Torch, Summer 1998

accommodated to the world spirit of the age." We are not showing the world enough of a difference as men and women of Christ today. Especially troubling is a new era of accommodation and compartmentalization appearing among evangelicals, especially in regard to media. It is a move towards "finding God" or "experiencing God" in contemporary forms of entertainment. A recent article written by Christine Wicker of Knight-Ridder Tribune points to this trend. The article is entitled "Some turn to silver screen for spiritual lessons" and is subtitled "Even R-rated films may carry some redeeming messages." Wicker writes of one accommodation advocate, "... in L.A. Confidential she had to look past profanity, sex, and violence for a glimpse of the Almighty. But she did find it- in the unconditional love of a prostitute played by Kim Basinger." Two thoughts come to mind at this point. First, we already know of the unconditional love ofAlmighty God from His Word and probably do not gain more of an insight from a prostitute played by Kim Basinger. Second, numerous passages of Scripture exhort the believer to a life of purity, calling for us to avoid pervers10n. Why must anyone turn to the silver screen for spiritual lessons? Is there not the excellent source, the best source, for spiritual lessons? Of course there is-the Holy Bible, the Scriptures. Later in the article, Wicker writes, "Christians who love movies despite- and sometimes because of- the films' often 'ungodly' themes base their defense 8 Torch of Hollywood's art partly on the idea that God can be found in every situation." This is simply accommodation to today's secularized culture, compartmentalizing the seedy side of these films from the spiritual overtones . The root of the problem here is a lack of belief in the Word of God, its • 1tnportance, and, in some cases, • Its • inerrancy. Admittedly, we must be in the world, but not of it. We must, as believers in absolute truth, find ways to be involved with the world. However, any level of activity with the world which accommodates the culture rather than asserts the claims of Christ must be judged unacceptable. The root of the problem here is a lack of belief in the Word of God, its importance, and, in some cases, its inerrancy. If we truly believe what the Bible says, and know it as the Truth, then we will live by it. However, God's Word has lost its rightful place in the church today. A personal story comes to mind. While a graduate student at Penn State, I worked as a volunteer announcer for the local Christian radio station. I co-hosted a show on Saturday nights with a Christian friend. (The show, coincidentally, was called The Difference.) After airing a song with a particularly strong message, we opened our microphones to converse before starting the next set of songs. My co-host said something like the following: "You know, James, there are times when songs like that speak to me even more than Scripture." The next morning at church a dear friend of mine approached me in the foyer. I could tell he was agitated when we met. He vigorously defended the place of Scripture in the life of the believer, and I energetically agreed. The truth is, if anything moves me toward God more than His Word, something is surely wrong with me. It was nice to know someone was listening to the show and thinking about what had been said! Certainly, there are those in the body of Christ taking a stand for truth. In a recent issue of World, the cover read "The Disunited Methodist Church?" . Because many in the denomination continue to endorse homosexual unions and lifestyle, some Methodists are choosing to leave the UMC. The article highlighted one such congregation, Kingsburg United Methodist Church in California. Early this summer, the church voted unanimously to leave