Bible Study Is Jesus REALLY "Mr Cool" ...?

[SputnikBoy]

I've noticed over the last few years that many Pentecostal churches (in particular) encourage youth recruitment by presenting Jesus Christ as 'Mr. Cool' to the guys and as a 'surrogate Boyfriend' to the girls. It seems as if the extra padding of 'pop-culture' is considered necessary by an increasing number of Christians in order to grab the interest of young people to the church. I do question this contemporary image of Jesus myself and I'm wondering how others feel about it. As long as youth are becoming interested in the gospel message, does it matter that the Biblical image of Jesus is being misreprented? Or, should we be concerned that the image of Jesus is being distorted and portrayed as just another 'pop-icon'?

 

[von]

I'm sure many will disagree but I believe that this is a deceptive thing . Instead of the youth turning to Christ they are being taught that their lives are okay just as they are. It is really scarey, Sput. Prople condemned me for not allowing my young daughters to participate in these activities. But even my teenage daughters no that there is a difference between Christ and the world. Thanks for bringing this to peoples attention. I am Pentecostal so I am interested in hearing how the Pentecostals defend this.

 

[D46]

I've noticed over the last few years that many Pentecostal churches (in particular) encourage youth recruitment by presenting Jesus Christ as 'Mr. Cool' to the guys and as a 'surrogate Boyfriend' to the girls.

Hmmm...most interesting. I've never seen that here in the US by any denomination-Pentacostal or otherwise.

It seems as if the extra padding of 'pop-culture' is considered necessary by an increasing number of Christians in order to grab the interest of young people to the church. I do question this contemporary image of Jesus myself and I'm wondering how others feel about it.

There does seem to be, however, a shift to "grab" the interest of young folks these days whether it means they will have to change the tempo of the music and choir songs or incorporate a monthly program called "Extreme Youth Night". This I have seen where the music sounds more wordly than Christian with various colors of smoke emitting from the pulpit where this "show" is going on. I think it extremely sad, indeed that some churches have resorted to this sort of thing to entice the youth into the church...even if it brings about compromise. This is one of the reasons I left the church I once attended. The emphasis was always on the youth to the point that even the traditional song books were actually taken up and nevermore to be seen behind the pews as they had for decades.

I don't consider myself as being Pentacostal mainly due to the many changes over the last years from within this circle. Too many when they hear the word "Pentacostal", immediately think of the heretics on TBN and envision snake handlers, and those that drink a form of poison to prove their relationship with God. These are fools who have perverted and misintrepreted the scriptures. I am from the "family" of Pentacost background being Apostolic in that I believe what the Apostles taught, which is what Jesus taught in doctrine and commissioned them to go out into the world and teach what he had taught them for three years. They were not to preach/teach any other gospel but what Christ had taught them. He did not teach them to emphasize the youth, drink poison or handle snakes and there are other idiosyncrasies I've seen that are not in alignment with what the Apostles taught. There is a falling away from old fundamentalism that's sweeping this country at high speed and it's heart wrenching.

The "image" of Christ should NEVER be altered whether it means less young folks or not. That is compromise for gain and the Lord will recompense those who do it.

 

[von]

I don't necessarily call myself Pentecostal either because I really don't believe in denominations at all. Truth is it sad because for some reason the Spirit of God is not powerful enough to do His job. The church has to help Him. When I was a child the same Spirit that touch the life of my mother and my grandmother touched my life too. I don't know what kind of Apostolic you were from, (some are holiness, some are not), I went to a Holiness Pentecostal church, (non Apostolic), They really haven't changed a whle lot but the main denominations within the Pentecostals have. I miss those old services.

