The comments by some dear friends (aka Randy, Paula, and Simon) on this post on American Idol are important and timely, and I am deeply grateful for them. They remind me the importance of setting some context for a post like that, especially since I am implicitly, if not explicitly, endorsing the show, even while I acknowledge its anti-Biblical values.
So, let’s take a few steps back. I suspect my friends are not alone in these questions. My bad for the confusion. I offer this post as one of several in which I will describe what I mean by “going the distance,” and why that is important.
Jonalee raised the critical question of sin, from a Biblical perspective. I’ll focus primarily on that here, but first I’ll touch on the question of preferences, which Jon and Kerrin mentioned. Then I’ll get to parenting and pessimism, also key parts of their comments. I still don’t expect full agreement after these posts. That’s fine. I am not here to impose my perspective on anyone.
As for my preferences, my initial post was not meant to be a commercial for American Idol. If I were to apply my preferences to the program elements of the show, then I’d have to agree with Kerrin and Jon that it can be too cheesy, too mainstream, and too consumeristic for my liking. This is not about American Idol, but Americans. It’s about looking for God’s work in unlikely places (to some sensibilities).
As for audience preferences of David Cook, I stick by my assertion that people like the guy who went the greater distance to win the prize. I’ll even use my man Kerrin’s argument to back this up. Kerrin was kind enough to play Simon for us. Simon declared David Archuleta a winner by “knockout” over David Cook, only to be rebuked by a 56-44% margin by the voters. Now, perhaps Kerrin should be posting about “having eyes to see,” given the kind broad insight he has, as seen in this comment, “The pre-teen girls and elderly house wives make up the overwhelming majority of AI’s audience. David Cook has more of the sex appeal they were looking for.”
Dog, I am not sure God gives anyone eyes to see into 50+ million people’s motivations, but I’ll follow your logic anyway. If these ladies liked Cook more than Archuleta, wouldn’t it be because Cook appeals to them as the kind of man who can “go the distance”? Don’t we know from Scripture that a woman is made to be a perfect companion to her man. Can’t we generalize that much from our experience, with relatively few exceptions? If a woman is choosing Cook over Archuleta for “sex appeal” reasons, wouldn’t that appeal lean towards the man who shows more conviction, who seems more likely to take his vows seriously? Surely our wives did not say “yes” to us because of superficial reasons (as handsome as Jon is). Do you really think the AI voters were attracted to David Cook’s meatball EMO haircut?
So, back to the real program. Sin is the problem in Scripture, so it should always be the Christian’s abiding concern. Scripture teaches and my lifelong experience confirms that sin is deceitful and pervasive. Should a Christian even be watching “immodestly dressed people singing songs that often glorify worldliness with the goal being to ‘make it big’ in showbiz”?
I do not advocate anyone watching any TV program or movie thoughtlessly. Yet, I see this as a question of Christian liberty based on 1 Corinthians 8 (”food sacrificed to idols”). I don’t deny that many participants in these programs are likely motivated by things that are wrong and will ultimately be destructive to them. Indeed, the purpose in watching the most watched show in TV is to learn how to help people to avoid these things, without taking part in them. It’s about the Biblical mandate to be “in but not of the world.”
Now, my question back to Jonalee is why does she think people want to make it in showbiz? My observation comes from Waylon Jennings, who sang “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” The inherent desire to go beyond one’s highest expectations and “reach for the stars” is often twisted by pride into selfish ambition, but at root I see it as part of an infinite God making a finite man to be like Him. Furthermore, when I hear a contestant singing with their whole selves, I cannot but see a reflection of the worship for which God gave them such voices. If only they could sing to their Maker in adoration, they would find true love, not the counterfeit offered by stardom.
So, all those fellow-feelings are nice, but Biblically, I don’t think this fully resolves the question of Christian liberty. Can I be free as a Christian to watch programs that celebrate worldliness and immodesty, particularly given Christ’s teaching in Matthew 5:27-30 about lust, which makes clear that even looking at a woman with lustful intent is on par with adultery in the heart?
I cannot impose my view on anyone here, but my starting assumption on most programs, including Idol, is that there will be inappropriate content for both children and adults. That’s why I avoid most programs. Yet, with sufficient preparation and accountability, I believe God can provide grace to help one avoid temptation in this area. I have very detailed strategies for doing this, by grace. Also, the beauty of DVR is being able to watch only the performances you want to see, which saves considerable time and exposure to the unnecessary and immodest content.
