I Don't Get It

What’s so entertaining about so-called “reality shows”?  Why are they so pervasive on TV?  And the talk shows that deal with the worst that is in us (“I am the secret lover of my daughter’s boyfriend!”).   Or those shows in which we watch people get pummeled, pulverized and humiliated as they run a sadistic obstacle course ---Who’s watching this stuff?

Apparently someone is watching or else it wouldn’t be on.  Movies, shows, and entertainment seem to be exploring the gutter these days to see how far into the cesspool we are willing to sink.  Miley Cyrus’ self-degrading exhibition on the Video Music Awards with fellow bottom feeder Robin Thicke is only the most recent demonstration of our culture’s fascination with the lowest common denominator.  I once rationalized that we like to watch such trash because it might make us feel better about ourselves.  By comparison we might say, “Gee, I guess my life is not so bad.”  But I don’t understand why we seem to need such a steady, daily dose.  I guess I’m wondering what’s missing from our lives that we would seek to fill the void with such poverty of imagination.

I do not want to trash Miley Cyrus.  I suspect she is the latest emotional casualty of the Hollywood machine that created her.  There are others before her --- Macaulay Culkin, Brittany Spears, and Lindsay Lohan are precursors.  Each of these is a person in whom there exists the image of God, a soul in whom God delights.  So, why have they “exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:25).”  In this context, the lie they have bought into is that they must find their self-worth in their popularity (which is never quite enough to satisfy the ego), instead of the truth that they are already of infinite value regardless of public adulation. 

What about those of us who watch this stuff?  Does it really make us feel better?  Does it really entertain us to watch the degradation of another, to watch humans behaving badly?  Am I a naïve to wish for programs that might evoke the best that is in us?  Instead, programs seem to push the envelope ever further to see what level of prurience we can tolerate. 

I do not call for a return to “Leave It to Beaver,” all innocence with no intersection with the reality of our lives.  But it is possible to tell stories that combine humor while looking at prejudice (“All in the Family”), evil confronted by integrity (“Foyle’s War”), or . . . why don’t you cut your cable, save some money, and get you a good book at your public library.  I hear Mark Twain tells some pretty good stories.

I guess I’ll end this by asking the WWJD question in another way --- “What would Jesus watch?”  To tell you the truth, my mind is blank.  I can’t picture Jesus sitting around eating popcorn and watching “Modern Family,” although I suspect he would find a Duke-Carolina basketball game highly entertaining.  I imagine Jesus would be spending more of his time in connecting with people directly rather than through some medium like TV, computers or smartphones.  Something to think about...    

What You Gonna Do About Jesus?

            I am amazed, really, by the take-it-or-leave-it attitude that so many people have toward Jesus.  Okay, so maybe not everyone is ready to believe in him as Son of God.  I won’t push or insist.  But there is something radically unique about Jesus and I am amazed how anyone can brush him off and what he represents.

Most people admire him.  Thomas Jefferson appreciated his moral teaching though he was not, himself, a Christian.  He couldn’t accept the miraculous.  Interesting, for all of Jefferson’s admiration for Jesus’ morality, he was not particularly moral when it came to his opinions about slavery.  You might excuse Jefferson as simply being a product of his times, reflecting the values of his age. Meanwhile, people like John Wesley and John Wilberforce of the same generation were arguing for the abolition of slavery.  And both Wesley and Wilberforce considered Jesus as Son of God and accepted the miraculous as inevitably a part of his nature.  Perhaps Jefferson would have been a more moral man if he had considered Jesus MORE than a great teacher.

An old argument goes like this:  Jesus was either a great imposter, was crazy, or was what he claimed to be.  If he was an imposter it seems unlikely he would have kept up the charade to the point of dying.  If he was crazy why is there no evidence of erratic behavior.  As Gary Collins, a psychologist quoted * in Lee Strobel’s, The Case for Christ, says,

He was loving but didn't let his compassion immobilize him; he didn't have a bloated ego, even though he was often surrounded by adoring crowds; he maintained balance despite an often demanding lifestyle; he always knew what he was doing and where he was going; he cared deeply about people, including women and children, who weren't seen as being important back then; he was able to accept people while not merely winking at their sin; he responded to individuals based on where they were . . . and what they uniquely needed. All in all I just don't see signs that Jesus was suffering from any known mental illness.

          So, if he was not an imposter or crazy, then he must have been what he claimed to be.  However, what he claimed for himself was always veiled in symbolic language.  He spoke of himself as the “Son of Man,” and rarely made any self-promoting claims to be God.  Yet, those who followed him saw God in him.  They saw in him what countless generations have seen – an authentic life lived in perfect integrity for the sake of others – such integrity of life that he has been the inspiration for imitators throughout history.

          You could do worse than follow a man like that.  So, maybe you’re not ready to call him Son of God.  But don’t make Jefferson’s mistake and simply say he was a great teacher with nice ideas.  For all his brilliance Jefferson’s lack of integrity is no example to follow. 

          So, maybe you’re not ready to embrace the miracles.  What about the very miracle of his incredible life?  Who else has ever lived with such integrity?

What you gonna do about Jesus?  In this take-him-or-leave him world I just can’t imagine anyone leaving him, ignoring him, dismissing him.  Yet they do.  Now tell me who’s crazy.  

         

*Lee Strobel, 1998, The Case for Christ, Grand Rapids Michigan/Zondervan Publishing House, p. 147

Working the Angles

I heard a story about a man who moved into town, started a business and thought, “I should join a church. That would be a good way to network and make some contacts for my business.”

So, he went to church and on that first Sunday, heard an announcement about a Monday night meeting of the Fishermen’s Club. “Well,” he thought, “I like to fish.” He decided that attending that meeting might give him an inside track on his networking plans.

He was surprised to discover that rather than sitting around talking about the one that got away, this club met to canvas the neighborhood, inviting people to church and looking for opportunities to witness to the saving grace of Jesus. In good Biblical fashion, this was a “fishers of men” club.

As a newcomer, this man was paired with the leader of the group, and as they went from house to house, and he saw the devotion and integrity of this leader, and heard his unembarrassed testimony to Jesus, he was drawn to him and his compassion and humility. A voice in his conscience said, “I want to be like him.”

He continued to worship on Sundays and to visit from house to house on Mondays and in time he became a deeply devoted Christian and church leader with an integrity of his own. This man who had come to church in order to work the angles for his own purposes ended up getting used by God for God’s purposes.

I think his story is not that unusual. I believe most of us go to church for utilitarian reasons. Like good capitalists we're looking for the pay-off. We’re looking for some advice, or some well-worn wisdom we can use to make our lives a little better. In today’s phrasing, we’re looking for a “take-away,” that we can apply to our lives – to help us in our marriage, to help us cope with some relationships at work, to help us raise our children, etc. We want this religious stuff to work for us!

However, if we hear the gospel rightly, we don’t necessarily get what we want, as Mick Jagger used to sing; but we get what we need. Instead of a little practical advice for daily living, we hear we must be buried and raised with Christ. Instead of a simple take-away, we are told we must be born from above. Instead of making some contacts that’ll be good for business, we get recruited into the Body of Christ to work for God’s kingdom. We come to church looking for some way to use this “God-thing,” to our advantage, and instead we hear the voice of God saying, “How can I use you?”

So, here is fair warning: If you think church is another way you can work the angles in order to get the life you have in mind, don’t be surprised when God ends up working on you to give you the life God created you to have. And if my experience is worth anything, it will be both a more challenging, as well as more blessed, life than the one you had in mind.