Well, yesterday was interesting. I wrote a post and put it out there as usual, expecting my usual 150-ish people to read it, and somehow it got passed all over the world. I generally don’t write for all over the world. No, I write for my friends and family, and I consider them my true audience.
I started this blog because I wanted to leave something of myself for my children to read when I’m gone. I wanted to leave a legacy of faith in Jesus, and a testimony of how real God is and how He has worked in my life. Despite all of His work on me through the years, I am still plagued by plenty of weaknesses. But, I’m learning to depend on Him and trust that where I am weak He is strong, and He can take my okay-ness and do something good with it. I am trusting that is what He is doing with the Matthew McConaughey post from yesterday.
If you’ve read the comments, you know that I was not a popular person in lots of different circles yesterday. Many people felt like I was judging Matthew McConaughey. I was certainly judging the content of his movies. I think that it’s okay for me to do that, as a Christian. I didn’t watch the movies, but I get information about the content of movies and television shows from a great website called pluggedin.com. I don’t enjoy watching movies that are filled with sexual content and foul language, even if the overall message is good. I think explicit sex scenes are spiritually harmful to Christian people.
Yesterday’s post was not about whether Matthew McConaughey is a Christian. It wasn’t about whether I am better than him or worse than him. It wasn’t even about him thanking God in his acceptance speech. The post was a reaction to what I was seeing on the internet in the hours following his speech. What I saw was Christian people reaching up to that stage in Hollywood to cling to Matthew McConaughey’s nice tuxedo jacket, to hang on to his coattails and excitedly exclaim that he is one of us. That he validates us and he makes our God more acceptable, and if Matthew McConaughey is going the praise the Lord, then that must make our faith worth more. I didn’t want us, as Christians, to feel like Matthew’s speech somehow legitimized our trust in Jesus.
This is my little corner of the internet, and I try to fill it with truth. I certainly don’t hold myself up as an amazing example of Christianity. I fail. A lot. But, this is my place to be honest with fellow Christians about the wonderful things and the difficult things about being a Christian in our current world. And, that’s all I was doing yesterday. I was trying to speak the truth.
One person asked what I thought Jesus would think about my blog post yesterday. I don’t presume to speak for Jesus, but I pray that He, knowing my heart, has taken what I said, in all its imperfection, and done something good with it for His kingdom. I know that He can bring beauty from ashes, in my life, in Matthew McConaughey’s life, and in this little blog that suddenly got big for a day. It was an interesting experience.
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Well, I’ll be honest. I liked M McC speech. In a place like Hollywood where God’s name is mostly a cuss word, I appreciate anyone who will thank God for what they have. On the flip side….I agree with you about the response of people making him a Christian hero. We don’t know his heart, nor can we….only God does. I know he has been in good movies and some questionable movies… I forgot about Magic Mike (didn’t see it), so that makes one bad movie. My bottom line is: Thank you for writing this blog (both days). It helped put into words what I was thinking AND told me more about a movie I was considering seeing and definitely won’t now. Also, thanks for the website that talks about movies…I’ll be checking that out.
I was a gossip in the BERNIE film in which MMc played our DA Danny Buck Davidson. I can say from personal experience that he is a jerk and loves no one but himself! I wouldn’t walk across the street to spit on him if he were on fire! Trude Christians LIVE the life not merely “talk the talk!”
Teresa- You wouldn’t walk across the street to spit on him if he were on fire?
Please stay of Christian sites if you are giving to post crap like that. This is the reason people think Christians are awful. Stop judging people, or at very least be smart enough to not post it publicly.
So many self-righteous people on here judging a man they’ve never met and complaining about a film (based on a real life story) that they’ve never seen.
Shame on all of you.
Lol!! You wouldn’t spit on him if he was on fire? Really? Is that your example of “walking the walk”. If so, you have missed the mark.
Melissa,
Good for you. You got it right in the original post. Don’t back down.
I agree!
Reblogged this on Current Events in Light of the Kingdom of God and commented:
And, once again (see the previous post), is the Christian lady who got it right regarding Matthew McConaughey. God forbid that she should back down. If Matthew is indeed on the path of righteousness, then we’ll see some changes in his public behavior. And we’ll be glad to affirm him when he does. Until then, however, God is not in need of, nor desirous of, mere lip service. God doesn’t care about celebrity. God bless Melissa Edgington.
