heh, i don't really have anything to say concerning the most recent Dennison activity at DBU - i wasn't there (so i'll pick on what i was there for in years past). and i do realize there is a fine line between criticizing a person and critiquing what a person has said or how they said what they said.

however (yeah, you knew there was a "but")...it seems to me that Dennison depends too heavily on charisma to do his talking for him. a person's charisma is secondary to their knowledge of Scripture and the correct interpretation/application of a passage in question. and so far i have yet to hear Dennison manage one of those, though i could be mistaken. then again, the mind has this wonderful defense mechanism of blocking out traumatic experiences from....uh, anyway, where was i?

hmmmm...well, i guess critiquing the use of charisma over knowledge is more along the lines of his method or, as i like to think, tactic than an actual criticism of the man himself. it seems to me that he is very deliberately warm and fuzzy, even smug...as if to say "i am your father" without sending the whole chapel into a Skywalker-esque. "NOOOOoooooo!"

(wow, i just realized that since i don't know Dennison apart from three years of the cloned chapel sermons, this whole subject is like having an army of first impressions break a revolving door).

at any rate, Dennison strikes me as a man with good intentions and a bad set of tools. that's about as fair as i can manage to be. nevermind that a growing number in the audience has no idea what "Jesus loves me...this i know" means. but the statement doesn't really point people to Christ as much as it points them back at themselves, if taken out of the context of the song, which was intended to help children remove all doubt. the statement alone can lead to Me-ology. "i'm God's special child." yeah, that's what the citizens of the US of A need. riiiiiight.

everywhere you go, it's about "me." and we've let the simple fact that "Jesus loves me" overshadow the fact that "Jesus loves God the Father" first/before, while, and beyond loving "me."

"above all." beautiful song. wonderful lyrics. has anyone ever thought perhaps that the song was sung from God the Father's perspective to Jesus Christ upon the Christ's "mission accomplished" presentation of Himself to God in heaven? "you took the fall and thought of Me above all." "my God, my God, why have YOU forsaken me?" i'm sure we were in Jesus's thoughts somehow; He is God after all. but i would dare to say that Jesus thought far more often of the Father than of any of us, at all times and especially during the whole crucifixion process. and that was why Christ went to the cross. love for us, sure; it's in there, it's factual. but love for God and obedience to Him, most definitely. absolutely. check John 17 on that one.

if we are to follow Christ's example in love and life, we must love God after Christ's example. He did not pray to me, "not my will but your will be done." no, it was to God the Father that Christ expressed his absolute love and loyalty.

as for teaching, charisma has its place, but it is behind the thorough study and passing on of Scripture to the layman Christian. we, the students, don't want trendy; we want the Truth. don't water it down. don't soften the blow. give us the Truth...or we'll never be what God wants us to be.

Crash Override

(Fall 2004)