Friday 6 September 2013

Praise Break (part 1)

Awhile back I came across a phenomenon that seems to be occurring in a lot of churches called Praise Break.




From what I could gather at the time, during some point in a sermon, the band would start to play, the preaching would stop, and the congregation would start to “dance” (if you can call it that). 

I’ve seen videos where people are shaking, jumping, running around the auditorium, shouting, etc.

It would die down, and then the preaching would start up again.

A lot of times the comments on these videos are usually things like: powerful, praise God, the Holy Ghost fell, etc.

Going by the dates that the videos were uploaded to YouTube, it seems like this has been happening for a number of years.

Because it was completely new to me, I decided to investigate it and find out what it is, and why people were doing it, as it seemed… bizarre… to say the least.

So let’s take a look at this thing called Praise Break.

Before we actually tackle our topic, there two things I think we need to address first.

The first thing is that, during my investigation, every time I saw someone make a comment that wasn’t pro Praise Break, even if it was some one just saying that we should be cautious, they were told they shouldn’t judge / it’s wrong to judge / we’re not supposed to judge / only God can judge, etc.

We need to realise something… anybody who uses that statement is actually judging. They are doing the very thing that they are telling people not to do.

I do realise that there are some people who say it out of ignorance, but there are others who say it because they want to prevent people from highlighting that whatever they are doing is not kosher.

What does it mean to judge?

To judge, is to examine something and come to a conclusion about it.

If you have no conclusion for something, then you have made no judgement.

If you have a conclusion, but choose not to voice it, then you are withholding judgement.

If you have a conclusion, and voice it, then you are making a judgement.

When someone hears your judgement, and tells you not to judge, they have made a judgement about your judgement.


Why do Christians say this? Where did it come from?

When it comes to believers, a lot of unbiblical things come from the same source... the bible.... well, the twisting of the bible.

It is commonly known that if you rip verses out of context, you can make the bible say whatever you want it to say.

The bible has been used to justify slavery, rape, incest, murder, stealing, "racism" and many other things that it doesn't actually says.

What happens is that someone sees a verse, or part of a verse, and instead of reading it in context, or in some cases, not even finishing the sentence... runs with that - and makes a doctrine out of it.

In other words, a person comes to the bible with an already preconceived idea, sees something that if ripped out of context affirms their idea, does so, and goes on to tell other people that the bible says their idea is correct.

This is called eisegesis, and simply means adding a different meaning to the text rather then taking the meaning that was originally intended. Reading into the text what it doesn't say.

Let’s examine some of these scriptures that have been twisted.

John 8:7
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’.

People use this verse to say, see, we aren't supposed to judge because everybody has sin.

That is not what Jesus meant in this verse.

For you to understand this verse, you must read the entire context.

John 8:2-11
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?

No one, sir,” she said.

Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.
What is happening here?

A woman was caught in adultery and brought to Jesus to be judged and have her punishment carried out. This was a trap.


Why was it a trap?

Jesus was forgiving people of their sins and healing them. Extending mercy and grace instead of justice.

In other words, the trap was this, since the Law says that those who commit adultery are to be killed, if Jesus forgives her sins and doesn't order her to be killed, then He doesn't uphold the law and He is not of God, because it's God's law.

But Jesus, knowing it was a trap, turned it against them by saying, ‘If you don't have any sin, then kill her as per the law’.


Why would this cause them to leave?

Well, many people believe that Jesus was writing out the ten commandments on the ground. So the reality of the standard of the law, plus His agreement to carry out justice according to the law, is what caused them to leave.

Because Jesus was showing that we are all guilty, and all deserve death - the righteous judgement.

So, if they persisted in their heat to kill her, they must be killed themselves, because they too have sinned and should be killed according to the law.

Notice who left first... the older people did. This make sense in that they have more sins then the younger people, because of the length of time they have lived.


Why didn't Jesus have the woman stoned?

Even though the woman was indeed an adulterer, and Jesus was the only sinless person there, the law prevented Jesus alone from dispatching justice.

  1. Both the man and woman should be stoned for adultery, not just the woman. It wouldn't have been right to just stone one of them.
  2. The hearts of the men that brought the woman were wicked. They were incredibly hypocritical acting like they had no sin, when they had many sins which made them worthy of death but at the same time ready to condemn someone else to death for one sin.
  3. Jesus ministry wasn't about executing justice, but offering mercy, grace, and redemption.
  4. These men, who were ready to uphold one part of the law, completely forgot the other portions of the law (Leviticus 19:15-18)
  5. Jesus was not in the legal position, amongst the city, adhere dispatch justice. That “right” belonged to the elders of the city.
  6. There needed to be at least 2 or 3 witnesses for the crime to be established, since everybody left, there were no longer any witness to the crime.
Pay attention though, because Jesus did know she was an adulterer and guilty before God.

Although Jesus did not dispatch justice, He did judge her and didn't rebuke the Pharisees and teachers of the law for judging incorrectly.

Did you catch that?

The issue was not the act of judging, but the carrying out of the penalty after judging has been completed.

It’s the carrying out of the judgement that was being discussed here, not the act of judging at all.

Jesus' reply to the men, in essence, was this: Yes, she is an adulterer. According to the law, she must be killed. Obey the law and kill her, but do it non-hypocritically.

After the men left, Jesus tells the woman to "leave her life of sin" - in other words, Jesus judged her to actually be in sin, and told her to leave that life.

In short, this scripture is not telling us to not judge at all. The scripture is showing that we shouldn't be hypocrites when we judge another’s sins. We shouldn’t demand justice to be carried out for their sins, while at the same time not requiring the same for our sins.

Join me next time as we continue to investigate Praise Breaks...

1 comment:

  1. Loving this post so far. A familiar scripture, the context of which I was familiar with, but still you gave pause for thought and highlighted the crux of the issue within the account here. Keep them coming!!

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