Sunday, March 23, 2014

Heroes & Villains: From Martin Luther King Jr. to Barak Obama to Sarah Silverman - The Good, the Incredibly Bad, and the Hidiously Ugly

I don’t know if it’s a good thing that I’m always looking at people, particularly famous people, and trying to decide who I like, who I don’t like, who I might want to emulate, and who I think is a complete idiot, or worse, deceiving.  This gets complicated by the fact that one person cannot truly know another person, especially from afar, or that people change over time.  For instance, men like William Wilberforce and CS Lewis started out as atheists, and then matured into true Christians apologists.  If you go by who they were in their teens, they're not much in the way of role models.  Additionally, it's been revealed all too many times that those I think highly of have skeletons in their closets – perhaps they wronged somebody sometime, or they have issues with the bottle, or their brand of Christianity is a little on the strange side – and other people may not care for them for whatever reason strikes their little fancy.  But I still see attributes within them I find admirable, for one reason or another.  I see strong caliber of character within them.  Then we have the other end of the spectrum; people of low character.  These people may also have their supporters, but I am not among them, and I usually find I have a very different worldview from them and their supporters.  Like them, I have made my choice of what to believe, and the more I see, the more I stand with my conservative Christian brothers and sisters.  I don’t discount a possible attempt at goodness or some admirable compassion among the liberal, secular crowd, and in fact, I have less issue with them believing in what they believe than I do with the conservative Christian crowd fighting for their same liberal causes like abortion and gay marriage.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes.  It’s one thing for a liberal atheist to fight for the right of a woman to treat her unborn baby like a parasite or for a couple of gay guys or lesbians to get married, or to force the private owner of a cake shop into making a cake with a tiny little same-sex couple on the top.  It’s quite another for a Christian to support Planned Parenthood or see the wedded union of a same-sex couple as something holy and ordained by the Almighty.  In either case, their hearts may be in the right place, but that still doesn’t make it moral.   My view falls right in the line with the conservative right, and in fact, although I can understand why a leftist liberal will fight for their liberal causes, I still don’t understand how a Christian can.  If you are reading this, and you are a liberal Christian, perhaps you can explain it to me, because I really don’t understand how the two concepts can go hand in hand.  In my mind, to be a liberal Christian is an oxymoron.
            With all of that said, here are a few lists of five people I admire greatly, five I admire with reservation, and five I either can’t stand or am completely disappointed by, and the reasons why.  At the very least, maybe you'll learn about a few people or events you didn't know about before, and can weigh what I think about them against what you believe.

I Love These Guys!

William Wilberforce
This Christian man, a former atheist, led the abolitionist movement in England at around the same time America gained its independence and its first president.  It was an unpopular move that jeopardized his political career, but he was determined to do exactly what his faith in Jesus dictated. (See the movie Amazing Grace)

Eric Liddell
Scottish Champion at the 1924 Olympics and a man of deep faith.  He didn’t compete in his strongest category due to rigid, unbending athletic schedules that conflicted with his faith, but ran in another category for which he was not as well suited, the men’s 400 meter, and still won!  Then he became a missionary.  (See the movie Chariots of Fire)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Author of the modern classic Christian book The Cost of Discipleship, this German Lutheran pastor showed everyone what the cost of that discipleship really is when he spoke out against the Nazi’s and died in a concentration camp in 1945!  Check out the great book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxes.  In fact, the first three people on this list are documented in Metaxes’ book Seven Men, which also profiles George Washington, Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II, and Chuck Coulson.

Martin Luther King Jr.
Leader of the much needed Civil Rights Movement, King was martyred in 1968 before the age of 40.  King dreamt of a day when his “four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and that “little black boys and girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and girls and walk together as sisters and brothers,” and a day when “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”  I think he would be appalled to see what has become of that dream now, and how his name and ideas are being thrown around by race-baiters and people who don’t understand exactly what he stood for.



