US Edition Cover, May 1971 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As I’ve previously explained, I don’t believe that the Christ and God are one in the same. I believe that our Father YHWH ha Elohiym is God and the Christ is His Son. Many people agree with that belief.
Many others disagree.
I can’t say whichever belief is right. I can only say that my belief is honest and sincere. Given the intellect and information available to me, my belief is the best I’m currently able to embrace.
Here’s a video that’s based on the belief that God and the Christ are one. I disagree with that premise but, nevertheless, I find the video to be a powerful and delivered by speaker with a style that I’d love to see on the pulpit. I find the video inspirational.
Faced with the power of this video, I feel able overlook the video’s belief that God and Christ are one being. For me, the video “works” despite my belief in the God/Christ duality.
Still, I find the video perplexing. If my belief (that God and the Christ are two different entities) is correct, can this video be as spiritually powerful as I suppose it to be? In other words, can a controversial but fundamental premise (that God and Christ are one) be wrong and the remainder of the video still be both true and spiritually powerful?
In the alternative, is my belief in the duality of God and Christ simply mistaken despite the fact that I can’t yet see that I’ve made an error? Am I impressed by the spiritual power of this video? Does that spiritual power overwhelm my errant beliefs?
Or does the video’s power primarily flow from strong, technical production values rather than spiritual force?
I like this video. But it’s so well done on a technical basis, that I can’t help wondering if I’m primarily impressed by its spiritual force, or by its “slick” technical production values. If I’m primarily impressed by the video’s “slick” production values, am I being blessed to someone’s extraordinary ability to communicate in the video medium? Or do those “slick” production values render me more susceptible to deception?
Again, I like this video. Again, I’m inspired by this video. It makes my eyes moist. But it’s also so slick, that I don’t necessarily trust it. I’m a little put off by the strong production values.
I’m reminded of the lyrics of “Jesus Christ Superstar” where Judas asks the Christ,
Every time I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand
You’d have managed better
If you’d had it planned
Now why’d you choose such a backward time
And such a strange land?
If you’d come today
You could have reached the whole nation
Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication
In other words, why did the Christ choose to deliver his message with such poor “production values”? He was probably never heard by more than a few thousand people at a time, and usually spoke to only a handful. Why didn’t he come today when He could’ve had a gig on Jay Leno or Rush Limbaugh and reached millions?
So, I’m wondering if God’s message and the Christ’s message can really be spread by means of “mass communication” and “slick” production values. Is it possible that God’s message can only be effectively delivered by one man or woman to another or at most, by one preacher, to one congregation–face to face, so to speak?
I don’t think that’s true. I think God can use the inarticulate as well as the “slick” to communicate His message. He might even be able to use blogs like this one to sometimes communicate a bit of His truth. If I didn’t believe that, why would I write an article like this one on spiritual issues?
Even so, the production values of the following video are so slick, that I’m not sure whether I’m being inspired by spiritual truth, or by slick production values, or maybe both.
What do you think? Do you find this video inspirational? Do you trust this video? Is the video delivering solid theology? Or is it delivering a very slick brand of cheer-leading?
video 00:11:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIOkdNL-QQ&feature=player_embedded#!