On being as wise as serpents - Why and how Christians should engage popular culture

The following article by Ted Turnau appeared in the Evangelical Magazine September/October 2010.  I think that it is worth a read.  Ted Turnau is a professor at the Anglo-American College, Prague, and at the Centre for Media Studies at Charles University.

One of the issues that has perennially dogged the Christian church is the issue of how to relate to the culture that surrounds us, especially popular culture. Are we to separate from it, in order to preserve our purity? Or should we go along with the flow, so we can better relate to those in the culture. Both options have their strong points – maintaining purity is essential, as is relating to those who have no place for Christ in their lives. But both miss the mark, biblically speaking. The Bible supports neither a knee-jerk rejection of culture, nor an uncritical acceptance of it. We are to be both as  wise as serpents and as innocent as doves (Matt. 10:16), both engaged with our culture and distinctive from it. It could hardly be otherwise.

If the people we seek are immersed in the surrounding culture, in its worldview and worship, then obviously we must understand that culture if we are to speak to the concerns of their hearts. But just as obviously, we cannot simply uncritically imbibe the surrounding culture so that we blend in, chameleon-like. We cannot simply share their system of life and worship, for we would have nothing distinctive to offer. How do we maintain this balance? We must intentionally and critically engage the surrounding culture, especially culture that has the widest impact: popular culture.  Here are a few practical points on Christian engagement of popular culture.

Whatever else popular culture is, it is not trivial, because it is an expression of faith and worship.

Not too long ago, I watched Andrea Arnold’s gritty estate-drama Fish Tank (2009). The lead character, the young, frustrated Mia, lives for hip-hop dancing. Her life is infused with its rhythms, its lyrics of urban despair. In a sense, her dance training is a form of worship, her grasping at salvation. It is the same with all popular culture: they are all, ultimately, forms of worship. We need to see them as expressions of non-Christian faiths, non-Christian worldviews. Popular culture is, in this sense, like a mission field in your own home town.

Not all popular culture is equally meaningful.

Even though popular culture is not trivial (it represents an alternate form of worship and belief), some pieces of popular culture are more worthy of attention than others. Much popular culture can be ephemeral, like bubbles in a can of soda. But there are other pieces that have real depth, real staying power. If you find keeping up with popular culture too much, find a few artists working in popular culture who have the ability to really tap into the spirit of the age. Thom Yorke of the band Radiohead is one such, as is the television writer/producer Joss Whedon (creator of various sci-fi/fantasy series), or David Simon (creator of The Wire). Pay attention to the musicians, writers, and directors who make a difference. These are the ones who produce works of depth and meaning. They could be called ‘cultural leaders’. They lay paths that the rest of the culture follows.

Not every piece of popular culture is appropriate for engagement.

If we are to be wise as serpents and remain innocent as doves, we need to be careful not to put ourselves (or our children) in the path of temptation. Hard and fast rules are not typically helpful here. Rather, we need to know the idols of the heart that we ourselves are attracted to, where we are weak, territory that ought to remain off-limits for us. We also need to think through issues such as age-appropriateness, which will be different for different children. It is important to engage popular culture, but we must do so without compromising our walk with the Lord.

Popular culture works by creating imaginative landscapes for us to inhabit.

Popular culture works not by blurting out a message, but through appealing to the imagination. A television show does not simply convey a message, such as ‘Life is meaningless, so have all the fun you can while you can’. Rather, it tells a story in which someone discovers the ‘truth’ of that message; it tells it in a style that underlines that message, and it invites us along for the journey. Popular culture works indirectly, suggestively, not like a slogan at a political rally, but like a poem or a song. It draws you in and gets under your skin. Therefore, you must be intentional in your approach to popular culture so that you understand its effects on the imagination (including the imaginations of your friends and neighbours).

When thinking about a piece of popular culture, it pays to know the tricks of the trade.

Engaging popular culture means exploring the imaginative world, exploring the details of the stories it tells, the styles that it exhibits or fashions for us. That means you should try to understand how popular cultural producers do what they do. If you are considering a movie, think about things such as lighting, camera angle, shot selection, music, and so forth. If you are thinking about a song, pay attention to chords, rhythm, genre, instrumentation, as well as the lyrics. By paying attention to these details, you become more familiar with the imaginative landscape that the popular work invites you to inhabit.

Every piece of popular culture is a complicated mixture of grace and idolatry.

