Danny understood that, as a Christian, it is both impossible and impractical to remove yourself from the secular world entirely. As a matter of fact, the Bible doesn’t tell us to do that; rather, it teaches this idea of being “in the world, but not of it.” To be set apart, but not separate. Unless you are locking yourself away as a monk, you’re going to see and hear things that don’t necessarily line up with your belief system. The degree to which you are seeing and hearing these things is, to some extent, up to you; but quite honestly, if you want to make any impact in this world for Christ, you’re going to have to go out into the world and engage with the world around you, in all of its messiness.
The secular world broadcasts secular media, as one might naturally expect that it would. And as a result, we see it and hear it every day, in shopping malls, restaurants, theaters, libraries, public schools, sports stadiums – even online (or perhaps I should say especially online).
Taking a quick detour, my dad and I share a love for music of great variety. During the last few years that I was living at home with my parents, he and I frequently introduced each other to new (or, in his case, older) artists, or had lengthy discussions comparing current artists with past artists. Music was a focal point of our relationship as father and daughter.
I remember the shock when my dad came home from work one evening and told me, “I’ve got a new song for you to look up. I think you’ll really like this one. I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he has a great sound.”
As we sat at the computer, my dad began to type “Heartbreak Warfa...” You could see the pride growing on his face as the page loaded – he’d found a good new one, and he was excited.
“Oh yeah, that’s John Mayer, Dad. He is good.”
His face dropped a little. “You’ve already heard it?”
“Yeah, I really like it, though.”
I say that this interaction with my dad shocked me for three reasons. First of all, my dad doesn't listen to a lot of secular music - at least not modern secular music. Listening to secular radio certainly wasn't encouraged in our home. Secondly, my dad is ultra-conservative. And let’s face it, John Mayer is about as liberal as liberal gets. (My dad is not one to appreciate an artist's work without appreciating the artist as well.) And lastly, John Mayer says “s***” in that song. Growing up, we watched movies with TVGuardian to ensure that we never heard profanity in our house, and my father was known to throw out a newly purchased movie if too many bad words slipped through the TVGuardian’s filter.
However, something was different about this song – something that set it to a more lenient standard of what was considered “okay” – my dad heard it at work rather than at home (and quite possibly had never heard it in entirety, or listened closely enough to know the lyrics).
Similarly, while riding in my car once, “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 came on the radio. My dad casually commented, “Oh, I’ve heard this. I like this song.” (I had to wonder if my dad knew it was about a prostitute, but nonetheless, I was amused.)
“Where’d you hear it, Dad?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Around. Probably at a restaurant or something.”
Sure enough, we went to Red Lobster a few weeks later, and guess which song was playing on the radio?
What's my point? Simply what I already stated before - secular media is everywhere. Whether you want to or choose to intentionally or not, you do and will see and hear it.
One of the things I appreciated most about Danny was his honesty on the subject. Rather than trying to shield us from the inevitable, he discussed it with us. We would listen to a popular song, and then we would talk about it as a youth group. We would talk about the truths relayed through the lyrics, and then we would talk about the lies (and there were almost always some lies.) We would watch a movie together, and then we would talk about it - lies and truths. Through doing this, we eventually learned to identify on our own the lies that our culture teaches us to believe, and to refute them with truth.
Growing up, I had friends who believed that it was wrong for Christians to listen to secular music or watch secular television. I would make movie references around them, and they'd look at me strangely... and then it would hit me, right around the time I named the movie, that they'd never seen it. Unfortunately, I was usually a few seconds too late, and I'd brace myself for the lecture. "I can't believe you watch that!"
I listen to secular music. I watch secular movies and television. I read secular books and magazines, and visit secular websites. But I'm not just listening, reading, or watching mindlessly; I'm analyzing what I hear and see. I'm either affirming or contesting the values being promoted, based on my Christian beliefs.
It's a delicate balancing act - living in a secular world and holding to Christian beliefs - and too often, we either withdraw completely; or we get caught up in all the chaos and commotion of this world and all it has to offer, and the truth is lost on us, just like everyone else.
In a world whose interim-ruler is the Father of Lies, we need Christians to be present in this culture, rather than hiding in our churches and homes. To be aware of what's relevant to the people around us; but to be critics, rather than just idle consumers. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it, so that we can refute the lies.