 

[D46]

I don't know what kind of Apostolic you were from, (some are holiness, some are not), I went to a Holiness Pentecostal church, (non Apostolic)

I grew up in that old denomination and things were far and away better back then. You could barely walk through the door till you felt the presence of God. There was no air conditioning (everyone use fans...the manual kind!). The preaching was always something that would stay with you until the next service. You rarely hear that sort of preaching now days. I miss that, the old songs of Zion, and just the way people were back then. I'm talking 50's and 60's. Things have changed. The main stream ALJC has changed and I think many times, not for the better. There was church on Wednesday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night with the "ladies prayer meeting" on Thursdays. Church was our life. As I mentioned before, it's sad that the churches oftoday and not as they were then. I never heard the word Apostolic until about 25 years ago. It was always Holiness or Pentacostal. These terms today conjure up too many strange things in people's minds due to the vast amount of changes that have taken place...especially over the last ten years or so. As you said, the mainstream Pentacostal environment has changed.

 

[SputnikBoy]

I've noticed over the last few years that many Pentecostal churches (in particular) encourage youth recruitment by presenting Jesus Christ as 'Mr. Cool' to the guys and as a 'surrogate Boyfriend' to the girls.

Hmmm...most interesting. I've never seen that here in the US by any denomination-Pentacostal or otherwise.

Are most of you really unaware as to the gist behind my original post? If so, perhaps this is mainly an 'Australian thing' after all. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Hillsong Church here in Australia. This Pentecostal organization (known simply as Hillsong) has become a multi-million dollar industry, mainly in the area of CD/DVD/books/sheet music, and other sales. Many other churches in this country have been very much influenced by Hillsong; in fact, the contemporary 'Hillsong type' worship services appear to be bringing in many (specifically younger) people.

While I'm not necessarily aiming criticism as to how this church operates, it DOES preach some perhaps 'questionable' messages in the area of prosperity, emphasis on youth, sex, one's physical image, emphasis on a 'tangible' infilling of the Holy Spirit, etc. The Church appears to cater predominantly to the younger set and, consequently, attempts to appeal to the music tastes of the 'youth culture'. Thousand flock to this powerful and influential church every week to participate in the rock concert-like atmosphere. "Let us raise our hands as everyone else is doing, let us jabber away in 'tongues' as everyone else is doing, let us jump up and down like a yo-yo like everyone else is doing ...Jesus is one cool Dude ...Hallelujah!"

Not that all of the songs are uptempo. But all of the music is certainly far removed from anything that may appear to be hymn-like or 'square'. It's predominantly 'pop' with a Christian message. Some of the thousands of songs that have been written by the Hillsong team are quite, some VERY, good. Most would be fairly ordinary but this is to be expected when they're almost churned out at the rate of McDonald's hamburgers.

The lyrics to many of the songs that are written by their talented musical team are often quite 'sensual' in nature. Whether by accident or intent, the songs seem to be designed specifically for those whose hormones may be 'racing' somewhat. I'm certainly not suggesting that they promote promiscuity - on the contrary - but the songs seem to be written to somehow present, as mentioned, a sensuous message. "Jesus is my boyfriend" may not be an actual lyric to a song, but that Jesus becomes the surrogate boyfriend of every young girl is 'covertly' implied. This is just my opinion but others do share this view.

Incidentally, Hillsong is currently under investigation by the Australian Taxation Department.

[quote:4bfd7] It seems as if the extra padding of 'pop-culture' is considered necessary by an increasing number of Christians in order to grab the interest of young people to the church. I do question this contemporary image of Jesus myself and I'm wondering how others feel about it.

There does seem to be, however, a shift to "grab" the interest of young folks these days whether it means they will have to change the tempo of the music and choir songs or incorporate a monthly program called "Extreme Youth Night". This I have seen where the music sounds more wordly than Christian with various colors of smoke emitting from the pulpit where this "show" is going on. I think it extremely sad, indeed that some churches have resorted to this sort of thing to entice the youth into the church...even if it brings about compromise. This is one of the reasons I left the church I once attended. The emphasis was always on the youth to the point that even the traditional song books were actually taken up and nevermore to be seen behind the pews as they had for decades.

