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Projection Screens Are Not The Problem

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I recently came into contact with an article about why churches need to ditch projection screens and go back to using hymnals. I am going out on a limb with this post, because I have several friends who have posted, and agree to this blog.

It is important, I believe, for anyone reading to know about my background in order to understand the heart with which I write this post. I am an old-fashioned Baptist; I grew up as conservative as they come and I still see myself as very conservative, more so than most of my peers and colleagues in the ministry. I do not listen to much contemporary Christian music, and my personal opinion (emphasis on opinion) is that much of CCM has no place in the church. For much of my church-going life I have used a hymnal, I enjoy singing from a hymnal, and I plan to continue to use a hymnal.

Furthermore, those who know me also know that I am the last person to argue about anything. Our first episode of The Bible Burrito affirms this! On that token, this is not meant to be an argument. I wish no ill will on anyone who prefers hymnals over screens, screens over hymnals, both, or neither.

However, as I read this article, I found some things that, I believe, need to be addressed. There are three main things that I would like to address in this article:

“Projection Screens Reflect our Tech Obsessed Culture”

Did Christians and “traditionalists” make this same accusation when hymnals were first introduced into the church? At some point, hymnals were the “new tech” of the time. I know that is hard for us to wrap our minds around because it doesn’t have a sleek silver or white look and it doesn’t have a half eaten apple on the back, but hymnals (books in general) were once the new tech of the time. So was air conditioning, indoor plumbing, computers. Yet we use all of those things and embrace them in the church. Why should we treat projection screens any differently than the other tech that churches use and have utilized for years?

I am not going to lie and say that we are not living in a tech obsessed culture. And if a projection screen becomes the object of our obsession in the church, rather than Christ, I am in agreement that a projection screen should be gotten rid of. However, tech is not the enemy of the church. Tech can and should be reasonably utilized for the advancement of the church and the Gospel.

“As hymnals fade, theology suffers”

As I said, I love the old hymns. I am stirred with excitement when our song leader stands up and says “turn to number ___ in your hymnals, we are going to sing It Is Well With My Soul!” And heaven help the fool who skips over verse 3, because I will cut them!

The use of projection screens does not take away from singing those old hymns. It just puts the words to those hymns from one place to another. Admittedly, a screen does allow for more flexibility than the songs that are in the hymnal (in other words, and what many are afraid of, CCM music) but that does not mean that hymns are excluded from screens.

Furthermore, when we say “as hymnals fade, doctrine fades”, that is walking into some sticky territory when it comes to how we learn doctrine. I agree that songs are a great way to reinforce doctrine. In my last sermon, I drove home the point of my sermon by reciting the beautiful hymn “Softly and Tenderly”. However, we should not elevate hymnals to the place of Scripture.

My doctrine does not come from a hymn book, it comes from the Bible. In fact, it is incredibly dangerous to get our doctrine from hymnals, because those old hymns, as great as they are, were written by fallible man who often had improper theological beliefs which seep into the lyrics of those songs. The same, clearly, can be said about the contemporary songs that many churches are afraid of. If you are receiving your doctrine from music, of any kind, rather than the Bible, your theology is going to be wrong.

“Screens change the sermon receiving experience”

This is a smaller point, but I agree with the author here. Yes, screens do change the sermon receiving experience—— screens can enhance it! When we use screens appropriately, it can make the sermon more memorable and “stickable”. I have observed that a sermon can be enhanced by screens in these ways: Sermon notes projected on the screen that congregants can use to follow along with their own “fill in the blank notes”, Scriptures that are cross references to the main Scripture of the day, and maps/pictures of geographical areas that are being referenced in the sermon (ex. here is a pic of the remains of the synagogue that Jesus preached in when visiting Nazareth!). Can screens change the sermon receiving experience for the worse? Yes, just like practically any other tool in the world can. But when done properly, screens can enhance the sermon receiving experience.

In closing, I will say that there are benefits to the hymnal over projection screens. One benefit is that hymnals show the harmonizing notes. This point is becoming more and more moot, considering that many people cannot read music. However, I love to be able to look at my hymnal and see the notes for harmonizing parts. Harmony makes songs more beautiful. And, as of yet, screens have not been able to capture that elegance.

