Double Standards, Double Cures
The other day I read a great post by Gary Humble, reflecting on the mess that was the Adam Lambert "performance" on the 2009 American Music Awards. For those of you who haven't seen it - consider yourself fortunate. For not only were viewers subjected to Lambert's incessant banshee-like screeching, but they were also subjected to him holding bondage-clad dancers by a leash, pushing a male dancer's head into his crotch, and full-on kissing a male keyboard player.
This is not a "gay-bashing" post. Labert's sexual proclivities are his business, and the only one he needs to justify his behavior to is God. This is more a bash of ABC and Dick Clark Productions for allowing this debacle, and (more so) for the American media for their double standard. And us, more conservate folks for ours.
To wit: there was very little "outrage" over Lady Gaga's sexually-charged performance on this year's MTV awards. Lambert's sexual orientation aside, the MTV performance was as bad as the AMA one. But there was little talk in Christian blog or news circles about that. (Myself included)
There should have been though. At least it would have given us a little credibility when it comes to criticizing the AMAs and Lambert. And as Alistair points out in the original post's comments, "...there is way much worse things on network television than that. You only have watch one episode of Brothers and Sisters, or Desperate Housewives."
Tru dat. We allow this junk into our lives every day, and turn a blind eye to it. We jump up and down and wait in lines at midnight to see some dopey vampire movie. We buy our kids Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty and allow them to play constantly. (I was watching my nephew playing CoD2 on Thanksgiving, and was appalled that, besides the blood and gore, the characters in the game were swearing. This is video game, right?) I'm guilty myself; I let my kids play Guitar Hero, then seem surprised when they know the lyrics to "Rock and Roll All Night." What's with us?
We should spend less time railing against guys like Lambert and more time just instilling basic values in our kids. As Alastair points out in his comments, our job is to be Jesus in the eyes of those we meet. The great hymn "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me" has the line "Let the water and the blood/From Thy wounded side which flowed/Be of sin the double cure/Save from wrath and make me pure. " The Blood saves us from not only the punishment for our sin, but of the legacy of our sin - that we will continue to be bound by it. Do we share that enough with those who really need to hear it? Do we show it by our actions?
We need to start over. On the eve of the New Moon opening, I tweeted this:
Question: Where do you need to start over? Where can you go "back to basics?"
This is not a "gay-bashing" post. Labert's sexual proclivities are his business, and the only one he needs to justify his behavior to is God. This is more a bash of ABC and Dick Clark Productions for allowing this debacle, and (more so) for the American media for their double standard. And us, more conservate folks for ours.
To wit: there was very little "outrage" over Lady Gaga's sexually-charged performance on this year's MTV awards. Lambert's sexual orientation aside, the MTV performance was as bad as the AMA one. But there was little talk in Christian blog or news circles about that. (Myself included)
There should have been though. At least it would have given us a little credibility when it comes to criticizing the AMAs and Lambert. And as Alistair points out in the original post's comments, "...there is way much worse things on network television than that. You only have watch one episode of Brothers and Sisters, or Desperate Housewives."
Tru dat. We allow this junk into our lives every day, and turn a blind eye to it. We jump up and down and wait in lines at midnight to see some dopey vampire movie. We buy our kids Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty and allow them to play constantly. (I was watching my nephew playing CoD2 on Thanksgiving, and was appalled that, besides the blood and gore, the characters in the game were swearing. This is video game, right?) I'm guilty myself; I let my kids play Guitar Hero, then seem surprised when they know the lyrics to "Rock and Roll All Night." What's with us?
We should spend less time railing against guys like Lambert and more time just instilling basic values in our kids. As Alastair points out in his comments, our job is to be Jesus in the eyes of those we meet. The great hymn "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me" has the line "Let the water and the blood/From Thy wounded side which flowed/Be of sin the double cure/Save from wrath and make me pure. " The Blood saves us from not only the punishment for our sin, but of the legacy of our sin - that we will continue to be bound by it. Do we share that enough with those who really need to hear it? Do we show it by our actions?
We need to start over. On the eve of the New Moon opening, I tweeted this:
I think we need to start from the beginning with our youth. They're all excited about a vampire movie! Where have we gone wrong?
Question: Where do you need to start over? Where can you go "back to basics?"
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