From Old Truth.com
There are few seeker centered pastors that keep posting their own writings that illustrate the folly of the Church Growth Movement (CGM) than Perry Noble. He is a pastor of a church in South Carolina and one of the recent Athenian Spirit Award winners here at Old Truth. Perry has an infectious speaking and writing style that can catch up a reader and listener with his obvious sincere enthusiasm. But we have seen time and again throughout church and biblical history that enthusiasm without solid doctrinal and theological underpinnings can lead many astray and even to their deaths. {Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-10, Saul (1 Sam 13:6-14), Ananias & Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) , etc}
| This post is part 1 in a special series by guest contributor |
One of Perry Noble's most recent postings illustrates a lack of critical thinking, orthodox doctrinal basis, and overall delusion that sets into the CGM when the real numbers and results start to come in. I encourage you to read the
We live in a culture DOMINATED by entertainment. Like it or not THAT is THE way it is. If a movie is good then people will go...and if it isn't then people will stay away. If a television show is good then people will watch...and if it isn't then it will be canceled. And...IF church is good then people will go...and if not then people will stay away!!!
This appears to be his guiding thesis. At first reading this sounds very deep and profound but we as Christians are commanded to check and verify everything. (Rom 12:2, 2 Tim 4:3, 2 Pet 2:1,2,19, 1 Jo 4:1, 2 Co 13:5) After further investigation it does not hold up to the Scriptural scrutiny.
First, this is a complete logical fallacy. In fact it is more than one logical fallacy it contains multiple causal fallacies. Attendance and viewer ship is not predicated only on the quality of the product. We all know this to be true but it is easily proved. You can pick any standard of quality for a television show but if it is aired at 3:00AM then very few will watch it. A movie can be of very good quality but if the subject matter has very little appeal then the movie will not be watched. There are a myriad of factors that affect whether or not a large audience watches any given media, quality being only one. In addition, a bad movie or television show can draw a large viewer ship if it appeals to the basest qualities of the viewers. 
Worse yet, Perry has taken three un-related events with different audiences and attempts to show there is a causality between them. There is no causality between the items listed. Just because A is good and it draws a crowd, B is good and it draws a crowd then it does not follow that if C is good then it will draw a crowd. Amazingly he has not analyzed what he has written because one could easily insert anything into his example corollaries and the resultants would be an affirmation of the end result. For instance:
We live in a culture dominated by sin. Like it or not that is the way it is. If a movie has lots of sin people will go, if not they will stay away. If a television show has lots of sin people will watch, if not it will be cancelled. If church has lots of sin then people will go, if not they will stay away.
Therefore it is easy to see that one can inject anything into the corollaries and end up with the desired result. Now I do not believe that Perry wants to intentionally lead his flock into sin but the above illustration demonstrates his predisposition to adding even more entertainment into his church service by stacking the deck, so to speak, to make it appear like it is permissible and even desirable for use to reach a lost world.
Second, because of Perry's predisposition to having and adding entertainment to his services he does not even entertain (pun intended) the possibility of evaluating whether entertainment in a service is Biblical. We have 2000 years of Biblical history contained in scripture, was the worship of God centered on entertaining the audience? Or was entertainment even a consideration in any part of worship? The answer is obviously NO.
One may read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and we see God giving Moses very explicit instructions on how he is to be worshipped. In no case does he instruct Moses to ensure that the congregation of Israel is entertained when they worship or present their sacrifices to the Lord. In fact very strict instructions are given and the Holiness of God is accentuated in every case. God instructs them through Moses in Deut 4:2 "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you". They are to follow God's instructions to the letter so God pre-empts any attempt to add what they may feel He has missed in His worship instructions.
We can further look to Exodus 32 when the people of Israel made the golden calf idol when they got antsy when Moses did not come down from the mount. The people of Israel had just left the polytheistic Egyptians and were surrounded by other polytheistic pagans of their day. They felt different so they requested a god or gods so they would not be different. Note what Aaron announces to the congregation of Israel in Deut 32:4-5
"He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.'"
What Aaron and the congregation of Israel did was meld pagan idolatry with the worship of the one true God. This is called syncretism and it is a continuous problem throughout the history of Israel (and church history). As soon as the congregation of Israel started to mix pagan practices with their worship and lives then disaster loomed ahead in the form of God removing His hand of protection. If this is doubted read through the Old Testament and trace back to what started Israel's rebellion in each instance and then look at the final result.
Now the typical response is - well entertainment in a church service is not idolatry. But is that truly the case; is there not a greater principle here that we are to take to heart which is do not mix pagan practices of any type with the worship of God? Is not entertainment, movies, television shows, rock music, etc really pagan practices that people just do not want to give up and are attempting to meld with their church service? Could it be that Perry and the pastors of his ilk really can not let go of the idol of entertainment? The prophet Isaiah gives every follower of God a cogent warning in Is 29:13
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
Continue reading tomorrow in part 2 . . .
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