Interesting YouTube thingy
Found an interesting few parodies on YouTube today (total of six of them). Regardless of whether you think the viewpoints are perfect or 100% theologically sound (at least, in how they're presented), I think it's interesting to see a little rebellion against "religion" like I've talked about before. I think the best one is the one I linked to above...
posted by spocktongue at 10:07 AM
6 Comments:
Pretty interesting videos ... they make their point pretty clearly. I'm curious ... what exactly do you call "religion" - what is it that you see these videos rebelling against? I don't think I've picked up on it perfectly in your previous posts.
Oh, and congrats on the ultra-fast spam comment. :)
So, defining "religion"....can I do this succinctly (sp?) and intelligibly? I think maybe the easiest way to say it is using what dictionary.com has as the fifth definition: ritual observance of faith. I think it's the ritual observance that I tend to rebel against... I'm not saying rituals are bad, per se, that one way of doing things is inherently better or worse than another. I just don't like the idea of "this is how we do things." I think the rituals tend to become the faith--which is somewhat human nature. I think there's a fakeness there that I don't like--you can go through the routine of "church" without being real, without showing your true self, without being moved/changed by God. I sometimes think of it as being Old Testament in nature (dramatic example)--the Law becoming so literal and overarching that they kind of missed the whole point, and the Law tended to supercede God. Maybe I'm somewhat cynical, and maybe it's a little bit of a reaction to feeling lonely without a lot of close, personal friends who are actually close to me in proximity...but as I'm trying to be more real with God and Him in my life, I'm getting more frustrated with those things in the (American, in particular) Church. Plus, it tends to be a weak spot with me--I get sucked into that mode very easily. So maybe I'm the pot calling the kettle black... Does that help?
And I'll be fixing that spam real fast... :)
Yeah, that helps... it makes sense to me. I think that the ritual nature of religion (and, in particular, the practice of Christianity) can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, a religion full of monotony and meaningless motions (and other magnificent m-words) is stale, dull, dying. On the other hand, if a worshiping community can find joy and meaning and fulfillment in its (albeit ritualized) meetings, then the sense of ritual is diminished, and the value of the community is emphasized. I've observed and experienced that at WPBC in the past few months... we do the same things over and over again, but there is joy and true fellowship in the process. The faith informs the ritual, not the other way around.
Good for WPBC. I find it hard personally to do that, which is part of what makes the home church so good for me, I think. It's hard(er) to go through the motions when the motions change every week....not impossible, just harder. Ultimately, it's about your personal desire to commune with God.
I think I like those skits because they point out things (like wardrobe as not being important to how "good" a Christian you are), but I think their presentation almost becomes condescending
that was funny. thanks for posting.
ha ha! I think I'm gonna try to download those and show them to my teens. They'll get a kick out of 'em! thanks! :D
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