Secondly, hymnals are a repository of songs that you simply will not get anywhere else. I love sitting down sometimes and thumbing through a hymnal, looking at all of the songs. That is something that simply cannot happen with a screen.

Conclusion:

The point I am making is this: I love hymnals, and plan on continuing to use them. However, I will not dogmatically say, “Hymns are good, screens are bad!” Because that is simply not true. One final piece of advice that I learned my dad is this, “Scream where the Bible is loud, but whisper where the Bible is silent.” I believe that phrase sums this argument up perfectly! The screens vs. hymns argument should not be anyone’s hill to die on. The purity of the church does not hang in the balance because of this argument, neither does any doctrinal standing. There are many other fronts on which the church is losing right now that we ought to be SUPER concerned about. This is not one of them.

The Humanity of the Christmas Story

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If you are anything like me, the last few days you have been thinking a lot about the Christmas story. The birth of Christ is one of the most beautiful, picturesque stories in the entire Bible. Luke 2 captures the events of Christ’s birth perfectly. However, I would argue that it almost does so too perfectly.

Now, I am not saying that the Bible is messed up or incorrect, my claim in this post is that we, in our 21st century minds, have sanitized and sterilized the story of Christ’s birth so much that we forget that Luke 2 is about real people that are dealing with real life problems. Luke 2 is not a fairy tale, it is a real event that deals with real people with real emotions. In fact, when we dive into the Christmas story, you might see how it is more “human” than many other stories of the Bible!

Why Were They In Bethlehem?

In Luke 2, everyone went back to their city of origin to be taxed. Now, this was more than just a yearly income type tax, this was a major census. Caesar Augustus (v. 1) wanted to take stock of how many people lived under his rule, the verse says the “whole world should be taxed” as in, the whole Roman Empire. It is amazing that the events that got Mary and Joseph into Bethlehem were not some strange, cosmological happenings where all the stars lined up perfectly and then POOF they were there. Christ was born in Bethlehem because of a tax and a census. The next time you are tempted to complain about taxes, don’t forget that it was a tax that got Jesus to Bethlehem. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, we will ALL still complain about taxes!

Why Was There No Room In the Inn?

Kreig and I deal with this some in our latest Christmas episode, so I will not belabor this point too much. However, we need to cut this “innkeeper” some slack. First off, this person had no way of knowing that Mary was pregnant with the Son of God. Besides that, there were literally no vacancies in this establishment. People from all over the world were traveling back to Bethlehem for this taxing. It is likely that people were not just sleeping in bedrooms, but also in hallways, in the kitchen, in whatever space they could find. “No room” literally meant, “There isn’t even a small corner for y’all to squeeze into!”

This makes the actions of the innkeeper the more generous. Although there was no room indoors, he did have room in his stable. In the stable, Mary and Joseph would have had some privacy and some room. Was it a 4 star hotel? No. But it was a place to crash. Plus, consider this. If you have ever had a baby before (I have not, but my wife has) would you rather have a baby in the middle of a bunch of total strangers with little to no room to move or would you rather have a baby in relative privacy? In this situation, the stable was a more preferable place, in some way, than in the inn.

Difficulties Concerning the Pregnancy

Now, I am not saying that Mary had some physical difficulties that made pregnancy harder, but I am saying that there were some external forces that made this pregnancy very difficult.

First, Mary was not married, she was espoused to Joseph, but she was not married. The most logical, truthfully the ONLY logical explanation for Mary having a baby was that she had committed fornication. If the baby were Joseph’s, it would have been outside of marriage and still wrong. If the baby was not Joseph’s then that would add the layer of cheating on a “spouse”. Although not stated, we can assume that Mary was mistreated and judged during her pregnancy. In fact, Joseph could have had her stoned and most of society would have agreed that he had made the right choice. Mary was willing to sacrifice her godly reputation in order to follow the will of God in her life.

Second, and this is something that I thought about just the other day, Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem during Mary’s third trimester of pregnancy. Now, I have never been pregnant before, but observing my wife being pregnant and other women being pregnant, I can make a pretty educated guess that Mary was MISERABLE. Who wants to go on a road trip, riding on a donkey, when you are just days away from having a baby? Again, this wasn’t even a fun road trip, but one that was centered around being taxed. Woohoo!! I am sure that Mary did not have the nicest things to say about Caesar Augustus during this road trip.

