NBC-Revelations

[Alan]

What a joke....first it is Revelation....not Revelations.....

Second, it appears they have completely misconstrued the book of revelation itself....or partially anyways....

The book of revelation is as much about what Jesus (through John's words) expected of a church and how a church should act as it is the armagedon....

Scare tactics are not the way to bring people to Christ....

 

[jwinslow]

The sad part is that a lot of people have no idea it's much different than what christianity is actually about and says

 

[LloydSev]

Scare tactics have always been what was used to bring people into the church, because that's the only thing people listen to...

If they aren't afraid something will happen otherwise, what's the point. That's the problem these days.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to have read the book myself.

 

[gbearbuck]

The History channel did a special on scare tactics that were used by the church... interesting stuff...

It was found that folks would go to church to listen to the "scare" sermon's... only problem was they weren't learning about Christianity, they were learning about what would happen if you weren't a Christian... big difference...

Thank goodness it isn't used like it was in the past (a couple hundred years ago)... I don't think I could sit in church each week with a guy telling me I'm going "south"... teach me....

 

[buckeyegrad]

My father-in-law is a messianic rabbi (i.e. Jewish Christian) who leads a ministry to bring Jews to the acceptance that Jesus is the Messiah. He always comments how it is easier to evangalize to gentiles because they fear the unknown of the afterlife; whereas religious Jews don't have that fear because they already believe they are heaven bound simply by being a Jew faithful to Torah and Talmud.

Too bad about the show Revelations. I watched the first episode, but it didn't impress me very much. I missed the second episode and when I tried watching the third one, I just couldn't get into it, so I gave up.

The problem with the entertainment industry is they simply mimick past successes without taking the time to understand what made the original successful. They see the Passion make huge box office profits, so they figure if they make religious films of shows they will attract audiences. They begin to then infuse their own ideologies and beliefs into the relgious shows and before you know it, the original message, which is what attracted the audience is no longer present and you end up with a bunch of crap.

My church has started a movie watching night on the last Sunday of every month, where we take a Hollywood film about something Biblical and then after watching it discuss how it follows or deviates from what the Bible actual says. We have a lot of fun doing it and it is quite educational...especially in seeing how film can distort our perceptions of Scripture and history.

 

[buckeyefool]

My church has started a movie watching night on the last Sunday of every month, where we take a Hollywood film about something Biblical and then after watching it discuss how it follows or deviates from what the Bible actual says. We have a lot of fun doing it and it is quite educational...especially in seeing how film can distort our perceptions of Scripture and history.

I do hope this is done before or after 9pm

 

[jwinslow]

mankind has made up a lot of stuff that they have added to christianity that was never in the bible... or they have taken individual passages without the context to the rest of the bible or covenant... and the results are shows like this, or the crusades, or the "you're going to burn" sermon.

 

[buckeyegrad]

mankind has made up a lot of stuff that they have added to christianity that was never in the bible... or they have taken individual passages without the context to the rest of the bible or covenant... and the results are shows like this, or the crusades, or the "you're going to burn" sermon.

Tell me about it! Having your in-laws as Messianic Jews throws this truth right in your face. Even traditional, Christian norms are challenged....Christ's death and ressurection should be celebrated at Passover, Christ's birth should be celebrated at Sukkot, Christians should follow kosher laws, the Sabbath must be celebrated on Saturday (I disagree with the last two) etc.....

 

[jwinslow]

peter was terrified to not follow kosher laws but jesus said the rules had changed.

As for the sabbath, I wish it were still on saturday. We all prefer to take more of a break on saturday than sunday if we have something due on monday, especially if it is homework. I don't think there is a righteous day for the sabbath however. Truly orthodox sabbath would start friday at sundown I believe, which is never gonna happen in America.

 

[buckeyegrad]

peter was terrified to not follow kosher laws but jesus said the rules had changed.

Maybe it is nitpicking, but I would say "fullfilled" instead of "changed".

As for the Sabbath, my in-laws follow the orthodox view in celebrating it from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. I also enjoying the Sabbath on Saturday, except my father-in-law gets on my case in the autumn for watching college football (nevermind I go to service in the morning).

 

[jwinslow]

No it's not nitpicking, fulfilled is the correct word, and changed suggests inconsistency. I was just lazy in my typing.

The main problem is there is not enough evidence of what christianity is about from devoted christians (both too infrequent and too much trying be religious yourself rather than surrendering control).

 

[buckeyegrad]

The main problem is there is not enough evidence of what christianity is about from devoted christians (both too infrequent and too much trying be religious yourself rather than surrendering control).

Very, very true. I was listening to R.C. Sprole the other day, and he was asking Christians what they would tell God if asked by Him by what merit they should enter heaven. Almost everyone based their merit on works being a "good" person. I couldn't believe this and had to wonder if these people had actually ever read any of the Gospels or the Epistles of Paul.

 

[NightmaresDad]

Yes or No questions..

1. Do absolute truths exist?
2. Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
3. Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
4. Is God the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe, and does he still rule it today?
5. Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned? (Your RC Sprole comment reminded me of this)
6. Is Satan real?
7. Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith with other people?
8. Is the Bible accurate in all of it's teachings?

Out of 2000 self-confessed born-again Christians, 9% answered "yes" to all of the above questions.
Makes it easy to understand how existentialism gets mixed in with what the Bible really says, and you end up with shows like "Revelations"

 

[jwinslow]

Great post. For a number of reasons, those undeniable truths from the bible have been lost on this generation and the last. Having been raised in this new culture, I myself struggle with relativism at times despite fully believing in absolute truth.

 

[buckeyegrad]

Yes or No questions..

1. Do absolute truths exist?
2. Is absolute truth defined by the Bible?
3. Did Jesus Christ live a sinless life?
4. Is God the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe, and does he still rule it today?
5. Is salvation a gift from God that cannot be earned? (Your RC Sprole comment reminded me of this)
6. Is Satan real?
7. Does a Christian have a responsibility to share his or her faith with other people?
8. Is the Bible accurate in all of it's teachings?

Out of 2000 self-confessed born-again Christians, 9% answered "yes" to all of the above questions.
Makes it easy to understand how existentialism gets mixed in with what the Bible really says, and you end up with shows like "Revelations"

I remember hearing this before and suddenly a lot of things made since to me. If self-confessed, born-again Christians compose about 40% of the US population and only 9% answered yes to those eight questions, then you are looking at <4% of the population holding a Biblical world view. That is about 1 in 28 Americans actually share my view of how the world operates.

Suddenly I understood why I feel I am part of an extreme minority although the US is probably the most Christian country in the world.