Dever on Video Use on Sundays

As usual on Monday we want to take the opportunity to look at an element of church. Today's featured article is by Mark Dever on the use of video in church services.

'Should we use videos in our weekly gathering for the corporate worship of God? Well, for obvious reasons, I can't cite a Scripture passage commanding or denouncing the practice. But I do have my hesitations. They would go something like this. (I'll number my mental moves to make it easier to comment on them, decry them, question them, or agree.)

1. God Himself was personally (and perhaps visibly) present to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall (Gen. 2-3). The curse involved the casting out of Adam and Eve from God's immediate presence. He became invisible to us. The climax of the Bible's story of redemption is Rev. 22:4, where believers are restored to the personal presence of God, and that includes seeing His face. So, seeing God represents an immediacy of relationship that is specifically denied to us after the curse, even when we're redeemed. And the effects of God's curse continue until we are glorified (I Jn 3:2).

2. We are made to desire the sight of those we would know and love. Sight seems to give us a quality of knowledge, a confidence and certainty, that eludes us as long as we are denied seeing someone or something. (That's why we carry around photos of those we love.)

3. We were made to desire sight, and to find fulfillment in seeing God forever. After we sinned against Him in our first parents, in His mercy God has continued to speak to us--revealing Himself, the truth about us, His promises, etc. There is something about being a Christian that recognizes a special dependence we have upon hearing, rather than seeing.

4. With current technology, we consider using video clips not to depict God Himself (the second commandment forbids that) but as a means of having more of an impact in our teaching. But have we considered that the method we use may be at odds with the message we declare? In this fallen world, the visible is still very important--most of us are not physically blind. We are encouraged by the sight of other saints, of the visible signs Christ left for us--baptism and the Lord's Supper. But even these visible signs must be explained (and that will involve at least reading, and normally hearing--using words). And as a word-centered faith in a video-craving age, we demand the immediate impact of the visual. Is it wise to try to meet those demands in corporate worship?

In conclusion, I am not suggesting using video on Sun AM is necessarily sinful; but I am suggesting that it must normally (or always?) be imprudent. We are trying to build a word-centered counter-culture in a vision-addicted age. Will it really help the people to concentrate on the words of Scripture, or my words of explanation and exhortation by getting them to engage with a video just a few moments before? Immediate impact doesn't always lead to lasting awe. In fact, it can work against it.'