# Need articels : Error of using DRAMA in Church



## Mayflower (Sep 22, 2007)

Does anyone know links about the error of using "drama" during the church service and worship ?


----------



## Romans922 (Sep 22, 2007)

i can eliminate anything by John Frame.


----------



## kvanlaan (Sep 23, 2007)

Brother, you may find this link helpful: 

http://www.puritanboard.com/f24/christian-theater-24032/

It doesn't address the 'drama in church' issue _per se_ but takes it down altogether, in every avenue of life.


----------



## AV1611 (Sep 23, 2007)

*Heidelberg Catechism Question 98
Q. But may images not be tolerated in the churches as "books for the laity"?
A.* No, for we should not be wiser than God. He wants His people to be taught not by means of dumb images[1] but by the living preaching of His Word.[2]
[1] Jer_10:8; Hab_2:18-20. [2] Rom_10:14-15; Rom_10:17; 2Ti_3:16-17; 2Pe_1:19.


----------



## Pergamum (Sep 23, 2007)

One real life danger of drama during service:

My friend played one of the thieves on the Cross and got a bloody lip from an over zealous Roman soldier doing some over-acting! 

The bigger danger is calling these sorts of things "ministry" and thinking that it is on the same par as teaching from Scripture. Whether any good is accomplished is debatable (I know faithful folks saved under Billy Graham's ministry after all, so God can use many means - even the ones I would not prefer), the real question is what venue is this being done and is it being looked upon as a replacement to teaching from Scripture?


----------



## NaphtaliPress (Sep 23, 2007)

Regulative Principle and Drama in Worship




*Author* Gonzales, Stephen *Publisher* Southern Presbyterian Press *ISBN* N/A *List price*$2.50 Price $2.00


----------



## NaphtaliPress (Sep 23, 2007)

If I may expand on the above suggestion, here is a review which appeared in Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D.D. with Chris Coldwell, "The Regulative Principle of Worship:Sixty Years in Reformed Literature Part One (1946–1999)" _The Confessional Presbyterian_ 2 (2006) 151.



> In 1995, Steve Gonzales, an organizing pastor for the Presbyterian Church in America in Clifton Park, New York, published a booklet which utilized the regulative principle in opposition to the use of drama in worship.[174] Among other points, he urges that worship is not entertainment, and worship does not aim to make people “feel good” (Gonzales, 6–7).
> 
> Pastor Gonzales states that determining the manner of our worship is not only according to Scripture’s explicit commands, but also by good and necessary consequence, deduced from Scripture (9).
> 
> ...


----------



## SRoper (Sep 23, 2007)

Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?


----------



## NaphtaliPress (Sep 23, 2007)

I also cite myself when I have no greater authority.


----------



## Dieter Schneider (Sep 24, 2007)

Mayflower said:


> Does anyone know links about the error of using "drama" during the church service and worship ?



I have found Peter Masters helpful, and also Brian Edwards


----------



## CanuckPuritan24 (Sep 24, 2007)

A.W. Tozer actually has some good thoughts on the dangers and gross errors of drama in his book Entertainment & Worship


----------



## weinhold (Sep 25, 2007)

For me, the real "danger" of drama in worship is the damage that poor productions do to the artistic sensibility of the audience. I find it interesting that many churches incorporate drama into their worship services, and I think the phenomenon probably demonstrates a misplaced desire for the "drama of liturgy." This is not to say that I have a problem with drama; in fact, Shakespearean drama and poetry is my area of research. But I also do not think that I have ever seen it done well as a component of worship.


----------



## Calvibaptist (Sep 26, 2007)

weinhold said:


> For me, the real "danger" of drama in worship is the damage that poor productions do to the artistic sensibility of the audience...But I also do not think that I have ever seen it done well as a component of worship.



I agree. I have seen many "dramas" used in modern worship services. I am a music major and have been in many operas and musicals and stage productions. I have yet to see a good drama (of the Willow Creek variety) in a worship service. The writing is usually poor and the acting is even worse. I shudder when I think the church is trying to compete with prime time TV by putting out the junk that passes for drama in worship.


----------

