You have undoubtedly felt the repercussions of what has been an absolute and clearly long overdue culture shift: the public condemnation of sexual harassment. Obviously, it isn’t that the problem is a new one. It’s been going on, well, since Sodom and Gomorrah. Nor is it the case that the victims of this scourge have only recently been willing to go public. There is plenty of evidence that victims of such heinous acts have been speaking out against it for years, while their pleas fell on deaf ears. Like the smallest fracture in a dam that turns into a flood of Biblical proportions, so the dam of sexual harassment has burst.
Naturally, you who are the Hollywood elite have quickly jumped on the bandwagon of righteous indignation to call these purveyors of perversion out for what they are, ravenous lions preying on the vulnerable. And the talking heads have been working over-time to analyze this phenomenon with the help of psychologists and cultural commentators galore. Everyone seems to be shocked beyond imagination. And the overriding question, even if left unasked, seems to be, “how could this happen?” Certainly, answers have been offered up. It’s a sickness. It’s a lapse in judgment. It’s a serious misstep. Thankfully, we have gotten beyond the “boys will be boys” attitude. Yet, I wonder if we are really digging deep enough, here. Sure, all of the titans falling is enough to “scare straight” any potential perp. Even so, there are a few significant answers to “how could this happen” that have been surprisingly absent from the discussion thus far. First, we must return to the righteous indignation of those of you who are considered the Hollywood elite. I appreciate your willingness to call a spade a spade. However, I wonder whether you have been willing to acknowledge your own complicity in all of this? Oh, I know, you didn’t harass anyone. But how many of you have acted in oversexualized films which glorify unhealthy sexual behavior? Do you really think that the “anything goes,” “if it feels good, do it” attitude dominating Hollywood productions hasn’t contributed to this tendency toward objectifying women, seeing them as conquests to be won rather than human beings made in the image of God who should be treated with dignity? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that what you are selling is sex and self-gratification. As one perceptive lyric puts it, “It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication.” Don’t get me wrong…I’m not arguing that oversexualized content justifies such behavior, any more than a rough childhood justifies violent behavior as an adult. We all must take responsibility for our actions! What I am arguing, however, is that it would be foolish to act as though your obsession with sex as an industry hasn’t encouraged this kind of sexually deviant behavior. In fact, to take it one step further, I would argue that you, as an industry, are not only guilty of encouraging sexual harassment, you are guilty of sexually harassment! I guess I can say “#metoo” after I was subjected to a movie preview for Fifty Shades Darker, the epitome of oversexualized content, while waiting for my PG-13 film to start. Every person in that audience could rightly claim sexual harassment in view of the semi-pornographic content just in the preview. But though Fifty Shades is the extreme, the reality is, the vast majority of what you pass off as entertainment contains gratuitous sexual content. “How could this happen?” You teach us to sympathize with those who are unfaithful to their spouses so they can pursue someone who excites them; you patronize us with portrayals of morality as outdated, irrelevant, and religious bigotry; and you speak mockingly and derisively of anyone who dares to challenge your liberal standards. Again, I am not saying this excuses sexual harassment, but I am saying that it is time you owned up to your contribution to this scourge. Which brings us to the second answer to “how could this happen?” that is conspicuously absent from this conversation: sin. We are sinful human beings. Like our progenitors, we have rejected God’s way and chosen what we think is best (Isaiah 53:6). You will never get to the root of this repugnant behavior until you are able to admit a repugnant truth—we are not born basically good, we are all born sinfully self-centered. We all need a Savior to forgive us of sin’s penalty and free us from sin’s power. Thankfully, we are in the midst of a season whose message is “Christ the Savior is Born.” Jesus, whose name means Savior, died on the cross to reconcile us sinners with our Maker. Or in the words of another great Christmas hymn: “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild— God and sinners reconciled!’” Hollywood, don’t ignore this wonderful come to Jesus opportunity.
