Pastors go wild and singer/songwriters go theologically off the rails. Or do they? The strange cases of Mark Driscoll and Michael Gungor, and what they tell us about the state of evangelicalism. Drew Dyck joins Phil and Skye for the conversation!
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Yes. This is irony. Here we go: As you discussed the Gungor creation brouhaha, you mentioned that we Christians might actually give too much trust/authority to Christian musicians. To support your point, I will now quote my favorite 20th century Christian musician, Rich Mullins.
“It’s so funny being a Christian musician. It always scares me when people think so highly of Christian music, Contemporary Christian music especially. Because I kinda go, I know a lot of us, and we don’t know jack about anything. Not that I don’t want you to buy our records and come to our concerts. I sure do. But you should come for entertainment. If you really want spiritual nourishment, you should go to church…you should read the Scriptures.”
And this from a guy who actually had a LOT of awesome things to say during his concerts. I rest my ironic case.
You should totally try to get Gungor on the podcast. Michael was willing to be on this weird obscure podcast called the Bad Christian Podcast to talk about all this. This podcast would be a much better podcast for him to be on to discuss it.
i am 13 yrs old. i love listening to the podcast. i make sure i listen every Tuesday. i have also grown up watching veggietales, (the truth is i still do.) thank you for the podcast, and veggietales, and whats in the bible WITH BUCK DENVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On the topic of doubt’s place in our faith journey: Having worked with teenagers and young adults for the past 24 years, I’ve noted a trend toward viewing doubt as the highest form of intellectual activity. Whereas it used to be a means to an end–a pursuit of Truth and answers–it has in itself become the goal, because doubters are considered the deeper, more honest and less-fettered thinkers. Being a doubter is now an Intellectual Identity (perhaps the noblest of them all). “I doubt because I am not satisfied with easy, layman’s truths.” It’s a status, not a process. Finding and claiming answers is left to the lesser thinkers. This leaves large swaths of our current generation claiming uncertainty and disbelief as the epitome of intellectual achievement. But while choosing doubt affords the doubter a sense of intellectual superiority, it also idolizes the questioning itself without truly promoting answers and belief. A quote from “Life of Pi” says it best: “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
Evangellyfish is on the market.
“Evangellyfish” by Douglas Wilson