Tuesday, October 07, 2008

"Salvation on the Small Screen": 24 hours of Christian TV/crack

2015 update: Years after this post, I am linking to it for some students, who I assigned to watch a half-hour of Christian TV, and post about their experience in the comments, noting what is the view of Jesus/church /Kingdom being communicated.


He stroked his goatee pensively, and offered:

"Hmmm...well, it's kind of like being on crack."

(note: if you'd rather watch than read this story, click the video below)

He wasn't trying to offend (he did); he was simply responding to the question,

"What do you think of the Gaithers?"

I'll never forget the look on the Gaither fan's face. She assumed he meant something like it was a downer, or a "bad trip."



But what the  goateed-man  meant was:

"That whole culture..the Gaithers and other TBN type music and studio sets..it's just so foreign to me that the only analogy I have for entering such a parallel universe is being on crack."

The TBN experience can indeed be addicting ...in the sense of intriguing.

And some of it can be downright sickening.

(Someone..you'll guess who in a minute,,,,once said,"I reject wholesale the gospel of prosperity, primarily on the grounds that I'm pretty sure it makes Jesus throw up a little but every time he thinks of it").

Some of the memories my wife and I have of catching fleeting glimpses of TBN and other Christian TV include crack-like moments like Tammy Fae Bakker interviewing an armless woman...and asking her how she puts on her makeup; and Robert Tilton (who makes a delightful appearance in this classic Steve Taylor song, "Cash Cow") spouting out "Someone is called to give a million dollars to this ministry;don't think about it, don't pray about it...just call in!"...followed by a long outburst of tongues to confirm the word.

I have a hard time with many of these shows; but I have to dare to believe God is using some (all?) of them, even if the personalities are crazy, sick, fake..

...or  just on crack.

So I was thrilled to hear that my favorite sarcastic Lutheran (who is more tattooed than our guitar player St. Guinness) had been asked to write a book ("Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television"by Nadia Bolz-Weber) about the experience of watching 24 hours of Christian television (in the company of some wonderful hand-picked friends)..TBN, to be exact.

I must have prayed for her the moment I heard she had the job. (:

Buy the book already...here's the link.

Some of my favorite writers and thinkers have blurbed the book in a helpful way; and if you are any kind of regular around these parts, their words alone will sell you the book....read Mike Morell, Doug Pagitt, Craig Detweiler and Becky Garrison's back cover comments, then come on back...





Since we are mostly on the same page around here,  rather than offer an extended review or commentary, I will mostly quote some of the author's  zingers and theological insights.....Often they are the same thing! (Which makes her very much like Jesus...).

As hilarious as the book is (it exceeded even my high expectations here), I found it not only appropriately respectful (some will disagree...maybe even the author!),  but hugely helpful in many "serious" ways...

...largely because of the "crack factor." One of Nadia's friends, as they watched "Breakthrough with Rod Parsley, commented:


"I don't even know if I live in the same universe as this guy."


First of all, on the whole theme of "Kind of like being on crack/another planet" being a learning point, as is any cross-cultural immersion:








"My full immersion into the world of TBN and a Christianity that can
seem it's from another planet entirely, rather than strengthening my confidence
in the sufficiency of my own tradition, has actually weakened it. I see the
holes.


I hope this shift continues for me because it feels like for so very
long the sects and denominations within the church (including my own) have spent so much energy defending their theological, doctrinal and liturgical
purity that they have been unable to see what it is we actually have to
offer one another..


..(Though for the record, I still think Paula White is a nut
job)."



(p.104)




Nadia is razor-sharp and spot-on in calling out and countering Paula White's outrageousness in a hilarious section reminiscent of Chris Seay's taking on of Rev. Bucco (see "Pastor sends Sodomites to island; gets stoned"):

"Two can play at this game,my prooftexting sister."(p.14)

But note the prooftexter is a sister.
Who is my neighbor, anyway?

"I, too live in a lavish lifestyle funded by the giving of the faithful, and this realization is discomforting. It is undoubtedly the plank in my own eye" (p.67)

It is her humility and wit that grant her authority to note out loud and in public things any of us have noted privately:

"though I'm no medical expert...(John Hagee) may possibly be bloated on his own hate(p.35)"

"Rod Parsley's voice is undeniably 'Southern TV preacher,' but it sounds so deeply affected that it's like he's actually making fun of himself."(39)

"(items for sale) the likes of which Liberace would find gaudy" (99)

"(One preacher's) particular level of clean-cuteness makes Pat Boone look like Sid Vicious"
(p. 107).


