Interesting items from 2 podcasts
August 7th, 2009 by Menachem Wecker
I was listening to two podcasts today: Ravi Zakarias’ Let My People Think and Paul Washer’s talks from Sermon Audio, and I wanted to share some things I learned. One of the speakers on the RZIM recording told an interesting anecdote about Voltaire. Though arguably an anti-theist, Voltaire did not want his housekeepers to be atheists.
Paul Washer pointed out, correctly I think, that much of Christians’ mental images of Jesus probably derives from Cecil B. Demille films.
Washer took this to be a bad thing — Hollywood’s cheapness and oversimplification — and then proceeded to describe his own experiences in Peru, and took the way poor Peruvians would flock around a visiting doctor (out of absolute need) as a better approximation of what it would have been like in Jesus’ day. Peru is surely no Middle East, no matter how compelling and inspiring Washer’s experiences are.
I have no problem with Washer’s interpretation, I am just convinced that he is doing the same thing Demille would have done. Whether one draws from one’s own experiences or one creates art which aims to personalize the bible, I think there is a lot to be said for mapping out one’s own life over the biblical narrative.
Artists shouldn’t put down pastors’ visions as inferior, and it is my opinion that pastors should not privilege their own visions over those of religious artists. Both parties stand to learn a lot from each other.