Heresy and My Ensuing Wrath

Disclaimer: The writer of this post is by no means a perfect measure of Godliness. His opinions do not in any way reflect the other writers of this blog.

A few days ago, I wrote two posts on this blog which I have now deleted for being contradictory and irrationally bashful. This, my dear friends, is the expression of my infuriation, with nearly all of that crude dementia filtered out.

Charismatic denominations of Christian faith place emphasis on its belief that Christianity does not have to be an ancient practice where worship is limited to hymns and the temptation to fall asleep in services is rampart. Instead, modern congregations such as Hillsongs have gained much attention for delivering modern worship music - something that appeals much more to the increasingly pop-culture-obsessed youth of today.

Stephen Tong, a noted Indonesian reformist preacher is extremely frank about his disapproval of this unorthodoxy found in such churches. I, being a member of his congregation, am one of these people who are not particularly happy of this fusion of rock concerts and services. We have been criticized for being culturally uptight and chauvinistic in our views against these more modern denominations.

Personally, I don’t necessarily mind listening and singing to these rock Christian songs. It’s the purpose of these songs that bother me. Followers of charismatic denominations argue that these songs allow people to have fun in church, to make church a place where everyone wants to be. But one must question, does devotion have to be fun? Is surrendering your own soul to a greater power supposed to be something easy? And more importantly, is this added fun to the whole Christian experience serving for a greater purpose?

As the line between rock concerts and church services become less apparent, what is to differentiate church from actual concerts? What is to keep people from attending church for the sake of mere ecstasy? I know I used to attend a charismatic church for this reason, like many of my peers who look forward to church as a fun place to jump around to ear-deafening music. Motivations and intentions are distorted to a vortex of self-gratification as we abuse “worship.” And while hymns composed by the likes of Bach and Handel are much less fun and enjoyable to sing to, they surely allow for more sincere devotion and is less prone to such decadent misuse.

And though this deformation of church into a concert hall is bad enough in itself, words don’t even begin to describe how tragic the pretension found in our school chapels is. During this week’s chapel, the twelfth-grade chapel band, performed “The Time Has Come,” a song from the Hillsongs United We Stand album. To my dismay, the song was accompanied by a two-minute-long intro that was completely unnecessary. It occurred to me that though the solo had not been necessary, its inclusion allowed plenty room for guitarists to show off their talents in plucking metal strings. It is ridiculous how chapel is taken advantage by non-Christian musicians as a showcase for their talent, to the extent that chapel is no longer a place for glorifying God, but a place for self-glorification. Chapel has now become a talent show that is involuntarily attended where students are forced to watch conceited displays of arrogance under the illusion of worship. Oh, the tragedy.

Music happens to be a significant source of revenue for the Hillsongs church. Their albums have consistently gained top positions in the Australian charts, as they are designed to do so. My friend rashly blamed Hillsongs for these "necessary" intros, ignoring the previously stated fact. The inclusion of two-minute-long solos in their albums is obvious in cause - to make their albums more appealing to the general public - to make their albums sell more so that their church can expand (which is by all means appropriate for a growing congregation), and to make the concerts (where these albums are recorded) more appealing to all who pay to watch it (including those non-Christian watchers who watch for the mere sake of fun).

One must thereby question whether or not the inclusion of these show-off sessions in our chapels serves for a good purpose. After all, are our chapels meant to please the mainstream public? Aren't the circumstances of Hillsongs United, - where songs are written to appeal to the public - completely unparallel with the circumstances of chapel worship? Aren’t we then abusive hypocrites who would be stoned to death by the Catholic Church for heresy if we lived in ancient times?

To abuse Christianity to the point that church becomes comparable to rock concerts and talent shows is beyond wrong. It is horrifying, appalling, petrifying, mortifying, disgusting, and worthy of vomit. And what is worse is that everyone is too ignorant to see and do anything about it.

So please, excuse us “chauvinists” for being “uptight” in our religious views. After all, aren’t we entitled the right to be angered by the blatant abuse of His benevolence? Tolerance for such senselessness is no virtue – it is merely a tool used to circumvent people from doing the right thing.

It is clearly obvious that the abolishment of charismatic denominations would be nonsensical and inconsiderate of those who are truly sincere about their faiths. Replacing rock with hymns in our school would lull most people to slumber and anger those die-hard rockers. So at the very least, dear rockers, take your vile condescension somewhere else - a club, a bar, a concert, just anywhere other than our chapels. To those who come to church for fun, look elsewhere for your bliss - a club, a bar, a concert, a place where those guitarists go to showcase their talent. Do so and we will all finally be pleased - guitarists will freely venerate themselves, jumpers will jump to the guitarists' self-veneration, devotion will no longer be abused, and you hypocrites will no longer feed my bitter soul with this raging wrath.

Deal?