Kristiansand pinsemenighets nye menighetshus, neppe en gave til Gud

For en tid tilbake var jeg innom mine foreldre og tok som vanlig en titt på Vårt Land. Her kunne jeg lese at pinsemenigheten i Kristiansand skal få bygge nytt gudshus, men at dette har blitt redusert fra tolv til seks etasjer. Dette var en god nyhet, men det ville selvsagt vært en enda bedre nyhet hvis planene var blitt redusert til ingen etasjer.

Illustrasjon av det nye menighetsbygget til Kristiansand pinsemenighet. En ting er sikkert, man lovpriser ikke Herren med et slikt nihilistisk monster. Selvsagt, Le Corbusier ville vært meget tilfreds! Kilde: Kristin Jarmund Arkitekter AS

Meningen var å bygge et signalbygg, det blir kanskje ikke det signalbygget man ønsket seg, men det store spørsmålet er alikevel hva man ønsker å signalisere med bygget?

I en video vi lastet opp til Permasolutions nylig, ble det lagt igjen en megetsigende kommentar:

In the future Christopher Alexander will be remembered in the same breath as Galileo and Descartes. He has provided scientific proof that all physical matter is holy and demonstrated an empirical connection between the built environment and the human soul.

Mer om Alexanders funn kan lastes ned her: Empirical Findings from The Nature of Order

I slutten av forelesningen, under spørsmålsseksjonen, kommer Alexander med sitt berømte utsagn om at alt vi lager må være som en gave til Gud. Det mest slående med Kristiandsand pinsemenighets nye gudshus er fraværet av Gud, det finnes intet hellig ved dette bygget, det er tvert imot rein gudsbespottelse, og har sitt opphav i Europas mørkeste og mest nihilistiske ideologier (se også).

Den eneste grunnen til at pinsemenigheten i Kristiansand har kastet seg på dette prosjektet, er at de har et ønske om å framstå som kule!

Coolness started with jazz musicians, and still has something of the spirit of the night, of escape from everyday reality, of unconditioned freedom, of improvisation without a goal. It’s the liberal equivalent of the divine grace that bloweth where it listeth and none can define.

It has something in common with sanctity. The cool are in the world but not of it. They possess a certain disengagement, so that they are independent of their surroundings and not easily flustered or excited. They’re not conventional, and recognize immediately whatever they’re presented with. That gives them a sort of perfect pitch in matters of perception, expression, and practical decision.

Of course, coolness is also very different from sanctity. Sanctity is about eternity, coolness about today. It has religious aspirations, but its hedonism and individualism means it goes nowhere. The lives of the saints have enduring interest because they point to something beyond themselves, the lives of the hipsters don’t. – James Kalb

Det er tragisk at Guds folk på jorden har henfalt til slik hedonisme, billedlig uttrykt gjennom en gudsforlatt arkitektur. Ønsker ikke Kristiansand pinsemenighet å være jordens salt?

The built environment, with its geometrical symbolism, talks about the culture that has created it, and expresses the intimate values of a culture. So, if in the past the built environment was interconnected with their physical and spiritual surroundings, the contemporary has expressed the excessive power of a mechanical culture determining the loss of human identity in favor of “artificial identity”. This artificial structure has transferred its cultural reductionism also to urbanism and architecture and caused laceration of society and deformation of ethical and esthetical values. This new design represents and symbolizes new values like hedonism and a devoid sense of nothing, and is the sculptural expression of our society. – Biourbanism

Jeg vil på det sterkeste anbefale Kristiansand pinsemenighet og deres lederskap om å se forelesningen med Christopher Alexander:

Pris Gud, ikke kun med tungen, men også gjennom skaperverket!

This is a world view in which acceptance of the whole and efforts to heal the whole, in the built world, can be seen as the most profound and most important forms of prayer. They are consistent with modern science and yet call into question some of science’s most deeply rooted assumptions. - Christopher Alexander

Relatert lesning:

• Arkitekt er valgt!
• The architecture of hell
• Neuroscience, the Natural Environment, and Building Design
• Science for Designers: Intelligence and the Information Environment