Slayer Goes To Church
My mentor and I were discussing this thought this past week:
If you were to take the audio out of a church service, remove the audio of some “teen idol” concert, and watch the two silent videos side by side… how much of a difference would you see?
I happened upon this Youtube video that “swaps” the audio from a church service and a Slayer song. The media seems to fit together very well.
I’m interested to know if you have a particular ‘take’ on this one or if you just like stuff mashed-up. For me, I’m thinking it means people will dance like a maniac if they feel they’re allowed and it doesn’t matter whether it’s excitement over Jesus or their favorite band. People let loose in similar ways. I guess on a larger scale it speaks to the fact that humans from everywhere are one big group without the need for artificial categorizations.
Paul, I know you have some interest in faith and religious matters. I have a new website I’m working on which might interest you. Come over and take a look.
I guess my “take” on this is one of cynicism. People do let loose in similar ways, but what the distinction between an emotional divine encounter and excitement over the latest American Idol. If a worship experience generates the same emotional response as mere letting loose either the experience gets cheapened, or in the act of “letting lose” they are expressing a physical manifestation of a divine longing?
They have to be categorized apart from each other — nothing artificial about it. If both experiences are categorically same, then neither is worth the experience. Each would be meaningless outside of a brief existential distracting. Worthless.
Via Facebook: It would be more interesting to see it done with a full service and if it can match up. Taking a bunch of clips from what looks like a bunch of services and editing them together, well I can make the Pope worship the devil and make all of Congress actually look like they are doing something.
In this one particular instance, yes I would agree… the general though we were discussing was connecting with God through a purely emotional context. Could a layman be able to distinguish the difference between people moved to tears at a American Idol concert and people moved to tears at a church service if the they only had the visual images to make their distinction by.
Via Facebook: Now THAT I would certainly like to see, I agree it is an interesting thought, I just mean it would be better to see in context (an entire service etc). If you find one, or make one, I would love to see it.
Actually on the outside both experiences could be judged as being very much the same. The truth of the experience is the metamorphosis that happens in the soul of the participant – how does one change after this experience. Some go on as before. However, some have a transformation of their inner self. I have had the pleasure of attending both types of events – and being moved by each. I can only speak for myself, but I never left a Stephan Wolfe concert feeling a better person. Truthfully I usually left these types of events pretty high on artificial substances and waking up the next day in a fog, with vague memories of a fun time. I have however, been moved by the spirit at times in my life when I sorely needed it and, while hard to comprehend, if you have not allowed yourself to experience it, the experiences was beyond what my skeptical mind could have ever envisioned. I did become a better internal person. It really doesn’t matter what a layman can observe – what truly matters is the outcome. In my opinion one experience is fleeting and the other can last a lifetime.