And how could you not note the strikingly high percentage of Old Testament references, and almost nonexistent mentions of the name of Jesus (!) ..except as a "talisman"..in the 24 hours so meticulously journaled and recorded? That call-in prayer lines were sometimes not available?

How is  that"The 700 Club" ends in the same way as "Romper Room"? (that section alone is worth the price of the book).


All pastors of churches larger than 100 people or 22 pews (recognize the reference?) have (hopefully) struggled with the false intimacy of knowing their flock, and vice versa. I have written on that here. ..But watch this:







"What disturbs me about this so-called love between Joyce Meyer and her TV
viewers is this is not pastoral care. You can become a
ministry partner and give Joyce Meyer your entire measley pension, and
she's still not showing up with a casserole when your mother dies."
(28)








Any readers here will likely agree that it's not about title and status... but one still has to ask
about all these folk introduced a "Dr." on TBN.....with honorary doctorates from Oral Roberts University, or less.

"I find myself getting a tad indignant about people taking the title 'pastor' much less 'bishop' with all the consideration and credentialing one might use choosing a chat room screen name." (12)

And that it's not about simply saying the Name. But why did it take 60 Minutes and a Sarcastic Lutheran to add things up?:

"If reference to Christ, even in passing, is the standard for calling something Christian, than I'm not certain someone the likes of Joel Osteen or Paula White or John Hagee would qualify."(82)

"So why is the art of Thomas Kincaid...in so many evangelical homes? Is it simply due to the fact that he signs his paintings with John 3:16? If so, you have to give it to him, because regardless of how aesthetically questionable it may be, there is an implied righteousness to a Thomas Kincaid painting, and that righteousness is highly marketable.

"I'm fairly certain that the descriptor 'Christian' when applied to music and TV shows is not an indicator of theological content but instead points to what is absent:profanity, homosexuals, liberals, uncertainty--basically anything that would challenge a particular worldview."


I have often said (just kidding, but I will now) that God loves us so much as the church that he has given us four categories of people and things to unconditionally learn from, and glean God-insights from:







profanity,





homosexuals,





"liberals,"





uncertainty.








At one point, a Christian celebrity "sits on a garish sofa talking about how Jesus is better than nightclubs, which is, of course, a false dichotomy. I believe in Jesus and nightclubs,or even Jesus in nightclubs, but that's another story" (133)

The unfortunate fact that that indeed is "another story" altogether for Christian television...and evangelicalism in general...is a big story indeed.

If you can't amen that, you are on the wrong blog....and you won't like the book, either.





So buy it already.



Finally, I must say Bolz-Weber's passing insights about simulacra (12, 56), which at first glance appear as easy jokes....are incredibly helpful. This is territory that Ian Robertson picks up regarding U2's intentionally ironic and subversive (ahhhh,big difference) use of this method (Chapter 6 in "U2 and Philosophy").

But the catch is TBN is not Zoo Tv.

Or is it?


"Do these folks really believe what they are saying?..If (not), then the question becomes: Is that sort of fragmentation of the self possible to maintain? Can we really project a false self for so long
without psychically necessitating an accommodation in the form of assimilation? Wouldn't one, in order to survive, have to start believing it?

Therefore, I think they believe it because they don't believe it and the only way to maintain not believing it is to believe it.

Simple enough."

(p.135)








Indeed.





Simply profound as well.





Funny!





And scary..





What's on T.V?

Who's on crack?
--
2015 update: Years after this post, I am linking to it for some students, who I assigned to watch a half-hour of Christian TV, and post about their experience in the comments, noting what is the view of Jesus/church/Kingdom  being communicated.

15 comments:

  1. I was surprised at my reaction to watching Christian programming for half an hour. I was expecting a sappy, overly spiritual message followed by a manipulative plea for donations. However, I watched Life Today with the guest, Danielle Strickland. She was down to earth and humorous. I actually enjoyed the message.

