Labels, Lies, Legalism and License.

Alright all, you religious folk . . . get the rocks ready! Time for a good stoning!!!!


How about starting a movement to restrict the use of the word CHRISTIAN!

(Wow! The throwing arms warming up.)

Instead of using the C-word as an adjective, could we just use it as a NOUN?

I know that's a little retro. I mean, the first century church and those pesky hostile Romans used it that way. In the Acts of the Apostles, a CHRISTIAN is a person who confesses and follows Jesus Christ. Personally, I prefer calling such a person a Christ-follower to avoid the confusion because so much distortion and contortion has been lumped into the term CHRISTIAN.

The radical, religious murderer of the followers of the risen Jesus, Saul of Tarsus, became Paul the CHRISTIAN.  At times he would supplement his income by making tents, but no one would ever consider or market them as CHRISTIAN tents.

I have a good friend in St. Petersburg, Florida, who makes delightful jewelry. However, not every piece is stamped with scripture or marketed as CHRISTIAN jewelry. She is instead a CHRISTIAN, who makes jewelry.

I am a CHRISTIAN, who is a writer. Over the years I've written material for theater, television, short films, and commercial video production. Trust me, some of the car commercials and industrial videos describing the advantages of diamond grading had NO Christian content what so ever. I was hired because of my skill and devotion to the craft.

When the Business of Religion (BOR) tries to lasso art and media expression to drag it into the CHRISTIAN Coral, several destructive attitudes emerge to undermine the artist and consumer alike. Blinded by the word CHRISTIAN people become indulgent of sloppy or bad workmanship. Some people assume labeling something CHRISTIAN will cover a multitude of imperfections or guarantee a sales niche.

Because the BOR Coral can maintain very tight limits on what it  thinks a CHRISTIAN artist is allowed to do, the artists often fail to exercise do-dilligence learning their craft, or investing the time and effort in the the work God has given them. Over the years I've encountered a number of very gifted Christ-followers who have come into local churches - some churches with large media capabilities - but because the BOR centered around a single, audience-drawing speaker, these artists sat in the pew feeling squandered. Eventually, with their Spirit-given artistic drive, they take their gift into the marketplace very successfully, and the Church is the poorer for it.

How tragic can this blundering be when it comes to the Business of Religion and their infinite wisdom of what they think is God's Will? 

Once Upon a Time . . .   from 1933 to 1966, the movie studios VOLUNTARILY had every script read by a representative of the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Church, and the Protestant Film Office. Their job was to evaluate a movie to see if it passed the terms of the Motion Picture Code. The studios wanted the Motion Picture Code Seal before distribution because theaters REFUSED to screen the pictures without it. Studio execs loved it. They could leverage the Film Office over the producers and directors, pushing them to be more creative in how they communicated rather than use graphic nudity, violence, blasphemy and profanity. This became known as the Golden Age of Movies.

BUT . . . in 1966, the churches voluntarily withdrew from the entertainment industry. That same year, the National Council of Churches Film Awards Committee turned down the life of Christ film, The Greatest Story Every Told. In it's place they recommend awards for two independent feature films - one brazenly depicting nudity and the other blasphemy.

The consequence of the organized religion's retreat was a floodgate of filth we are struggling against today. Within a few months of the Protestant Film Commission closing it's doors, Anton LeVey opened a Church of Satan Film Office and soon every left-wing group from the Gay-Lesbian Task Force to radical feminists, opened up film offices to lobby the mass media for their points of view.

By 1968 movies came out featuring Satanism and fornication (Rosemary's Baby), homosexuality (Midnight Cowboy) and excessive violence (The Wild Bunch).

Any questions, now, why I don't trust . . . nor am I eager to get the Business of Religion Seal of Good CHRISTIAN Approval?



Special thanks to the Ted Baehr and the Christian Film and Television Commission.

Business of Religion - Tight Limits (Part 5)