From: iainw@bnr.ca (Iain (I.) Woolf)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Article for submission to soc.religion.christian
Date: 11 Jan 93 08:40:23 GMT

I had problems posting this automatically, so am sending it via mail
instead.

Cheers,

           Iain.

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Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Re-expressing the faith: Dancing towards a postmodern church
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In article <Jan.6.01.53.01.1993.2785@geneva.rutgers.edu> kelly@minster.york.ac.uk writes:
>Subject: Re-expressing the faith: Dancing towards a postmodern church
>Newsgroup: soc.religion.christian
>
[......]
>Ravers lose themselves in the raw energy of music and movement, reaching out
>(literally) to each other and to 'something/one' out there - the higher
>reality/experience of which so much dance music and imagery speaks (often in
>the context of psychedelic drugs, admittedly).  As Christians, we woul argue
>that all this ambiguously expressed longing can only be truly fulfilled in
>Christ. 

As long as new converts realise that Christ isn't just "'something/one'
out there", I don't have a problem with this.

[...]
>SOME QUESTIONS
>
>- do you vehemently (or even mildly) agree/disagree with what we've
>  described?

I think most of what you said is fairly sound, although I must
confess being a little confused and I speed-read it somewhat (this is
probably due to a long day at work rather than bad content)

>- what do you see as the issues which need to be confronted in this kind of
>  work?

I agree that when evangelising to a different culture, we should take
Christ to that culture and not try and persuade them to conform to
*our* (not necessarily His) christian sub-culture. HOWEVER! Of
paramount importance (IMHO) is the removal from their culture of
anything that is not of God, ie. conflicts with the Word of God.

To apply this to your example (and something I'm sure you have
addressed) is the issue of psychedelic (or otherwise) drugs used at
mainstream/secular/'nonc' raves.

I also remember hearing that if, for example, you put an advert for
the gospel in, say, a porno mag then you are going to have to be very
careful to explain to new converts that just because the advert was in
the porno mag doesn't mean porn and Christianity can walk hand in
hand! (I haven't explained this very well, but do you get my drift?)

>  Hint:a biggy is how to communicate Christ as absolute truth and life in a
>	world which is rapidly moving towards the conclusion that the only
>	absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth... 

How about a multimedia presentation or dance track to that very effect
(or is that a bit too naff?). Eg. "The answer to everything is Christ"
"Christ is the absolute truth"

>	A subQuestion: how to communicate propositional truths without being
>		verbal?  Can we do it the way the media gets its message
>		over - by fleeting images and impressions a la MTV? 

I speak purely for myself here, when I say that I often find those
montages quite confusing. For example, I went to see U2's recent Zoo
TV tour and was totally baffled by alot of the quick-moving
words'n'pictures ("Everything you know is a lie"). I hope I'm not just
stupid or getting old - I don't really want to be either!  :-)

Just out of interest, could you post (or e-mail) some details about
the group/church you are involved with? If I am ever in the area I may
drop in. (Finally, a shot in the dark - do you know Nige Hemming? He's
a good friend of mine who may have played piano/keyboards for you,
especially if you're involved with the group that played a fair bit at
Greenbelt.)

Cheers,

            Iain.

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 Iain Woolf,                      | My opinions are just that - MINE!
 BNR Europe Ltd, Maidenhead, UK   |
 (0628) 794537 ||  esn 590-4537   | iainw@bnr.ca
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