The defining reality for this question, as it is in 1 Corinthians 8-9, is the gospel of Jesus Christ: “we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (9:12). Paul used that principle to apply to NOT eating food sacrificed to idols, in order to preserve the consciences of immature believers . I am no pastor, and I am not saying my interpretation is accurate, but I find in this principle the basis for all such matters of conscience. If our motivation is to look “outside the camp” and join God’s work–and if the necessary safeguards are in place in our fight against sin–I believe we can be given “eyes to see” His work, and join Him in specific ways.
This may sound over-the-topic to the non-Christian reader, but there is a clear logic to this. As a believer in Christ, I am aware that my heart still contains many impulses to disobey God. I am also aware that the whole media industry is after every available inch of my heart, mind, and wallet. Yours too. (That observation will be the jumping off point for my next post, which will expand the context for having eyes to see God’s work and our work in our culture.)
The Christian life is about pursuing holiness, not to be better than others, but to flee temptation in order to be more like Christ, and to be in better position to serve others, who may not be aware of the perils to one’s eternal soul all around us. Ultimately, though I am saved from God’s wrath, I will still have to give an account to Him for all I do, including every TV program I watch.
So, in all seriousness, I watch American Idol with the Last Day in view. I really do. That’s why I get passionate about it. I cannot help but think of the eternal trajectory of the performers, the judges, and the millions of viewers. As inspired as I can be by David Cook “going the distance,” my earnest prayer is that he and the other contestants would find the joy of the One audience for which there were made, if they have not already.
I also cannot help but think of the many people “outside the camp,” where I once led in many celebrations of the self-centered and destructive pleasures this world and its media complex have to offer. Many tear-filled prayers have been offered for friends and family members of late who do not know newness and fullness of life in Christ. I don’t say that to look all holy. I say that because I have committed to being transparent to you about my motivations when I write.
For me, going the distance, is bring the truth and love of Christ to those I love. This involves revealing the bankruptcy of many of the values our culture celebrates, so we can avoid them, despite the peer pressure at times. It also means finding those God-given, if distorted, values that still are honored in our culture, and celebrating them. If possible, I look for inoffensive ways to connect those values back to their ultimate roots in God’s character, pointing them to the One source of deep satisfaction for which all of us were made.
Though I know many Christians tend to seize on “negative” values as a justification to avoid cultural engagement, I see Scripture calling us outside the camp (as Dr. Piper taught here). In my next post, I’ll break that down a bit in the area of parenting.
For now, my question to Christians is this: If we really believe that all of us are born lost and need Christ in order to live as we were made to live–and thus be truly happy–how are we recognizing our common experiences with others, as a starting point for communicating the truth and love of Christ?
One way I have done this is by (carefully) watching American Idol, where I see millions of people like me, finite but reaching toward the infinite, heads-down focused on the next task, while also looking over the rainbow to something more, something beyond description. Something like home.
No. Sorry, again fan boy you use justifications to support your premise that are not given. Singing and vows? Conviction from a participant in a glorified high-school talent show. Come on. Live in the now!
You’ve spent to much time inside the camp. People, generally speaking, are superficial. We married the exception not the norm. Apply some of your sin logic and “amusing our self’s to death” here.
Yes. That look is “in.” Besides “sex appeal” has more to it then looks…likability.
You use fuzzy logic.
Hey, while your at it could you find some gospel connection in the Matrix…I always love listening to those people.
Kerrin, my friend, I don’t even know where to begin. Like I said, I don’t expect you to agree. I will say that I could be clearer in my premise. So here’s my closing shot, then you can have the last word. Why do I believe people are not as superficial as you think, that women by and large want more proven men than just lookers, that singing is about worship, and that doing anything hard in front of millions of people, week after week is admirable to me? Because I see the grace of God in these things.
No, it is the same as the saving grace of God through the penal substitution of Christ, but as in any normal relationship, to get your message to others (vs. an attitude that judges them to be superficial), you may want to discern common grace in others, and learn to treat them as the divine image-bearers they are. From there, it is a lot easier to point to the many evidences of our fallenness and Christ’s work to save rebels like us.
You dig, my brother?