There is no piece of popular culture so banal or twisted that it does not contain some glimpse of God’s grace. And there is no piece of popular culture so pure and profound that it does not contain an invitation to idolatry. Popular culture appeals to non-Christians for a reason, namely, they sense some of God’s beauty, power and goodness in it. This is what theologians call ‘common grace’ – fragments of grace that God spreads to everyone – even those who will never come to believe. As Paul says in Acts, these gifts of God are ‘testimony’ to God’s being and character (see Acts 14:17). Popular culture contains such ‘fragments of grace’ woven into the very fabric of the popular cultural song, movie, television show, book, etc. But in non-Christian popular culture, these fragments of grace are bent to serve false gods. In fact, the idols presented in popular culture become persuasive for non-Christians (and sometimes Christians) precisely because of the attractiveness of those glimpses of God’s grace.

For example, James Cameron’s summer blockbuster Avatar (2009) won accolades for its stunning visual effects, and rightly so. The digital artistry created a beautiful and fascinating alien world filled with realistic and delightful creatures. It served to remind us of the real and delightful creatures God has made. In this way, the film served as a reflection of God’s creative artistry, and ultimately, the beauty and power of God Himself. But the film bends that fragment of grace into the service of pagan nature worship (the nature deity ‘Eywa’). Likewise, all meaningful and attractive popular culture succeeds by drawing its audience in with such reflections of God’s beauty, while putting those grace fragments into service to another god.

Think carefully about how to undermine the idol, and how the gospel applies to the piece of popular culture you’re sharing with friends.

 Popular culture often uses ‘grace fragments’ to steer the imagination towards an idol. Think of ways that the idol shows itself to be inadequate and false, and how the Christian worldview and the riches of the gospel offer a better alternative.

Look for occasions where you can experience popular culture together with friends and family (both Christian and non-Christian).

My wife and I host movie discussion nights for my students every fortnight. You may not want to do something so formal, but you should seek out opportunities to experience popular culture together with people you care about. Listen to the music your children listen to. Go see a movie with friends. Invite friends over for dinner and a few episodes of your favourite television series on DVD. Open up your homes and your lives to be shared with family, friends and neighbours.

If we carefully consider the popular culture that surrounds us, we can develop biblical wisdom that neither dismisses it nor blindly accepts it. Such a wisdom that is ‘in the world, but not of the world’ can be very attractive to non-Christians who need Christ, but cannot see what difference He can make. By engaging popular culture, we can speak of Christ in a language familiar to them. And that can make all the difference.

Spurgeon On Being “Fashionable”

He preached these words on April 18, 1875 during a sermon on Joshua 24:15:

The great guide of the world is fashion and it’s god is respectability–two phantoms at which brave men laugh! How many of you look around on society to know what to do? You watch the general current and then float upon it! You study the popular breeze and shift your sails to suit it. True men do not so! You ask, “Is it fashionable? If it is fashionable, it must be done.” Fashion is the law of multitudes, but it is nothing more than the common consent of fools.

Liking, Lusting, Loathing

Interesting article in the June 2010 Harvard Business Review. Prof. Uzma Khan and colleagues did a study in which they awarded a gift card to an electronics store to people who completed a word puzzle. Half the recipients earned the prize on their first try; half had tried to win it before but failed. Before receiving a card, all were asked how much they'd pay to obtain it. People who'd previously been denied the prize were willing to pay much more but then were more likely to trade their card away when offered the chance to exchange it for a different card.

Commenting on her study, Prof. Khan noted, "Desire and liking are independent from each other and also interact in strange ways. The more we want something, the less we'll actually like it. It's a lusting/loathing thing...When people can't get access [to something like an exclusive night club], it becomes especially attractive. They'll work hard to get past the velvet rope. But once they're in, they often say, 'This is it?'"

Sounds like 2 Samuel 13: Amnon was sick with desire for his half-sister Tamar, but once he raped her, "Amnon hated her with a very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (13:15). Obviously, Amnon/Tamar is on a much greater scale than that which Prof. Khan discussed; and yet, desires run amok for the idols of the heart are almost always disappointed.

There is only one who satisfies: "taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8).

Reformation 21

Where Are the Shallow Hollywood Folks When our Country Needs Them?

