A Response To #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken et al., and The Sexual Harassment Tidal Wave

(Photo Credit: cnn.com)

At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, we are in the middle of a cultural tsunami.  

Droves of women are coming forward to share stories of how powerful men (in the vast majority of cases) have sexually harassed or assaulted them.  It seems each morning people look to the news headlines to see if their favorite actor or politician has been the latest to fall.  For some the reaction is, "I'm not surprised".  For others, the response is, "I can't believe it."  And for most of us, it is a mix of both.

But what do we do in light of this cultural reality into which we have been plunged?

How do we as a culture respond?
How should the perpetrators respond?
How should the victims respond?

I want to offer 5 responses that I find in the life of Jesus and the teaching of the Bible.  

I realize that some who read this don't subscribe to the authority of Jesus or the Bible, and so my request of those people is that you consider the wisdom of Jesus, the Word made Incarnate (John 1:1) and of the written Word - the Bible - and see if there is not merit in what He says.

1. Mourn.  The Scripture clearly calls us to mourn with the hurting and broken-hearted.
Romans 12:5 tells us to "weep with those who weep."  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself wept at the death of His dear friend Lazarus (John 11:35).  When people are harmed or hurt, we are called to enter into their pain and to mourn with them.  I sincerely hope that God has given to each of the victims of sexual harassment or assault someone with whom that person can cry and mourn.  To be in a place of deep pain alone is a great burden, and so I pray that there might be those who can help carry the weight of this pain.  And for those of us who don't know any of the women who have come forward (or don't know any victims in our own circles of influence), it seems an appropriate response to ask that God would move us to mourn with and pray for those who have been hurt - even if it is at a distance.    

2. A Calling to Justice, Mercy, and Humility.  

In the Book of Micah in the Old Testament, God speaks to the prophet Micah and tells him that he and the people should live in a particular way.  This immediately flies in the face of our cultural climate, a climate that says live how you want to and define reality for yourself.  In contrast God tells Micah (and in turn the people to whom Micah will speak) what the 'good life' is.  Micah is told three things: to do justice, to love mercy, and to talk humbly with God.  

We see from this passage that God is not distant from our pain and that He calls us to seek after justice (we will look at mercy and humility later on).  And so people who have done wrong, though there is mercy offered in the person and work of Christ, are to be brought to justice.  And believe it or not, for those who are willing to admit wrong-doing (something often lacking in the response of those who have been accused), receiving justice can often be an act of mercy, a point of turning and transformation.  The point here is that while the Creator of Heaven and Earth offers mercy and grace, He also demands that we carry out justice and not overlook wrongdoing.      

(Photo Credit: mashable.com)

3. Repent.  The call to repent is all over the Bible.  Repentance is more than just saying, "I was wrong" because that statement merely acknowledges a fact.  Repentance is connected to remorse and change. If a person is repentant, he or she will acknowledge the wrong-doing, understand (in some sense) what the impact of the wrong was, and then turn from this evil.  Repentance implies a turning-around of one's life and actions.  While much of the information about these cases is still coming to light, I have to say that I have seen very little (from what I can read/tell) heart-felt repentance.  Many of the 'apologies' have been couched in a "I'm sorry my actions were perceived this way" kind of language.  This comes across as hedging your bets, trying to say sorry without having it cost too much.  This is not repentance.  I hope we will see more repentance and acceptance of responsibility from the perpetrators.  

4. Acquire Power In Order to Sacrificially Serve. The life and teaching of Jesus are often portrayed as nice, kind, caring, loving.  Yes, these describe a portion of the life of Christ, but the call of Christ is radical.  Jesus tells His followers to give their lives away in order to find true life (Mark 8:35).  He tells people that serving others is blessing (John 13:12-17).  And He tells us that power is given not to dominate and control others, but to serve them, and that the greatest is the one who serves (Matthew 20:25-28).  The ethic of Christ changes the power dynamic - the Christ-follower is called not to use power for self-aggrandizement but for love.          

(Photo Credit: valuewalk.com)

5. By the grace of God alone, forgive. This is the hardest point to share because the call is so counter-intuitive, but the case is clearly made in the Bible.  As I noted above, Jesus offered a radical perspective on life.  It was about love and not power, it was about caring for the least-of-these, it was about sacrifice and giving one's life away in order to truly find life.  And at the center of the life of Jesus Christ was forgiveness and love for those who - by any earthly standard - did not deserve it.  We do not have space to venture into the depths of theology on forgiveness from God, the sin of mankind, and so forth. But the narrative of the Bible is filled with this reality: Jesus came to die and offer forgiveness to sinners, and 'sinners' is a descriptor all of us can wear.  Even on the cross, Jesus prayed to God and said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."  About whom was He speaking?  About those putting Him to death, those taunting Him (Luke 23:34).

Who am I - a sinner - to tell the victim of sexual assault to forgive the perpetrator?
I freely admit I have never experienced what so many of these (and other) women have experienced at the hands of others.
I am not the person to tell anyone to forgive.
But Jesus did.  He called us to forgive as we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:5-15).
That kind of forgiveness comes only through a heart that has been changed by the power and Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:26).  This does not mean justice goes out the window, but it does mean that both justice and mercy can be mingled together.  A heart that can forgive great evil is a heart that has been transformed by God.  And He is a God who is able to change the heart.

(See below to watch Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott - a young girl killed in the Columbine School massacre).        

This is a messy time we are living in.
May God give us to grace to come through it with greater clarity and greater love.

- tC

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