Amen.
Melissa,
I have only read two of your blogs, but you sound humble and grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep shining His light in your corner of the Internet!
“you’ll be glad to affirm him once he changes”….I hope that one day someone will preach the Gospel to you..
You are spot on. No you were not judging Matthew. You were pointing out how quickly Christians can easily make tangible gods of popular/famous people whose work can so easily draw us away from The One True Living God. Nothing wrong with validating Matthew but that’s not a reason to watch a movie that could turn my heart and eyes away from Jesus. We must be on guard not to be influenced, we must give all honor and praise to God alone.
but what God was MM thanking? seemed to be Gd of self. I dunno..
I both read and shared your post yesterday on facebook. I thought it was well written and I agree totally with it. I think a lot of people just looked at your title and wrote a response without reading it and must have missed the content of the movie. I frankly believe if you engage in that activity and take the Lord’s name repeatedly and then get up and publicly thank him??? God must feel a slap in the face. Actions are louder than words and the Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice. I appreciate you speaking out on this subject!
he was playing a role people! he wasn’t the one acting in that manner. he thanked God as Matthew McConaughey, not Ron Woodruff.
How about if hookers take that attitude. It’s just their job but think of all the people they can be reaching!
Well, I don’t think your post was about whether he is a Christian but rather about whether he should be representing Christians and/or be lifted up by them. Um… the only one who should be lifted up is Jesus. I liked your post. And I’m a very, very unconventional Christian. Keep up the good work. Even if all of us don’t agree with what you say!
I agree whole heartedly with you on this. Like the song says that I learned as a child in Sunday school, “if you’re saved & you know it, then you’re life will surely show it”.
too bad that song is not scriptural
It kind of is…..see “faith without works is dead” and “if you love me you will keep my commandments” and “take up your cross and follow after me” and “give no appearance of evil” and “old things are passed away, behold I am a new creature in Christ” (am typing this one handed as I nurse my baby but will look up book/chapter/verse for you later if you like) – all verses that state or implh that you should know a Christian just by looking at them. Not saying that I or anyone else live up to this standard as we should, only answering your point.
Like, really like thxs
Keep saying what you’re saying! You were loving and nothing but sweet. Thanks for speaking boldly! The world, the CHURCH as a whole–we all need to think more this way. Protecting the purity of our hearts and minds and loving Him with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength will bring such blessing!
I was an evangelical christian for over three decades. You exemplify the judgemental closed-mindedness that I detested in the church. People like you aren’t the reason I’m an atheist, but you do make me happy to be one. Have fun isolating yourself, missing all the beauty and joys of this life, sacrificing the only life you have for an indifferent and imaginary god.
Were you really? Then what? You decided that Jesus was a liar or didn’t exist? Hate to tell you this Brian even though you probably already know it – if you ever really knew God and loved Jesus you would never say He didn’t exist. Me thinks you are the one who is a liar. I have served Jesus for nearly four decades, have been blessed to travel to over 50 countries and have seen the incredible beauty of His creation. I have an incredible family, great friends, and more joy than is containable. And it is all because of my relationship with God. You are blinded by your own pride and unfortunately are missing out on God’s blessing. That is the biggest sacrifice of all with zero return on your investment.
Well, yes, Tim, I was. Really. Then someone gave me a copy of the book “Misquoting Jesus” and I began to wonder. Now I know the truth: what I devoted my life to was a lie. I was miserable as a christian. I’m wonderfully happy and at peace as an atheist.
Brian, “miserable” and “Christian” are oxymorons. That is a slap across God’s face. Not sure what you expected, but Christ said that we would face many hardships before entering the kingdom of Heaven. He never said it would be easy. The true rest for Christians is in Glory and we are not there yet. I am afraid for you. If indeed you tasted the heavenly gifts, you are worse off than before. Read Hebrews 6. You are currently resting on false hope.
Brian, you don’t sound like someone who is “wonderfully happy and at peace.” If you were, I’m pretty sure you would not have said the mean-spirited things that you said to someone you don’t even know.
Brian, with all due respect, that is a very mean-spirited, judgmental, and closed-minded comment to a person who you know nothing about.