So you DO get the gist of my original post ...? The church hymnal is becoming a thing of the past in many churches. Everything in the hymnal is 'uncool' to the youth-culture and therefore has to be eliminated. I'm the music coordinator at my church and I try to make sure that we have a regular mix of contemporary and hymnal. I'm an "ex-rock 'n' roll" musician myself so I DO have a feel for music with some backbone when appropriate. I also have a feel for all other types of music ...that includes many of the beautiful songs from the hymnal. As worship leader I try to make sure that these songs are arranged in such a way to be sung with feeling and not simply 'mouthed' in a mechanical fashion. As long as I'm the worship leader, the hymnal will not be discarded. If the youth don't like that ...tough. We shouldn't be about catering to a specific group of people who already seem to take the view that the church revolves around them. Sadly though, a number of churches DO overly emphasize the youth. I'll quickly add that NOT ALL of the church youth feel that they're a priviledged group.

I don't consider myself as being Pentacostal mainly due to the many changes over the last years from within this circle. Too many when they hear the word "Pentacostal", immediately think of the heretics on TBN and envision snake handlers, and those that drink a form of poison to prove their relationship with God. These are fools who have perverted and misintrepreted the scriptures. I am from the "family" of Pentacost background being Apostolic in that I believe what the Apostles taught, which is what Jesus taught in doctrine and commissioned them to go out into the world and teach what he had taught them for three years. They were not to preach/teach any other gospel but what Christ had taught them. He did not teach them to emphasize the youth, drink poison or handle snakes and there are other idiosyncrasies I've seen that are not in alignment with what the Apostles taught. There is a falling away from old fundamentalism that's sweeping this country at high speed and it's heart wrenching.

The "image" of Christ should NEVER be altered whether it means less young folks or not. That is compromise for gain and the Lord will recompense those who do it.

You said it and I agree. Thanks for the response. Any other views on this topic?[/quote:4bfd7]

 

[von]

I miss the old time church too. Not many people today know the first thing about the presence of the Holy Spirit as they have never had the opportunity to experience the move of the Spirit. There is no room in the church of today for the H.S. Everything is on a schedule. We have 6 days a week for ourselves and then want to limit the time for God to an hour on Sunday morning. Think about it we all want to go to Heaven? For what? If we can only give God an hour of our time once a week, then how are we going to stand and praise Him for eternity. I miss the old tent meetings, I miss the music, I miss the love that the people had one for another. I miss everything about it. I miss seeing people run to the alter for salvation, I miss the healings and deliverance services. People didn't need counselling for everything, they didn't need rehab. They got ahold of the Holy Spirit and their lives were change. Whatever has happened to the church?

 

[D46]

I must admit, I've never heard of "Hillsong". That's a new one one me.

So you DO get the gist of my original post ...? The church hymnal is becoming a thing of the past in many churches.

I did indeed...and, it's an unfortunate situation for those of us 50+ as most of us really dont like the new contemporary artist/songs as we do the older songs that were written and inspired by real life circumstances. I've heard much of the prosperity gospel as I watched a few times this guy names Frederick Price, preach his health, wealth and prosperity gospel covering why God wants you to have that Rolex watch and drive around in a Mercedes. What a crock!! Of course, anything on TBN is misleading and deceiving. I first saw that program fifteen years ago when it was a bit different and actually enjoyed the preachiing of Dwight Thompson (who had the tenacity and forsight to leave TBN) and Rod Parsely. Sadly, Parsely has fallen by the way as the others over the years. I don't recall the last time I watched five minutes of this station.

As for the music, as mentioned, it's changed drastically in my locale over the past few years being more youth oriented. You would think the congregation was all in their 20's to listen to the songs these days. There was one praise director on TBN from many years back I did enjoy listening to and that was Clint Brown. He did the best rendition of "I dreamed of a City called Glory" I've heard. He too, left TBN.

It always reminds me of one of the pope's of Rome saying, "The fable of Christ has been most profitable to me." Can't recall which one said that. Probably the one that made indulgencies a big hit with those seeking to pay for their sins to be "forgiven" or absolved is their word. It seems some Protestant circles have picked up on that.