The "Christianity" of Hollywood

Here are some comments I have posted on the Christian post and the comments of others responding to me: here is the article


here are the comments: check back because I will post futher responses in the comments of this post:

amendoza
I think this made Christianity worse in peoples eyes. Underwood and Washington have lives that somewhat follow the faith (I am not judging their Christianity) but the other two: Montag, who openly sleeps with her boyfriend, gets trashed at clubs and Madden who, is having a baby with his girlfriend which is fornication (not repentent might I add). I like how the article comes from the highly thological US weekly. This is annoying
Anthony

mcfbc
I am excited to read that Montag and Madden are seeking God. I am also thankful that they are in God's hands and not in the hands of so many moralists that post here. I am praying that wherever they are in their relationship with God He will honor their searching and draw them closer to Him. I will also pray that we as Christians will be less condemning and more excited when we read about people seeking truth.

amendoza
mcfbc, the post doesnt say they are seeking, it says they found God. I can understand if the two came out saying 'the lifestyle I am living has been wrong and I repent and put my faith in Christ' instead they just claim they believe and read the bible. Remember James 2:19(paraphrase) You believe in God, good. Even the demons believe and trembile. and according to scripture (matthew 3 I believe) when Satan tempts Christ HE USES SCRIPTURE which means he must have read it.just because I read a book about plants doesnt make me a tree so just because they read the Bible it doesn't make them a Christian!
God bless,
Anthony

mcfbc
God has us all in different places. I am thankful that He has revealed the truth of the gospel to you and me. I agree reading the Bible doesn't make one a Christian. However, I am hopeful that through their reading God will reveal his grace to them. We have all been at places where we have been ignorant of God's ways, both as believer and non-believers. Yet God showed much mercy to each of us. Instead of condemning them for their ignorance, we need to be praying that God's grace woud be revealed in their lives.

amendoza
I hope you do not misunderstand me, I in no way am condeming them but what frustraights me is that US weekly has published this and it makes it out to be ok to do all the forementioned things they are doing. thats what bothers me not the fact that they say they are reading the bible.
God bless,
Anthony

prv3116
1st...I here reading the bible but what about the "Word' in motion? Where is the salvation and if we are believers it is our reasonable service to show God in all we do. I pray that their faith increases. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.James 1:22 (King James Version)But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.2nd... When we state that we as believers read the bible but live contrary to the bible are we really believers or "carnal Christians". Carnality is an emnity against GodRomans 8:7 (kjv)Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.James 1:22-25 (New International Version)22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

ndmaster
Listen up guys! Stop bible quoting because you are essentially being argumentative and counterproductive to the will of the Holy Spirit. Given the influence that hollywood has on the lives of millions of people, we need to SUPPORT any indications that the Holy Spirit of God is growing in it's presence even in Hollywood (the last place on earth that you might think that this kind of miracle could happen). Encourage those who would be first to blaze the path for Christ in Hollywood - let them know that they have our prayers and support! All of sinned and fall short...and are a work in progress...let's be careful not to cast any stones on our imperfect brothers and sisters in Christ, but encourage them all the more as we see the day approaching...

faithcomesbyhearing
We shouldn't be bashing others for reading the Word, when nearly 65% of all Bible readers have never read the entire New Testament. Thank God for His Word. It has the power to change the hearts and lives of many. Some of these Hollywood stars are role models for others, and might spur others to begin to read or listen to His Word. Since most of us say we don't have time to read the Bible, then there are other solutions, like downloading a free Audio Bible. I got mine at FaithComesByHearing.com or you can find it on iTunes.

eirene43
It's so easy to judge another person. It's also destructive when you don't know everything but God does. I'm really encouraged to hear that despite just talking about their faiths in an article here and there, some of them are doing something. I haven't heard all of The Bible Experience with Denzel Washington but from what I've heard of it, I really think it's an awesome project. That's another great audiobible besides the ones that come from Faith Comes By Hearing. The Bible Experience uses the TNIV.

amendoza
faithcomesbyhearing, "Some of these Hollywood stars are role models for others, and might spur others to begin to read or listen to His Word" I understand that but if they are looking at the Bible as a way to be cool like the Hollywood stars and not reading it because it is the 100% true and innerrant word of God the scripture can be taken and twisted and thats not good. Someone reading a Bibile isnt always a good thing, sometimes they use it to build an attack on Christianity or twist it into a totaly different and wrong idea (ie Brian McClaren and other emergents that have twisted scripture beyond all recognisability). Agian I am not saying that these people are wrong for reading the Bible I am however, angered at the US weekly article because it makes it look like if you read your Bible your ok. FALSE!!! if you don't repent and put your faith in Christ you can read the Bible all you want and your still going to hell (and contrary to Doug Pagitt hell is a verry real place)
God bless,
Anthony

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments on this topic
God bless,
Anthony

Christians are not Allowed to Laugh!!

You may have read my post called "Shut your mouth and do something" and now I have a perfect example that has gotten me a little miffed.

One of the blogs I read today was about a christian comedy night at a church and the blogger made the night alone sound as if it was a horrible thing to do.

Why is a christian comedy night wrong?? the author doesn't even give a reason, rather she just brings in the personal lives of the national pastors (who are not hosting the night). Just because you are to uptight to laugh and would never do this at your church does not mean that someone who does is a heretic.

Have conservative Christians (which I am) become so afraid of the emergent movement that anything that is "hip" or dare I say entertaining is considered heresy. as far as the emergent movement is concerned, I don't see a problem with some of the things the emergent church does (ie the use of technology). What I do disagree with in the emergent movement is the total rehashing of theology.

