Ministry, Feminism, Carrie Prejean Fired, U.S. Politics, and more!

Greetings C2 readers... as you have seen I have not been able to post anything in a couple days. With summer beginning and school letting out and an impending mission trip with my church my time has been quite limited. This blog is a passion of mine, but right now I've got to take a couple days or so to get things in order ministerially. Please pray for me and my church and our upcoming mission trip to New Mexico, for our youth ministry (summer is out and things are picking up speed; pray that we God do some amazing things in the lives of our youth and their families) and my family (we've had much go on in the last couple weeks).

There is much going on in the world and culture that I'd love to write about, but the time is not there for me to write full posts. So here are some snippets of things happening that have my attention:

• The U.S. government looking to pass hate crime laws that will most likely be a stepping stone to hindering the speech of religion (all religions).
• Carrie Prejean is fired for "dereliction of duties". Obviously I don't have a clue as to whether or not Carrie is doing her Ms. USA job or not, but it seems rather convenient. I'm curious if her firing now is what Donald Trump and the organization wanted to do before, but because of the intense media attention (and heated conversation about her marriage stance) they opted to retain her until later. Again, I have no idea, but this seems rather convenient.
  
• lemondrop.com has released a list of TV's "Least Feminist" characters with Friends' Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston) taking the top position, followed by Married with Children's Kelly Bundy (played by Christina Applegate). My brief take: Feminism is a sad movement, especially in our present day. It exists because of the failure of men to see and value women as God created them: valuable, honorable, cherishable, respectable and equal in worth. Unfortunately, many men do not hold them in such a high regard and the result is feminist groups attacking any sort of tradition. This list is somewhat comical, but the values and ideas behind the feminist opinion of what defines a woman ought to be examined seriously in light of the Creator's idea as to who women really are (men too, for that matter, because many of them aren't living up to their God-given role).
  
• President Obama insulted Israel in a picture of him talking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his feet on the desk (revealing the soles of his shoes). I completely understand the perception of the photo and the apparent insult, though I highly doubt President Obama intentionally set out to insult their nation or its leadership. What's funny to me is aol.com took a poll asking mostly American voters if the pic offended them. In the famous words of Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise": 75% were not personally offended (of 321,000 or so votes). Of course they aren't offended, America is not offended by much (except Christianity - but that's another conversation). Silly poll question.
  
• My wife and I watched the movie "He's Just NOT That Into You" last night. I plan to write a blog entry on this movie in the next couple days (I hope) and its worldview.
  
• There are a slew of movie and television show franchises either being resurrected or rebooted in the next couple of years. I have some input as to why Hollywood is smart for going this way (after all, all they want to do is make money) and why movie goers are most likely gonna buy in... more on this when I post this.
  

That's all for now... I've got to get back to work. :-) More in the next couple days. Hopefully I will then get back to my regular daily posts. Until then...

Want to join the conversation? Click here to comment or ask a question!

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TV Wars: The Return of Cable

About three or four years ago my wife and I decided to give up cable television in order to save money. I must admit that it was a MAJOR adjustment… especially the loss of DVR (a really convenient function that can be a great resource for families). No longer could we pause live television to attend to unexpected issues, auto-record shows in our absence and then skip the commercials... gone were Disney, ESPN, Nickelodeon, and Lifetime movies (a favorite of my wife’s). It was a major adjustment.

After months of discussion, my wife and I decided to venture back into the world of cable after our 3-4 year hiatus. Last Friday the Dish Network guy came and installed our new DVR Satellite Cable and showed me how to work the very complicated system and then left me with “THE remote” in hand… the remote which held the destiny of my future ESPN appointments in its complicated and illuminated buttons. Then something strange (and definitely unexpected) happened… I didn’t really care. I flipped through the guide and saw show after show after show – something for everyone I suppose – and had no desire to watch any of them, so I turned it off. The same thing happened with my wife – she had opportunities to watch, but opted to read instead. It’s been almost 4 full days and we have not watched one complete program (to include any sports programming or Lifetime Movies). In talking about it today we’ve noticed something about our cable hiatus:

1. It de-programmed us and we actually liked it (it took us getting cable to realize that, though)… our TV “habits” were tamed and simplified to local network programming.
2. It made television watching easier for my children (with no cable they had one channel choice: free PBS Kids shows). Once we got cable, the arguing ensued – “no! I don’t want to watch that… or that… I want to watch…”. Even more startling is their willingness to watch different shows in different rooms (to isolate themselves from the family) – something that didn’t happen with one option.
3. We really didn’t miss cable. The only feature we really missed was the ability to choose when we watched TV. DVR gave us a freedom in watching TV – we could watch our shows anytime we wanted and pass the junky commercials.