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    Replies
    1. Stephanie: Yeah, I appreciate James Robison, the host of that show.
      And Danielle Strickland=awesome. Here's some video of her already elsewhere on my blog: http://davewainscott.blogspot.com/2015/02/danielle-strickland-video-human.html

      Delete
  2. At first, I began watching The Hal Lindsey Report on TBN. I was very overwhelmed. My fiance' began telling me about how his grandpa was very much into Hal Lindsey's books and had purchased practically all of them. I had never heard of Hal Lindsey, so he began to fill me in on how he has written many books pertaining to the end of the world. He dove deep into news stories and related them to scripture. Some of the relations and references were a little out there for me and seemed far fetched at times, so I changed it to Daystar TV and the XO Marriage Conference was on. We nudged each other quite a bit during the whole thing! I will admit, we were like little teenagers and giggled at some things because it resonated with us and we were guilty of some of the things Jimmy Evans was saying regarding the role of technology in a relationship and communication. We laughed and some things hit home. Watching this conference came a lot easier and was very much enjoyable compared to the previous show I was watching. I didn't expect to enjoy this so much. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The message he said after this scripture was great. While Matt and I are not married, this was great for us to watch together. We shared laughs and nudges.

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  3. I watched TBN for 30 minutes and saw two different shows; Jewish Voice with Rabbi Johnathon Bernis and Life Today with James and Betty Robison. I actually enjoyed both shows more than I expected to. Jewish Voice had guest author Dean Braxton who died and says he went to heaven and then wrote a book about his experience. Some of what he spoke about actually paralleled what we have learned in class. He said he met face to face with Jesus and they had a “conversation” through thoughts. Jesus reminded him of the Prodigal Son Parable and explained that the Prodigal Son is actually Israel, more specifically, the Jewish people. The son who was at home represented Christians. Dean said Jesus is not happy with how we treat Jewish people who accept Jesus as the Messiah. This show is geared toward the Messianic Jewish Community. Johnathon also talked about Peter at Jaffa (Jappa) and how he raised Tabitha from the dead; which I just read about in Acts. This show was very interesting.
    The second show I watched was called Life Today with James & Betty Robison. I am familiar with James Robison and his books. I have always like him, but at first this show was a little stand offish to me. His wife Betty sat next to him on stage, the stage felt a lot like a typical daytime talk show. The guests were Bob & Maria Goff. Bob wrote a book called “Love Does” which is about ways for broken and ordinary people to show love. I really liked Bob & Maria and may consider reading this book once I’m done with school. They shared stories of how they try and show love to their “neighbors”, to each other, their family as, in their words, Jesus commands us to do. They have started schools in countries like Somalia and Northern Iraq. Bob said he has a sticker that says “Love God, Love People and Do Stuff”. I thought that was great. So simple, yet so true. I also liked something Maria said, “God doesn’t tell us who our neighbor is”. She went on to say that it could be her own husband if they are going through a rough time, we just don’t know who our “neighbor” is so we should try and love people as God loves us. I really enjoyed listening to these guests. I did find it a bit annoying how James kept talking about how big the publisher was, even though, as he said, they’ve never published one of his books. I also found it interesting that Betty Robison said maybe two sentences the entire segment. All in all, this experience wasn’t as “bad” as I thought it might be.
    Kim Jenkins

    ReplyDelete
  4. I watched TBN for 30 minutes and saw two different shows; Jewish Voice with Rabbi Johnathon Bernis and Life Today with James and Betty Robison. I actually enjoyed both shows more than I expected to. Jewish Voice had guest author Dean Braxton who died and says he went to heaven and then wrote a book about his experience. Some of what he spoke about actually paralleled what we have learned in class. He said he met face to face with Jesus and they had a “conversation” through thoughts. Jesus reminded him of the Prodigal Son Parable and explained that the Prodigal Son is actually Israel, more specifically, the Jewish people. The son who was at home represented Christians. Dean said Jesus is not happy with how we treat Jewish people who accept Jesus as the Messiah. This show is geared toward the Messianic Jewish Community. Johnathon also talked about Peter at Jaffa (Jappa) and how he raised Tabitha from the dead; which I just read about in Acts. This show was very interesting.
    The second show I watched was called Life Today with James & Betty Robison. I am familiar with James Robison and his books. I have always like him, but at first this show was a little stand offish to me. His wife Betty sat next to him on stage, the stage felt a lot like a typical daytime talk show. The guests were Bob & Maria Goff. Bob wrote a book called “Love Does” which is about ways for broken and ordinary people to show love. I really liked Bob & Maria and may consider reading this book once I’m done with school. They shared stories of how they try and show love to their “neighbors”, to each other, their family as, in their words, Jesus commands us to do. They have started schools in countries like Somalia and Northern Iraq. Bob said he has a sticker that says “Love God, Love People and Do Stuff”. I thought that was great. So simple, yet so true. I also liked something Maria said, “God doesn’t tell us who our neighbor is”. She went on to say that it could be her own husband if they are going through a rough time, we just don’t know who our “neighbor” is so we should try and love people as God loves us. I really enjoyed listening to these guests. I did find it a bit annoying how James kept talking about how big the publisher was, even though, as he said, they’ve never published one of his books. I also found it interesting that Betty Robison said maybe two sentences the entire segment. All in all, this experience wasn’t as “bad” as I thought it might be.
    Kim Jenkins

