the artist/art divide

Last summer I spent a weekend at my great aunt's house in Visalia, CA (near Fresno) because of some financial problems with my grandma's sister's niece. Ya, its complicated, messy, and all that jazz, but thankfully all I had to do was drive and look pretty, so I didn't have to deal with all the paper and phone calls. Well, with nothing to do (seriously, only the God of Sarah could make the place less barren) my sister and I decided to go see a movie. While we were trying to decide what to see, one of my family members decided to chime in: "You can't see War of the Worlds, I won't allow you, I'm boycotting that film because Tom Cruise is in it."

"That's ok," I said, "I've already seen it anyway. I didn't like it."

"Good," they replied.

This is way back when Tom Cruise went couch hopping on Oprah and everything he said was either about Scientology or Katie Holmes and her openness to Scientology. So this person was either reacting unfavorably to his Scientology antics or his woman antics. If I thought it worth it, I would have continued the conversation and found out which, but I could immediately see that their emotional stance would have gotten in the way of a possibly enriching dialogue. So I just let them do their thing.

The reason I bring this up is because of a recent article I read at Christianity Today Online about one of the actor's in last year's movie End of the Spear. The movie is about the five missionaries who were speared to death in the quest to evangelize a tribe in jungles of Ecuador. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't comment on its merit, but I do have a few words to say about the gay actor Chad Allen who took the role of one the five missionaries. Ya that's right, gay. The article, titled "Christian Studio Explains Hiring of Gay Actor", was written to... well, explain the hiring of a gay actor.

And I think they do that quite well. But the bone I am eager to pick is the fact that they had to explain it at all. We Christians can be so egotistical at times. Our "greater-than-though" demeanor is the reason so many people don't give Christianity a second thought. And why should they? If we are always huddled in our holy buildings talking about how lost "those sinners" are out there and how much they need us and our message, we are bound to eventually piss them off.

I may not agree with the lifestyle of Chad Allen, but since when has anyone's life really been "agreeable". Mine certainly isn't. And, dare I say, your's isn't too shiny either. So to suggest that a sinner can not be a part of the declaration of love, goodness, truth, and beauty is to suggest that the whole world shut up.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23

To say that a sinner, a homosexual in this case, has nothing of value to contribute to the world is a statement based on nothing but discomfort and hate. We don't like the idea that a homosexual might have something to say or show us that might be enlightening, so we just label him an outcast. We avoid talking to them, and distance ourselves from them in hopes that they will never come around and make us feel uncomfortable or wary.

I am a fan of classical music. All music really, but especially classical. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Piano Concerto No. 1 are absolutely beautiful, and I have yet to find someone to disagree with me. But Tchaikovsky was a homosexual. So that's it. Your kids can never listen to Tchaikovsky again.

And while were at it, why don't we just take all of Michael Jackson's records and burn them in our back yards whilst chanting "Jackson's going to hell!!!" like good little soldiers of God.

The Passion of the Christ, a movie about the very act that has given humanity a ticket out of the fiery lake of hell, was created by a self-proclaimed drunk. Mel Gibson.

A lying and conniving drug addict has brought many people to Christ. Ted Haggard.

And some of the greatest men (and writers) of the Bible were liars, adulterers, polygamists, and murderers who went on to become warriors of God that put most of us to shame.

Am I suggesting that we overlook sin? Absolutely not, but we also shouldn't overlook God's knack of using the most sinful of us all for some of his greatest of achievements. Boycotting a movie because an actor's life isn't the way we'd like it to be is just as foolish as boycotting books of the Bible because some its writers' lives were not the way we would have liked them to be.

As far as my venture to the theater that day, we ended up seeing Fantastic Four. Oy vey! I would much rather have seen the disappointedly mediocre War of the Worlds again...