That’s pretty much it. Not much in terms of news – just an interesting development in our lives. Those who know us well know we are/were TV junkies and the addition of cable to our house again would have normally been reason to celebrate. Instead it’s given us some perspective.

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TV Abandons Marriage

The Parents Television Council has released its findings in their independent study regarding Sex on Television. Not surprisingly, sex in marriage is being abandoned in favor of non-marital sex, sexual dialogue, adultery, etc.

This is definitely not news to anyone as all you have to do is watch television to see this trend being lived out. However, when the numbers are put together it is rather heart-breaking.

One term they used in their study was "the Family Hour" (8:00-9:00pm) - I had forgotten all about that hour. I haven't heard it used in so long that I forgot that it existed (I bet most teens have no idea what I'm talking about). Long gone are the days of The Cosby Show (a show I used to watch regularly with my family) and other family-friendly programs.

Now instead, these are the options we get to pick from (something most teens look at adults and say "what's the big deal?" because they're so used to seeing/hearing it):

- The Family Hour contained the highest frequency of references to non-married sex as opposed to references to sex in marriage, by a ratio of 3.9:1. During the 9:00 and 10:00 hours, the references to non-marital versus marital sex averaged 2.5:1.

- Verbal references to non-marital sex outnumbered references to sex in the context of marriage by nearly 3 to 1

- Scenes depicting or implying sex between non-married partners outnumbered scenes depicting or implying sex between married partners by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1

To see the full report, click here: https://www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/reports/sexontv/marriagestudy.pdf

It's a 24 page document, but the first 2 pages contain the bulk of their findings.

MY TWO CENTS:
I'm not advocating for the removal of sex from television or think its taboo (sex). What I am advocating for is television shows, networks, advertisers, etc. to put sex in its proper context: the marriage relationship between a husband and wife. Celebrate sex for what it is designed to be and in what relationship it is to be enjoyed. Don't glamorize it as a consequence-free endeavor and primary way to share feelings with others (or just to get lusts satisfied).
Bring back the healthy, marital relationship where husbands like Cliff Huxtable (from The Cosby Show) love and honor their wife and chase her upstairs after noting excitedly "Hey, hey... the KIDS are ASLEEP!". Give teens something to look forward to in marriage ("I can't wait to have someone that loves me like that") versus talking bad about marriage and sex in marriage ("I don't have sex, I'm married") or saying/acting bluntly "who needs marriage? Have fun now!"

GOOD JOB PARENT TV COUNCIL on this report!!!

And that's what I think about marriage on TV ought to be Charlie Brown...

Props to "The Minister" on "So You Think You Can Dance"?

I'm not a big fan (though I do watch a few of them) of the overly hyped and often lackluster performance-reality shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the "Stars", America's Got Talent, etc.. However, as my wife and I were watching a little of SYTYCD last night I was blown away by a mid-twenties (I think - it's a guess) dancer who choreographed a dance to the Story of Solomon. The judges ripped him apart thinking his dance ought to have been more sexually charged and his reply was "I'm not gonna do that crap! (From here it is a loose paraphrase of what he said) The story I'm telling is not about sex but forbidden love - having feelings, but not acting on it. I don't need to put that stuff in my dancing." They pushed further and he replied "I'm a minister and refuse to compromise my beliefs." They (one female judge in particular - the one on the far left) told him she liked his dance but needs to get his "issues" resolved. WHAT?! And issue would that be, exactly? The issue of treating a woman correctly? The issue of placing sexuality in its proper context? The issue of telling a story in an imaginative and non-exploitive (and non-overly-obvious) manner?
I know he'll probably never read this, but props to you my brother! Way to represent! Way to stand your ground! That was a powerful dance (even though I don't get dance, I was moved! I was moved prior to even knowing it was about Solomon or that you were a minister) and how you handled yourself on stage against those ridiculous comments was great! Thank you for faithfully demonstrating what it means to be a follower of Christ and not selling out! That was a true demonstration of how Christians ought to live "in the world, but not of it" (and participating in the arts in a manner worthy of the Gospel) and an example I would be proud to put on display for my teens (my youth group) to learn from. Keep on, keeping on!!!
That's what "The Minister" on SYTYCD is all about Charlie Brown...

Note: I tried to find a video of the dance and his conversation with the judges to post here, but to no avail. Sorry. If I see it later I will post it here.