It is none of those things, Zak. I am not being mean-spirited, I am being truthful. I know only what she has admitted to: judging an actor for his work in films that she has never seen; isolating herself from the world and culture around her; refusing to engage in any form of entertainment or intellectual pursuits that might challenge her views. And I assure you, Zak, I am wonderfully happy and at peace.
As a christian I spent decades in a destructive cycle, trying to live up to christianity’s ideals and moral teachings. I grieved over lost friends because I knew they were in hell. I struggled and prayed and cried and repented and asked for wisdom and peace and love and a new heart from the entity I called “Father God.” Not much of a father. Or much of a god, really. Christianity was nothing but pain and fear and guilt and failure and a deafening silence from the god who was supposed to love me and guide me.
I couldn’t reconcile what everyone told me god was with my experience of god. It didn’t make sense … unless there was no god. If it were all a ruse then the deafening silence was perfectly understandable. “Misquoting Jesus” opened my eyes to how flawed the supposedly divinely-authored Bible really was. Months spent waiting to die in a cancer ward, watching others do so, convinced me of what I had known in my heart since I was first saved in 1977: there was no biblical god. It was all a sham. When a priest came by my hospital bed and asked if I wanted to pray with him I told him “No, thanks, I’m an atheist.” And from then on I have been.
The liberty and joy I was supposed to feel all of those times I asked for salvation or “re-dedicated” my life to Christ only came when I finally became an atheist.
Brian, perhaps the problem was not Christianity itself, but what you perceived Christianity to be. I don’t know you and I can’t know or judge what you have gone through in your life. I only know that my own relationship with Christ has been a source of great joy in my life, and it has rescued me, on multiple occasions, from deep depression and despair.
But this is not about me, and this is not about you. This is about Melissa, and how you have chosen to describe a person you don’t even know using hurtful, inconsiderate words. It doesn’t matter what you think she “admitted to” in her blog post. That doesn’t make your comment any less mean-spirited.
oh Brian, you were going through the renewing of your mind in Christ Jesus, I went through it also,I hated every bit of it but I stood my ground,I at times was only just holding onto the hem of His garment,I had so many things and people to forgive including myself and my emotional self so needed healing but today I feel such peace in my Lord Jesus,my Abba God and Holy Spirit.I will be praying for you
Started to write a blog on this myself but you pretty much took the words out of my mouth. I have a little blog that occasionally blows up globally. Criticism is hard to swallow but as long as you know God is pleased with you, then nothing else matters. Loved it!
Please take the time to watch Dallas Buyers Club. It easily could be why The Lord put MM on this earth. The Lord does not just work though squeaky clean movies like Frozen.
Jesus did not act out the life of a sinner in order to save sinners. The Lord works through holiness.
Yes, indeed! Blessed are those who lead the many to righteousness” (Daniel 12:3
Tim, you are talking sense. TY.
Dallas Buyers Club is a well-made, well-acted movie about an important subject. But that has nothing to do with the overall point of Melissa’s post.
Sarah, no way would Jesus want any Christian watching such filth,says in His Word to have nothing to do with such as these
James 3:13b “Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.”
Well everyone has their own opinion which is fine. But just because in some movie he was doing and saying things that all of you are condeming him for just remember it was a movie not his life but his job. Would you have rather had Woody Allen some little perverted man that should be hanging his head in shame and never taking a movie stage in any way be involved. Yes I’m from Texas and proud that Matthew is and alot of other people that are also. Don’t judge unless your ready to be judged for what you do this wasn’t his life just a movie and no matter what nothing is possible except thru the Lord in anything you do in this life. So stand proud Matthew as any Texan would what does other opions matter as long as the Lord is on your side and helping guide you.
So a hooker should be proud? ‘Cause sleeping around is bad but if it’s not their personal life but their job then it’s ok??
I love these “hooker” comments. Acting like a hooker, and actually being a hooker is different. Or are we purposely missing that?
Chyristina says: I love these “hooker” comments. Acting like a hooker, and actually being a hooker is different. Or are we purposely missing that?
So as long as there isn’t actual intercourse, all the nudity and rubbing and groping and fondling and kissing and licking and ______________ is not adulterous? Are we to assume from this then that your husband would approve of such a performance from his covenant wife and that you wouldn’t mind if he played the male role? How bout your children? Would you take your church to the debut of this artistic performance of yours? Or his? or theirs?
