There was an interesting article in today’s World Net Daily (May 9, 2007) involving Rick Warren, the senior pastor at Saddleback Church in California and Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp (owner of Fox). According to the article Rupert Murdoch is a member of Saddleback church. I will say that this information caught me by surprise when you consider the totality of what is produced by the News Corp family, i.e. The Simpson, the Family Guy and a number of other products that push the boundaries of decency. I was however unaware that News Corp had purchased BSkyB and that it was in the process of building a lucrative pornography network under the BSkyB umbrella.
We to often hear that what a person does for a living has no bearing on church membership, or even in being a believer in Christ, that the secular is the secular and the church is the church and neither should interfere or cross into the other. This article, this situation if it is true is the perfect example of how this church/secular dichotomy is what is destroying the Judea/Christian western culture. I say that because if it is true, if Rupert Murdoch is a believer and follower of Christ as the article indicates then how can he reflect the work and person of Jesus Christ and still peddle and profit from the kind of anti-Christian, anti-life, anti-family, pro-degradation filth that not only pornography represents but also that some of the News Corp programming represents.
I am not questioning the faith of Rupert Murdoch, nor am I questioning, like the article indicates, the senior pastor’s Biblical responsibility to call sin as it exists in its various forms. What troubles me is how we, as a culture, can so easily dismiss sin in our own lives simply because it is what we do for a living. We have so easily compartmentalized our lives that we can rationalize a sinful lifestyle and yet call ourselves and truly be a follower of Christ simply because the secular world should never invade the religious world and visa versa.
I would ask Rupert Murdoch to examine his life and see if he is following not only the Great Commission of making disciples but also the Cultural Commission to redeem a world caught in the stain of the fall. This is why having a living out a Biblical/Christian worldview is so important. This is why the wall between the secular and the religious needs to be obliterated, this is why it so important that followers of Christ do all that they can to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission but also the Cultural Commission.
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3 comments:
An interesting post, thanks for reporting this. Unfortunately, I feel this is an obvious example of this segregation that you speak of. Do you think this is just another way for someone to justify sin? I mean this type of behavior was occurring long before we ever had a secular element in society.
Absolutely this behavior speaks volumms to the compartmenlization that has taken place in western culture. I personally don't think this a way of justifying sin, rather it si not seeing the behavior as sin since it doesn't effect Sunday morning. To me this kind of compartmentalization would seem to be unlivible, because of the overwhelming tension that has to exist inside the man. I think that no matter how much we try and justify this kind of compartmentalization eventually we will be forced to face the truth that are life doesn't reflect what we say we believe. I can't imagine a more difficult or a sadder existence, believing one thing with all our heart, and all our soul, yet living another way justifing it with our minds. Thereby truly living an unbalnced life.
In 2 Samuel 11 you can read about David and his sinful activities with Bathsheba. In Chapter 12 you see Nathan the prophet rebuke David’s actions. After getting angry with Nathan, David finally admits his sin and is forgiven. However in verse 14 you read “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
If we repent of sinful behavior we are forgiven, however the consequences of that behavior do not go away. Just ask the teenager who gets pregnant or the adulterer who contracts a sexually transmitted disease. In this instance David’s sin caused harm to the reputation of God through his people because he did not act in a righteous manner.
How often do we harm Christianity and allow our enemies to “show utter contempt”? Christians are a bunch of hypocrites is a common refrain. Unfortunately the hypocrisies are what get publicized.
We also are called to uplift and encourage fellow believers. I find it hard to see how spreading pornography does this. Even if every penny of profit generated from this activity were put into the work of Jesus Christ, it would never counteract the negative impacts. Pornography exploits the men and women who make the movies. Pornography causes sin in the men and women who watch the movies. Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Christians are to be models for others and a light unto the world. Sinful business activities are neither.
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