Patricia Swicicki
Our Country has never been short on the number of shallow Hollywood folks expressing their "expert" opinions regarding the environment and politics. Sadly, their collective expertise, environmental concerns and concerns for their fellow man are limited by their political agendas. Collectively, they have remained quiet throughout the entire Gulf Coast disaster; the environment and humanity be damned
Following Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake, the "Shallow-woods" did not miss an opportunity to stand before a microphone or camera and sponsor fund raiser concerts to aid the victims of those disasters. During the early post-Katrina days the "Shallow-wood" folks took every opportunity to denounce our government's response time to that disaster; regardless of the inaccuracies of their claims. Sean Penn and his personal camera crews took time out from his pro-Venezuela campaigns and quickly appeared on the scene following the Katrina and Haiti disasters.
But now we have another administration, one for which the "Shallow-wood" folks raised millions of dollars and campaigned so hard to have elected. He claimed to be their "environment" president. This is their man. None of them had the forethought that their man would actually be called upon to do something during a crisis. Our Country is currently experiencing the worst environmental disaster in its history, and possibly the worst environmental disaster in the world. Pictures of oil soaked wildlife, and dead dolphins nightly appear on the news.
But where are Sean Penn and his personal camera crew? Why have NO "Shallow-woods" appeared at this disaster site as they eagerly did for Katrina and Haiti? Why have none of these people who claim to "care" about the environment even offered to sponsor a fund raiser to help with the clean-up or help the people who have lost their businesses, jobs, and soon their very homes? Why have NO "Shallow-woods" offered to speak up for the Audubon Society that is working so hard to clean and save the oil soaked birds?
Likewise, the members of the music profession, although not missing an opportunity to busy itself with private concerts and gala's at the White House, have made NO efforts to organize any type of fundraiser for the Gulf Coast environmental clean up or to help the people suffering from this disaster.
This is the president they supported and funded and their silence regarding the Gulf Coast oil disaster is deafening, hypocritical and disgraceful. The current administration ignored the slow moving oil slick as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf Coast. Presidential campaign trips to California, campaign trips to New York City, date nights and twice weekly golf games were prioritized over the foreseeable disaster approaching the Gulf Coast. Despite this, not a word of criticism was heard from the "Shallow-woods" or music entertainment industry. Why? Their collective silence is deliberate in that to do or say something that would help the Gulf Coast and its residents would make their president look worse than he already does. The shallowness of their inactions to help their fellow Americans and help clean-up our environment demonstrates their willingness to sacrifice the Gulf Coast and its residents in favor of their own selfish "expert" political agendas. 
American Thinker

Steve Jobs, iPhones, and Porn

Pete from Grace City has a post about Steve Jobs, Apple, and porn. An excerpt:

Jobs has argued that he wants his portable computer devices to not sell or stock pornography.
When a critic emailed him to say that this infringed his freedoms, Jobs emailed back and told him to buy a different type of computer.
Steve Jobs is a fan of Bob Dylan. So one customer emailed him to ask how Dylan would feel about Jobs’ restrictions of customers’ freedoms.
The CEO of Apple replied to say that he values:
‘Freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’ and some traditional PC folks feel their world is slipping away. It is.’
The interlocuter replied:
“I don’t want ‘freedom from porn’. Porn is just fine! And I think my wife would agree.”
In the most revealing line, Steve Jobs dismissed the critic thus:
“You might care more about porn when you have kids.”
Pause for a moment and consider what the above emails represent.
The CEO of one of the wealthiest, most successful international companies, responds to the email of a customer. Business prospers on the mantra ‘The customer is always right.’ Business wants the customers’ money.
But in this case, over the moral issue of pornography, Jobs is happy to tell customers to buy a different product. He argues that children and innocence ought to be preserved—and that trumps the dollar.
Google (with their motto ‘Don’t be evil’) rake in billions through pornography. Ranks of employees spend their time categorising and arranging advertising for pornography. (I know, I spent some time discussing the difficulties posed to a Christian who worked in their UK HQ.) Pornography is huge business, yet here is the CEO of Apple telling the pornography businesses to take their dollars elsewhere.

Good for Jobs.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that one cannot access such things on an iPhone. If this is a temptation for you, you might want to consider something like the free app, x3watch, recommended by Andy Naselli in his post on filtering software and other apps.
Update: Just remembered a link that might be of interest (though it doesn’t have to do with the issue of porn and Apple.) Here’s an open letter that Josh Harris recently wrote to Steve Jobs, thanking him for his work and inviting him to worship the Savior.
Justin Taylor

It's Sunday school on Tuesday night for 'Lost' devotees

By Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY

In past seasons, Lost drove fans to dust off their old college philosophy texbooks to learn about concepts like tabula rasa. In its final season, the ABC mystery (tonight, 9 ET) has found religion, and viewers are searching for answers in the Old and New Testaments. USA TODAY engages in Bible study with Chris Seay, author of The Gospel According to Lost (Thomas Nelson).

