To Think I Found this on Facebook
Ah, facebook links. What I found the most inspiring about the MJ service apparently was the most offensive. Ever been to a funeral where the minister didn’t mention that the deceased was in a better place? I haven’t. Odd timing and disrespectful to me to offer not the glimpse of peace with God–but to preach condemnation and eternal suffering to those in grief.
www.challies.com
Yesterday the world memorialized Michael Jackson. The numbers are still being tabulated but there is little doubt that millions, probably hundreds of millions, watched at least a portion of the memorial service. How many did so, as did I, merely out a morbid sense of curiosity, probably cannot be calculated.
Jackson’s service was an representation of just the kind of pluralism that has marked India. Everybody involved wanted to invoke God’s name, as you’re supposed to do when remembering a loved one, but it was clear that most of them invoked a god made in their own image. Even those who spoke of Jesus or who prayed to Jesus did so without any clear reference to the Jesus of the Bible. They spoke of a Jesus who accepts all and even (or perhaps especially) those who had rejected him. Never did Michael Jackson give any evidence of putting his faith in Jesus Christ, yet those who watched were assured, time and again, that he was now safe in the presence of the Lord, waiting there for the rest of us to arrive. Words and phrases invoked God and used the Christian lexicon but without any reference to the gospel, the true gospel, the gospel that saves. Lost men declared to other lost men untruths about the god they wish for, not the God who is.
During the singing of the old song We Are the World, those who watched saw religious symbols from all faiths spinning across a video screen, blurring, blending their lies to the already blind.
Judith (32)
Anne (25)
Rosemary (20)
DVD (8)
Caroline (3)
Joelle (2)
Mark C. (2)
michael (2)
Pam (2)
Bob Chapman (1)
Christina (1)
Dylan (1)
Edward Pease (1)
Eric (1)
Frank Schaeffer (1)
Julie (1)
kran (1)
Quinn (1)
Rachel (1)
Sarah (1)
Steve Hayes (1)
July 14th, 2009 at 7:14 am
The memorial in Los Angeles was really touching. I know people who cried for 3 hours straight through. I agree with you, that preacher guy sure seemed out of place…everyone was gathered for Michael, not to hear one guy’s beliefs about damnation for all.