Most importantly of all the god you serve sees this as acting and therefore calls it righteous?
Please answer directly and without equivocation Chyristina. Would you or your family find the smile of your god in such a thing. Yes or no?
You were right on. Don’t ever be discouraged for speaking out like you did in this case. You make me proud to have known at BSF in Texarkana. You are doing a great work. You will never know how many of your grandchildren will be influenced by what you are writing.
Yes and my frustration is that I linked your blog post on Facebook and I did have several people that liked it but of course I had the, “I am judging comment.” Why is that always brought up to us. And that was from Christian friends and family. I’m sorry if I am holding up myself to what is God’s standard for me and my family. I get tired of hearing everyone else’s comments and posts and I am supposed to just agree with them!!! Ugh!!!
I have never read your blog before but read the original post as a friend shared it on Facebook. Then, I linked over to this post.
I just wanted to say, I appreciate you viewpoint and I found it well-written an d thought provoking. For all the people who gave you grief, they didn’t read your words with an open mind to understand your viewpoint and/or they just wanted to get riled up about something.
Keep writing. I enjoyed it.
I posted this on your original blog and after reading this I still must know. If Matthew’s risky confession of faith (He said FAR more than just that he believed in God) inspires even ONE person to embrace theirs, why would you want to take any of it away from them? That is what you could do with a blog like this. Matthew had absolutely NOTHING to gain by doing what he did. He put everything at risk as far as his career in Hollywood. That is what we as Christians are called to do. But it is no good because he has portrayed sinners in his movies??? I’m sure he never claims to be perfect and no one else is either so will you be using the same scrutiny to everybody? If only a person free from sin can be your hero then outside of Jesus, you will never be able to call another one.
I read both of your posts and understand your stance. But what I don’t understand is making it your business. If you are to judge films without seeing them based on content and regardless of message, what type of good are you doing? You are trusting and spreading someone else’s word. That is not being a responsible Christian, that’s like basing your treatment of another on dress or color of skin. Not Christian at all. So you take issue with Christians celebrating his win, great. But it doesn’t mean you are suited to call them out for it. For you to comment on what is wrong with those Christians is not very fair only with some film web site as your guide. So what, every film that paints a realistic picture of a person’s life is bad? Every book too? Are portrayals of sex in the written word to be ripped out by every Christian? Open your mind before closing others. Your ignorance of the film in which you condemn features a lot of what you speak, based on the real life story of a man that was that way. The sex was not explicit in the slightest, and in fact, the opening scene is done with shadows over most. It was a smart way to portray the darkness this character had and also the nasty, gritty life he led. Nothing other than story could be taken by that sex. That is all. It’s not appealing, not sexy, not tempting. It is story, like any book. The location also mattered too. It showed desperation. But I digress. His character was bad but he also started helping the sick and weak and castaways of society, along with people he initially hated, instead of maintaining his greedy ways. His life turned over. There was a lot of sacrifice and damning the world because what he was doing was right. Something very popular with another guy we respect. Do yourself a favor and break your comfort zone. Watch the film. Then feel free to rip other Christians for their favor if you are right. But until then, any claim to this debate in which you feel that you are not being “holier than thou” is false. You simply don’t know, and therefore, your opinion is invalid and false until you do what you should: do your homework. Obvious I know you are free to have it, we all have that right, but no one wants to be a blow hard ignorant to their fight. Otherwise I am glad to have been brought to the blog to read how Christianity differs from state to state. And I am glad that you are so convicted, but please don’t rain stones on another person’s parade if you never bothered to check the cloud first. Matt did a fine thing the other night and, even if he is not the Christian you want him to be, he has his priorities right in a place where it is hardly seen. And that all Christians should celebrate, as any time God makes His way into new areas is good.
Good work you are doing here.
God bless you.
I admire your boldness to follow up on your previous post, especially because your first post was written for friends & family while this post is written for thousands of strangers. Christ is and always should be the center of our lives, and both of your posts are gracious reminders to keep ourselves from idolizing others. I’m thankful for your honesty!
Matthew may well be on his way to Christ, either for the first time, or perhaps as a renewal to an earlier commitment. And he was photographed reading a book that could well do it (The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel). If he’s reading Christian apologetics, I thank God!