Question	Biblical reference	Seay says
Are Jacob and the Man in Black Jacob and Esau, or God and the Devil?	Genesis, Chapters 25-27. Esau was the firstborn son of Abraham's son, Isaac, and his wife, Rebecca. Esau sold his birthright to his twin brother, Jacob, for a bowl of lentil soup. Later, Rebecca helped Jacob, her favorite, pose as Esau to win his dying father's blessing.	"I'm leaning toward Jacob and Esau, especially after 'UnLocke' alluded to his crazy mother. That would be Rebecca, and she showed favoritism toward Jacob. ... And when the Man in Black tells Richard that Jacob stole his body and humanity, he's equating to what (Esau) was naturally entitled to in that culture with his very nature. It's clear that Jacob has an authority over the island that the Man in Black doesn't have. It's a similar kind of tension."
Are the castaways in purgatory or hell?	Matthew 16:13-20. Jesus has a private conversation with Simon Peter and tells the apostle, "You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." He also warns Peter not to tell anyone else that he is the Christ.	"I'm in the not-purgatory camp. Protestants don't believe in purgatory. You're either forgiven or you're not. Jacob seems to be saying, 'I'm not the Christ figure, but someone is coming to cover it for you.' I think there is a Messiah coming, and it's not Jacob. I connect him more with Peter, to whom Jesus essentially said, 'I'll build my Church on you and my kingdom will prevail all the way to the gates of hell.' I think the cork (in last week's wine bottle) is the gates of hell, quite literally holding hell back."
What passage was Richard Alpert reading in jail, and why is it important?	Luke 4:1-37. Jesus is tempted by the devil during 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert and returns to Galilee, where he casts a demon out of a man.	"4:37 is prominent in the Sayid possession story line -- can he be liberated? But I think Richard was reading the first part of that passage, where Jesus goes into the desert and spends 40 days fasting and Satan comes to him and tempts him. It also goes back to the garden of good and evil. And the Man in Black and Richard spoke in a garden-like setting."
Could Richard be a stand-in for Joseph?	Genesis, Chapters 37-50. Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, is sold into slavery by his brothers and sent to Egypt, where his ability to interpret the Pharaoh's dreams propels him to a powerful position as an adviser. While he is in Egypt, his youngest brother, Benjamin, helps take care of the family's affairs.	"Richard was said to be wearing eyeliner, which was common for the cabinet members of the Pharaoh. There was also an obvious obsession with youth. I think Richard's never aging has something to do with this Egyptian story."
Speaking of Egypt, is the island's giant statue Sobek or Taweret?	No biblical citation.	"I think it's Taweret (the Egyptian goddess of fertility and childbirth). Taweret meant fertility to the Egyptians, but to Hebrews, it was eating their children. Fertility issues have been so important on Lost. The statue resembles Taweret more than Sobek (the Egyptian crocodile god, who was said to be her consort). It's also part of what makes Aaron (one of the rare island births) unique."
What is the biblical significance behind Aaron's name?	Exodus, 4:27 through Numbers 20:22-29. Aaron helps his brother Moses bring about the plagues, serves as the first high priest of the Israelites and works as an intermediary between them and the Pharaoh. But both brothers become impatient in their last year in the desert and are forbidden from entering Canaan.	"Lost's Aaron seems to come to the story much like Moses -- the one child, uniquely saved in a tragic situation, and thus is prepared to be the one to help liberate God's people. If I were guessing on what the finale is going to center on, I would be guessing on a very Aaron-centric episode."

LOST, God, and the Justice/Grace Problem

Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 12:42 PM

Amy Hall

While it’s still unclear how LOST will ultimately end up, some recent developments seem to provide a good illustration of one way people have chosen to resolve the problem that has plagued humanity throughout history: Deep down, we know we deserve justice from God, but we want grace. How can we who know we are guilty get mercy from a perfectly good and just God?
Justice and grace seem to be irreconcilable. We want God to be good. But if we deserve punishment, then for God to be truly good and just, He must punish. We long for grace. But for God to show us grace it would seem He must violate perfect justice, and therefore He would not be truly good.
One way to resolve this is to split God into two and reject one half.
We love a god of mercy, but fear a god of justice. Therefore, deny His justice and suddenly God loves us no matter what, and it doesn’t matter what we do. There is no justice to face. But is this a good god? Is a god who doesn’t right wrongs, who ignores evil and sweeps it under the rug, who tells you, “Hey, just learn to make your own kind of music–it’s all good,” is that a god worthy of our respect? Justice is real and good, so a god who allows evil and injustice to remain is less than good.
Then there are those who grasp the idea of God’s perfect holiness and the goodness of destroying evil, and so they despair of mercy and live in fear. These people hang on to God’s righteousness and reject the possibility of grace.
God’s answer to this problem is beyond brilliant:

