Christianizing Pop Culture

Tonight I wanted to introduce a concept I call "Christianizing". Christianizing is taking some secular (or "of the world") and tweaking it to make it "Christian". It's important to note that the secular being Christianized is not intrinsically bad or evil, but it's not definitively "Christian". So, in order to justify listening to certain music or reading certain books or watching certain movies, we as Christians try to either invent Christian undertones in the work or we take the work and tweak it to make it Christian. We're going to look at some examples of both today.

The first I want to cover is a growing trend of people writing books that invent a Christian undertone in popular works of literature. One example is Harry Potter. I'll leave the debate about whether Christians should or should not read the series for another time. However, what we can look to is that the books were not written with Christian themes or elements in mind. However, several books have come out that try to say just that. Head on over to Amazon.com and search for "Finding God in Harry Potter" (or click here and I'll do it for you). The very first result is a book entitled "Looking for God in Harry Potter" by John Granger (hey, that is pretty similar to what I said to search for!). From the books own description the author "contends that Rowling is writing in the tradition of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Are they just a good read, or do they nourish the soul as well?"

I think it's very important at this point to say that yes, I have indeed read and thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter series. I have also read Tolkien's works and some of C.S. Lewis and I can tell you that yes, the Harry Potter series is written similarly, but not in the sense the author is saying. Both Tolkien and Lewis were professed Christians when they wrote their masterpieces (The Lord of the Rings saga and The Chronicles of Narnia series, respectively). J.K. Rowling has made no such claim and some aspects of her life point to her not being a Christian (that doesn't give Christians an occasion to judge, but since only God knows the heart, I'm working with what I've got). Also, the thematic elements in Tolkien and Lewis are the central emphasis of the books, whereas in the Harry Potter series, they are more to push the story along and have you rooting for the right side (we all love a good underdog story, don't we?).

Another series that pushes this ideal of over-emphasizing Christian themes to justify reading secular material is the "The Gospel According To" series. What they have done is gone through secular life and grabbed popular materials to "Christianize". They cover everything from Disney to Dr. Seuss to The Simpsons. While these books do indeed point out the good aspects of these various works, whether they be TV, movies, or books, they are often used as a way for Christians to justify reading/watching/partaking. Reading Dr. Seuss is not a bad thing in and of itself, but most of the books are pretty empty of real content or values. Dr. Seuss is a great example of something that is neither good or bad, just kind of there. What books like "The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss" try to do is make an arguement that the books are indeed Christian by making weak arguments and real stretches to connect the dots. Again, Dr. Seuss isn't bad, but don't try to make his works into a great theological work.

One more example I'd like to cover is the realm of music. I personally listen to sports talk radio and Air1 (http://www.air1.com/). Air1 plays both Christian music and clean secular music. It's important to make the distinction that there are indeed two different types of music being played. What some Christians do is listen to a station like Air1 and hear music by "Lifehouse" and "The Fray" and tweak the meaning of the songs to make them reflect Christianity. This happens most often to love songs. Christians like to take that love song and tweak it to be talking about Jesus or God instead of the person the song writer intended. It's important to say right here that there are indeed wonderful love songs written to both our God and our Savior, but in order to justify and "Christianize" other artists, we change the meaning of ANY love song to be about our relationship with Jesus. Love songs referencing a godly love between a man and a woman are perfectly fine (you may have heard of this little book called "Song of Solomon" or "Song of Songs", depending on your translation). Love songs to our God and Savior for all the wonderful things they have done for us are great too (you may have heard of the book of "Psalms" too). However, it's important to remember that not all love songs were meant to apply both ways.

When it comes to Christianization, what we need to ask ourselves is if we really need a book to point out Christian themes and elements, should we really be involved in the first place? Like I said, I have read the Harry Potter books and I enjoyed them, but I don't pretend that they strengthened my relationship with Christ. So the real question is, if it doesn't strengthen my walk with the Lord, then what DOES it do?

