Similitudes - Volume 7, Issue 3

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Stones Thrown at Heaven

Douglas Wilson

The church today is entirely compromised by worldliness. Look at our cultural holidays, look at sports, look at music rock culture is a direct assault against basic scriptural values. Sex, drugs, and rock & roll are fundamentally antithetical to love, joy, and peace.

Amen.

So you agree that it is a sin for Christians to listen to rock music?

I didn't say that. I said, "Amen."

But look at the lifestyles of these characters!

Look at the lifestyle of Tchaikovskyhe was a homosexual.

Well, I wasn't referring to the private morality of the musician or composer. The issue is public moralityin the rock culture, that culture as a whole is defying the God of the Bible. They are openly throwing rockstheir rock at heaven.

Right. And God will judge them for their sinbut the stones they throw always have a way of falling back to earth.

But how can Christians consistently have anything to do with the stones they throw?

You are exactly right about what they are attempting to dobut they are not the first ones. The same thing was true of Liszt and Chopin. They travelled around Europe promoting humanistic revolution through their music. And I thought your daughter did a wonderful job playing Prelude in C Minor at her recital last week.

Okay. What's your point?

Chopin threw that stone at the sky, and, of course, it fell back to earth. But his rebellion in throwing it does not keep it from being a very beautiful stone. And your daughter played it very well.

Thanks, wise guy. But are you saying the humanistic origin of something is irrelevant? Look at our culture's sports mania. The word athlete means "devoted to Athena." And gymnasium comes from the Greek word for "naked."

And the days of the week are a display case for Norse gods. Wednesday is Woden's Day, Thursday is Thor's Day, Friday is . . . . Does your church have a Woden's Day prayer meeting?

Okay, okay, I see what you're saying. But don't you feel at all uncomfortable about doing and saying things that used to be pagan?

Not at all. I used to be pagan too.

Now give me a break. You have no objections to things that were pagan in origin? What about Halloween? Ghosts, goblins, witches . . . .

I object to Halloween, not because it was pagan, but because it is pagan. But once it is in believing hands, we may dispense with it if we wish, or keep it with any appropriate changes. In either victorious case, we should thank God for it.

I have never heard anybody talk like this.

Sure, you have. You've read 1 Corinthians.

All right. I'll bite. What did you find in 1 Corinthians this time?

I call it the apostolic response to the problem of the demonic quarter pounder.

Well, if nothing else, you do have my interest.

Suppose that McDonald's was owned by a pagan,and that before any quarter pounder was served to the public, it was offered up to a little statue of Aphrodite in the back. Think anybody at church would have a problem buying food there?

Well, surewouldn't you?

No, not really. Paul says that we should be careful not to stumble former idolaters at church, but beyond thatnothing wrong with the meat! The earth is the Lord's.

Jeepers!

What do mean when you say, "Jeepers!"?

I mean that you take my breath away. Christian liberty with an attitude.

But it is nevertheless biblical Christian liberty. The meat's not demon-possessed just because some idolater prayed over it. Neither is 4/4 time with a back beat diabolical because Bon Jovi hates God. Neither is Polonaise Militaire wicked be cause Chopin composed "cannons buried in flowers." Neither is it sinful to mark our Lord's resurrection just because some medieval idiot linked it to Easter, a Germanic spring fertility goddess. But it is a good thing you said Jeepers instead of Jiminy. Jiminy comes from an oath the pagans used to swear to Castor and Polluxthe Gemini twins.

Real cute. And I am sure you will have another cute comeback for this , but here goes anyway. Don't you feel uncomfortable bringing a pagan tree into your house every Christmas?

Ah, you mistake what we are doing. What we do is go out into the fields to find a pagan tree, and when we have found one, we kill it and bring it home in postmillenial triumph.

And then you sing victory hymns.

Right! Think of it this way. God-haters like nothing better than to throw their stones at heaven. And we like nothing better than to watch them come back down. We then gather up the beautiful ones, and arrange them in a great rock collectionall to the glory of God.

Okay. I guess.

Amen.