For the Record—Part 2

It seems that this lack of willingness for open dialogue is not limited to just a few sites.

Over at Slice of Laodicea they published a diatribe against a rap video produced for the 2006 Purpose-Driven Worship Conference. Then another harangue was posted claiming that it was blasphemous.

I posted the following comment:

This amazes me. No, not the video, but everyone's reaction to it.

Does this video push the limits? Certainly. Is it irreverent? Maybe if you think wearing jeans to church is irreverent.

Is the use of the word “Ho” unwise? Probably. Does that make this dangerous? Not unless you find the word “crap” offensive.

I tend to restrict the word “blasphemy” for things that are much more seriously an affront to God. But there is precedence for a broader meaning of the word.

"In the NT, blasphemy takes on the wider Greek meaning, for it includes slandering a human being (Mt 15:19; see also Rom 3:8; 1 Cor 10:30; Eph 4:31; Ti 3:2), as well as God. It even includes mocking angelic or demonic powers, which is just as wrong as mocking any other being (2 Pt 2:10–12, Jude 1:8–10). In other words, slander, derision, and mocking of any kind are totally condemned in the NT" (Tyndale Bible Dictionary).

Sounds like many of the things said about Rick Warren, N. T. Wright, and Brian McLaren might fit into this category.

Ingrid then made a new post entitled, “Pastor Defends Rap Video.” Several misrepresentations were made in the post and the comments. When I attempted to clear these up, my comments were not posted. (Notice a pattern here?)

So here’s the essence of what Ingrid kept me from posting (in two separate posts):

I never defended the video. I simply said that I thought you all were making too big a deal of it. I didn’t send this as an e-mail. I posted it in the other thread as a comment.

Then there followed the customary piling on by all the usual suspects, including Jim from OldTruth who has been following me around trying to impugn my character.

Many of these same people were over at the blog of Michael Lukaszewski, pastor of the Oak Leaf Church questioning his salvation and integrity.

God Bless,

Rod