The Bible tells us to not be "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2). I'm not supposed to try to fit in with the world around me. I'm supposed to stick out like a sore thumb. The calling of Christ pushes me to transformation. Instead of looking like everyone else, I'm supposed to look more like Christ. It's become a cliche over the past 10 years or so, but I'm really supposed to ask myself, "what would Jesus do?" Would Jesus read Harry Potter? Would Jesus watch The Simpsons? Would Jesus listen to "Lifehouse"? If Jesus is the true standard of my life, then everything I allow in is supposed to please Him. What Christianization does is makes us conformers. It trys to make us look just like everyone else. We are supposed to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16). We're supposed to shine the light of Jesus and direct all people to Him. If we look and act just like everyone else, no one will ever notice us, and we won't be pointing the way to Christ.

Tools: CovenantEyes

Today we have our first guest post. I asked Charles Baldon (charlesfreedom.blogspot.com) to write a post on a great tool for helping to keep the Internet safe: CovenantEyes. He started using CovenantEyes years ago, so he knows more about it than anyone else I know. This is the first in another ongoing series that will focus on tools we can use to live our lives in a more Christ-like manner in today's culture.




Be careful, little eyes, what you see…

The Internet is an amazing place, offering us instant access to information that once took weeks to research. We can share information with friends and family with the touch of a few buttons. We can get more work done faster than ever before (if our employers have blocked YouTube and Facebook at work). The Internet has become a virtual reflection of our culture expressed in a million digital ways… which means there is a large portion of the Internet we need to avoid. Enter Covenant Eyes (link to site): as a Christian and as a parent, this software could become one of your best friends online.

Our society eats, sleeps and breathes sex. Go to the grocery store, and examine the covers of the magazines you'll find there. Turn on the TV and watch almost any prime time show. Go to church, and watch how people dress (ladies, your husbands are noticing, even if you aren't). Online, free and easily accessible pornography is everywhere. And over 70% of men and over 20% of women are struggling with it.

What is Covenant Eyes?

Covenant Eyes (CE) can do 2 things. First, it will monitor every site you visit online, scoring them for potential inappropriate content. It then emails your browsing history once a week to your accountability partners, who receive a report and can see where you have been online. The scoring system makes it easy to spend a few minutes with the report and be able to hold you accountable. Secondly, CE can be filter, blocking sexual content and protecting your family's purity.

Covenant Eyes as accountability

Internet pornography is deadly to us because it is a private sin. We can "get away with it" and we have a very good chance of never being caught. Browsing histories can easily be deleted. All traces of where you have been online can be removed. But what you have seen can never be unseen. What we need is accountability. We need our Christian brothers and sisters to look us in the eye and ask us tough questions. Covenant Eyes is a great tool, but it's not perfect and it needs a human touch. Pick two of your fellow Christians who will commit to reviewing your reports, and calling you on things they find there. Is this comfortable? Absolutely not! Is it vital to our spiritual lives? Absolutely!

Covenant Eyes as a filter

My first rule for my kids online is that they are never online without my knowledge – this is where many parents go wrong, thinking that their kids need "space" or "freedom." Letting children (even older teens) online without teaching them good rules for behavior is like letting them play in traffic on the freeway. The Internet is a dangerous place, and our kids need more protection when in it, not more freedom. With CE, you have the power to log them in if you'd like, or you can give them a login to use. Because even the simplest Google searches can lead to questionable sites, it doesn't take long for bad things to happen. Using CE as a filter, these sites (for example, YouTube) are blocked. A page will come up calling for an authorized user to either allow access or not. This lets parents be parents, and kids be safe.

What does it cost?

The price for Covenant Eyes varies, but in general the monitoring runs $7.99/mo and the filtering runs $5.99/mo. It is not just a one-time fee because the Internet is constantly changing, and CE is constantly updating their scoring and what they are blocking. In my experience, the cost is very small compared to the cost of not having it. Coming up with $15 a month is not a problem for the large majority of us, it just depends on what our priorities are. What is your – and your family's – sexual purity worth to you?

But I don't have a problem with…

First of all, most of us men DO have a problem with pornography, we just don't like to talk about it because we are embarrassed and ashamed. So we need the accountability online that CE gives us. And if you truly are in the minority that don't have a problem, great! Installing CE removes any temptation you might have while online, keeps this terrible addiction from developing, and it also protects your family. Either way, the need for protection is there, and Covenant Eyes is the best thing I've found to offer it.