The Big Picture Podcast 27: What Else Could We Expect?

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As I record this week’s podcast, we are a couple days removed from Miley Cyrus’ performance at the MTV awards, and it still seems to be the topic on everyone’s mind. As the stepfather of a twelve year-old girl, it’s certainly been on my mind (and my wife’s, too for that matter). So I think it’s worth devoting a podcast to discussing it, and then hopefully putting it out of my mind forever. Because it just might be a sort of cultural turning point, but one that can go a couple of different ways.

Here’s what I mean. The pretty much universal shock and condemnation of the show, even by the liberal cultural elite, is encouraging, although to me it’s a day late and a dollar short. Why anyone who’s been watching MTV for the past 30 years or so could be shocked by anything that network puts out is beyond me. But apparently even the very same entertainment industry and cultural elites that’ve been promoting the complete sexualization of our society and our children, still have enough moral sense to realize there are limits.

So that’s the bright side of this.

It might be a cultural turning point for the better.

On the other hand, like so many other outrageous things like this, the expressions of outrage could cause a rebellious reaction by the very kids we’re so concerned about, especially young girls.

Miley Cyrus could be seen as the victim here. Because to many of our children’s ears, it has to ring hollow that the same grown ups who for years have pushed non-stop sexuality on them, not to mention modeling complete sexual irresponsibility to them, are now acting shocked, shocked I say, that someone might actually go too far at a rock and rap music awards show!

I’m sorry, but why would we think something like this wouldn’t happen?

From the accounts I’ve heard, many young people are shrugging off Miley’s performance.

What’s the big deal?

We’ve pushed non-stop sexuality on our children all their lives, and now we’re surprised that sweet innocent Hannah Montana’s turned into a twerking stripper? A stripper, by the way, who before ‘twerking’ with Adam Thicke was singing her hit song about an all night orgy of partying and drugs.

If I were a young person today, I probably wouldn’t buy into the outrage either. So maybe the dark side of this cultural moment is that our children are calling their parent’s and their society’s bluff. This is what we’ve made them. Don’t like it, tell it to the mirror.

So when I look at our beautiful and still innocent daughter, I can only tell her that she can rise above her societies expectations of her. She has a choice, we all have a choice.

Miley Cyrus had a choice.

She chose, for reasons all her own, to go down the road too much traveled. The wide, easy road that will get you fame, money and attention, but like so many child stars, will likely take your health, your dignity and maybe even your life.

Hopefully she’ll turn herself around, and soon.

But our daughter doesn’t have to take that kind of road. There’s a narrow, but well lit road that’s higher and better. Her commitment to God and His risen Son is going to be sorely tested as she goes through life in our crass and sexualized world. But she can be redeemed and set apart from it, and hopefully her mother’s and my influence will help prepare and strengthen her and help her stay on that narrow path.

And THAT is what I’m hoping is the real bright side of this cultural debacle, that more Christian parents of young girls, and boys too, will finally get serious about modeling Godly behavior and actually discipling our children and raising them to Christian maturity.

Maybe now we’ll see that we can’t selfishly or lazily leave our kids in front of the TV or iPad, or drop them off at the theater or whatever else it is that we do in the moment, for convenience because we’ve just got more important things to do.

And maybe we’ll begin to say no to our kids.

No to those shorts, no to that video game, or that movie or concert, or whatever it is. If that’s the cultural turning point of this sickening display, if our children begin to see that we take our faith and morality seriously enough to make the effort to pass it on to them, then praise God, He’ll have redeemed a pretty sad cultural moment.

Here’s hoping.

In closing, this week’s nominee for the Great Cloud Of Witnesses, is a young, unnamed girl, in whose example we can see that there are stories and role models to inspire our girls, and to provide a more than adequate alternative to Miley Cyrus. Whoever this young lady was, she is no doubt looking down on us and our children from the great cloud of witnesses.