Is Harvey Weinstein a Canary For Our Sexually-Shipwrecked Culture? Absolutely.

(Photo Credit - TheIndependent.co.uk)

Sometimes when you write a blog post about a cultural occurrence, it takes a long time to build an argument.  That should make sense - life can be complicated and we should want to stay from over- simplifying issues that are subtle or nuanced.  

In the case of Harvey Weinstein, the question I'd like to raise here is simple, and it is as follows.

1. The actions taken by Harvey Weinstein over many years in Hollywood are deplorable, heart-breaking, and sinful.

2. We are learning that this kind of behavior - while perhaps most notable with Weinstein - is, unfortunately, not as rare as we might like think.  While the details remain to be seen in many of the most recent cases, we are in the double-digits when it comes to cases of men in positions of power using their influence to sexually harass or assault women.

(Photo Credit: L.A. Times)

Here is my question:

While yes, we should be heart-broken for the pain that has been caused, should we be so shocked?

The reality seems to be that many, many Hollywood movie stars and people of influence in Los Angeles knew about Weinstein's actions and did nothing.  Thus it seems many of them were not shocked when it 'went pubic.'

And I'm not sure we - the average citizen in the United States - should be shocked either.

Without standing on a soapbox and preaching a 'we've lost our footing' and 'America was once a Christian nation' sermon (those kinds of sermons are often rooted in nostalgia rather than in reality), the question I am really asking us is WHY are we so shocked by this behavior?

We have given ourselves over to the gods of self-fulfillment, self-actualization, and self-aggrandizement, and yet we are surprised when people live out of these kinds of ideologies.  

We have rejected a myriad of sexual norms as we've elevated personal expression over fidelity and the psyche over the body.  These are not just norms held by Christians that we've rejected - they are norms the most civil societies have lived with for millennia.

We have - for all intents and purposes - said, "Do whatever you please when it comes to sex", and then when we see men abuse this kind of unrooted power, we are legitimately angered and saddened, but I am kind of shocked that we are shocked.

Yes, Weinstein is responsible. Yes, he should face the full legal ramifications of his actions.  

But are we brave enough as a culture to look into our own lives and ask how we have accepted and encouraged a sexual standard that harms others, a sexual standard that leverages power to prey on the less powerful.  Are we willing to see how we may have helped to feed the beast of sexual assault?

How do we respond?  

This will be addressed in a future post.

For now - be sad and angry, but for me - I'm unfortunately not shocked.

- tC 

Caitlyn/Bruce Jenner: Don't Miss The Point With This One

If you've seen the interview with Diane Sawyer from a few months back, you have some background on the situation surrounding the individual now formerly known as Bruce Jenner.  If you haven't been in the loop, let me quickly summarize what's been happening.

Bruce Jenner was a world-renown athlete who won the Olympic decathlon, thus claiming the title "Greatest Athlete on the Planet."  Despite the public attention given to him as the 'ultimate male specimen', Jenner has shared that for most of his life he has felt like he has the soul of a woman.  And thus he is now "she" - Caitlyn Jenner.  Various surgeries, procedures, and hormone therapies have been part of Caitlyn's regimen to become what you see in the photo above.  Bruce Jenner is now gone, and Caitlyn Jenner has replaced him with a new her.

There seem to be infinite angles from which a person could discuss this entire situation (if we can use that term 'situation' - I'm at a loss to some degree of how to properly describe Jenner's transformation).  Inevitably for a Christian, the issue of sexuality comes up - what is God's design, what does it mean to be male or to be female.  The topics of self-expression and self-determination are worth considering as well.  One might also want to discuss a shift in the culture that often affirms (at the lower end) and praises (at the upper end) these kinds of changes (Jenner is poised to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, an award given to athletes for showing "strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril, and willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost." (Click HERE for more information on the Arthur Ashe Award).

(Bruce Jenner - photo credit: Fox News)

All these topics are likely to come up in conversations around the world, around the table, around the water cooler, and even in the local church buildings and small groups.  And while the issues of sexuality, the culture, and other topics are part of it, we can't miss the key issue.

The issue is identity.  Jenner's desire to be true to him/herself is rooted in the idea that we as humans get to choose who we are and how we express ourselves.  While this is a more obvious example of self-defining, we all fall (more than we'd probably like to admit) into the trap of wanting to express ourselves on our own terms.  Jenner's fundamental flaw is all too common: thinking that if I get to define who I am and then I get to live out of that identity, then I will finally be happy.  But the reality is we don't get to choose our identity.  We are a creature, we are created, and thus our Creator has all authority to give us our identity and to tell us who we are to be.

Don't lose me here - I'm not focusing on the idea of gender identity, because while I am fully male, being 'male' is not my primary identity.  My primary identity is that of a child of God, redeemed by the Blood of Christ.  I am first and foremost a child of God, forgiven, free, loved, adopted, chosen, passionately pursued, and so much more.  But it is THAT identity that shapes all my other identities.  It is only in light of being re-born in Christ, I live my life as a male, as a husband, as a father, as a pastor, as  a friend, as a mentor - as everything.  Christ defines me and then shapes how I live out my life.

I want to be clear here.  I do not want to minimize the internal struggle that Jenner has gone through.
I also don't want to minimize the many people who may feel many of  the same struggles.  What I do want to do is point to the fact that this freedom Jenner feels is not a lasting freedom.  The Son must set us free to be who we were designed to be, and at the core of all humanity we are designed to be in relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Pray for Jenner.  Pray that true freedom and identity is found in Christ.  Christ alone can satisfy.

- tC