How to think about Jon & Kate
June 2, 2009
American Christians love their fads and celebrities. The ascendency of Jon and Kate Gosselin are a perfect example. Evangelicals are largely responsible for the Gosselin's popularity. Admirably, the Gosselins refused "selective reduction" when they discovered that Kate was pregnant with sextuplets. They are church members, their website features devotions, and they are known for their Isaiah 40:31 t-shirts. The evangelical mega-press Zondervan even published their bestseller. But the fact is we did not then nor do we now truly know Jon and Kate. But Christians were all too eager to contribute to their celebrity. Now, sadly as their marriage is falling apart on the national stage we should learn a lesson on the dangers of fame, materialism, and exploitation.
Julie Vermeer Elliot has written an insightful piece for Christianity Today concerning all the attention surrounding Jon and Kate Gosselin.
Read the entire article HERE.
And let's agree to be more discerning in the future.
Julie Vermeer Elliot has written an insightful piece for Christianity Today concerning all the attention surrounding Jon and Kate Gosselin.
As fellow Christians, we should have reminded the Gosselins that life is a gift to be received in gratitude, not something to be grasped, purchased, or sold. In many ways, the last four seasons of Jon & Kate Plus Eight is the story of a family that seemed to progressively lose sight of this truth. Of course, they had help along the way from TLC, from the show's producers, and not least of all, from their Christian viewers.
When the first few episodes revealed the earning potential of this "everyday family," Jon & Kate Plus Eight became a brand name that was packaged and sold. And many Christians were happy to comply by opening up their wallets and their fellowship halls. When the network and the couple were not satisfied with the money generated through high ratings and book sales, the Gosselin home was filled with product placements and the children were filmed for long hours each week. All the while many (though not all) evangelicals watched with undiscerning eyes. Somewhere along the line we, like Jon and Kate, seemed to forget the warnings of 1 Timothy 6:9-10:
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (NRSV)
It was not until the recent allegations of sexual impropriety arose that a significant number of Christians began to question whether Jon and Kate were indeed the examples of faithful living that we had imagined. Somehow most of us missed the long trajectory that was, day by day, moving them farther from a life of Christian virtue. Sexual immorality—whether actual or merely suspected—caught our attention, but the materialism, narcissism, and exploitation of children that preceded it was largely overlooked.
As such, the breakdown of Jon and Kate's marriage is but a symptom of the larger weaknesses of ethics in the evangelical community. We are easily seduced by wealth and fame. We are easily contented by the shallow rhetoric of hot-button issues. In short, we are easily deceived by cultural values painted in Christian veneers (or clothed in Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts).
Read the entire article HERE.
And let's agree to be more discerning in the future.
