A little rant
Now I am not quite sure how to construct this post without becoming guilty of the crime that I am accusing, so I may need a little help... I shouldn't get too cross as I have a teeny Monty snuggling under my chin and purring!! Anyway, earlier I felt a little cross. I don't know if I was caught in a bad moment or whether it is because I have been bed-bound for two days with some strange illness, as it is not often that I get cross.
The reason that I felt this way was because I picked up a well-meaning Christian publication for the 18-30's type generation that I slot into and thought that it should make some wholesome reading that would be good for my spirit in my 'unwell' state of being. Imagine my surprise when I scanned the front cover to find the titles "is it because I have boobs?" and "I hate religion". I'm sorry, is this 'Hello' magazine or a magazine to encourage a generation of Christians? I flicked open the cover and found some pretty good articles. Then I got to the two aforementioned articles... The 'boobs' lady was saying that she didn't know any good female preachers and that female preachers should get good at preaching rather than preach because they fill a politically-correct gap.
Now I agree, you shouldn't preach unless there is anointing and instruction from the Lord, but to say that you don't like female preachers and don't really know any good ones is just an ignorant huge generalisation, is it not? Where has she looked? I can name a good number.
I turned to Mr 'I hate religion' who said that he hates the way that the church kills people with religion. Well here is what I hate. I hate the way that Christians slag off the rest of the church forgetting that it is one unit and they themselves are responsible for what they are saying because they are in fact 'the church'. I hate the way that there is this new-fangled pre-occupation with telling the secular world (who frankle don't give a monkey's) that we are Christians but we hate religion - what they need to know is the love, grace, forgiveness and salvation of Jesus, not sit there and what us get bitter about what we have done to the expression 'religion'. MOVE ON!
I also hate the way that the 18-30's generation is patronised by 'trying to be cool and hip' literature, where people assume that we all skateboard, live a grungy lifestyle and try to speak like a Jamaican. I have asked so many young people what frustrates them about church and almost all say 'Christian trendies' - i.e. people who stand up and try to speak what they think their language might be but actually don't reach them at all. I also found a competition where the last question said: "How did you get your grubby hands on this publication?" My hands are not grubby, just because I am 21 years old.
Now, here's a tip. If you are going to write Christian literature, spend some time with your target audience. Get to know how they tick. Look at secular examples of what people read! I am not saying pick up a porn magazine for cultural research, but there are many good pieces of secular literature that people actually read. What language do they speak? As to the boobs woman, what was the need to use that word? Was that being "pure in speech" or just again, trying to be trendy, making a generalisation that the Christian 18-30's market would appreciate a nice bit of vulgar language? it had little to do with the article and whilst yes, the shock value made me read it, I didn't think it was exactlhy honouring to the Lord.
Like I say, it wasn't all bad. There were some good articles too and it was nicely presented, if a little trendy. My only regret was that there couldn't have been more cheerful and less bitter articles advertised on the front - more focus on the gospel rather than the nitty gritty frustrations of the Christian life. I feel hypocritical as here I am moaning about it when you could turn round and say "what are you doing about it?" and I actually have no excuse to respond with. I just feel frustrated and I wondered what you thought?
The reason that I felt this way was because I picked up a well-meaning Christian publication for the 18-30's type generation that I slot into and thought that it should make some wholesome reading that would be good for my spirit in my 'unwell' state of being. Imagine my surprise when I scanned the front cover to find the titles "is it because I have boobs?" and "I hate religion". I'm sorry, is this 'Hello' magazine or a magazine to encourage a generation of Christians? I flicked open the cover and found some pretty good articles. Then I got to the two aforementioned articles... The 'boobs' lady was saying that she didn't know any good female preachers and that female preachers should get good at preaching rather than preach because they fill a politically-correct gap.
Now I agree, you shouldn't preach unless there is anointing and instruction from the Lord, but to say that you don't like female preachers and don't really know any good ones is just an ignorant huge generalisation, is it not? Where has she looked? I can name a good number.
I turned to Mr 'I hate religion' who said that he hates the way that the church kills people with religion. Well here is what I hate. I hate the way that Christians slag off the rest of the church forgetting that it is one unit and they themselves are responsible for what they are saying because they are in fact 'the church'. I hate the way that there is this new-fangled pre-occupation with telling the secular world (who frankle don't give a monkey's) that we are Christians but we hate religion - what they need to know is the love, grace, forgiveness and salvation of Jesus, not sit there and what us get bitter about what we have done to the expression 'religion'. MOVE ON!
I also hate the way that the 18-30's generation is patronised by 'trying to be cool and hip' literature, where people assume that we all skateboard, live a grungy lifestyle and try to speak like a Jamaican. I have asked so many young people what frustrates them about church and almost all say 'Christian trendies' - i.e. people who stand up and try to speak what they think their language might be but actually don't reach them at all. I also found a competition where the last question said: "How did you get your grubby hands on this publication?" My hands are not grubby, just because I am 21 years old.
Now, here's a tip. If you are going to write Christian literature, spend some time with your target audience. Get to know how they tick. Look at secular examples of what people read! I am not saying pick up a porn magazine for cultural research, but there are many good pieces of secular literature that people actually read. What language do they speak? As to the boobs woman, what was the need to use that word? Was that being "pure in speech" or just again, trying to be trendy, making a generalisation that the Christian 18-30's market would appreciate a nice bit of vulgar language? it had little to do with the article and whilst yes, the shock value made me read it, I didn't think it was exactlhy honouring to the Lord.
Like I say, it wasn't all bad. There were some good articles too and it was nicely presented, if a little trendy. My only regret was that there couldn't have been more cheerful and less bitter articles advertised on the front - more focus on the gospel rather than the nitty gritty frustrations of the Christian life. I feel hypocritical as here I am moaning about it when you could turn round and say "what are you doing about it?" and I actually have no excuse to respond with. I just feel frustrated and I wondered what you thought?
posted by NaiT at 8:16 AM
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