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am embarrassed to say it, but I do not have Christian TV in my current plan at home. However, I watched God TV online for thirty minutes online. I saw "Enjoying Everyday Life" with Joyce Meyer. I appreciated her honesty. She admitted to not knowing all the answers. There is always more to learn about God. She discussed our responsibilities to God. She was very informative and you can see her passion and love for God through her teachings. I enjoyed everything up until the end. She was selling her CD's and it started to feel like an infomercial.

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  6. I watched Jeff Cavins walking towards eternity of KNXT digital tv. I was actually expecting to be completly bored and dealing with distractions. I wasn't fully into the program but it did have a viable message, or theme to it. This show tries to help the viewer live their life faithfully by building on the essential things that help you do this. They talk about daily prayer, meditation and scipture. I am not sure how I feel about christian tv, or even this show. I usually just skip over these channels.

    Justin B.

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  7. I watched Christian TV on my Ipad, on TBN.com. There were four men on the panel, sitting in very colorful purple velvet couches. The man that was speaking when I turned the show on, at a quarter till like Dave suggested, threw me off. He had veneers on his teeth, his face was not moving so there was some Botox going on, a perfect tan, a very colorful pair of red shoes with trendy socks. He made sure his jeans were rolled up so we could see them. Instead of hearing what he had to say I was criticizing his appearance. I know that what someone wears should not matter, but there I was criticizing. When I got passed the, frozen face, huge white teeth, perfect tan, bright socks and shoes I actually started listening. The other men on the panel were great!
    I was expecting to see these men get laud and crazy and start asking for money. Instead I saw a very good conversation. In fact, I found myself entranced, I could have watched a whole marathon of these guys talking ( I feel guilty about that) I didn't like the guy with the tan too much, but there was another man, Mark Casto, who gave a very moving speech about misfits and how God chose those who others would not have chosen. I thought his message linked many things that we have learned through this course. Overall it was a good experience, the total opposite of what I was expecting.


    Yadira Lupian

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  8. I was turned on to a new way of watching church service through the Neighborhood church . You are able to listen to a podcasts of sermons. I really liked it, I was able to really listen to a sermon at my own pace which was beneficial for me. I realize that this is not 30 minutes of cable tv but I had to make due not having internet or tv until the last 2 weeks (still no internet).

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  9. I watched the Church Channel. I caught the last few minutes of Jesus Calls, a prayer show hosted by Dr. Paul Dhinakaran and his wife, Evangeline. This is an intense show. The prayer was fervent and dramatic. They represented God as a mighty healer, and Jesus as an intercessor. They recalled some of the healing stories of the Bible, but never mentioned “kingdom” exactly. The next show on was Hour of Power, with Bobby Schuller. Back when I was a young stay at home mom, I used to watch HOP every day, so it was great to find it still on. The guest speaker, Sam Chand, was the author of Leadership Pain, and states that to lead others and succeed, you must realize that pain is part of succeeding and part of living. You will only grow up to your pain threshold. It is very formative, and you should not run from it or numb it. He quoted Jesus in the garden, stating that not even His Son was exempt from pain. Pain is because we live, and not dependent on how much we love God. What is important is that “Thou art with me”. While neither of these shows discussed “kingdom” exactly, both portrayed some kingdom ethics. The first was believers praying for each other, the sick, the poor, and the world. The author discussed his early days of struggle, persevering through hardship and racism, while remaining steadfast and faithful. I found it interesting that all three of the major players on these two shows were from India. The church service on HOP was pretty tame, bland hymns that are not my style. But the message was good.

