ONE Idol Who Invests His Fame

Lately I have been really down on the idols of our society. That would be the entertainment stars and the sports stars who have become more than just rich. They have become idolized. They lead an unreal life that is not just one of luxury, but of super-celebrity status, whom we grant permission to live outside the boundaries of decency and civility.

Many have taken this idol status and used it as a license to live lustful and deviant lives. Michael Vick is such a person. Lindsay Lohan is another. Believe me, I am not as upset at them as I am at our society that needs them and pays them. This world has lavished riches on them and they have responded by not only ignoring decency but by displaying their disregard for it.

Still others have used it for political voice. Over the past decade many celebrities have, for some reason, been granted a political voice. We all too easily gave a microphone to Rosie O’Donnell and listened to her “view” on politics as she bellowed her opposition into silence. There are many other idols such as Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon who also used their celebrity currency to push their radically socialist opinions into the heads of their unquestioning fans. I believe that for many of these people who have become political, the world travel and exposure have shown them scenes that are very disturbing. Not having a box for it and not having God in their lives they grasp at humanist socialist solutions and use their celebrity status to sell it.

Well, I have been amazed at one person who has used his celebrity status quite differently. This man is surprisingly a believer in Jesus Christ. His favorite scripture is also mine. John 8:32 “Know the truth and the truth will set you free.” He states in the following You-Tube session that he actually didn’t have much use for Christians or the Church. The interview is of Bono. His interviewer is Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Community Church. This segment is 8 minutes of an hour long session. Watch this segment and then click on the link to watch all of it. He sets the standard for how an idol can invest his celebrity capitol to change the disturbing things that he has seen around the world.

This is Segment 4. See all the segments of this incredible interview here. Find Segment 1 and go through them all.

Here is the question that is haunting me. OK Dave, you are not Bono. You don't have that kind of celebrity clout to change the world. But you are known in your world. You have capital with your friends and neighbors. Are you as motivated by Christ's passion and peoples plights to demand that their world be changed?

Galations 6: 7

How many of us are guilty of idol worship? "Never!" you say?

How many of us follow the lives of celebrities. You know, movie stars, sports stars, royalty, etc. How many of us buy their stuff, go to their new movies, go to their games, etc. I know I shouldn't be meddling with this topic. It is not fun to talk about it because we all have our favorites. But I am really put off by the Michael Vick thing. It has shown up as something that doesn't necessarily divide us, but as something that illuminates the size of the already existing chasm between us and the celebrities we worship.

We get a free look at the mental state of Michael Vick. Apparently he would throw two dogs in a pit where they would fight until one was nearly dead. According to Senator Byrd the fight would last for hours. Then Vick would take the dog that was losing and further torture it until it died. Each time, he would use a new unique way of torturing to death the dog that lost.

The ironic thing about what has happened the last few weeks revolves around the scripture, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galations 6: 7). I know God put dogs on the earth to be a loyal and faithful companion to us. Michael Vick's hobby and sideline sport was the brutal and grotesque slaying of these loyal animals. When he and his friends were caught, the prosecutors gave the friends plea bargains in exchange for their testimony against Michael Vick. Some people on the other side of this chasm were incensed. "Where was their loyalty?" Some statements were even made that those who ratted Vick out were as good as dead. Loyalty?

Now the NAACP in Atlanta has come out with an official statement that says Michael Vick should not be banned from football. After all, where is our compassion for Vick?

Compassion?

Further, today, Stephan Marbury, NBA guard for the New York Knicks told reporters that he didn't see anything wrong with what Vick was doing. "It is a sport! Is it any different from killing a deer?"

I feel like that AFLAC Duck after hearing Yogi Berra talk. My jaw drops open to speak but nothing comes out. I am not sure how Stephan Marbury goes about hunting deer, but, yes, it is very different.

The purpose of this rant isn't to heap condemnation on these wealthy idols of our society. The verse I quoted above isn't simply a Bible verse. It is a law, like gravity. We all get the fruit of what we have sown. But the purpose is for us to take another look at what our society's worship of these people has turned them into. They are not like us. They are more like the gods of Greek mythology who demanded worship but had no identity with the people at all. They have different values. The have different ideas about right and wrong, about justice. Occasionally we can make one of them face reality for brief moments, but rarely do we even want to lower them from the ranks of idol.

I want to do that now. Because of this Michael Vick episode, I am looking at super-stars differently now. They have been handed everything the world has to offer. But it is far from the abundant life that Jesus said he came to bring us.