Conclusion

Why do I bring these things to light? What significance does all of this add to the Christmas story? Not much by itself, but it does reinforce the truth that Jesus left so much to come to this world. He left the ivory palaces of Heaven to dwell amongst man with all of our human problems. He could have at least been born in a palace with a crib made out of gold; instead he choose a manger of wood and straw. The humanity of the Christmas story just makes the name Emmanuel, God with us, even more precious.

Merry Christmas, folks!

God’s “Unspeakable” Gift

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The last few weeks I have been thinking about 2nd Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” That word “unspeakable” means “indescribable”. I find it crazy that Paul, of all people, described the gift of God (salvation) as indescribable. Paul was an incredibly brilliant man, more brilliant than I could ever hope to be! When you read the book of Romans, you can’t help but see Paul’s intellect dripping off the pages. Yet, even Paul could only say that salvation is indescribable. Understand something today, salvation is simple. That is not in question here. Ephesians 2:8,9, Titus 3:5, and John 3:16 cannot be any simpler than they already are. However, as simple as salvation is it is also incredibly profound and deep. It is so simple that a 5 year old can understand how to be saved yet so deep and rich that theologians can talk about it for hours. Salvation is nothing short of amazing and it is something that we ought not take for granted.
This Thanksgiving, you will probably talk about what you are thankful for, and at the top of your list you will probably mention “salvation”. But do not see that as something cliche, see it for what it is, the most amazing, indescribable gift imaginable!

Of Green Beans and Cilantro

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I do not like green beans. When I was a kid at Thanksgiving time, my mom would make me eat green beans with the rest of my meal. I learned a very simple trick to mask the taste of green beans- I mix them into my mashed potatoes. To this day, I will mix almost any food with mashed potatoes because I love them so much (Have you ever tried to eat mashed potatoes between two pieces of bread? Delicious mashed potato sandwich!

On the other hand, my father in law HATES cilantro. Just one leaf of cilantro in an otherwise normal dish makes the whole meal inedible to him. He cannot handle even the smallest amount of cilantro. Which was unfortunate, at one point, because I went through a phase in my cooking where I just loved using cilantro!

God hates sin. But he does not hate sin in the same way that I hate green beans. He hates it in the same way that my father in law hates cilantro. The problem is that we treat God as if he will accept our sin mixed in with the “mashed potatoes” of us living pure. God cannot overlook sin. He cannot simply say, “I see that bad stuff you did, but the good stuff you did makes up for it.” No, sin is an affront to the character of God, it goes against everything he is and everything he does. Even our righteousnesses, to him, are as filthy rags.

That is why the love of God is so AMAZING! You see, God hates sin but he loves you. The death of Christ on the cross is evidence that God loves you equally or more than he hates sin. We will never be able to fully grasp the deep hatred that God has for sin. On the same token, we will also never be able to fully grasp the love that he has for us. It is no wonder that Paul refers to the gift of salvation as “unspeakable” in 2nd Corinthians 9:15. Remember today just how much God loves you!

Listen to this episode from Nahum about how God feels about sin!