But your two posts on him really disturb me! First, which naive Christians, and how many, did you see or hear proclaiming that Matthew must be “one of us” because he thanked God? Thanking God is popular and a terrible gauge as to whether one is a Christian. You actually saw a significant portion of the Body of Christ heralding Matthew Mc’s salvation? If so, I’m much more worried about them than Matthew!
Secondly, If more Christians went to film school rather than Bible school, we’d make a difference! But I digress. My concern, Melissa, is that many genuine Christians in Hollywood get no discipleship. If he recommits or becomes a Christian, will he have a chance to grow? Many Christians in that industry either never grow and are not discerning in their work or they leave the industry and get parts in some horrible Christian movie no one sees! Either way they forfeit their influence. What can we do about it? Hopefully, something more than just gripe about the content of movies!
If Matthew McConaughey comes to Christ, I pray he grows for at least three years before we start putting him in the pulpit and making a Christian celebrity out of him. Then maybe he can produce some good scripts, with quality production and acting, in an industry that desperately needs our prayers and ministry.
Kevin, I agree with many of your comments. And I also believe Melissa’s heart is the same as every true believer – to do good and be a blessing to others. This can be seen in her life as a blogger. So to both of you I leave the following comment recently posted by me:
It never occurred to me to hold him up as an example of anything but a good actor. Seeing the film will help me decide if it will turn hearts away from God. I’m sincerely hoping he spoke from his heart and is therefore in a process of new life. At this point in his career and after winning this award, he didn’t have to say anything about God. He certainly knew how his audience would react. But he did, and so now we watch, and more importantly we pray that God is at work in his life. And not only his, but the thousands in the film industry who need the Lord. They know we are watching them, and we need to realize they are watching us!
don’t pretend to be so naïve, you know more than just your 150 normal readers were gonna read when you blast a celebrity by name. If someone searches him, your blog comes up which is why you used his name in the title as well. I am happy he said he thanked God, he most definitely should because “Every good and perfect thing is from God” I am not a theologian but that’s in Jerimiah somewhere. God allows blessings on even the worst sinner, so I see nothing wrong with his thanking God. However, individuals making assumptions about his Christianity is an issue of people not MM. I don’t have my bible memorized, but I am a bible reading, believing, and praying to God Through Jesus Christian, but you and people like you are the reason I do online and television church.
Staying home to watch church on TV while surfing blogs that reference “Matthew Mcconaughey” all day sounds like a very fulfilling life. Nice post.
I never said I searched this, it was actually sent to me, but thank you for placing judgment on my life. I would love to worship God in a church, but unfortunately there are so many welcoming loving (insert eyeroll) Christians in the church, that being in a church causes me to be bitter and focus on their hatred and evil rather than Christ and his message.
You are quite welcome; I thought it would do you good to have a taste of your own medice. By the way, I knew you didn’t find this blog by googling it (insert eye roll). It doesn’t work that way. But thanks for making my point.
You are correct – you are not a theologian. Quoting Bible verses out of context to fit a personal purpose is as dangerous as reading “Judas went out and hanged himself” and “Go and do thou likewise” back to back.
You were right on… and your “little” blog deserves to be sent around the world…
He portrayed a real life story. The real life story was sad, not Matthew Mc. The real life man may have been filth but MMc is an ACTOR and if you watched the movie, then Hollywood did it’s job. Personally I had to turn it off because of the language but I heard if you can get past the language, what this man did was incrediable
He is human and like all others, makes mistakes and sins. Thanking God, is fantastic and something very rare in Hollywood. Show me a Christian that doesn’t fail in some way or other, and more than likely, that person is laying in a casket–dead. No Christian can ever do enough, or be enough Christian for everyone. Someone will always be setting in their chair ready to find fault for one thing or another that they do.
Really hate this attitude. First of all, did you watch Magic Mike? It actually has a really great message at the end of it- the lead leaves that life and acknowledges how much pain it’s caused him.
Secondly, there is more Christ-like love portrayed in Dallas Buyer’s Club that any “Christian” movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve never understood why Christians feel like any story with sex or cussing in it must be straight from the devil- the movies are about real life- not life as you theologically think it should be. Movies like this are able to reach real people in ways that Christian movies just can’t because they absolutely refuse to relate to anybody but Christians, which is find but that’s also the reason they are the only ones who ever watch them.