-Fan boy
Try believing in some facts. Fact: Presidential elections since Carter/Reagan have been primarily decided on the likability of a candidate… is that not superficial? More Americans participate, I would venture more mature Americans, in presidential elections then American Idol popularity contests. Come on Randy (aka Jon) back me up on this one.
Yes I am the bad guy. I see no grace. *said in creepy 6th sense kid voice*
It’s not an attitude. I would characterize it as discernment… by the way, applying your use of “judge” aren’t you judging me by saying I have “an attitude that judges”? Check Matt. 7. Not giving pearls to swine requires the discernment to identify swine, the warning is to avoid hypocrisy when doing so. FYI: You could take that route to make your point about me (just trying to help the loosing side).
Still “going the distance”?
Alright, alright. What am I to do with you? Will I go the distance? After reading what I hope is the longest blog comment ever, I’ll let you decide if there is more distance to go. Only remember that you asked for it.
(For those who don’t know, Kerrin is a great friend and committed curmudgeon who loves to play the antagonist at every turn. Check out his worthless thoughts (www.worthlessthoughts.com) some time for more.)
So, I will grant that my heart has gotten ahead of my head in some of my statements. American Idol made me re-aware of times of intense worldly pleasure-seeking in my life, and the spiritual hunger that remained even through that. I had grown up “Christian” and knew the truth, but I rejected it, believing it would cost me little to get back to that later. How wrong I was.
Yet, God’s irresistible grace was at work. He never let me find the satisfaction I wanted. My life was Augustine’s famous quote: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
So, when I watched various AI performances and saw the spiritual themes juxtaposed with the worldly consumerism, I couldn’t help but remember my past, and the many people I rolled with. It has taken me some days to process all this (because I am superficial, too, until I slow down and think). I probably should have waited to post those first few AI posts, so I could have been a little more clear and less emotive.
That said, I wonder if you’d indulge me a few more minutes to read the upcoming posts. As you do so, I ask you to suspend some of your own views long enough to “upload” my view for long enough to see what I am after here. I’ll try to make my points more clearly, you can still have the last word, as promised.
As to your points above, I’ll take them on now.
First, on people being superficial, I agree most people seem to live surface-level lives. I was not debating that point to begin with. I was only stating that there is more beneath the surface.
We can approach this theologically, via Romans 1 and Genesis 1. Romans 1 tells us clearly that life outside of Christ means that you systematically suppress the truth, even about yourself. As John Stott described it in his commentary on Ephesians, it is alienation from God our Creator and from one another, our fellow creatures. “Noting is more dehumanizing than this breakdown of fundamental human relationships.”
As you know, Genesis 1:27 tells us why it is so dehumanizing: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created Him, make and female He created them.”
So, while I agree that the “broad path” is a life self-suppression, self-alienation, and following the crowd in opposition to the ways of God, there is nonetheless an inherent depth to each person, given their creation in the image of God.
My big point here is that one can choose to see Genesis 1 without neglecting Romans 1.
My question for you, per your second point, is are you seeing God’s amazing grace working through His common grace? It certainly need not be through American Idol. But if we are to get “outside the camp,” we’ll need to do this. I know that you are doing this in your personal life, so I only respond in a general way, not to you personally.
If one chooses to look at just the fallenness of man (Romans 1), one will probably end up being judgmental and self-righteous, and thus not marvel at how amazing God’s common grace is in others, for example in someone who wins American Idol. Granted, there are many other examples, but few with that many eyes watching.
Now, if one looked only at the imago dei of man, one will probably end up glorifying human achievement and self-actualization in a show like American Idol, or any other example of being a self-made man. This perspective is more deadly, because it negates any need for the gospel. It negates hope. Nothing could be worse.
This applies outside of pop culture too. You brought up presidential elections. You have studied political philosophy and the present conservative-liberal dichotomy in America. You know how this “superficial” dichotomy leads back to a deeper, more fundamental distinction of views on the true nature of man.
In his A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell makes this more clear than anyone I’ve read. His starting point is that most political views held in America fall into one of two camps (the constrained vs. the unconstrained vision), based on one’s view of human nature. It is the Romans 1 vs. Genesis 1 story.
Human nature is fallen. The conservatives have that right, and thus the brilliance of the separation of powers endures clear and strong to this day. Yet, human nature was made to be unconstrained by sin and the curse. The liberals have this right, but when they say that external systems of authority are the problem, they only show how fallen they are, and how out of order their views are for the here and now.
