Holding the light

I went to see the Celtic Women perform the other night and they were great. I fell in love with them about a year when I saw them on You tube. Their sound is so pure and the music they sing is so wholesome and clean. I came away from the concert the other night wondering why this kind of entertainment doesn't sell out in every venue.

As a society we seem to crave R rated entertainment. Everything has to have either sexual innuendo or blood and gore. We crave action films where people are murdered and villains go up against heroes in profanity laced tirades. We go after television sitcoms where everything is about sex and drugs. We like rap music that speak about rubbing our bodies against each other and giving it up for love and Country songs that talk about booze and infidelities. Our mystery and romance novels tell stories that don't leave much for the imagination.

It made me question how a Christian nation can tolerate the degree of filth that floods our airwaves and grabs the attention of our young people. I am not suggesting censorship. I don't think that works. What I am wondering is why more of us don't just reject it all together. If we stopped watching objectionable television programs and stopped buying music and movies that contain language and corrupt ideas then things would have to change.

Unfortunately we have been brainwashed into thinking that tolerance means acceptance. We have come to believe that if we reject something, we are being intolerant. The truth is it simply means we don't approve of it for ourselves. If Christians stopped watching shows like Two and a Half Men and going to movies like Saw VI then the ratings would drop and a message would be sent.

We used to say the same thing about sports that began encroaching on Sunday mornings. We said if the Christians would all stand up and say our kids aren't going to practice and play on Sundays, the system would respond and change back. But too many of us backed down. A Roman Catholic friend of mine said he solved the problem by going to church on Saturday. Now practices and games and tournaments are the norm.

We've hurt ourselves with our inability to take a stand. What's worse is the fact that we have let Christ down. We have been called to be a light in the darkness and it has swallowed us up. But there is still a flicker and you and I hold it in our hands. What are we going to do with it?

Cal