Positive Thoughts Continued.

Though I won’t share the entire context here on this blog, Lindsey did receive a reply back from 104.9 the River over the weekend in regards to this email she sent out. The reply didn’t come from David Emerson, but from Todd Stach, the program director of the station. In a nutshell, Todd explains that at The River the DJ’s try to use the songs they play as a “vertical” tool to point people towards Christ, and their actual conversations on air are used more as a “horizontal” tool to positively impact people. He continued to say that things INSIDE the station might have a different meaning OUTSIDE the station. Whatever, that means. Todd never really cleared up for us whether or not they consider themselves a Christian Radio station or just a family safe radio station with some nice uplifting songs mixed in.

As far as the River Positive Thought is concerned, Todd mentioned that it can be based on scripture or not based on scripture. Which honestly, I’ve heard very few examples of scripture being used on air. Just yesterday the positive thought was ‘A kind heart brings smiles” Yup, that’s really preaching Truth and giving listeners a dose of the Holy Spirit. However, with all that said it was interesting to hear the following Positive Thought air on the station today while I headed to work:

God is not a God of disorder but of peace. He wants you to know peace even in the midst of chaos – Lindsey from Columbus

Isn’t that interesting? See, about a week and half ago before Lindsey wrote The River her concerns, she had sent on a few “Positive Thoughts” to the radio station that were actual Bible versus. No explanation was sent to the station other than that. She just wanted to see if the River would actually quote scripture as a Positive Thought of the Day. Besides, having a daily dose of scripture on a Christian radio station makes more sense than knowing that “a kind heart brings smiles’. Well, the verse Lindsey sent the radio station was this:

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. – I Corinthians 14:33

Wait a minute.. did 104.9 The River just paraphrase Scripture from the Bible and give Lindsey credit rather than where credit is due? Honestly! Why are we disguising God’s Word like this? Though I do appreciate the effort, this just goes to show that The River is becoming another medium that is afraid of offending people by outwardly speaking the Truth. At our Wednesday night bible study we just finished a series by Focus on the Family called The Truth Project. I highly suggest you check it out. Anyway, one of the segments discusses how little by little God is being removed from our school systems and in our government. With this case, it just goes to show that even a Christian radio station is afraid to hold onto its own Christian values in an effort to not offend people who might not want to blatantly hear the Truth.

Why are we so scared of offending people? As Christians we need to stand firm and just lay it out there. We know what we speak is the Truth. Offending people should be the least of our worries. People need to hear it, and if it offends someone so be it. In retrospect, it’s ok though to air half the crap we see on late night cable and television. It doesn’t make any sense to me.

I will say this. I do enjoy listening to The River, and for the time being will continue to do so. But it’s really bothering me that this world has come to such a point where even Christian radio stations are now deciding to focus on this “horizontal” view to point people to Christ. There’s no need to be transparent.

If you really believe what you believe, preach it. Don’t sugar coat it. There’s my positive thought for the day.