead us to worship you by reminding us of your faithfulness in the past. We pray that you would draw us to read your Word and to glean a greater understanding of your faithfulness. We ask you to give us the discipline to record even the smallest incidents of your faithfulness in our lives so that we can praise you for each of them in the future.

How serious is our cavalier attitude toward sin? How pervasive are our assaults on God? We scarcely even know. Consider this verse.

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Romans 2:4 (ESV)

Romans 2:4 appears in a larger passage in which Paul is highlighting the universal need for God’s salvation. His question points to the mistaken idea that a person can continue willfully in sin and escape God’s judgment. More specifically, he addresses the person who claims to have received God’s mercy for salvation and then continues living disobediently under the presumption that this limitless mercy will expand along with his sin.

For a believer to continue in willful defiance of God’s standard reflects an unbelievable assumption about His kindness at best and a blatant contempt for it at worst. In other words, an assumption that God’s patience is rich enough to cover my continued, willful sin reveals a staggering misinterpretation of the text.

God’s longsuffering generosity toward sinful mankind is an instrument of repentance not continued rebellion. The person who genuinely experiences God’s mercy in the forgiveness of sin is compelled FROM sin not led TOWARD it.

And yet, even more is at stake. To continue in open rebellion to God reflects an arrogant disregard for His patience. In effect, a person shows a disdain for the reality of God’s kindness as he swaps it for a license to sin.

So, let’s take a moment to consider our attitude toward God’s kindness. Do I really like God’s kindness for what it really is? Or maybe we should ask the question differently. Have I looked to God’s mercy to ease my conscience regarding sin or do I look to God’s kindness as a means of carving sin from my life?

William Carey was born in England in 1761 and left as a missionary to India in 1793. Although he was poor and almost completely uneducated, Carey translated the Bible into dozens of languages and established schools and missions all over India. What he lacked in terms of education and skill he made up with surrender to God’s call.

He simply could not understand how Christians could read this text and “sit at ease” while most of the world is “lost in ignorance and idolatry.” So Carey left the comforts of life in England for the trials of missionary life.

And he would face more than his share of trials. He faced unimaginable grief in burying two wives and three children. He faced physical suffering in losing most of his hair in his 20′s due to illness and fighting back diarrhea and malaria. He faced exhaustion by serving in India for 41 years without ever taking a vacation. He faced discouragement in serving 7 years before baptizing his first convert.

Yet Carey remained and through his work thousands have been changed. They have been changed because the Bible is in their language. They have been changed because the gospel is now preached in their communities. They have been changed because one man was willing to abandon his life to surrender to God’s call to make disciples.

Will you obey the call to make disciples?

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*The factual information for this blog entry comes from two terrific books. Daniel Akin’s Five Who Changed the World and Timothy George’s Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey.

On June 17, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“Unless the Church redefines how she understands and uses this medium, television preaching may (in the long-run) do more harm than good for the spread of the gospel.”

I return to the subject today to present the two more reasons televised preaching poses a threat to worldwide evangelism.

Televised preaching robs legitimate missionary endeavors of necessary funds.

Every dollar spent producing a televised sermon is a dollar taken from legitimate disciple-making endeavors throughout the world. The multi-million-dollar television production that supports many of these “ministries” could fund thousands of missionaries. The half-baked pleas offering a cheesy trinket in exchange for a monetary gift or seed included in these broadcast “ministries” disgraces the gospel and diverts resources from more effective ministry efforts.

Furthermore, the poor stewardship of televised preaching ministries is growing as the production costs of these programs increase. The obsession with production quality contradicts the argument that television is simply a medium for communicating a gospel that is simple and powerful. The message of the gospel is not enhanced by increased graphical creativity; rather these expensive elements distract from the gospel’s simplicity and rob even more money from legitimate missionary endeavors.

Televised preaching does not plant churches.

The first disciples used one primary technique to fulfill Jesus’ Commission: plant churches. From Jesus’ ascension to the close of the New Testament, the first missionaries would enter a town, share the gospel, and start a local church. Televised preaching ministries are incapable of following the most basic New Testament pattern for spreading the gospel.

Follow our money and you will always find our treasure. From our spending it seems many have forgotten that disciples have been and always will be made through personal investment.

The following paragraphs are pieced together from the opening pages of an amazing book.

“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace. . . . [Cheap] [g]race is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. . . .

“Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as a Christian ‘conception’ of God. . . . [Cheap grace] amounts to justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. . . .

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. . . .

“Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. . . .

“Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. . . . Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. . . .

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 1995, 3-5.

Cheap grace is wildly prevalent IN the Church today. Costly grace is wildly prevalent IN the Bible. Which grace is prevalent in your life?

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight another characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

The people were moved by overwhelming grief over of their sin.

Twice in a little more than 3 weeks, the crowd gathered, listened to the reading of the Law, and responded with weeping and mourning because of their sin. On the first day of this extraordinary movement, Nehemiah interrupts their weeping to call them to celebrate a great festival. Yet the contrast of their disobedience and God’s holiness had immediately moved them to extreme sorrow and repentance.

On the 24^th day of the month, the people gathered again, heard from God’s Word, and once again began to weep, mourn, and confess their sin. Again, the contrast of their sin and God’s perfection overwhelmed them.

In an age when sin is commonly referred to as a “shortcoming” or a “mistake,” their reaction seems strangely foreign. Perhaps the reason we fail to see an extraordinary movement of God is our ordinary view of sin.

God, we ask You to penetrate our hearts with the gravity and severity of our sin. And we plead for You to give us an accurate view of our sin that will usher in an extraordinary renewal and rebirth.

by Timothy Keller

Any person interested in spiritual matters will benefit from reading this book. Skeptics will be forced to consider the consistency of their worldview and defenders of the faith will be motivated and encouraged by Keller’s pastoral, yet intelligent approach to these subjects.

Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, draws on more than twenty years of pastoral ministry in an environment of skepticism to present common doubts and provide succinct, biblical responses.

First, Keller dismantles the seven most common “doubts” voiced by skeptics during his ministry. Among others, he addresses topics like “How can a good God allow suffering?” and “Hasn’t science disproved Christianity?” His carefully crafted logic and pastoral approach effectively identify logical inconsistencies behind these and other popular objections to faith in God.

Second, his presentation provides a credible, intelligent foundation for believers to defend their faith as coherent and rational. Not only does he defend belief in a god, he argues well for belief in the God of the Bible. In fact, he reveals why faith in the Christian God does not require a person to jettison intellectual integrity.

Whether you are struggling to believe or feeling overwhelmed by the questions of unbelieving friends, this book (which is now available in paperback) is an excellent resource.