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

God did not lay aside His good and perfect desire to completely wipe out all evil, and yet neither did He lay aside His grace–He became both just and justifier, righteous judge and gracious redeemer. He satisfied His perfect justice and upheld His righteousness by demonstrating His wrath against evil on the cross. Now grace is freely given because it’s no longer in conflict with justice. Rather, it’s because of the justice fulfilled through Jesus’ willing sacrifice that the full beauty and power of grace is revealed, for we see the real price of it.
This is the true, complete God. The true story is not one where justice and grace are forever at war with each other, but one of redemption through a justice-satisfying, grace-enabling, costly sacrifice by a good judge who has the right and authority to convict.
This is the Gospel, yet I’ve found that many people who hear the Christian story are only able to hear the part about the perfect judge who they know will destroy them when all wrongs are punished in the end. They can’t see past God’s righteous wrath to the cross. And people who recognize their own guilt and know nothing of the cross will either acknowledge God’s unbending justice and hate Him, or deny His justice and live with a morally weak god.
This is what seems to be playing out on LOST (spoilers ahead). The writers would like to embrace grace, as they did so powerfully in the episode “Dr. Linus,” but at the same time deny the goodness of justice by associating judgment with the apparently devilish Man in Black. They can’t see that by denying the value of judgment they remove all power from grace, making it weak and meaningless. For if “God” wants us to make our own way morally, and does not stop evil, then there is no guilt to be released from, no grace needed. It’s just to be expected that someone would say, “Eh, your lying, manipulation, and murder is no big deal. Let’s just move on.” That is neither good nor powerful.
The creators of LOST can’t see a way for righteousness and justice to be truly good and desirable at the same time that grace is possible, so they jettison judgment in favor of grace (or so it seems for now). Without a cross by which justice can be done and grace given, they must split God into two, putting His grace into Jacob and His condemnation of evil into the manipulative Man in Black. And so it becomes Jacob vs. Man in Black, grace vs. judgment, “Jesus” vs. scary “Old Testament God.” And in this way, they lose both justice and grace.
First Things

The Only Hope For LOST People by Nancy Guthrie

Though my husband and I are still hanging on to see where the television show LOST eventually takes us, we make no claims to understand what is happening week to week. But clearly as the series is coming to and end, there is a struggle between good and evil, life and death, and questions about who controls history.
In this week’s episode, a character who accidentally killed a man bowed before a priest before being put to death. But the priest refused to absolve him of his sin.
“There must be some way to earn forgiveness,” he said.
This scene captures the desperate cry of all those who have done wrong. “There must be something I can do! There must be some way I can earn the pardon of God not only for what I’ve done, but for who I am!”
Perhaps the answer in the gospel might seem, at first, as harsh as that of the priest in the drama who says there is not enough time to do penance. Because the gospel says, “No, there is no way you can earn forgiveness. Your debt is impossible to pay.” But into this hopeless situation Jesus steps in and says, “I will pay. I will earn your forgiveness by my own sinless life and through my own sacrificial death. I will provide for you the forgiveness you do not deserve and cannot earn.”
I don’t know if the writers of LOST have any sense of what it means to truly be lost, or if the people on the island will get to go home. But I know that the gospel speaks directly to all of us who find that our sin has taken us far away from God. Our hope is not in finding our own way back. Left on our own, we not only cannot find our way back, we have no desire to come back. Left on our own we would sink deeper and deeper into our sin and be lost forever. Our only hope is that the Good Shepherd comes to find us, plucks us out of danger, and carries us on his shoulders into the safety of his fold.
This is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came “to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). He came on a seeking and saving mission, to bring back to God all of those living in rebellion and unbelief—people going their own way. And when he finds one of his lost sheep, he places that sheep on his strong shoulders and carries it home (Luke 15:4-7).
Gospel Coalition