Several weeks ago, I read a report on the web site mondaymorninginsight about a pastor in Florida who was planning to allow cameras in his home for broadcast on the Internet. His goal was to show non-believers that he is just like them. He wants non-Christians to see his life as it is in order to prove he is authentic.
At the cost of appearing to be critical of someone who obviously is serious about reaching the unchurched, I will make some observations.
In defending the pastor’s decision, some have argued that if the lost are reached, surely the method is good and justified. Really? Paul observed to the Philippians that some "preached Christ even of envy and strife" (Ph. 1.15). Those who did so, Paul noted, were preaching the Gospel. He rejoiced in that fact. Yet, he did not recommend their actions as either an appropriate or acceptable evangelistic methodology, even though the approach "worked."
If cameras in one’s home is a defensible evangelistic method, are we all, then, expected to open our homes in such a manner and sacrifice our privacy? Are we called to give up the integrity of our marriages and families for the sake of the Gospel? Further, does the biblical call to authentic Christianity require such actions?
No doubt, as believers, we are all under the demand of authenticity in the expression of our faith. Yet, how can we know what we must do to prove we are "real"?
Quite frankly, beyond the guidelines of Scripture, no other counsel can be found through which we can determine how to express the Gospel. In one on-line discussion I had about this issue, one person stated that this pastor’s actions did not go against the Bible, meaning, I suppose, that he had not compromised any stated biblical evangelistic directive. Such an argument, though, does not prove that cameras in one’s home is consistent with Scriptural principles.
The purest evangelistic method is rooted in person-to-person relationships. If a believer is to establish his authenticity, he will do so only insofar as his actions are consistent with his stated beliefs. My life, as viewed through a TV screen or computer monitor, might or might not be a real expression of who I am. In fact, even if I put a camera in my home, some things would be off-limits. No cameras would be allowed in bedrooms, bathrooms; none would show heated "discussions" between me and my wife. In other words, a scripted image would be broadcast.
Yet, in a real-life relationship, I cannot fake it. I might pretend to be a friend, but, ultimately, events will require me to be authentic. Jesus taught this truth in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Only in the real world of human relationships can I prove the truthfulness of my profession of Jesus as Lord of my life.
Consider the demands of Jesus. He declared that we prove the validity of our commitment to him in selfless acts of kindness to the hungry, the thirst, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner (Matt. 25.31-46).
In his wilderness temptation experience, Jesus rejected the dramatic as an appropriate way to accomplish his call. Satan reasoned (based on Scripture) that if Jesus would leap from the pinnacle of the Temple, angels would rescue him. His point seemed to be that the crowds, being sufficiently impressed by this dramatic display, would accept Jesus as the Messiah. Thus, they would flock to his cause (If it works, what’s wrong with it, Satan argued?).
Jesus flatly refused to employ such a method. If he did so, should we not do the same? Jesus proved his authenticity in the real world. People who met him were impressed by his authenticity. Even his enemies knew he was real; that is what so frightened them that they took his life.
TV reality is not real, just entertaining. Authentic Christianity stays true even when life ceases to be fun and entertaining.
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