A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

In a bid to make the Bible more hip and ‘less boring’ a group of thrill seekers have done what an entertainment production team would do for a amusement demanding audience. Steven Furtick’s Elevation Creative Team has re-written the Bible….yup…. only this time it is Veggie-Tale style. Remember how those salads and tomatoes taught our kids how to behave “Christian” without becoming Christians? Well Furtick’s team has resurrected the same old trick….

Has American Christianity lost all credibility in the sufficiency of Scripture? Do we need to re-brand the Bible and make it ‘more relevant’ by adding to it space ships, space whales  (and who knows -Vampire chases)? Well, Jesus (spoke of a real Jonah and) didn’t change the story so as to amuse the audience of His day. Paul didn’t change his message when he preached to the amusement loving Corinthians. In fact this is what he told the Corinthians who wanted him to add some hype and dazzle or bells and whistles to his message:

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Cor 2:2-5)

No, I am not against creative illustrations or visual re-enactments. When it comes to the Bible – if all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work – then we ought to be careful in our illustrations and teachings that we do not depart from the intended message by adding to or taking away from the original text. To do so would alter and distort it’s intended meaning, nullify it’s purpose and discredit the gospel.

[Not to be continued…]