R. J. Grunewald offers a stimulating critique of Christian T-shirts, movies, and music on the basis of the doctrine of vocation.
From R. J. Grunewald, Why Christian T-Shirts, Movies, & Music Aren’t Very Good — rjgrune.com:
Christian t-shirts, mediocre films about the rapture, and Christian music that is a copycat of the Top 40 are proof that Christians largely misunderstand the doctrine of vocation. To be fair, this isn’t completely caused by Christian t-shirts and movies, and there certainly are some who do well within those spheres. But largely, within evangelical Christianity, the word Christian has been routinely used as an adjective that allows people to give uncritical approval to music, books, clothing, and movies.
Check out this incredible description of evangelical culture from Redemptorama:
“In Orange county, one of the chosen places of evangelicalism, it was possible to dwell in a total Christian environment. Letting their fingers do the walking through the Christian Yellow Pages evangelicals could buy a car from a born-again dealer, get their taxes prepared by a devout CPA, get their necks unchecked by Christian chiropractors, consult Christian lawyers for Christian divorces, purchase their fashion from a Revelation outlet, get their carpets cleaned by a Christian-operated hydro steam unit, have their coiffures trimmed at Hair After, have their pools cleaned by New Life Pool Maintenance, have their drains unclogged by Agape Plumbing, and get their pests fumigated by Golden Exterminators, Inc.” – Flake, Redemptorama, (HT: Harold Senkbeil)
When we understand God’s calling, it frees us from the need to escape the secular world in order to create a Christian subculture. It frees us from the need to create a Christianized version of our workplace and allows us to simply do our work well and for the benefit of our neighbor.
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