“An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.” This is a quote from my favorite film, “Inception,” and it very accurately captures the motif of my concerns.
Ideas are everywhere, especially in the media and entertainment industry where messages are constantly given to people.
The issue at hand is that the media and entertainment is falsely portraying Christianity while making other religions seem more appealing than Christianity. Recently, there have been commercials about Scientology, which at face value appear to be powerful and persuasive. However commercials such as these are equivalent to the apple given to Snow White; appealing on the outside but deadly on the inside.
Another thing I noticed is that when I was watching an episode of “Glee” a disturbing and twisted conversation came up.
The dialogue went as follows:
Mercedes: “They say that 1 out every of 10 people are gay and if that’s true that means one of the 12 apostles might have been gay and my guess is Simon because that name is the gayest.”
Quinn: “Jesus never said anything about gay people, that’s a fact.”
Sam: “Well, maybe he wanted to but didn’t want to hurt Simon’s feelings.”
Even though Christianity is sometimes subject to terrible jokes in TV shows such as “Family Guy,” this was offensive and blasphemous because the four characters in “Glee” are in a “Christian” group called the “God Squad.”
“Glee” has over 1.2 million followers on Twitter and over 18 million people who “like” their Facebook page. Millions of fans are subtly being conditioned to view Christianity in a false light. What could be more harmless than a humorous TV show? Right?
Television writers have more influence over their audience than one may be aware of.
Don Draper from the TV show “Mad Men” made an interesting comment that “people want to be told what to so badly that they’ll listen to anyone.” With that in mind, commercials and messages from TV shows, movies or commercials can make a significant impact people’s perception of the truth.
Why is it that when it comes to homosexuality or any other questionable moral issues, the approach has to be “politically correct?” It seems that when it comes to Christianity, it is okay to mock and twist the truth. Universal truth no longer exists, and truth has become personal and subjective. The tragedy is that if people who are seeking God do not realize how twisted the truth has become in the hands of the media, they could be led down the wrong path.
Christianity has wrongly gained a negative reputation of being a religion best characterized by legalism, hypocrisy, condemnation and a judgmental mentality. Many people that I know do not care for Christianity for these very reasons.
I have faced these issues with people in the church and the only reason I did not turn away from Christianity is that I know it is the people, not God. The image frequently painted of God is not the true image of God from the Bible.
I do not find it surprising that some people avoid or turn away from the Christian faith. After all, no one wants to be condemned.
Many people both inside the church and outside it have a skewed perspective of what it means to be a Christian. When falsely professing Christians misrepresent the faith to nonbelievers, it can be very damaging. Over time, if the truth is misrepresented enough, then people begin to think that all Christians are hypocritical or that all churches are judgmental.
Those who truly profess Christ must battle the negative messages and lies about Christianity. The lost need to know who the real Christians are and what the true message is. We cannot let the world express who the followers of Christ are through shows like “Glee” or Family Guy. We cannot allow Scientologycommercialsorwannabe condemning “Christians,” to influence and capture the lost with lies that lead to hell.
The time has come to act and stop the lies.