And last but not least what ever happened to the whole “Judge not lest ye be judged” thing? This post is nothing but negativity, which you are absolutely entitled too, but it’s also a pretty good snapshot of the reason I stopped going to church.
Sometimes you have to ignore what negative people have to say. You don’t owe them a dang thing! I loved that he spoke of God in the celebrity world and thought it was great…until I read your post. You are actually very correct and I did not realize that until I read your comments. I heard a story of a Christian (in a bible study) that had a construction company and he was asked to build an adult toy shop (or something of pornographic nature), although his company was hurting and the money made from the job would get them out of a bind, they turned it down. One week later he got a multimillion dollar construction job. That is living your life as a Christian…so I understand exactly what you are saying! Had he taken the job he would not suddenly not be a Christian (if that makes sense) but he made the right decision and was blessed by God. Be blessed!
Your self righteousness amazes me. And the number of people who replied on here saying things like “…we’ll be glad to affirm him when we see some changes in his public behavior.” First of all, who are you to say who’s Christian or not? Just because someone may follow a different path than you doesn’t mean you’re right, they’re wrong. God & Jesus (since someone was offended because Matthew left Jesus out!) don’t need anyone’s help deciding what was in Matthew’s heart when he spoke what he did, so it’s not up to YOU to decide if he is one of “you”.
You don’t want to see his movies, fine. But making a “Christian” movie doesn’t make you a “Christian”. Mel Gibson has shown us that. Just as you stating that “we want to show the world examples of Christianity that should make us cheer, it’ll be our FAITHFUL PASTORS” (you mean like Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Robert Tilton?)
Why are you looking for someone to give you “props” for being a Christian? Why are you looking for- as you said- “our next, great, Christian IDOL?” It seems as if YOU are looking for someone else, who thinks like you, to put your faith in.
Finally, you said: “It wasn’t about whether I am better than him or worse than him. I certainly don’t hold myself up as an amazing example of Christianity.” Yes, you do.
I’m sure you feel you’re a better Christian than the examples I listed above, but in fact, you aren’t. We’re all sinners; we all make mistakes. I have more faith in Ted Haggard today, as an imperfect man, than I ever did when he was a preacher up on his pulpit condemning people. For preachers and pastors are just that-HUMAN. They certainly deserve our respect, but not to be looked on as “IDOLS”.
If you truly started your blog to “leave something of yourself for your children”, then great….write them something personal. Stop being so sanctimonious and hiding behind what other people do to build yourself up.
Wow, so many of these comments are totally out of control on the last couple posts. Thanks for sharing, I resonated with both posts. God bless.
You made good points. I agree with you on it. I’ve seen him in a couple of movies, but never watched Magic Mike and had no clue he was in it. Maybe the other people celebrating him didn’t know either, since it’s not the kind of movie most of us would watch…? Just guessing.
Thanks for both your follow up and the original blog post about Matthew McConaughey. I never read your blog before, but I sure will now. Your post publicized what I was thinking but didn’t have the courage to speak. I never once thought you were judging the state (or existence) of Matthew’s Christianity nor did I understand your original post to be one belittling his shout out to God from the Oscar stage. I agree that the issue at heart is the tendency for Christians to jump on the bandwagon of any celebrity who mentions God (usually without clarifying which God they believe in) and lifting them up as defenders of the Christian faith. Only God knows the condition of Matthew’s heart, and I sincerely hope he finds a biblically sound teacher to disciple him. Regardless, I agree that we don’t need celebrity to validate our faith.
I did not watch the Oscars and did not hear his acceptance speech. I didn’t even watch his movie Magic Mike. But I don’t think there was anything wrong with either of your posts and this one was spoken beautifully. Keeping speaking what God lays on your heart and speak it in love (which I believe you’ve done). Praying for you have encouragement today and the strength to look past all the negative comments and find peace and comfort in God’s presence.
I am with you 100%. I read your original Matthew McConaughey post and said a hearty “amen.” In fact, when I heard about his speech and how happy some people seemed to be about it, I immediately thought of “Magic Mike.” I had the same reaction you did.
Welcome to the world of today’s Christianity, where if you speak the truth, you get pelted and judged for being “judgmental” by a bunch of other people claiming to be Christians. This is not our grandmother’s Christianity. Or our mother’s Christianity for that matter (at least not my mom’s anyway).
