while i’m on a roll, i’d much rather just get this all ‘on paper’ now. you don’t have to read if you are sick of this discussion…
it’s a belief that i’ve held to for a while…namely, that because there is an overabundance of ‘explicitly christian’ music, we have decided that anything that is not, is bad.
or seen another way, because there are no huge christian movie production companies, no huge christian TV networks, no huge christian sports leagues, etc, we have no problem indulging in some of the movies, tv shows, and sports programming that is offered to us. because that is all that we have to choose from.
“well”, you might say, “that is true. i do watch some of the TV, movies, and sports offered to me. but i dont just watch ANY tv show or go see ANY movie, i use discretion and the standards that i have developed.” BINGO!!! Is the light bulb going on yet? You have no problem with CSI, Napoleon Dynamite, Trading Spaces, Regis and Kelly, Batman Begins, or Jeopardy. Great. Why can’t it be like that for music?
one other note on the double standard between music and everything else: Someone drops an ‘F’ bomb in a movie and we walk out saying, “it was pretty clean. just one swear.” someone drops an ‘F’ bomb in a song, and you’d think you were falling away from the faith for owning the CD. I don’t know…I’m just saying…
and again, i am not trying to give people ammo for doing things they feel are wrong. i just want us to think about why we do what we do. i don’t want us to become like the pharisees, who set up their own culture where the letter of the law became more important than love. They completely missed the point, and Jesus saved his harshest words for them.
Let’s try to value the things that Jesus valued: loving God and loving those around us. Maybe if we weren’t so wrapped up in this bubble that we try to create where we’re eating christian mints and wearing the right wristbands, we’d be able to love the people around us better who so desperately want to be loved. i mean, we all want to be loved, right? i know i do. and yet i have such a hard time loving others.
I mean, even this discussion is coming dangerously close to being an exercise for me to try and sound smart. And i hate that about myself, that almost everything i do comes back around to being about me. I will try to get better at that. I know we’ve talked about that at our D-Group before, and it’s something we all want to get better at. Let’s start this weekend by trying to love those around us unselfishly. (just remember, you can’t do it on your own.)
well, i am headed home, and i wont be back at work until monday. and that’s a good thing. as B-Watts says “I’ll see ya when i look atcha”
b