From Harold Best, Unceasing Worship, p. 89:… when it comes to his (Satan’s) dealing with the church and the world, I believe he can lie in two opposing directions at once. Here is what he, coming as an angel of light, may say to the church: “The average human being is fairly slow, culturally encrusted. People like things that are palatable and light. So be palatable and light. And for goodness’ sake, don’t go into the primitive stuff — the blood of Christ or the realities of lostness throughout eternity.” Here’s what he says to the unconverted: “You’re too smart for the gospel. Look at how so many of its trappings are second-rate knockoffs of the real stuff you can find around you in the theater, in deeply thought-through books, in higher education. Notice how much more of your mind is demanded even in your daily work than at church. You’re ahead the way you are.”
What do you think of that? Agree? What evidence have you seen of that, either in church and Christian gatherings, or among “secular” society?
Hear Harold Best “What Creative People Can Learn From The Creation,” delivered at Sojourn’s home, The 930 Art Center
Hear Harold Best “Art For The Church, Art From The Church, Art Facing The Church,” from The 930.
Hear Harold Best and Pastors’ Q&A Panel “Thoughts for Christian Artists And Musicians” from The 930.
Unceasing Worship is one of the most helpful books i have ever read. While it doesn’t capture the full scope what is going on in our minds and hearts, this statement does indeed ring true in many (though not all) sectors of America. i have heard non-Christians deride the church’s unintellectual approach to science and world issues as well as its reliance on emotional experience in its attempt to enthrall the spiritually open into adherence. At the same time, i have heard pastors speak of their flocks as simple people who needn’t be bothered with ideas of theology, nor should they have to learn vocabulary like “justification” or “sanctification”; they need only hear what is palatable lest they be scared off by the difficulty of wrestling with truth. Well-discerned, Dr. Best.