I admire you for speaking the truth, and say:Keep speaking it, and don’t apologize.
I wonder how many people will wind up in hell because biblically illiterate modernist people tell other people with absolutely zero evidence of a true conversion that they’re Christians because they said the word G.O.D.
Having a flagrantly immoral man with NO testimony talk about God is absolutely worse than no mention of God at all and its a good thing he didn’t drag the spotlessly pure risen Christ into his delusion. I WANT him as my brother and long for his fellowship in the faith. That is why I will never lie to him and lead him to believe in the face of mountains of scriptural evidence that he has ANY reason to consider himself right with the Lord. Fact is we are commanded TO judge and it is the lie of the devil that has convinced a pathetic impotent 21st century church that true biblical righteous judgment is wrong.
Again please read: http://tiribulus.net/judge.html
THANK YOU FOR BOTH POST. thank you for communicating what I was thinking.. I thought this was very much like the music artist getting up and praising god for their awards for making filthy music to poison the minds of all who listen….but the shocking part was all the recognition by certain Christian organizations…I was indeed perplexed.
As a person currently struggling with their faith, this blog and it’s supporters do nothing but turn me further from Christianity. On the other hand, Mr. McConaughey’s speech was truly inspiring to me personally and makes me want to be a better “Christian.” In my opinion, his idea of chasing someone he hopes to be seems to be the foundation of being a Christian. Simply chasing perfection.
I’m not going to quote a lot of scripture that some of the above supporters use to defend their opinion of Mr. McConaughey’s lack of “Christianity” because most of it can be flipped on the person quoting it. I will say that the Bible as I understand it says no one is perfect. That gives me hope. That no matter how hard I strive to be a better person, there will always be another step I can take and I should never be complacent with where I am. That is what Mr. McConaughey’s speech said to me. His 45 seconds spoke more to me about faith than any sermon I’ve ever listened to.
It seems to me after reading the blog and comments, this blogger and supporters feel they have reached perfection and they can tell others how to live their lives and what they are doing wrong. It is this kind of attitude and arrogance that turns me against Christianity and initially made me start to question my faith. If what you were trying to do was polarize the idea of Christianity and make people chose a side, congratulations. You have thoroughly convinced at least one soul that they do not need your ideas of “Chistianity.”
“His 45 seconds spoke more to me about faith than any sermon I’ve ever listened to.”
Then with all due respect sir, you need to get in a real church and hear some real gospel. It makes no difference what you like, It makes no difference what I like either. All that matters is what saith the Lord and we know what the Lord saith from the scriptures. I am telling as a man 30 years in the word that according to those scriptures as understood by vaaaaast multitudes of historic saints of God for centuries, this man has NO biblical claim whatsoever on the name of Jesus Christ.
This would not have even been up for debate just 50 years ago. Thank God for women like this blogger with the courage and Christian constitution to stand against the blasphemous abuse of the name of “god”. Whatever “god” that is, it is NOT the God of the ancient Christian scriptures.
You people can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and it will not change the eternally settled in heaven, immutable, unchangeable word of almighty God.
1st John 3:
” 4-Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5-You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6-No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7-Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8-the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9-No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10-By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”
Hang in there, Billy! Most of the people commenting and raging on about Scripture are having a conversation with each other, and are of little relevance to people like you who actually struggle with these issues in a very real way. The further away you move from evangelicals and toward Christ, the more Christianity makes sense. Blogs like this — and the ensuing comments — are fascinating to read from a cultural perspective, but they have very little to do with actual Christian belief and practice, and everything to do with American-style religion. Which happens to be like our food: processed, corporate and totally full of crap.
And where does your Jesus and your gospel come from sir if not scripture?
Yeah “raging on about scripture”
We really are in trouble.
I’m not a sir, and have enough sense not to engage you after taking a look at your website. Carry on with your work in HTML and defending your faith as you see fit; I wish you only the best in your endeavors.
have just been talking to a dear Christian friend on FB, she was at first holding this actor up till she found out he is Catholic… No I do not like this actor at all,will never watch anything he does.Thankyou so much for being 100% honest
So, are you saying your friend chose no longer support him because she thinks he’s Catholic? Does she think that means he’s not a Christian? What in the world?