Dinesh D’Souza
This Christian philosopher, political commentator, and best-selling author has become something of a modern day touchstone for me.  Like CS Lewis, I see in D’Souza a wholly intellectual walk with God in a land where Christians are looked down upon as simpletons and idiots by the supposed intellectual giants of the scientific and educational realms.  Dinesh shows me that loving God with our minds, in any field of study, is more than just a possibility, but our duty as Christians.  The truth is that atheists and evolutionists do not have a lock on intelligence and wisdom.  In fact, like the rest of us, they are peons compared with the mind of our creator.  Yes, even Stephen Hawkings.  We Christians are not idiots, we have many learned men in all walks of life and fields of study, and we’re not going away.

I Kind of Like These Guys Too

 
Paul Walker
There’s that whole question about a 33 year old man dating a 16 year old girl, and I’m sorry he died and he’s not here to defend himself, but compared with the guys above, his Christian walk has to be called into question here.  Yet in a land where Christians are few and far between – Hollywood – I find myself liking guys who are still outspoken about their Christian faith, and I enjoyed this quote from Walker:   “I’m a Christian now…I go surfing and snowboarding and I’m always around nature.  I look at everything and think, ‘Who couldn’t believe there’s a God?  Is all this a mistake?’  It just blows me away.”  That an actor in the wildly successful Fast and Furious franchise publicly admits that he's a Christian may only be a small step, yet it's still a step in the right direction.

 Vince Vaughn
Likewise, you expect movie stars like Vince Vaughn to simply tow the usual Hollywood party line, especially after being in movies like Old School, Wedding Crashers, and Couples Retreat, showing that he’s been on the current cutting edge of raunchy comedy for quite some time.   Still, it feels like a little battle has been won to hear someone like Vaughn say something like this:  “I’m very supportive of Ron Paul… As you get older… you just get less trust in the government running anything.  If you look at the Constitution and the principles of liberty, the real purpose of government is to protect the individual’s right.”  Who would have thought that the comedian from Swingers and Four Christmases would have thoughts like this.  It just goes to show that, despite the overwhelming majority and influence of the power brokers of Hollywood, that old paragon of greed and stupidity, that a few of their denizens manages to still think for themselves.

Jack Osborne
Just when you’re ready to write off any of those nasty Osborne’s (which I did), along comes Jack on last season’s Dancing with the Stars, showing that there’s a real person behind all the usual drug-fueled, potty-mouthed trash pop culture, and that a person can grow beyond this upbringing and negative influences.  While Snooki, on the same season, was showing how she hasn’t matured one iota since she became a mother (and tell me again how she became a mother?) and does not deserve to be a celebrity, despite her dancing ability, Jack Osborne, on the other hand, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, showed maturity and some growth of character, and also some ability to cut a rug with professional dancing partner and choreographer Cheryl Burke.  Although not on the “Love These Guys” list, I still love to see stories of redemption.  He may (emphasis on “may”) be one to keep an eye on.
  
Patricia Heaton
The Middle is a great show, from the mind of the woman who once walked out of an awards show hosted by the foul-mouthed Osborne clan in their heyday.   Good for her!  She’s one of the very few women in Hollywood, with or without a current successful TV show or movie, who is an outspoken conservative, and while most other sitcoms revel in outrageous raunchiness, her sitcom has a unique and refreshing wholesomeness about it that is sorely missing from most of TV these days.  Her strong character is reflected in her show in the writing, and the great thing is that the show is still a very funny half hour of television every week without being filthy.  While most other shows would embroil the oldest child character Axl in all manner of immoral smut during his college years, on this show, Axl has shown on a few occasions a bit of maturity when dealing with his parents and family lately.  What a great message to throw in there amidst all the Heck family hi-jinks: that faith and family are important!

Payton Manning
Despite that embarrassing Superbowl loss, Manning is a great quarterback, but what I like even more is his deep Christian faith.  Though he may not be quite as outspoken about his faith as the man he replaced on the Broncos, Tim Tebow, he’s still not ashamed to let anyone know that he worships our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He shows me that Christians are in every single walk of life and being a follower of Jesus is something for which you should proudly hold your head up high and profess with devotion and love.

