Of celebrities, the media, and Christians

[PastorSBC1303]

Also reminds me of the song by Casting Crowns "Does Anybody Hear Her?"

Lyrics:

She is running
100 Miles an hour
In the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyons ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadverture just to find
she's another 2 years older and she's 3 more steps behind

Chorus:
Does anybody hear her?
Can anybody see?
Lord does anybody even know she's going down today?
Under the shadow of our steeple
with all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her?
Can anybody see?

She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in,
to ride in and save the day
And then walks in her prince charming
and he knows just what to say
A momentary lapse of reason
and she gives herself away

Chorus

If judgement looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Who can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her

If judgement looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Who can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her
Never even met her

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

That song is kind of what got me thinking. Of course Brittany apparently has more than a "momentary lapse of reason" but the point is still valid.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Brittany Spears is in big trouble. My sympaties go to her kids, who are innocent. Spears is blessed enough to have the recources to make things right, something a lot of other young mothers don't. I feel sympathy for them. When I see her, I feel sorry for the folks who are suffering because of her choices. I feel contempt for Spears' cuz she is dragging children into her hell, and seems not to care.

OK, so did I throw a stone, or did I make any sense at all ?

 

[Ps104_33]

My sympathies are for the children.

Amen.
Her children seem to be going from bad to worse.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Brittany Spears is in big trouble. My sympaties go to her kids, who are innocent. Spears is blessed enough to have the recources to make things right, something a lot of other young mothers don't. I feel sympathy for them. When I see her, I feel sorry for the folks who are suffering because of her choices. I feel contempt for Spears' cuz she is dragging children into her hell, and seems not to care.

OK, so did I throw a stone, or did I make any sense at all ?

Of course there should be sympathy for her children.

Do we have Bible support to feel contempt toward the lost?

 

[Joe]

It's sad to hear about Britney. I have seen her on tv a few times at a friends home, she seems like a really sweet girl. I'll pray for her and the children.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

No stone for Spears here.

No sympathy either. Her wounds are all self inflicted.

She has not "lost" her kids. She has only "lost" custody. Maybe this will serve as a wake up call. We can only guess how God will work this out for His glory.

Ditto. What carpro said.

 

[mcdirector]

*sigh*

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some would count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

*sigh*

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some would count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

*sigh* as well.

Maybe I am thick - I just cant see the other viewpoint here

 

[PastorSBC1303]

Count me in as a third *sigh*

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

I read this on a blog today - excellent

When you have experienced a gift of mercy, it should motivate you to be a merciful person in return. My prayer is that I will grow in my understanding of mercy each day, and that I will in turn be merciful to those around me who are hurting and in need.

SOURCE

 

[Hopeful]

C4K, I admire your "heart" on this matter...because my own heart has broken over Brit and similar young women. While I agree completely with some of the other posters that her current condition is indeed a result of her own sin and very poor choices, circumstances close to my own life leave me filled with compassion for her current lot in life.

A beloved relative -- while certainly not famous -- has fallen, off and on, into many of the same scenarios as Ms. Brit. She, too, has a small child. She, too, made poor choices and has lived with the results of her sin. She, too, has had "available resources" to get the help she's needed for addictions. And she's even had the loving support of family (unlike what it seems that Brit experiences), praying for her and trying to help when appropriate. The main interventions have been to "spare" her daughter.

Yet, my relative --whom I still remember as the sweet little two-year old that I loved so much-- still chooses to fall back into her bad ways most of the time. She'll "get better"....and then she'll "get worse" again. The addictions are bad. The behavior is bad. We cannot and do not condone her behavior....and yet we cannot leave her to "die in a gutter" with no compassion, even if we know she got in that gutter through her own "evil ways".

I find myself thinking of her as "The Prodigal"....and I pray and hope in God that she WILL finally and ultimately turn back "home" one day soon. In the meantime, every tiny glimpse we get of her reaching out, we have to cling to and encourage. And we pray, and pray, and pray. And shed many, many tears.

