Thursday, January 07, 2010

Stoning idols


The noise has died down a little. The stones have all been thrown. The outrage has been voiced. And now one more idol of our culture is stoned and disposed of.
...
I would like to talk about this for a moment. I don't want to talk about Tiger Woods specifically, but the culture and its response to his sins and failures.
...
It's humorous to me to hear the culture talk about the hypocrisy of the Christian church and then to watch that same culture demonstrate the ultimate in hypocrisy themselves. We are in a time when our culture demands unlimited freedom, no accountability. "It's my life, I can do as I wish!" is the banner held high by the culture around us. I know from experience the rage and retaliation of those in our culture when their bad actions or decisions are brought into the light. "How dare you say my lifestyle is sin!" and "Who do you think YOU are?" The outrage over any confrontation of sin in the lives of those around us is soundly rebuffed with anger and accusations of hypocrisy.
...
But if someone they worship, a media idol held high for all to admire, is caught in sin then suddenly, like a bunch of sharks smelling blood, the media and culture surrounds this wounded sinner and stones him to media and financial death. Now, please be sure to note I'm not condoning Tiger's actions. That discussion might be for another time, but what I am addressing today is the response of a culture claiming we each have the right to do as we wish...but when one of the heroes of the culture does the same thing the hypocrisy of that culture is on every television and radio station in the land. We are really good at claiming freedom for ourselves, but stoning others that would do the same thing.
...
It seems quite obvious that our culture knows there are rights and wrongs. They may apply to others, but don't apply them to me! I think of the story of the Pharisees who brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus in John 8. They had rocks in hand, ready to stone her, and asked Jesus' opinion as a test. He didn't answer, but bent down and wrote in the dirt. Finally, after persisting in their question, Jesus responded, "He who is without sin throw the first rock." Slowly and quietly they all left. I wonder what Jesus wrote in the dirt....we will never know, but I can imagine... "liar", "hypocrite", "adulterer", "thief." Quickly, when our own sins are brought into the light it brings out the hypocrisy of our claims that this one should be stoned.
...
How is it that we want freedom to do as we wish, but expect more from those we idolize? Our own hypocrisy as a culture reveals to all that we do know right from wrong. We know what God expects of us. We just don't want the rules to apply to us.

2 comments:

Alicia said...

This is so true. I see it clearly among family that are not believers but I have also seen it among some very strong believers.

Whateverman said...

I disagree :)

"Culture" is not some monolithic thinking/acting being. It's a collection of all views/opinions/actions which characterize the majority of the people who identify with that culture.

In Christian culture, do all Christians have the same opinions? Do they all behave the same? Do they all accept and reject the same things? Obviously not - when someone mentions "Christian culture", they're talking about generalizations and phenomenons which are characteristic of Christians.

Why am I babbling? You talk as if "this culture" all behaves and acts the same. Not everyone condemns Christianity for being hypocritical (though I readily admit that many do); not everyone reacted the same way to the Tiger Woods "scandal".

You seem to be saying that it's hypocrtical to condemn Christianity on the one hand, yet defend Tiger woods on the other. This might be a valid point if the same people were doing both - but in my personal experience, this isn't the case. I know for certain that I didn't do both. I do indeed condemn Christianity at times, but I'm largely silent on Tiger Woods.

Most of my friends generally do one or the other; I have not met anyone who does both. So, from experience alone, I think your point is invalid - I don't see any correlation between the two behaviors.

---

More specifically, I'd rather not idolize sports stars (or actors or firemen or whoever). I respect and admire and envy them at times, but this never justifies believing them to represent something larger / better than talented sports stars. Lots of people behave differently, of course; they want idols to be inspired by, and (too hastily) revere the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

I think politicians should be held to a higher standard, especially when they get hired/elected by claiming to represent those standards. Sports stars? No way - no way in hell (sorry).

What Tiger did should be between him and his family, but sadly, it's in the public domain. I don't advocate his behavior, but I think it's stupid to expect that he was anything more than a talented golf player.