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This is the first part of a well known saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Probably many of you are familiar with it. But for those who are not, it simply describes the natural tendency for us to be attracted to others who are like us. If you are at Starbucks and you see a fellow church member, you will naturally be drawn to them and greet them. Or if you are far away from home and see someone wearing a Seahawks' jersey, you might feel a kinship with them, even though the person is a complete stranger to you. I remember on our trip to Russia with SOAR seeing someone wearing a shirt with a big green “O” on it (for all you haters, “O” stands for Oregon, not zero!) and I immediately said, “Go ducks.” We are more naturally drawn to be with people who are like us.
Years ago, the church growth movement figured this out. They encouraged churches to seek a “target audience,” knowing that a church will grow more rapidly if it caters to a very specific group. They took the concept that “you can’t please all the people all the time” and applied it to church, creating services that would attract a narrow, homogeneous group. We even saw this phenomenon, to some extent, with the Mars Hill movement. Though it may not have been driven by church growth principles, this church certainly catered to a very specific demographic, twenty something urbanites, and saw explosive growth as a result. But some members of that movement began to see, early on, that what was beneficial for the sake of getting bigger numbers was not so beneficial when it came to enjoying the healthy diversity of the church of Christ. What does this have to do with Renton Bible Church? Well, you may have already noticed, we do not enjoy the perks of church growth movement numbers. We’ve never had a target audience, at least certainly not in an intentional way. In fact, if anything, at least during my nearly 15 years here, we’ve gone in the opposite direction, creating ministries that are less targeted to any specific demographic and more targeted to the diverse neighborhood in which we minister. With what result? Well, we haven’t seen the explosive growth in overall numbers proffered by the church growth movement. But we have seen numerical growth in one area: demographic diversity. What I mean is that our church has become increasingly diverse socio-economically, ethnically and generationally. I praise God for this reality because I believe it better reflects Christ’s Kingdom. As Paul says in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The more diverse our church is, the better we reflect this reality. And you may be surprised to know that by the most popular definition, we would be considered a multi-ethnic church. A multi-ethnic church is a church where a single racial group does not make up more than 80%. That is true of Renton Bible. Astoundingly, statistics say that only 2.5% of evangelical churches in the U.S. are multi-ethnic. Of course, many churches are unable to be multi-ethnic because they simply do not have the racial diversity of a community like ours. Regardless, I think it is wonderful to have this as one of our defining characteristics, right along with our emphasis on missions, children’s ministries, and Bible exposition. Having said this, I think we have to also acknowledge that our diversity doesn’t come without some obstacles. If nothing else, it goes back to the idea of “Birds of a feather flock together.” We are less likely to benefit from the natural growth that comes from having a narrower demographic. Additionally, differences create natural opportunities for misunderstanding and they can tend to be an obstacle to fellowship. Just as I am naturally drawn to someone who is like me, I am less drawn to people who I deem to be less like me. Let me just say, I am fine with these obstacles. If greater diversity means less numerical growth, that’s fine with me. If greater diversity means we must work harder to see the members of our body engage in meaningful fellowship, so be it. The challenges that being multi-ethnic present are well worth the blessings, not the least of which is better representing the diversity of the Kingdom of God (Micah 4:1-5). Even so, I think they present a healthy challenge for us as Christ-followers. How about you? How are you doing when it comes to making connections with others in our body who are different than you? If you are a senior, do you seek to connect with those who are younger? If younger, do you seek to connect with those who are not so young? If you were born outside of the U.S., do you seek ways to connect with those who are U.S. born? If you are U.S. born, do you seek to connect with those born outside the U.S.? If you are a Huskies or Cougars fan, do you seek to show love to any Ducks fans who may be in your midst? (Ok, that may have been a little self-serving, but it’s been a rough season!) Pray that God will continue to increase our impact in this diverse community in which we live. But pray, as well, that we will all aspire to more meaningful expressions of love and unity in our faith community (Ephesians 4:2-6). |
Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
June 2022
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