Monday, February 4, 2013

Super Bowl TakeAway


One of the best decisions that I have ever made was to not hook up a television in our new home five years ago. As a result when I walk into my home I have an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility. I hope that others feel that same peace when they enter through our door.

When the kids at the middle school find out that our twin daughters don't have a television at home they can hardly believe it. They ask them, "How do you live without a television?" After watching the Super Bowl at a relative's home last night; we think the better question would be, "How do you stand having a television in yours?" Please do not misunderstand me. I am not on a mission to rid the world of television. If that happened I would have no place to go to watch the Super Bowl. Who could possibly live without that? What would I do without a place to go to watch men wearing tights and helmets focus all of their attention on a pointy leather ball? How could I possibly manage without seeing goats eating Doritos, people dancing in tights while wearing pistachio nut costumes, or the elderly with the wisdom of decades making a midnight run for the border and the tattoo parlor? Child protective services should probably be sent to my house immediately and take away my children because I deny them their daily dose of such socially enriching programming. My poor kids spend all their time filling the air with music at the piano, and playing cards and board games with their parents around the kitchen table where only an hour before they had to endure the torture of eating a home-cooked meal and spend time talking about their day with mom and dad. Appalling! What is the world coming to when parents like myself are allowed to raise their kids under such circumstances! In the summer months they spend all of their time outside playing volleyball, taking walks, and reading in the shade -- utterly horrible!
They are being denied the American Dream. How will they ever fit in to such a vibrant cultural mosaic if they are continued to be denied the stimulus that modern culture provides?

I'm sorry, but the utter stupidity of what I witnessed and refused to witness (the half-time show) bothers me tremendously. I mean no disrespect to the players or the game of football. The game itself was a well-played game by both sides and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was everything else that surrounded the 11 minutes of actual play that causes me to stick my neck out with the expression of these thoughts. The message that was broadcast between snaps of the ball last night was that good parents wake up with an agenda full of fun and games for the kids and refuse to rest until the kids are satisfied. They don't even seem to mind if people are duct taped to the ceiling of their home! This dad minds! This dad will not be calling the cable company anytime soon and if I find somebody duct taped to my ceiling I can guarantee you that you will see my picture in the paper because I'm going to go nuts on somebody.

If you are worried about me, please don't be. I haven't gone crazy. The rest of the world has.

What I witnessed last night was the trampling upon of the offer of grace from a loving God. A deliberate slap in the face of righteousness. "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is time to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." -- Hebrews 10:29-31

"He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." -- Hebrews 10:38

May God awaken our nation before it is too late. May the righteous come out of their shells, stick out their necks, and march forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pardon me for coming out of my shell, but I just can't sit at the side of the road any longer and do nothing.

2 Comments:

Blogger Sarah said...

Amen! Well said.

February 4, 2013 at 11:11 AM  
Blogger Puritan Valentine said...

http://www.matthewpaulturner.com/blog/2013/2/4/about-that-beyonce-performance-being-like-soft-core-porn

This Matthew Paul Turner blog post seems to answer most of the issues you brought up here.

"But to put the halftime show in a special "porn" category while indulging in the rest of the experience without issue is inconsistent because you're cherry picking judgments to suit your own likes and dislikes. And then displaying those judgments in holier-than-thou fashion for your friends to read on Facebook. Talk about a disgusting display of everything that's wrong in this country.

But I realize that sex is a serious pitfall for some. Seriously, if Beyonce's performance (or any artist's halftime performance) bothers you because of your faith, then just turn it off and leave it at that. Don't brag about your decision on social media. Don't passive aggressively proclaim your disgust, either. Because doing that only makes one look like a self-gratifying tool who's bragging because they turned off Beyonce and now they're on Twitter telling everybody why, hoping that their personal convictions will receive positive feedback and make them feel better about themselves. And too, that person also comes off as a hypocrite."

I realize that you complained about the whole thing except the game of football. But the point still stands that Beyonce wore nothing worse than what a figure skater wears, yet people attacked her for "soft core porn". This kind of hyperbole is baffling to non-Christians. How can Christians expect to reach the world when displaying such a condemning attitude, or when being so intent on staying separate from the world also likely excludes most non-Christians from your life? This is one area where moderation should rule.

And, honestly, bragging about parenting and spiritual superiority does make people look like tools. Sort of like Pharisees praying loudly from street corners for all to hear. It's showiness that makes people look at you instead of Jesus.

February 14, 2013 at 11:25 PM  

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