Dave and the Raspberry Sword — The Adventure Begins

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Dave lived in the land of Arcadia with his mother-in-law and his goat named Sal. He was a pretty pathetic man. When all of the other men in Arcadia enjoyed pastimes like jousting, slaying dragons, and playing rugby, Dave was more than content to tend to his berry garden; which was unfortunate, because Dave did not like the taste of berries, Sal had diverticulitis, and Dave’s mother-in-law didn’t like anything that Dave did. Despite his lack of desire to eat his own berries, his berry garden thrived and was the pride of all of Arcadia, which goes to show that Arcadia did not have much going for it.
Arcadia had once been a prosperous and happy land, until it was invaded by the orcs. Orcs were short, green creatures with pointy ears, buck teeth, and claws. The orcs were not the brightest of creatures, in fact, they were actually pretty stupid. It is a well-known fact that the orcs do not know how to tie their shoes, so they run around barefooted because they also do not have enough toes to make flip-flops work properly.
You may be wondering how such a stupid race of creatures was able overthrow a prosperous land like Arcadia. It is best not to ask these questions because no one really knows the answer. One day they were not here and then suddenly the next day they were. Everybody just assumes that Derek accidentally kept the back door open; everybody hates Derek.
Today was just like any other day. The suns were up, a cool autumn breeze swept through the air, and Dave was going to tend to his berry garden. He ate his daily bowl of bran cereal and walked out the door.
“You’re worthless, Dave!” His mother-in-law said as he walked outside. She would say this practically everyday.
“Love you too, ma!” He shouted back as he left his hut.
“I’m not your mother!” He could hear her yell back as he continued to walk to the garden.
Dave was proud of his berry garden because he had every berry imaginable: blueberries, lemonberries, snozberries, boysenberries, and elderberries. Of course, he did not have strawberries because those do not exist in Arcadia or any of the realms. But the one patch of berries that he was the most proud of was his raspberries. Dave’s raspberries were the plumpest in all the realms. One time, Dave even made the cover of Berry Magazine because of his raspberries, which, yes, is a real thing. As Dave pulled weeds and tended to his berries, suddenly a bright light shined down on him from the sky. Bewildered, Dave looked up to see where the light came from. Descending from the sky came a woman who was plump and blue, wearing a crown and holding a scepter.
“I am the Queen of all Berries,” said the strange woman, “And I am here to bestow on you the greatest honor to be bestowed in all berry-dom.”
Dave looked around to see who the queen was talking to. Upon realizing that she was talking to him, he said, “You are talking to me? You do know that I am a pretty pathetic person, right?”
The Queen of all Berries nodded, “Yes, you are an awfully pathetic man, but you are well versed in the berry arts and have caught the attention of the Counsel of Berries. It has been determined that you are the only one who is worthy of wielding the Raspberry Sword and restoring order to the Land of Arcadia.”
“This is all a little much. I have a few questions. Like, there is a Counsel of Berries? How do you choose who is in a counsel like that—”
“I don’t have time to answer your questions because I have a meeting with the Queen of Turnips in half an hour. Here’s the sword.”
The sword plopped down in front of him; it glowed with a mystical force, with the hilt giving off a deep purple color.
“This is a special sword, Dave. The Raspberry Sword actually tastes like raspberries. With it, you will change the world,” said the Queen of all Berries.
“For what possible reason would a sword taste like a berry?!?” Dave asked, “Is this one of those ‘you’re on candid camera’ things?”
“You are the chosen one, restore order to Arcadia and be the hero you are destined to be,” and with that, the Queen of the Berries disappeared as suddenly as she came.
“That did not answer any of my questions,” Dave said to himself. Dave picked up the sword and looked at it. He had never been on an adventure before, maybe now was his chance to make a difference in the world.
Dave looked down at Sal, “Are you ready for an adventure?”

Two Dangerous Words

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Two of the most dangerous words in a believer’s vocabulary are words that don’t seem so dangerous: status quo.

A dictionary definition of status quo would be “the existing state of affairs.” Now that doesn’t seem so harmful. What on earth is so dangerous about the way things are?

“Status quo” for a Christian becomes very perilous because he starts to get used to the way things are. He is, you could say, stuck in a rut. And this rut entails things that the Bible never intended for the Christian life, or for the church. Things like prayerlessness, a lack of time in God’s Word, carelessness over the lost condition of those around you, going to church out of routine or obligation, and an overall lack of Holy Spirit power abound in your life and church if you’re satisfied with the status quo.

God offers a much different option.

“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD…“ Hosea 10:12

Fallow ground is ground that was once fertile and useful, but it has been abandoned. God says to the believer, “Remember where you began neglecting your walk with me, and go back there!” Turn over that hardened soil, pluck up the weeds, work the ground until it is useable once more. Don’t just read your Bible, beg God to speak to you. Don’t just utter vain repetitions you pass off as prayer, truly fall at the throne of grace and seek God’s face. Get back in touch with the God of your salvation.

Trying to do right things the wrong way is just as frustrating as doing the wrong things. God wants us to get back to an abiding relationship, where we find all our strength, energy, joy, peace, contentment, and will to go on in the person of Christ Jesus. Stop living the Christian life in the flesh, and yield to the Savior, Who craves to live it through you!

Break up your fallow ground, O wandering and weak saint, for it truly is time to seek the LORD.