One Man’s Opinion

This week conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh raised questions about actor Michael J Fox’s physical shaking due to Parkinson’s disease. Obviously his remarks caused an immediate backlash from almost everywhere. The thing the always strikes me about people like Rush is they then apologize. He said “Well if he wasn’t acting then I am sorry” which wasn’t much of an apology but none the less. This is a trend among celebrities, politicians and other public figures. They hold press conferences, release statements, and go on air to say sorry. The problem is have the time the general public can clearly see that this person is not in the least sorry for their actions. Take Limbaugh, a man who is very clear about his beliefs, he stands firm in what he says and pretty much makes no excuses for what he does. That is until he says the wrong thing and gets himself in hot water. This is a trend among public figures in our society. Stand up for what you believe, speak your mind with conviction and then apologize for your actions after they aren’t taken as you had hoped. We have seen televangelists like Jerry falwell and Pat Robertson claim that events happen because God is angry and then they make excuses for their words. These are men who believe in Christ and believe that he is the way, the truth and the life. They then go off and claim that God has told them these things or that it is clear that God is angry. They speak this with conviction and look you in the eye when they say it that is until the backlash comes. When people stop and say “what did he just say?” and here comes the apology, the back peddle or the outright denial of such statements. I tend to not agree with Rev. Falwell or Rev. Robertson but I feel that if they are going to make a statement that is full of conviction then they should not apologize when people get mad. Our country has become a place where we exercise free speech because we know that no matter what we say in the end if we release an “I am sorry” statement we are off the hook. I could name several people that have made ridiculous claims like that of Falwell, Robertson, & Limbaugh. In Hollywood you have movie stars committing crimes, making hateful remarks and all they have to do is say “I’m sorry” to remain forever in our hearts. President Clinton, who I voted for, even when caught in a lie denied it until he could no longer and then said sorry for that. The nation might have been shocked but they moved on, some wanted a punishment but overall it was all good after that. In sports every year there seems to be a player who commits an act of violence, gets arrested for drug related charges or says something just insane and as long as they say sorry seemingly nothing happens. It is like a simple “My bad” can make everything right again, I wish it were true in real life. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could tell your boss what you thought of him and not be fired? It would be nice to just get caught in an illegal act, say sorry and go home the next day. Apologies are becoming so common among famous people that we just assume they are going to do bad and then ask us for forgiveness. The question is do they get forgiveness, do they deserve it for a half-hearted apology. Are they even sorry in the first place? Is Rush Limbaugh really sorry for comments he makes on his show? Is Rev. Falwell truly sorry if he offends by stating what he feels God has instructed him to do? Is Mel Gibson really sorry for the things he said while in a drunken state? Are they sorry or are they simply saving their own behind. Are they more worried about their careers, some of which are reliant on speaking with conviction, or do they just not want to lose their job? The apologies keep coming but are we forgiving them? If we are is it out of true acceptance of their heartfelt plea or is it because we really don’t care anyway. Perhaps the moment we heard it we were outraged but after looking at it again we just chalked it up as an opinion and moved on? Maybe even we just realized who was saying or doing it so we felt that is expected. Do we expect our public figured to not only make mistakes but actually make fools of them? Perhaps we delight in seeing those in these positions on the hot seat because they seem so untouchable. They float live in a place where laws and consequences do not matter. It seems the more we hear about these statements, actions or crimes the less they seem to surprise us. They outrage us for a few seconds but in the end we don’t really have much respect for these figures. Maybe we just see it all as entertainment, even when it is not meant to be. Either way our nation is overflowing with media coverage, breaking news and of course heart felt apologies from our favorite stars. It would be nice to think that these people are truly sorry but we all know that is not always the case. Further they would like to think that the general public truly cares about all these things and at the end of the day we generally don’t. So are we a forgiving nation of people who understand that everyone makes mistakes or are we just so cynical now it is just what we expect?

Evangelism in the American Christian culture is big business these days. Marketing Jesus to targeted consumer groups has become a norm covering just about every aspect of culture. Anything thing that is secular you can find the Christian alternative. Music, clothing, TV, movies and just about any other product that is available has a Christian counterpart. The media has grabbed on to the uprising of Christian marketing by doing national news stories on various companies that are targeting the Evangelical market. There is even a video game that is targeting fans of the Grand Theft Auto series. Though all this is to be almost expected in a capitalistic society the one thing that has got me a little concerned is the fact that our churches have become part of the game. We now have arena like sanctuaries complete with stadium seating, state of the art lighting & sound and professionally put together stage productions that serve as weekly worship. There are churches that have coffee shops, gift stores and ATM’s in the lobbies. I am hesitant to judge these places as I am sure they mean well by providing attractive ways to draw people back into church. The problem that I am seeing is that under all the bells and whistles what exactly is the real message? Is it a message of Christ-like love and grace, of living a life based on that of our savior or is it one of consumerism, materialism and comfort? I see both honestly, I see many of these mega church’s preaching the gospel and challenging their congregations but I also see people using church as a status simple. Going to the right church that has the latest and greatest show on earth can boost peoples standing in the bubble like culture that is evangelical America.

The other issues I see are when it comes to worship. I myself am not a modern praise and worship kind’s guy, so this maybe biased, I still like the old hymns. The problem I have is that worship can become more about performance and entertainment instead of praising God together. Many churches have professional bands that put on concert like performances every Sunday. Complete with lights, huge sound and attractive people singing these services seem to become more about the ones performing than the reason that the songs were written. I don’t mind praise and worship music when the leader makes an effort to be just the leader and not the show. To me worship is just that, giving praise to our God not to a band of musicians. It seems in an effort to stay relevant sometimes we make having fun and being comfortable come before basic worship. I am a person who has been disenfranchised and has not belonged to a church in over 10 years. I have attended several different churches and seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly. All in all I believe all of these gimmicky ideas are done for the right reasons, to build the body of Christ. The problem is we forget that Jesus doesn’t need all this to be relevant. Simply giving people the message of Jesus is a powerful enough thing that in some cases could see more results than offering a latte during church. I for one have enjoyed churches that have a strong teaching and basic worship. No frills just singing to God and giving sermons that point us to the Grace of God.

Maybe I am getting older and my idealistic ways are giving way to a more practical approach or perhaps I am still too idealistic about where I would like to see the church. I can’t say but I do believe that the message and teachings of Jesus have never been changed nor have they ever needed anything else but what they are to stay relevant. I like to have fun and I believe there is a need to bring the Gospel to people in ways that makes it attractive. I just feel when you present it in the way Christ did, through honest relational ministry it is more powerful then using marketing