teaching others to mock

Bob Hyatt posted a good piece regarding the ability for radio (internet or other media could be substituted here) personalities to easily (and wrongly) influence others.

Interestingly, I just had an exchange with Pro347 over Dan Phillip's great post on God being the only true creative being.

The word "imaginative" was used in the comment thread. Pro357 thought he'd be funny (I guess) and make a smart remark along the lines of the sad posters that have come from that bunch. I couldn't let it go ... they are teaching their followers that it's cool to laugh at others and not to let the truth of the situation slow you down.

pro357:
Isn't "Imagine" the theme song for some new churches?

rick:
pro357 - which churches would that be?

pro357:
Rick - http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2007/06/make_some_noise.html

I could go on, but I'm new here and I don't want to be found guilty of breaking rule #3.

rick:
pro357 - sorry, Currie didn't recommend this as a theme song. He was talking about supporting Amnesty international. One of the tracks, number 11 on disk 1 is Imagine by Avril Lavigne.

I'm not clear how you got from that to promoting this as a theme song.

I think we may be able to have a good conversation about the wisdom of churches partnering with organizations/people such as Amnesty but it seems you made quite a leap there. Do you know this church and their faith/practices? Does it support your implication?

I don't think I need to await his answer. Just another example of mockery at TeamPyro based on misinformation they share.

By the way, here is the real Pro 3.5-7 (this would be good advice for the guy sporting that tag).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Oh, and the nastier of the gang, a man seemingly bent on a fight, in the same comment thread, has this to say about people I suspect he doesn't know ...

centuri0n:
Classic examples of tomfoolery posing as art in liturgy:

Exhibit #1

Exhibit #2

Wow. Exhibits #3 with a bullet

Echibit #4 -- load the flash and wait for any song with vocals in the preview of "Prayed in Full"

And I'll go on record as saying, "and 85-90% of all songs played during 'community church' worship which originate in CCM."

I'll restate my claim, TeamPyro as a whole is deceived, arrogant, and is being used by the enemy to tear down the body of Christ.


THIS JUST IN:

Pro357 wrote:

"Keeping me company is John Lennon. Check out this important message from Amnesty International and then go download the album. I did. It is for a good cause and the music is, well, just what you would expect: terrific."

You are correct, he did not say it was the churches theme song. The things we promote are the things that have made a positive influence in our lives. If you are going to tell me that people's influences do not influence what they say well, I disagree.

You asked:

"Does it support your implication?"

It is clear that church leaders (all Christians for that matter)should not recommend anything that does not glorify God. As Christians, what we say, what we do and how we live are examples of what glorifies God. I should not have to get deep inside the mind of a Christian leader to find out why he decided to promote John Lennon. Simply put, he shouldn't have done it...period. So, to answer your question: his support (and recommendation) of it on a church site allows me to implicate it.

As far as Amnesty, no one is going to deny they do good work; however, what work have they done for the Lord? It would be more beneficial for churches to not join organizations like Amnesty and instead get Amnesty to join the church.

As far as my comment:

I realize that it was exaggerated (I personally don't know of any church that has a "theme song"). However, I offer no apologizes for implicating it.

I'm thrilled with this as being some progress so I replied with:

thank you so very much. I will not tell you I disagree. What I will tell is that many of us, at least I do anyway, wrestle routinely with the appropriateness of the TV I watch, the books/blogs/etc. I read, the music I listen to, etc.. It is not an uncommon struggle. I also wrestle with being hypocritical on these same points. That is, there are TV programs that I watch that I would never do in front of "church folk". This is not ok and I need to deal with this.

I completely agree that the things we promote and take-in influence us and we need to guard ourselves.

To your point, I think if I was speaking to him I would recommend that he not promote this. This is always difficult ground when dealing with organizations and the like. But still, he has some responsibility here and I'm not sure what thought process, if any, he used to make this endorsement.

But the key here is exactly what you said, what we promote and take into our lives influences us.

That was the problem I had with your statement and the culture here at TeamPyro. It is fostering an environment for people to think and say things accusing groups of people based on little or no fact, to laugh at and enjoy the accusations and then pass them off as truth. And to strike out against those that try to press this as not the work of the Kingdom.

So, I was going for an apology but I am quite happy for just an acknowledgment. Thank you again.

MORE MOCKERY:

My point continues to be reinforced. TeamPyro's fans continue to follow their leader's example and Centuri0n cheers them on.

Garet Pahl, following Cent's lead, tosses out another link to a video of some singers performing the Free Will Song. Very Armenian and I can see why one might question the quality of the performance/recording. But, our friends at TeamPyro don't demonstrate concern for these singers nor attempt to tackle the theology/performance in a constructive way. Rather, in a hyena-like way, Pahl exclaims "oh the humanity!" to which Cent retorts, "I hate you for being that buff."

Pahl has demonstrated his inability to understand the gravity of his remarks a number of times over at Bob Hyatt's blog. There he was confronted a number of times but he defends his right and the right of others to mock anyone he chooses. Interesting stance for a Christian.