Last week Charisma Magazine and a few other organizations broke the story that Christian comedian John Crist has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. The story breaks my heart, perhaps equally as sad, doesn’t surprise me. Since reading it I’ve been pondering the cost of American Christianity’s celebrity culture.
We love to put people on pedestals. In evangelical and reformed culture it’s those with impressive knowledge of Scripture who can preach moving sermons or write thought-provoking books. In charismatic and pentecostal circles it’s those who are gifted in healing, prophecy, and are seemingly more in touch with the Spirit than others. In wider Christian culture it’s generally musicians (Kanye West, anyone?), comedians, actors who profess the faith, and the like. Regardless, people flock to the celebrities we’ve set up. We seek their wisdom, their blessing and prayer, or simply to be in proximity to greatness.
The dark reality is that this celebrity culture sets those it exalts up for compromise, failure, and even suicide. Ultimate responsibility for a person’s actions are their own, but we as followers of Jesus ought to step back and ensure that the way we are viewing and treating the people around or “above” us aligns with God’s heart.
The curse of celebrity culture
“They love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:6-12
When someone becomes a celebrity they are somehow set apart from other humans. This is true whether they are celebrity on a national scale like Crist or on a local or organizational scale, like the senior pastor of a traditional church or your Bible study leader. Being set apart means that the people around them see their status or position more than they see the person, making it unsafe for them to reveal who they truly are if it doesn’t align with the public’s image of what they should be.
The pastor can’t safely share that they’re angry at God and bitter towards individuals in their church because that’s not what pastors are supposed to be like. The worship leader can’t reveal that they’re tired and haven’t felt truly engaged in worship for months lest they be labelled a fraud. The Christian musician can’t make it public that they recently realized that they actually weren’t truly following Jesus.
The same distancing that prevents Christian celebrities from revealing real, personal struggles also allows for those who are intentionally using their status as celebrities for personal gain and benefit to hide what is truly in their hearts.
That hiding, whether simply fearful or intentionally malicious, always has a cost.
The cost of celebrity culture
When a celebrity fails to live up to our picture of them there is generally one of two reactions: either crucified or their failure is kept explained away. Often there are multiple groups responding to the celebrity’s failure, each responding in different ways.
Crucifixions in our day manifest in outraged online diatribes, expulsion from the organization or community, refusal to hear or believe the celebrity’s side of the story, and ultimately a dehumanization of the one being crucified.
Keeping a celebrity’s failure secret involves “spin” – explaining away any accusations or errors, perhaps the bare minimum motions of repentance and addressing the issue, and no notable change in how things are operating.
Neither of these paths are right.
The correction of celebrity culture
If we want to follow a more biblical path in dealing with the inevitable failures of those we have placed in the positions of celebrity it must begin with the acknowledgement that even those in positions of influence are no more or less human than you or I. This requires at least four steps:
1. We must face the full, brutal truth of their sins.
That means we shouldn’t be surprised when a leader fails. After all, they are broken people in a broken world. It means that rather than ignoring or glossing over or euphemizing their sins, we acknowledge the brutal truth and harm done and face it fully. This is particularly crucial in our modern culture when it comes to sexual sin, an area where the church (particularly the catholic church in recent years) has a terrible track record of covering up seriously deep sin. Without acknowledging the full truth and its cost, we cannot make progress. But acknowledging that truth isn’t the only step.
2. Seek, as far as possible, to know their story before judging.
Part of the problem with celebrity culture, as mentioned above, is that we tend to forget the humanity of the celebrity figure. When we seek to know the person’s story we will discover their deep brokenness and their fallible humanity. Almost every sin has roots in some woundedness that needs restoration and healing. If you have the Spirit in you and know the depths that Jesus has saved you from, knowing the person’s story will naturally lead to grace-giving
3. Give the grace of God
Jesus’ grace is equally applicable to those who are national and international celebrities as it is for you and I. It is our responsibility to give those who have failed endless grace. We have no right to hold anger and bitterness towards leaders or influencers who have fallen short of our image of them. Instead we are to forgive fully.
4. Address the practical problems on a case-by-case basis.
Inevitably when someone in power fails or sins or causes there are a myriad of practical problems to address. But we need to realize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for failure. The path to restoration and the process of restitution will look significantly different based on the circumstances and the stories of those involved.
These practical problems also ought to be left to be dealt with by those who are directly involved in the situation. That means it’s inappropriate for those of us who are far-off, aware only of the contours of the story thanks to what we’ve read in the news or heard word-of-mouth to be passing judgment and declaring what the process of addressing those practical problems ought to be. Instead we should hold our tongues and trust that those who are closest to the situation will follow God’s lead.
John Crist and Jesus Christ
So how ought we to handle the circumstances and sins of John Crist? I’ll follow my own advice in the previous sentences here and leave the practicalities to those who are directly involved, but there are a few biblical truths that I think ought to be pointed out.
The way Jesus interacts with the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) is instructive. We don’t know woman’s back-story, but we do know that she’s been caught in clear, blatant sexual sin. It appears that Crist has been accused of the same.
When Jesus sees the woman caught in adultery, Jesus refuses to stone, or let others stone her. He defends her from her accusers’ wrath, but he also doesn’t ignore her sin. He calls her to repentance and a change of life: “go, and from now on sin no more” (v.11).
The Gospel response to failure followed by repentance (as it seems Crist has done) isn’t rejection and expulsion from the community. It is sorrow, embrace, and walking with the individual toward healing and restoration. And, equally important in Crist’s case – Biblical restoration includes doing what is necessary to serve the healing and restoration of those harmed.
Undoing the curse
Celebrity culture is a curse, but like so many things in our broken world I don’t think it’s something we can simply get rid of. What we can do, however, is take steps into what Jesus has done in breaking the power of the curse of sin and death. Breaking curses isn’t an easy or convenient path. It cost Jesus his life.
My prayer for John Crist, Bill Hybels, Mark Driscoll, and dozens of others – male and female – who have been in positions of authority and failed in some way, is that they would have a true community of people around them who will practice and preach the gracious truth of the Gospel’s healing power. That they would find restoration – not to their celebrity positions – but to who they are created to be in Christ Jesus. Let’s not let our celebrity culture prevent that from becoming a reality.
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