After my son's pediatricians appointment I went by Lifeway to look for some material for men's bible study at my church. Man I hit the jack pot too....I found some Charles Spurgeon sermons on men in the Bible. But just a few shelves over was some of the most horrible garbage I have ever seen being passed off as a bible study. Yes that's right you can learn how to be a follower of Christ with the Beverly Hillbillies bible study. There was also one for I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, Gilligan's Island and Bonanza.
I didn't know if I should laugh or set the store on fire. I thought is was a joke at first but it wasn't. Is this what the church has come to? To be honest I don't even know what to say except heaven help us!
Friday, August 21, 2009
And We Wonder Why People Don't Know Christ
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2 comments:
Andy, we did both The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffin Show when Dennis was here. I liked them. They were designed to show how to apply Biblical principles to our everyday lives and what messes resulted when we didn't. The discussions after viewing the episodes were an integral part of the study. I think they are more for discipling rather than for evangelism.
I can see why you liked it...these shows were funny. I agree that it is about discipleship and not evangelism as well. That is the very thing I had in mind when I wrote the blog.My issue here is studies like this are gimmiks... a little watered down for they are designed to get people in the doors of the church. They are not "meat" for the mature believer. For example in volume 4 of the Mayberry study the theme is the value of values. What do Oppie and Andy have to offer here for a true believer? They are just "good people" with "good worldly moral." There are Mormons with morality that is just as good as those in Mayberry. The fear here is that those attending this study will buy into a righteousness based on morality...which is what many cults and false religions do.For the new believer I also believe studies like these create problems. If gimmiks are used in teaching God's Word to the weaker brethren or the immature believer then gimmiks will be what they constantly expect and what they come for (This is why some only show up for Christmas and Easter but never a regular Sunday). I found this out from experience...doing gimmiks in Bible STudy like fear factor and superman (I showed vidieo clips and did stunts before, during and after bible study). AFter things like that no one wanted to sit still and pay attention to the simple reading of the Word and expository preaching. Im not trying to be a legalist here and say its an out right sin to reference something that happened in mayberry. What I am saying is I don't think a whole bible study is best becasue it may cause some to worship the Pop-Culture Jesus and not the Biblical Jesus. That was the point of the blog. A scripture that comes to mind here is 1 Cor. 10:23..."All things are permissible but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive."
Maybe you got lots from this study but I wonder who it may have damaged?
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