And we wonder why my generation says the church is boring... something as simple as a comedy night (which is not in place of an actual service I think) should not become a point for rude, opinionated, self-righteous bloggers to complain about and if you do at least give me a reason why not spew person attacks!

Look at the article and what the video on the night and tell me if I missed it. As you can tell I am fairly annoyed and would lick to know what other people think.

God bless,
Anthony

Crazy abortion debate

For those of you that listened to the show today, thank you. As most of you know I have a internet radio show and this week we had two guests on, one was Don Nelson from Nevada Life and the other was James Louallen from The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (sounds like an oxymoron to me). Well saying that the debate got a little heated is a HUGE understatement! The show ended with Mr. Louallen hanging up on us.... I loved every minute of it! Listen to it at www.straightuptalk.org its episode 12 (should be featured). Once you have heard it feel free to leave your thoughts on it here or you can email me at anthony@straightuptalk.org

I was way nervous about the show because it was my show this week. I did everything from set the topic to arrange the guests and compile the questions. It took forever to find a pro-choice advocate to come on the show (I had two others tell me no and one of them said I was anti-rights-freedom) once I found the RCRC I was really hoping they would get someone on because I cant comprehend how someone who claims to be Christian can be for abortion. When I contacted them, I was sent an email that said in order to get some one on the show I had to agree to follow four "guidelines":
1. Speakers are not interupted
2. if a debate arises it is civil
3. at no time will we be accused of murder
4. use respectful terms: we are "pro-choice" not "pro-abortion"

right out of the guest when my pro life advocate got on he called them pro-abortion and then the person from the RCRC interrupted him soon after so 2 of the 4 rules were broken by both parties in less than one minute of them being on the show together! (it was kinda exciting but I was afraid the pro-choice advocate was gonna hang up on me). within the first 10 to 15 minutes all four rules were broken and they both stated getting fairly personal ....Mr. Louallen called Mr. Nelson a liar and an idiot I believe and Mr. Nelson said that Mr. Louallen was a joke and was good at throwing up dust (the dust comment wasn't very far from the truth). Overall it was an awesome show and I learned a lot about what some members of the pro-choice side believe. There is so much that happened in the show that if I tried to write it all down this would be one crazy long blog!! (Mr. Louallen quoted scripture than when we quoted it he said he didn't take the scripture literally AHH!)

So you should all listen to the show and let me know what you think. I enjoyed it for sure! Again, the shows site is www.straightuptalk.org and if you would rather call in and leave a voicemail for our show (24 hrs.) than email (anthony@staightuptalk.org) you can do so by calling 775-908-4365

God bless,
Anthony

Views on the church from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In my English class we had to read "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and he wrote this about the modern church: "There was a time when the church was very powerful... Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender (sic) of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent - and often even vocal - sanction of things as they are. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust."

This was written in the 60s and it is probably one of the best descriptions of the church as it currently is. Rather than being a driving force, the church has moved to something for young adults to be mad about and a place for adults to come for what I call fire insurance (I'm not really a Christian but I go to church... just in case). There are some good, spirit-filled churches but the most popular churches in America are seeker-friendly or even what is called emergent (lets rethink everything including heaven, hell and everything else). its interesting to think that 40 some odd years ago Dr. King said all that about the church and now its all falling into place. Dr. King is famous for a lot of things but unfortunately his thoughts on the church are not one of them.

God bless,
Anthony

What's your Idol?

This is a song from 10:31 sermon jams (www.1031sermonjams.com) with Mark Driscoll.

Its very intriging to see what people in other countrys think about America.

listen to the clip and let me know what you think about the clip

God bless,
Anthony

Shut your mouth, do somthing about it!

I read multiple blogs and news stories on a daily basis to prepare for my show and some of them are Christian blogs and others are not. What I find ironic is that the Christian blogs tend to be the ones that are the most negative. Many of these blogs point out whats wrong with the modern church yet they fail to mention what should be done about it. These blog writers spend all this time flinging mud rather than getting off their rears and actually doing something about whatever their particular grief is. Now, I know that I can be somewhat negative on this blog about some of the stuff going on with the American church but in my defense I am also attempting to do something about the way the church is going in this country.

Another grief I have with some of these blogs is that they seem to believe that their denomination of Christianity is the only write one. This is simply not true. The fact of the matter is that all one needs to be born again is realizing that they are a disgusting individual and destined for hell, fall on their face and repent for their sins (not only ask forgiveness but turn from sins) and have faith and trust in Jesus Christ. From what I have seen, there are born again believers in every denomination (there are also wackos in most denominations). These bloggers act like everything that their denomination doesn't believe is utter heresy. I know that there are some heretics out there but I don't believe that you can call people such as Joel Osteen a heretic but i do believe he is an individual that is missing the point by not sharing the gospel. The best course of action in cases such as Joel Osteen would be prayer that he will become convicted for not sharing the gospel with the millions that watch him and that he will begin to share the glory of the gospel.


My point in all of this is that it is important for people to know about the "different" (good and bad) things happening in the American church but most bloggers focus only on the negative as well as just criticizing and not offering any opinion on how to fix it. If every person that blogged about the American church and its downfalls were to get off their butts, get on the streets and do something to counter what they see wrong rather than just throwing mud at each other it may be possible to bring Christianity back to the old way and not to this emergent way(I mean in their beliefs not their use of technology).

As far as the ministry I am involved with, we are not only commenting on the things we see that are good and bad but we are also taking what we say and put it to practice. If we don't like that the Gospel is not being preached, we go preach it.

My charge to you then, is if you see something you don't like in the church don't just sit there and say that its wrong but offer your suggestion on how to improve it and if possible take action to put that suggestion into practice.

God bless,
Anthony

P.S. I love to hear any of your suggestions and comments for me or even stuff in the American Church.