(FYI: That’s why I am, by and large, a conservative, but I allow a little of the bleeding heart liberalism to burn in me, so that I don’t lose sight of others experience of alienation, and the hope available here and now and for eternity in Christ.)
One of Sowell’s key observations is that most people don’t know why they believe what they do about human nature, or how that basic presupposition filters out into countless other thoughts. He calls our default worldview “precognitive.” I find this accords entirely with your observation about likeability in their vote.
Now, I would use a different word that superficial to describe this. I’d call it a lack of true self-awareness. My view, based on Scripture, is that people don’t know why they believe what they believe because they don’t know who they really are. They don’t know that because they don’t know God rightly. In other words they suppress the truth.
Indeed, this proper awareness of both God and self was the cornerstone of Calvin’s theology: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” See this post at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook for more: http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/category/john-calvin/
My idea of Contextual Dexterity is an application of this same concept. What I am seeing and saying is this: If one can suspend one’s own preferences long enough to see the theological and existential roots of someone else’s experience, one can see in what sense they are fallen, and in what sense they bear the image of God.
In the resolution of these things one can find a new path. This middle path is not the Hegelian thesis-antithesis-synthesis that laid the groundwork for relativism and postmodern thought. This is the union of natural and spiritual realities made available through the Incarnation and Atonement of Jesus Christ.
My growing view here is that as we discipline ourselves to submit our preferences to the present and eternal needs of others, God’s Spirit will give us eyes to see how God’s irresistible grace may be at work in someone’s life via His common grace, so that we can serve folks right where they are, and over time build the trust needed to gain an open audience as we carefully and caringly present the gospel.
This balanced perspective is maintained by constantly submitting our preferences to Christ as revealed in Scripture. One of the great blessings of this for me is that it has allowed me to build many genuine, meaningful relationships with folks staunchly committed to opposite side of the political divide. All I am trying to do is walk the middle path, the path of “truth with love.”
To your point on discernment: When I can see from both a Gen 1 and Rom 1 perspective, I find my discernment is sharper also. By God’s grace, I have found that when I take a few steps to avoid enthroning my preferences above what I see and hear, I also discern the real-life needs and experiences of the people around me. As I do that over time, by the grace of God, I see bigger things I did not see before. Like the common brotherhood of man, how our common lostness and confusion makes all of us superficial, and how “going the distance” to improve and grow is always commendable, even in a “glorified high-school talent show.”
My first post on AI was based on what I believed I was discerning in the show, but I see now it was part of a mixture of sorrow and excitement through the program. Sorrow for my past, and for the present experience of many still living outside of Christ. Excitement because I see God working, even in the heart of pop culture (by the way, check out OneRepublic, who performed at the AI finale, for a good example of a balanced Rom 1, Gen 1 perspective).
Lastly, I did judge you on some level with my “vs. an attitude that judges” comment. I was attempting to make a general statement (that people who do not share our preferences chafe when we assert ours boldly, without first hearing from them). This was the very thing I did to you! I’ll talk to you personally about this.
Now, blogging itself is sort of asserting one’s one views without first hearing from others. That’s why I love your contribution to this. It gives me a chance to set aside my perspective and see from yours. That forces me to quiet my heart and let my mind, guided by God’s Word, realign me so I can see a little more clearly.
Then it sets me to writing and writing and writing, so you can see from mine too, and so that you have to endure what it is like to have an endless swirl of Q&A going on in your mind.
Like I said at the top, you asked me to go the distance.
For real, I hope this is some example of the messy, human process of working from a superficial statement to something a little deeper, a little more refined, a little more applicable to daily life.
Submitting our preferences to Christ to get outside our ease and comfort will not be easy. But all of us are stuck with each other, so we might as well get on with it. It shouldn’t take as long as we get better at it.
Kerrin,
The likability factor in elections started with Kennedy vs. Nixon. The first televised debate which Nixon clearly should have won, but didn’t…due to looks and “likability”
just an fyi.
Erin,
Good call on that one—Nixon/Kennedy. I guess it may be debatable after that, but before Carter/Reagan because Nixon was not clearly more likable then Humphrey. The others during that time period were also not as clear cut. Perhaps the better point is that voting has been increasingly decided by likability as the old generation dominated by ideologies has dwindled—Mark should like this statement.