“ONE SHADE OF WHITE” – Feb 12

“And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”  Mark 7:20

I appeal to you brothers and sisters in Christ, do not watch the movie Fifty Shades of Grey. If you do not know anything about the book and movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, you may count yourself blessed.  The book, has sold more than 100 million copies and the movie adaptation will be released on Valentine’s Day.  I have not read the book and I have no plans to watch the movie.  My appeal to stay away from this latest Hollywood offering is based on the same rationale as staying away from pornography. There are many good social and relational reasons not to read or watch Fifty Shades of Grey:

It glamorizes and legitimizes both sexual and domestic violence.
It normalizes humiliation, degradation, and torture in sex.
It cultivates a rape and sexual culture.
#FIFTYSHADESISABUSE

One might imagine that those are reasons enough not to support the erotic message of Fifty Shades of Grey but that is not the basis of my appeal. Similarly, there are a lot of good social and relational reasons not to read or watch pornography:

It may shrink my brain. (Is Porn Literally Shrinking Mens Brains)
It may reprogram my brain structure and function.  (Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption)
It drives sex trafficking.  (The Connections between Pornography and Sex Trafficking)
It degrades women.  (How Porn Dehumanizes)
It may cause it not to work like it is supposed to. (Erection Problems? This May Be Why)
It may ruin my marriage. (9 Reasons Why Porn Will Ruin Your Marriage)

Those are reasons enough not to watch pornography, but that is not my reason for staying away. For me, all the physiological, social and relational rationale could be solved for both pornography and the more acceptable erotica of Fifty Shades of Grey and I still would not be able to partake for these forms of media. My problem with erotica in both its soft and hardcore forms is what comes out of me as a result of it going into my mind. I cannot watch or read that stuff without evil thoughts coming out of my heart.  It causes me to lust.  The definition of erotica is literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire.  Erotica’s purpose is to make me lust and when it does its job, evil thoughts defile me.

I don’t want to be defiled. 

I am saddened that appeals to Christians often have to be made to all those other rationales.

Have we lost our concern about being defiled?

 Have we lost our fear of sin?

Have we lost our desire to please God more than our libido?

Consider David’s lusting over Bathsheda:

A marriage was destroyed;
A husband was killed;
A baby died.

All of those are ample reasons for David not to have lusted after Bathsheda. But what if he had not gotten caught? What if all those bad results had not happened? It still would have defiled David; that result should break the heart of every child of God.

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.  (2 Samuel 11:27b)

Softcore and hardcore erotica produces in me evil thoughts.  Those evil thoughts that come out of my heart defile me.  Like David, that defilement displeases the Lord. That should be reason enough for anyone claiming to love Jesus to stay away from that which they know will cause the displeasure of the Lord.  I have heard many justifications for the romance end of the erotica spectrum. I am particularly skeptical of the justification that reading or viewing such romantic erotica such as Fifty Shades of Grey only arouses sexual desires for a spouse.  You are playing with fire.  We all know that the fire of passion can escape the ordained realm of marriage in an unguarded instant.  All it takes is a thought.  Why would you want to risk it?

As Christians, we have been called to One Shade of White.  We have been called to righteousness. 

Fifty Shades of Grey and all that genre’s variations are a thousand shades of defilement.  Consistent defilement is not the characterization of a follower of Christ.  We are to strive toward acceptable spiritual worship that pleases our Lord.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  (Romans 12:1)

Obedience to the Word of God is our easiest means of pleasing God.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  (John 14:15)

I appeal to you therefore, for the love of God (literally), stay away from the Fifty Shades of Grey! “If the church cannot extend grace to sexual sinners, we’ve lost the heart of the gospel. And if we cannot tell people to stay away from 50 Shades of Grey, we’ve lost our minds.”  ~ Kevin DeYoung, No Grey Area

PRAYER: Father, you know how often I have defiled myself in the cesspools of erotica. Thank you for your repeated forgiveness. Thank you for all the times that you have saved me from temptation. Forgive me for all the displeasure that I have heaped in front of you. Thank you for your continued love when my actions have not matched my intentions. Help me to walk in obedience. Give me wisdom and strength to stay away from those things that I know will cause evil thoughts to flow from my heart. Help me to abide in you.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

“OVERWHELMING INFLUENCES” – Dec 15

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”  Psalm 1:1-2

Viktor Hertz / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

I currently have 300 podcasts on my computer that I have not listened to.

I have 845 unread articles on my RSS reader.

WordPress Reader provides a constant stream of posts from the blogs I follow.

I have bookshelves in my office full of books that I intend to read.

My Bible software program has over 1,000 books that I can search by key word.

