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Pastor Jane Voigts tried out her newly created "Bible Cabaret" show in Hollywood. The venue was a club called FAKE Gallery. She says it was well received.
Now the pastor is taking her show on the road.
"As a former professional comedian," she says, "I have long had an interest in the idea and scholarship about 'the comedy of the Bible' , even the notion that the Bible 'IS' comedy."
So what does the reverend think is so comedic about the Bible, that people will pay to see her exploit it?
Well, among other things, she says "The Fall of Man" is hilarious.
Jane Voigts is a pastor with the United Methodist Church.
Her "Bible Cabaret" performance came together, she says, via a friend's suggestion.
Christian Post reports, "In her show, the UMC pastor portrays the fall of man as a 'coming of age' story, not unlike 'getting drunk for the first time'."
She describes Sarah, Abraham's wife, as "the first lady of laughter."
Voigts says the people who have seen the show "love it."
She plans to perform the show primarily in clubs and theaters rather than churches, to emphasize the entertainment values of the Bible.
She is performing in Des Moines, Minneapolis and Los Angles this winter.
However, in March, she is performing at Claremont College---a supposedly Christian school.
The "Bible Cabaret" show is sponsored by the United Methodist Church and the Claremont School of Theology.
A lot of things happen in dimly lit clubs and theaters across the country. Personally, I probably would not have even mentioned this misguided woman, had I not noticed the sponsorship by the School of Theology at Claremont.
As our culture burns from the lack of moral and biblical leadership, a supposedly Christian school that trains the next generation for Christian leadership is sponsoring a show that equates the Fall of Man---a fundamental biblical belief in regard to Redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, to "getting drunk for the first time."
That should be offensive to any biblical Christian.
Once she has appeared at Claremont, other so-called Christian schools will invite her. The Northwest will be fertile ground for her act.
Voigts says the reaction so far has been overwhelmingly positive---although she "has heard some objections."
Consider this article "an objection" in the loudest, strongest voice possible.
She says she "wants to add another voice to the mix of approaching to and understandings of the text," and "give pilgrims additional questions and observations to wrestle with."
My thoughts:
- People are already "wrestling" with life and death issues in their lives. They do not need the Bible, which is still seen by many as the source of Life and Truth, reduced to comedy in a night club and school of theology---with the endorsement and blessing of the church.
- This says more about the "church" than the Bible. And it isn't funny. A laugh lasts for a moment. Truth gives eternal life and joy.
- The gospel is the power of God to salvation, not a narrative to get a few laughs in a night club---or a school of theology.
Our culture is in a moral melt down while people in so-called "ministry" get a laugh because the "Fall of Man" is like "getting drunk for the first time." At least Nero fiddled---we are merely laughing.
Laughter, it is said, is good for the soul. And it is. But when laughter comes at the expense of mocking God and His Word, the curtain will surely fall on the performance.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.