{"id":29039,"date":"2011-09-20T21:38:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T02:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=29039"},"modified":"2020-12-26T21:42:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T03:42:01","slug":"is-it-appropriate-to-have-powerpoint-presentations-during-sermons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-appropriate-to-have-powerpoint-presentations-during-sermons\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during sermons?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during services? Personally, I find it very helpful in keeping up with Bible verses during the sermons, but I wonder if God approves it. I don&#8217;t know how the brethren feel. This is something I have been wondering about since I began going to the church.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Aids used in illustrating lessons have been long used. Ezekiel was told to put on several demonstrations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He built a model of Jerusalem with a brick and laid siege to it (Ezekiel 4:1-3).<\/li>\n<li>He laid 390 days on his right side and 40 days on his left (Ezekiel 4:4-8)<\/li>\n<li>He made bread and cooked it over dung (Ezekiel 4:9-17)<\/li>\n<li>He shaved his head with a sword and divided the hair into three piles (Ezekiel 5:1-4)<\/li>\n<li>He went around stomping (Ezekiel 6:11-14)<\/li>\n<li>He made a hole in the side of his house and moved out through it (Ezekiel 12:1-16)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are more, but the point is using illustrations to help get a point across is a well-established practice. Jeremiah used a sash in a prophecy (Jeremiah 13:1-11). Agabus tied his hands and feet with Paul&#8217;s belt to make a point (Acts 21:10-11). Preachers have long written out points. Blackboards and whiteboards are common. My grandfather used to do sermon charts on bedsheets &#8212; a whole sermon illustrated with one large chart. See <a href=\"http:\/\/executableoutlines.com\/charts.htm\">Chart Sermons<\/a> for some examples. PowerPoint is merely a modern way of doing illustrations that have been going on for thousands of years.<\/p>\n<p>PowerPoints can be used improperly. I&#8217;ve seen far too many use the slides to post the passages so people did not have to look up the verses. I personally think that is poor training for the congregation and makes it far too easy to take a passage out of context and no one notices. I&#8217;ve also seen preachers use it to speed up their presentations so that verses can&#8217;t be considered because not enough time is given. But used well, slides can give the audience reminders of what passages are being read and for those slower at finding passages, a bit of extra time to find the next passage.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Is it appropriate to have PowerPoint presentations during services? Personally, I find it very helpful in keeping up with Bible verses during the sermons, but I wonder if God approves it. I don&#8217;t know how the brethren feel. This is something I have been wondering about since I began going to the church. Answer:&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,536],"class_list":["post-29039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-ezekiel-37-speak-of-the-restoration-of-israel-before-jesus-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":0},"title":"Doesn&#8217;t Ezekiel 37 speak of the restoration of Israel before Jesus&#8217; return?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your criticism of the article \"Eight Compelling Reasons why Christ is Coming Very Soon\" with somewhat amused interest since from the outset it was obvious where you were going. I understand why. However, you challenged the article on a point that I want to take up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28283,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-the-prince-in-ezekiels-vision\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":1},"title":"Who is the prince in Ezekiel&#8217;s vision?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who is the prince that is mentioned in Ezekiel 45-47? Answer: The interpretation of the last chapters of Ezekiel is strongly debated. Obviously, how a person views what these chapters envision will impact the interpretation of the various elements, such as the prince. First, we must note that this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54237,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-meaning-of-pipes-prepared-in-thee\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":2},"title":"What is the meaning of &#8220;pipes prepared in thee&#8221;?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the book of Ezekiel 28:13, what is the meaning of \"pipes prepared in thee\"? Did Satan have musical instruments as part of him? Did he have a harp as part of his body? Answer: \"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35897,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-notes-on-ezekiel-24-were-really-helpful\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":3},"title":"Your notes on Ezekiel 24 were really helpful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In working on my assignment for a Bible study in Ezekiel, I reached the point where the instruction was to \"see what commentaries have to say.\" I entered \"Ezekiel 24\" and \"Parable\" as search terms. I recognized your church and website's name, among those listed, as a site we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21052,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-recommend-any-books-to-further-study-ezekiel\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":4},"title":"Can you recommend any books to further study Ezekiel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've stumbled upon your web site doing a search for study resources on\u00a0Ezekiel. I'm impressed with how thorough your notes are and I've bookmarked this site. Thanks for all the work you've put into this. Do you have any books you would recommend for further study? Answer: Thank you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47985,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-was-the-king-of-tyre-in-ezekiel-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":29039,"position":5},"title":"Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who was the King of Tyre in Ezekiel chapter 28? Thank you for maintaining your site it has been most helpful to me. God bless. Answer: The king of Tyre at the time Ezekiel was written was Ithobaal III (sometimes spelled Ethbaal III) who reigned from 591-573 BC. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}