My iPod has more music on it than I can remember.

My Facebook page has the 20+ symbol beside all of my categories.

I am overwhelmed with information.  We all live in a world that is awash with news, opinions, and content.  In general, I love it.  I have lived without Google.  I have lived when there wasn’t such a thing as the internet.  I am thankful that Al Gore invented it. The speed and ease by which I can obtain an answer to a question still amazes me.

I love the fact that I can access information with a few clicks of my mouse.  I love that I can carry my entire music collection in one small device rather than cases of cassettes.  I love the fact that I can read the work of amazingly talented writers and artists that I would never have know about.  I love being able to get my news from a diversity of viewpoints.

However, the management of information has never been harder.  It is easy to fall down the rabbit hole of meaningless links.  One funny YouTube video can consume an hour exploring all the related videos on the side bar.  There is the temptation to taste all the offerings but never enough time for a full meal.  We are forced to glide over the surface of most of the available information due to the overwhelming volume.  We surf past the majority of the content since there is not enough time in the day to truly consume it.  However, it is hard to learn how to pick and choose.

It is so easy to become lost in the process of being informed.
It is so easy to walk in the counsel of worldly digital pundits.
It is so easy to silently revel in the debauchery of the famous.
It is so easy to nod along with the skeptic.

I was curious what content was most sought this last year.  So, I did a little Google-ing and this what I found:

Top Searches on Yahoo in 2013:

miley cyrus
kim kardashian
kate upton
minecraft
selena gomez
obamacare (affordable care act)
amanda bynes
jodi arias
iphone 5
justin bieber

Breakout (Miley Cyrus album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Top Questions on Yahoo in 2013:
Top Who Question: “who wins the bachelor”
Top What Question: “what is twerking”
Top When Question: “when is thanksgiving”
Top Why Question: “why only 6 jurors in zimmerman trial”
Top How Question: “how to take a screenshot”

The Bachelor (US TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Top Searches on Google in 2013:
Actor:  Miley Cyrus
Musical Artist:  Miley Cyrus
People:  Miley Cyrus
Top TV Shows:  #1The Walking Dead, #2 Breaking Bad
Scientists:  #1 Albert Einstein, #20 Richard Dawkins
Authors:  #1 Tom Clancy, #2 William Shakespeare
Books:  #1 Bible, #2 Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey produits dérivés (Photo credit: ActuaLitté)

I am left to wonder what counsel the majority are walking in;
what way are most people standing in;
where are the most popular seats being occupied?

Are not Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians, and Fifty Shades of Grey merely  glamorizing  the ways of sinners? Aren’t seats offered by Richard Dawkins and his like all in the amphitheater of the scoffers?  The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Grand Theft Auto revel in wickedness.  I am thankful that the Bible topped the list of books but I wonder how many who typed that search topic spend their days and nights meditating upon it.

I am reminded of my need to guard my heart.  The internet opens us to many forms of counsel, divergent norms, and normalization of deviating mores.  We all need to be careful to prevent the wave of internet content and information from replacing our time in meditation upon the word of the Lord.  I can be influenced more than I care to admit.  We are all buffeted by the changing winds of our culture and society.  We must be careful and intentional about the content that we immerse ourselves in.

I hope that my top counselor of the 2013 was the Spirit of God.

I hope that the primary way that I stood along this year was that of the righteous.

I hope that the seat I occupied most frequently was that of the one wise in the Lord.

Lel4nd / Foter.com / CC BY

I know that I did not meditate on the precise gift of God’s word like I could have.  Too often, I skimmed and perused.  We all must develop a strategy so that we will not be overwhelmed into indifference by the influences flowing onto our electronic devices throughout the day and night.  For me, this blog is one of my primary methods to help me increase my depth and duration of meditating on scripture.  I know that I am like John Piper in this regard:

I count myself as one of the number of those who learn as they write and write as they learn.
~ John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

Writing helps burrow my mind into the word.  Reading through the Bible in a year (or two) and writing blog posts of what jumps out at me has been the best way for me to discipline myself.  It has created a strategy for me to prioritize God’s Word above all the other influential content that is vying for my attention and my soul.

What helps you to keep the scripture as your delight throughout the year?

PRAYER: O Lord, you know that I delight in a lot of things.  You know that I am easily distracted from the best.  Father, thank you for the internet.  Thank you for this outlet of blogging.  Thank you for making a means for me to meditate more on your word.  Father, give me wisdom to understand where my influences are coming from.  Help me to seek You first.  Grant me a desire for You and your Word.  Make my delights conform to You.   I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Resources:
Google Trends > Top Charts
Yahoo’s Year in Review