This blog and all of these crazy self righteous posts resulting from it seem to have done more to hurt the Christian mission than to help. I know that was not the author’s intent.
Where’s the love we are called to have for everyone? Prime example: Fire and brimstone responses to Brian’s declaration of atheism. It took overnight for someone to finally say they would pray for him… Hello??? Anyone else see anything wrong with that? I’m praying for those that have been disillusioned by just this type of attitude. And distancing myself from this thread because it is making me crazy!!!
Please tell me that you are not serious in your reply here. Your friend was “holding this person up” until she found out she wasn’t the same denomination as her? If that isn’t the living definition of narrow minded, I don’t know what is
I think you hit the nail right on the head!
As Christians, we are not to judge others.
I get it. I got it when I read the first post too…I get it.
Thank you for both posts Melissa, they were spot on. God Bless you and your family.
The sad truth is that when most celebrities mention “God” their actually talking about a god they have in mind who looks a lot like them and has their best interests at heart. They see no need to change their life to accommodate this god because he agrees with them in the first place. Sadly too many Christians have the same problem. We know so little about God that anytime we hear the name thrown out in the public square we assume the applause is for Him and by extension for us. But think about this critically: If Jesus would rip the guts out of the Temple because it had turned aside to make a profit instead of being about prayer then how can we think He would smile at a Hollywood that seems determined to undermine the lives of children and families all around the world?
Judge not lest ye be judged. Whole lot of judgement being thrown around by some self proclaimed Christians here.
The first post was perfect…. it didn’t at all seem like you were judging him or even putting him down. You were more like a mom explaining to her kids why what he said, wasn’t something to glorify him for. I like the guy and I didn’t agree with what he said. Certainly doesn’t make me hate him.We live in a country where it’s OK to voice our opinions but some people choose to ignore the positives and focus on the negative, thinking you just straight up hate the guy. It was a good post. 🙂 don’t feel like you have to defend yourself against people that disagreed. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
My enthusiasm with what Mr. McConaughey said is simple, a lot of people heard him. The people who most need to hear about God don’t watch wholesome movies nor surround themselves with other Christians. The people who most need God aren’t the ones you find in church but rather in the bar or strip club. If Mr. McConaughey has to get dirty in the trenches with non-Christian material to capture the attention of those who need God the most, so be it. He spread the Word and at the end of the day that is the one common goal of all Christians. Pass it on!!
If Matthew had mentioned Jesus or said he was a Christian I would agree with your points-100%. God means a lot of things to a lot of people, so as Christians, let’s just pray that he is on his journey and trying to find his way- THE way.
Melissa, I want to thank you for both of the posts you did on this subject. I thought you made very valid points both days. As Christians, we do tend to jump on celebrity band wagons. We do tend to set up celebrities that mention the name of God as some sort of hero. And we can do so very uncritically. I believe we need to learn to be a lot more discerning before we jump on any celebrity band wagon. As others have said, we need to know what God it is that is being spoken of or thanked. “God” as spoken of today by so many bears very little resemblance to the God that is proclaimed in the Bible. And before any celebrity is promoted in any way as a Christian role model, we need to know if the words he/she speaks match up with the life style that is being lived. If we are not careful about these things, we may be guilty of promoting a very false picture of who our Lord really is and a very false picture of the type of life that He expects us to live as His children.
It is amazing to me how many Christians are always saying, “We shouldn’t be judging.” Yet, I believe the Bible does teach us as Christians that we are to be thinkers who discern. Isn’t judging a vital part of discernment? If you make no judgment at all are you really a discerning person?
Thank you for your post! I think you have displayed for the world true discernment. I completely agree with everything you said.
I just realized I made a mistake in where I posted my last comment. It was not meant to be a reply to Missy. I forgot that this blog has the “nested” comment feature.
I truly appreciated your post. As I said to a friend who saw it, I heard nothing but glowing reviews of DBC and was very interested in seeing it… until I read about the opening scene in your post. I have no place for that in my life. As much as I love a good “stick it to the unreasonable government” story, I don’t love filth in my home. Yet no one who saw it mentioned that at all. I find it hard to believe that the message of the movie is that GOOD that you forget something that EVIL when telling friends about it. All it says to me is that we, as a society, are becoming desensitized to anything that breaks sexual purity.