Idiots and Liars:

Sarah Silverman
Like Kathy Griffin and Lisa Lampanelli, Sarah is one of those mean-spirited, hard-core, foul-mouthed, anti-republican comediennes whose comedy act amounts to cussing profusely, mocking all religions, especially Christianity, belittling anyone who is a believer, blaspheming Jesus, and supporting every liberal cause under the sun, such as free abortions and in-your-face gay propaganda.  Along the way, she’ll stuff in as many references to any kind of societal taboos, sex acts, and slang for reproductive organs and rear ends as she possibly can, usually mixing such references with statements about God and Jesus.  Really, who finds this trash funny?  Plus, although she can dish it out, she can’t take it, and was hurt by jokes about her age at the recent Comedy Central James Franco Roast.  Oh, that poor little hypocrite!  

Robin Thicke
“Blurred Lines” was one of, if not THE, biggest hits of 2013.  Thicke sang it on MTV next to Miley Cyrus while she was busy twerking and other some such depravity.  The song has a catchy beat, and upon first listen, it’s not too different from the rest of the over-sexualized pop crap on the radio these days.  I’m afraid un-poetic and brain-numbingly stupid lyrics are pretty common anymore, and in fact, this is quite tame when compared with Beyonce singing about blow jobs in the backs of limos:  “I know you want it / Can’t let it get past me / You’re far from plastic / Talk about getting blasted / I hate these blurred lines,” and later, he continues with, “You the hottest b**** in this place / I feel so lucky / hey hey hey.”  And then, as if to prove what great lyricists they are, we get this line:  “You wanna hug me / hey hey hey / What rhymes with hug me?”  “What rhymes with hug me?”?  Are you kidding me?  They couldn’t think of something a bit more poetic?  To make matters worse, there’s a normal video with scantily clad girls, and then an R rated version with nude girls.  Alan Thicke must be so proud of his son, and the truly sad part is, he really IS, just like Billy Ray stands up for his precious little twerker.  Thicke’s girlfriend left him about the time this song first became a hit, but I read recently that they're back together again.  Oh, joy!

Barak Obama
He’s a deceptive liar, and if you don’t realize that by now, what hope is there for you, and this country?  It’s not just everything that he’s been involved in since he was president that the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care about (if it was a republican president involved in these things, they’d be SCREAMING for blood, I tell you!), or that he gets involved in all sorts of things, such as race-baiting, that are beneath his office.  It’s the way he deceptively managed to pass that unpopular Obamacare, aka the “Affordable” Health Care Act, and that Ellen is selling to her zombie audience like a good little Nazi.  He continues to fundamentally change the landscape of our great country until it is no longer a country that we can even recognize anymore.  The majority of this country voted him back in.  It sucks for those of us who didn’t, but it basically means that, as a country, we now deserve whatever we get.  Thanks America!

Joe Biden
Not only is he an idiot, he’s rude and boorish.  If he was just an idiot, that would be one thing, but did you see the way he was with Paul Ryan at the VP debates during the 2012 elections?  In most school debate teams, his dismissive and condescending behavior would have gotten him dismissed almost immediately, yet he’s excused because, well, everyone just seems to love the guy (“What do you know, Joe?”) and they cut him incredible amounts of slack, and they say both sides have these same issues.  That’s simply not true.  I defy anyone to watch that debate and tell me Ryan was as bad as Biden.  There is a definite bias there that liberals just can’t seem to see.

Janet Jackson

I liked Janet Jackson and have bought some of her music over the years.  At least she’s not a pedophile like her brother.  (You heard me!)  Yet she’s far from perfect.  The perky, smiling little girl from the 70’s sitcom Good Times and videos like “When I Think of You,” “Miss You Much,” and “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” has, over the years, given Madonna a run for her money in more than just her backbeats.  Like so many female pop stars these days, she eventually went the sex route to sell her filthy songs.  Beyonce is probably doing it on a stage somewhere right now.  

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