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  10. I watched Balanced Living (TBN) with Jim Reeves. I have to admit that i needed this show. It talked about having God in us no mater what stage we are at. If we are the ones who got to church 3-4 times a month or once every other month he is still there for you. I liked the opening prayer of Isaiah 40:30 (NIV) where sometimes we need to spread our wings like an eagle and create new experiences. No matter what we are doing God is there to give us support, desire, drive and passion in what ever we do. We could be lazy and not want to do our work (homework) due to a busy week and you are needing to recharge. God is in us to give us that push to help us get it done. I like how he uses the image of an eagle as God. Eagles are strong and withstand a lot and everything we go through in our life we have that eagle in our hearts if we allow him to guide us down the right path and even if we get off the path he is there to guide us back.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Regina A.
    I watched The Church Channel on channel 371 on DirecTV. They had guest speakers and one thing stood out to me in particular. The person speaking said "I believe God wants the world to know that Jesus is alive. I believe that anybody that's listening, that god wants them to look up and say 'your word says you're alive, I believe you're alive, if you're alive, show me you're alive. if you're alive, do it.'" I feel this is asking too much. It reminded me of the story of the temptation of Christ. When jesus was fasting in the forest and the devil tried to tempt him and convince him to change rocks to bread. Jesus refused because this would not be a proper use of his power. This can be interpreted to be the definition of faith. Believing in god does not require proof, it requires faith. And what he was saying did not seem to be in line with what i understood from that story. One should not be demanding god show his power and his influence on earth. What i did agree with was that that same speaker said that if you want to do something, set out to do it yourself. seemingly contradicting with what he just said. The host extends on what he's saying by explaining that faith means action. people must not give up and believe that God will help them, and that god will recognize this and help. he stresses that the important part is for people to not give up and to always take action.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, tremendously thoughtful, I wonder what Kraybill would say. Excellent

      Delete
  12. Patricia D.
    I watched God TV for 30 minutes, I caught the last ten minutes of one show and the first twenty minutes of the second show. I did not catch the man who was preaching in the first show but he was talking about Man's word versus God's word. Man's word is about abortion and gay marriage whereas God's word is to go into the world and preach the gospel. He talked about Psalms 139 being about how abortion is killing and God is the creator. We need to restore the foundation of God by restoring him in our homes first. You cannot have the Bible without Genesis 1-11. We need to defend our faith by standing on the word of God, that is what is going to change our country.
    The second show was about Preaching the gospel by ED Young from Dallas, TX. He started out by talking about how much he loved to fish and fishing is a biblical sport. He talks about the time when he went to the Atlantic Ocean with his buddy and they were the only boat on the Ocean that was fishing. They decided to come into shore and when they got close to the Marina, they spotted a boat off to the distance and there was a man who was swimming so they decided to go and check it out. The man was not swimming, he was drowning. The guy was trying to get back to his boat, but his boat was drifting away from him. The men got the man out of the water and back into his boat. The man was very grateful for the men for saving his life. The men then left and headed towards the Marina where there were tons of boats and people sitting on them. ED talked about how these people could see and hear this man drowning, and not one of those people tried to save the man. This lead ED into his message about what kind of mentality do you have? Are you in the rescue business or are you the ones on the marina sitting there watching people drown in sin. The church is a rescue society, not a yacht club! The ring is the thing. The ring is Jesus, he is a floatation device. Is the ring the thing in your life? We are saved to serve the Lord.
    Through both videos, they never talked about the "Kingdom." Both talked about the life that you are living and is your life the kind of life you should be living for the Lord? Both shows were amazing and had awesome speakers. I had never heard of this channel and I am glad I watched the videos from it, because I am going to watch more from this channel.

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  13. P.R.
    I watch 30 minutes of The Word Network. The show on was Life Today with James Robison. The show was about current issues. A gentlemen was on talking about a program that goes out and shares the Word of God. He also discussed how people with all the fame and money are on the top but are still very lonely. If they used the money to serve all the worldly needs in the name of God, they would have a fulfilling life. The whole show was interesting to watch. What I thought was interesting was no scripture or the word Kingdom was used during the show.

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Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!