Jumped the Shark?

Jump the Shark. It's a phrase used to mark a defining moment when you know that your favorite television show has reached its peak. Most of us have had these moments where we know that we have seen the best there is to see. For Happy Days it happened when the Fonz, as cool as he was, jumped a huge shark in tight blue shorts and a leather jacket. I remember this Happy Days moment as a kid but have to admit that I didn't see it (at the time) as a defining moment to mark the show's decline. It was just a stupid sitcom that had run its course.


But this often overused phrase can still describe moments when we know that something has reached its peak performance. Some say that the X-files was never the same once the movie came out on the big screen. Sports teams can 'jump the shark' with the poor performance of an aging quarterback. I'm sure that someone somewhere remembers a time when Elvis jumped the shark. You know it had to happen. Some young fan remembers the day that Elvis appeared in a bad movie or showed up fat on stage. Seinfield and Friends really never jumped the shark because the actors knew that, if they didn't quit, they too would have a date with this hungry shark at Universal Studios.


I guess my thought is this...and I know it is a stretch. But I wonder when and where the American church jumped the shark. At some defining moment last century, the American church began a decline in popularity, baptisms, and relevancy. Maybe this is how the church at large is supposed to function. Maybe it is never really supposed to be popular. Maybe the cultural church that existed decades ago was a bad thing. There is a Biblical case to be made that the gospel message only spreads like a wildfire under persecution and unpopularity.
So I'm not exactly sure if one can state an actual moment in which all would agree. There may be hundreds of reasons that the church is distastful to the many unchurched people in our communities. One can conclude that the church has jumped the shark.


Along those same lines, I am bothered at a recent attempt by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to return to the good ole' days. You know...the days when women had their set, God-given duties at home while the men worked 'hard' at their daily grind. SBTS has created a homemaker degree for women. I'm not kidding. Not our proudest moment. http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=9351. If the Baptist church has not officially 'jumped the shark' then we can definately see those sharp teeth emerging from the deep. I'm glad that FBC Memphis has an alternative interpretation of women in the world. To be honest, I can understand the fundamentalist reasoning by Paige Patterson, the President of SBTS. For Dr. Patterson, whose wife as of a few years ago actually wore a headcovering to demonstrate her submission, he has seen the research on failed marriages and home stress and has now offered what he thinks is a remedy. But easy church remedies always scare me. They usually end up being racist, homophobic, or taking up residence in a theological wasteland.


But doesn't this come across as a seminary grasping at straws. I mean, let's be honest, the world is partly in the shape that it is in because the church has not been proactive enough in the areas of justice, giving, compassion, witness, and knowledge. And now SBTS believes that part of the American problem is due to working women. They should have never left home. It's just too easy to think that an MRS. degree, as someone jokingly coined it, is going to save the family unit.

Dr. Patterson, this world will never return to the 1950's (as much as you loved it) and we don't want to return. More importantly, did you ever ask Christian women if this is the lifestyle that they wish to have imposed upon them. There is something sinful lurking underneath with this and it is in someway related to allowing men to once again have their way. Dr. Patterson has the audacity to say that women can still grow intellectually but at the same time learn how to be a good homemaker. What is so intellectual about sewing on a button or washing the dishes?


I hate when churches and seminaries attempt to find an easy solution outside of the message of Jesus Christ, who really said nothing about women and vacuum cleaners. The more difficult path is to live your life for the welfare of others, to seek justice, to be less materialistic, to offer rigorous, theologically-sound seminary courses, and to help remove the rain cloud that is over the head of so many people that feel inadequate due to gender/lifestyle.

If the church has 'jumped the shark' then it is time to rethink matters and ask ourselves what we want to be known for at the end of the day. Furthermore, we must never attempt the easy road of returning to the way it used to be.