Hollywood seems to make a lot of movies with no real plot. The story makes very little sense and is not very intriguing, in and of itself. The characters are one-dimensional and the audience feels no real connection to them. However, these movies still make money because what they lack in substance, they make up for in cheap thrills. Playing on the audience’s emotion, rather than on their intellect, Hollywood fills the plot holes with multi-million dollar explosions.
Worship, amongst many religious groups, has followed this pattern. Because there is no depth of spiritual knowledge, they substitute theatrics to draw a crowd. Reverence, fear, and awe have been traded for the cheap thrills of a rock concert.
Alexander Campbell had very strong words for those who used an instrument in worship. He said such a thing was only necessary for those who had “no real devotion and spirituality.” In other words, when people have no spiritual depth, they resort to amusements to excite their souls.
True worship does not need light shows, loud music, and fog machines to excite the soul. True worship is expressed when a person realizes he is in the presence of a holy God, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Don’t trade worship for theatrics.
I love you and God loves you,