I realize this story deals with a personal involvement....but here's my point. Britney (and other celebrities like her) "belong" to someone. Someone somewhere (at least at one time) loved her and grieved for her (wasn't it Brit's aunt or grandma or someone like that who died in the last few months when Brit shaved her head??). Although I DO--even if I couldn't feel the compassion for Brit that I think I SHOULD feel as a Christian, I CAN and DO feel the compassion for Brit's loved ones as THEY HURT for this girl. I KNOW that Christ grieves right along with me as I hurt for my own "little lost girl"...I also believe that Christ grieves for Britney, and that along breaks my heart!:tear:

 

[Hopeful]

I read this on a blog today - excellent

When you have experienced a gift of mercy, it should motivate you to be a merciful person in return. My prayer is that I will grow in my understanding of mercy each day, and that I will in turn be merciful to those around me who are hurting and in need.


SOURCE

Amen. I am so very often grateful above all that God is ever so more merciful to me than I would be to myself! And if I am to strive to be like Christ, this has to right at the top of the list.

 

[mcdirector]

That's it, isn't it. When you have EXPERIENCED mercy!

I don't have the gift of mercy, but I've been the beneficiary of God's mercy! What else would my Saviour have me do in return but be merciful!

 

[2 Timothy2:1-4]

I see that there are two errors in having concerns over folks like Brittany. First there are those who want to only point their boney finger at them in judgement. This is what the Pharisees did, and remember that they were not saved.

Then there are those who want to show grace and overlook sin so that (oro they percieve) grace can be applied and understood.

Both are in error. Then there are those who are so sensative to any mention of sin that when it is ever brought up in their presence they want to assume the worst. Sometimes this is in regards to any mention of sin and sometimes it is ony in regards to specific sins.

We should never forsake one for the other. The two walk hand in hand. The key with sin is to put it in the same place Christ does once it is repented of. It goes under the blood.

 

[donnA]

Of course there should be sympathy for her children.

Do we have Bible support to feel contempt toward the lost?

contempt and a lack of sympathy for them based on their love of a sinful lifestyle are two different things.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

I am grateful to those who prayed for me, but gave up when it was clear I needed to hit bottom before I could look up.

Don't mistake contempt for hatred. I hate saying this, because it sounds really self-pious, & is nobody's business, but I do pray for her repentance. I am sorry she has thrown her life away, and wish she hadn't. But sympathy for her ? She needs the Holy Spirit more than my sympathy. That'smy hope.

But I guess I'm most sorry that I made some folks sigh. Maybe I should have chosen a better word than contempt. How about "I really hate what she has decided to do".

 

[Hopeful]

I am grateful to those who prayed for me, but gave up when it was clear I needed to hit bottom before I could look up.

Don't mistake contempt for hatred. I hate saying this, because it sounds really self-pious, & is nobody's business, but I do pray for her repentance. I am sorry she has thrown her life away, and wish she hadn't. But sympathy for her ? She needs the Holy Spirit more than my sympathy. That'smy hope.

But I guess I'm most sorry that I made some folks sigh. Maybe I should have chosen a better word than contempt. How about "I really hate what she has decided to do".

As do I--hate what she has chosen to do--just as I hate the lifestyle my relative has chosen.

But I do not hate HER (nor do I believe anyone here does), and I hurt for HER and all those around her. I believe that is the point of the OP. We should not ever overlook the sin whilst they're living in it so headily--agreed. But I can and do still hurt for them.

 

[Baptist Believer]

I think God's unmerited sympathy actually enables us to change.

Excellent point!

The Apostle Paul certainly agrees with you:

Romans 2:1-4 (NASB)

1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.
3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

 

[Baptist Believer]

When they're woes are self induced by their own bad choices...

Who among us can claim we have not made bad choices... especially when we were young?

...when they appear not to regert those choices...

What is your source for this? Tabloids? Tabloid news?

...as they do not attemp to change their lives, and want to continue to make those same bad choises over and over.

There are patterns of addiction and sin that anyone can get caught in. The job of believers is to work to free people from their sinful lifestyles and additions.

She made this mess herself, no one forced it on her, it was her choice.

Yep. Yet the message of Jesus is one of redemption, healing and new beginnings. Christians don't have the luxury of writing people off.