Christian Idol
As you all know, I'm a big fan of Australian Idol. I love American Idol too (why oh why did channel 10 dump it?). And if Nigerian Idol was shown in Australia, chances are I'd watch it as well. But this is way too much even for me. Check it out here or here.
posted by Simone R. @ 6:27 pm
5 comments
5 Comments:
Yikes! I guess I can see where they're coming from, wanting to put a Christian slant on a popular format but 'Gifted'? What are they thinking...
Good point Pete.. I've been pondering the topic of culture a little bit recently; trying to put some thoughts into order and so forth.
The big question for me in all of it is - if culture is defined as the behaviour patterns, traits, arts and institutions of a particular people group (eg Christians); then (a) what makes Christian culture unique, (b) what are we doing to promote it to other Christians, and (c) how do we then engage and influence the rest of the world with it?
Maybe I should sign up and start a whole new topic on this one :)
Yes, Dave, maybe this does deserve it's own topic. But perhaps in the meantime this thread could just stray for a while...
Let me admit up front that I've got problems with the whole idea of christian culture. To me it's always been a kind of in-group out-group thing and the people in the 'in' crowd enjoy it with their own (2nd rate) music and WWJD braclets and group jokes. Meanwhile, those on the outside look on and cringe if they're christians and shrug and walk away if they're not. At times I've felt that it gets in the way of evangelism by making more of a divide between christian and non-christian than there really needs to be.
So Dave, if a culture is the behaviour patterns, traits, arts and institutions of a people group then
(a.) I'd like to see christian culture as
1. behaviourally -- loving, kind, truthful etc
2. artistically -- diverse
3. institutionally -- committed to church and family [but individual christians are free to be committed to whatever other institutions they think appropriate (eg. political, environmental, social, educational)]
(b.) What are we doing to promote christian culture amongst christians? Preaching the gospel and it's fruits (love etc). Teaching the essential goodness of creation and encouraging christians to jump in and enjoy it! (Is it more godly to enjoy Petra or Elton John?)
(c.) How do we engage and influence the world with christian culture? I'd rather think about engaging the world with Christ himself.
But convince me that I'm wrong or that I've misunderstood the whole question.
Preach it sister...
My thinking of late has centred around the place I have slotted Christ into my daily living and interactions...
I've realised this concerning fact through becoming friends with a person who was investigating committing her life to Christ (and has subsequently done so). As I understand it, the most contributing factor in her conversion was NOT that someone had made the Gospel accepting or seamlessly streamed into pop culture. But rather, that people had BEEN the Gospel to her over MANY years.
So yes, Simone, I too would like to make it my aim to engage the world with Christ himself; and I'd like to be more like Christ in order for others to see Him without my humanity marring his majesty.
I inadvertently watched an episode of South Park last night, in which Cartman started a Christian rock band as an easy way of getting a platinum record. His strategy was to take any rock song at all and simply substitute the word 'Jesus' for 'baby' or 'darling'. It was horribly irreverent, spookily familiar and hilarious. As he pointed out, Christian rock has a niche market of 180 million Americans... I think it's appropriate to be sceptical about what drives the desire for a 'Christian' culture when there's such big bucks involved!
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