Now I'm a Little Freaked Out
Here is a story (or you can just go the video here) about all these celebrities making promises to be better people now that Barack Obama is President. They list the changes they want to make, ranging from working with UNICEF to smiling more to driving a more fuel-economic car to being more green to freeing 1 million people from slavery in the next 5 years, and so on.Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher pledge to be servants to our president. Another says he pledges to be of service to Barack Obama.
The celebrities together say "Because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek". They also challenge the viewer, "What's Your Pledge?"
This stuff seems benign on the surface, but underneath there are some really disturbing things that (should) make you go "hmmm". One is that, as a YouTube viewer pointed out, no political figure should be given this much devotion. He's a sinful, fallen man like the rest of us. Yes, he has the potential to do a great job as President, but he's still just a man. We don't owe this kind of allegiance, this pledge of service to anyone except God. Had we been born in a monarchy, even our service to the king would have been secondary to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another is that the celebrities seem to expect that just because they have made these pledges, we all should too. Why? Because they're the celebrities and we're just peons? Because we should all be this trusting and optimistic about Barack Obama's leadership, one day into office? Because anyone who was anyone should have voted for Obama, and now that he's in office we just need to jump on the politically correct bandwagon?
The third disturbing thing is, as the WND article points out, why did all these people wait until now to make these pledges to be better? Why not last week, or last month?
The final point I'm going to make is that it's great to try and be a better person, as long as we realize that we are not the ones who define good and evil. A truly better person would recognize that God has authority over all. He is the Creator, we are the creatures. Sometimes our promises to be better turn out to be self-righteous assertions of our goodness, when we need to humbly realize that, as Jesus said, "No one is good - except God alone" (Mark 10:18).
posted by Rob @ 1:25 PM
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