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songofjoy02Nothing quite like a TV post to generate a response.;-) Part of my goal this past year has been to become more culturally literate, so to speak. I've not watched very much TV, but I've watched TONS of movies (by my standards, anyway, which I think just might measure up to some of yours). I've looked up celebrities and learned things about them. I've become rather familiar with Michael Jackson and Avril Lavigne (due to living with people who greatly admire them). (And, no, for the record, I do not happen to love their music.)
I have to admit that I've mostly skipped a lot of other stuff, but I've talked to quite a few teenagers over the last year or so.
I've started reading Too Christian, Too Pagan, by Dick Staub...and I feel a huge reevaluation of my life coming up! I highly recommend reading it. I just got it the other night and I'm halfway through it now just because it so relevant to things that I've been considering myself. Staub, a radio talk show host, talks about how inclined Christians are to belong to either of two extremes--too Christian or too pagan. The "too Christian" bunch basically hides out in the church and avoids all contact with "pagans" (by which he refers to those who are not saved), while the "too pagan" bunch practically won't darken the doors of a church! He submits that there must be some balance and it seems that the book is devoted to explaining not only that balance but how to achieve it--both in our thinking and in practical behavior.
When I went to Heartbeat International's LOVE Approach training (for work in a CPC) a while back, the trainer urged us to turn on an episode or two of some popular TV, including MTV. She said that it's really important to know what's influencing people today and I believe that she is correct. I guess I'm just thinking that I need to have more "common ground" with the unchurched of today. While I might have some daily experiences that correlate with theirs, I think I need to spend a little more time considering what influences their thought lives.
At the same time, I need to be on my guard lest I become ensnared in the same kinds of thinking that have trapped so many people! So it's not like I'm approaching this with the idea that it's time to pursue fun and games. I guess I'm just thinking that sharpening our senses by practicing discerning is kind of hard to do if we refuse to be exposed to the world at all. Just some thoughts tonight...kind of incomplete, yes, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what I'm working through right now...
Thoughts involving 2 Chronicles 2:4 (related to this topic) are here.
I have to admit that I've mostly skipped a lot of other stuff, but I've talked to quite a few teenagers over the last year or so.
I've started reading Too Christian, Too Pagan, by Dick Staub...and I feel a huge reevaluation of my life coming up! I highly recommend reading it. I just got it the other night and I'm halfway through it now just because it so relevant to things that I've been considering myself. Staub, a radio talk show host, talks about how inclined Christians are to belong to either of two extremes--too Christian or too pagan. The "too Christian" bunch basically hides out in the church and avoids all contact with "pagans" (by which he refers to those who are not saved), while the "too pagan" bunch practically won't darken the doors of a church! He submits that there must be some balance and it seems that the book is devoted to explaining not only that balance but how to achieve it--both in our thinking and in practical behavior.
When I went to Heartbeat International's LOVE Approach training (for work in a CPC) a while back, the trainer urged us to turn on an episode or two of some popular TV, including MTV. She said that it's really important to know what's influencing people today and I believe that she is correct. I guess I'm just thinking that I need to have more "common ground" with the unchurched of today. While I might have some daily experiences that correlate with theirs, I think I need to spend a little more time considering what influences their thought lives.
At the same time, I need to be on my guard lest I become ensnared in the same kinds of thinking that have trapped so many people! So it's not like I'm approaching this with the idea that it's time to pursue fun and games. I guess I'm just thinking that sharpening our senses by practicing discerning is kind of hard to do if we refuse to be exposed to the world at all. Just some thoughts tonight...kind of incomplete, yes, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what I'm working through right now...
Thoughts involving 2 Chronicles 2:4 (related to this topic) are here.
