Sunday, March 30, 2008

Churches and Architecture

Here is an interesting photo essay of mega churches and architecture. I especially appreciate his comments on some of the photos, having a hint of humor and sarcasm.

This does raise an important question. What role, if any, does art and architecture have in corporate worship? Can the design of a church help create an atmosphere of worship?

When I was in a choir in college, I became keenly aware of the importance of architecture and acoustics. I vowed that if I ever had a voice during a church building project, I would seek to incorporate an acoustics engineer in the design process.

Our choir sang in numerous types of churches, most of which were very dead acoustically. The most common acoustically poor design was what one would find in most modern large-church designs; lots of carpet, comfortable padded seats, etc. What was lost in acoustics was made up for in electrical sound systems. The churches that held the best acoustics were typically cathedral-styled. We would often stop at a cathedral just to tour them and before we would leave, we would gather to sing, and it often sounded incredible. One particular time nearly every member of the choir had tears in their eyes. The beauty of the sound mixed with powerful lyrics created an incredible atmosphere for worship, and worship we did.

I was also often impressed by the artistic nature of some of these buildings. Art can create opportunities for worship. The problem though is familiarity. I believe it is possible to become so familiar with certain pieces of art that they loose their impact.

But are these things ok? Or are evangelical churches right in steering away from beauty in architecture? In the reformation process, people began to seek piety even in church structure. They departed from the Roman Catholic tradition of building majestic cathedrals and moved toward simplicity. Now many are seeking even more "piety" by removing any form of religious symbol from the church structure. Is this a positive move? Or is there another choice. Can we include art in church structure without going too far? Can our quest to build something beautiful be God-honoring?

These are not easy questions to answer, and I have yet to take a position. I do lean toward including art in church architecture, though not in an elaborate sense.

Monday, March 24, 2008

What is Sin?

I highly recommend you read this Newsweek Article titled Has the 'notion of sin' been lost?.

What are your thoughts? Why has sin become so relative in our country? Or is sin relative?

The fact still remains that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that very problem needs to be dealt with on God's terms and not ours. Maybe the Church needs to wake up and do a better job of preaching sin and the Cross.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Moses On Drugs

There was a news article linked from the Drudge Report yesterday titled "Moses was High On Drugs: Israeli Researcher". I recommend you first read it here.

The theological implications of this are huge. If the divine origin of the cultic practice of the Jews is falsified, then the entirety of the Bible is established on false grounds and as Paul would say, we would be the most foolish of them all to believe in such things.

What is wrong with this conclusion?

Shanon notes that he already does not believe in the possibility for the super-natural, so automatically he is going to search for another way of explaining what happened in regards to such events as the burning bush and the giving of the Law. This is a sure-fire example of how presuppositions can govern interpretation.

Another problem is that of the question of what is reasonable. The drugs explanation may be credible for the burning bush account, but to use it to explain the giving of the Law at Sinai is pressing the bounds of what is reasonable. It would require that over a million men, women, and children were all taking this drug. It would also negate the possibility for a naturalistic explanation for the complexity found in the Law. Could someone who is high on these drugs really create such a Law system in its moral/judicial and cultic systems? This stretches the bounds of reason to beyond the breaking point.

Lastly is Shanon's credibility. He said himself that he has taken similar kinds of drugs. Experience in taking them does not make him an expert of what they can do, and makes one question his ability to use proper reason in performing these sorts of studies.