Wisdom from Jessica Simpson
Without diving into the debate of who influences the other first -- culture or media -- which is as fruitful as the chicken or the egg debate (the chicken came first, of course), I would like to highlight a prime example of the mentality of my generation as sung by none other than one Jessica Simpson.I was horrified to discover the lyrics of Jessica's new pop single, "I Belong to Me." Without wasting your time with all the lyrics, just let me call your attention to several key lines:
I don’t need somebody to complete meMost people would assume that the message of this song is a product of her experience of a failed marriage. However, I would suggest that her perverted concept of personhood as articulated by this song is the cause of her broken relationship. In other words, this song isn't a response to her experience; her experience, as well as that of all unredeemed persons, is due to a fallen heart curved in upon itself.
I complete myself
nobody has got to belong to somebody else
I belong to me
I don't belong to you
my heart is my possession
I'll be my own reflection
I belong to me
I'm one not half of two
and if you're gonna love me
you should know this baby
I belong to me
I gotta let you know before I let you in baby
that who I am is not about who I am with baby
That don't mean I don’t wanna be here with you
I do
I don’t need somebody to complete me
I want you to know I give all my love but
I'm not givin' all my soul
The effects of sin have touched us in the deepest places of our being. This fallenness perverts all our thoughts, desires, affections -- all of who we are. We were originally created in the image of One who is Three Persons sharing life in sacrificial love. Ultimate Reality is selfless and self-giving. In the beginning of human history, God did not create individuals, He created persons, persons who are designed to relate to others in this same kind of love. Sin has corrupted this image through and through.
Jessica Simpson is a contemporary herald of the autonomous individualism characteristic of my own narcissistic generation. What is the hope for her and the rest of my peers who think that they can discover true personhood within themselves? Nothing more than a radical work of grace will suffice -- a work of grace that reaches deep within the heart, mind, and soul and transforms the whole person into something that resembles who he/she was originally meant to be.
Should we sensor the lyrics of this song in the effort to avoid the needless brainwashing of millions of teeny boppers? Vanity. These words will change no one, for the person we fear they would change them to is the very person they already are. But despair not! God is alive and at work, and He can reach down and quicken our fallen hearts and minds and completely restore the fallen moral image of God in us.
Labels: theology
7 Comments:
She is hot.
Dear Wise One,Your comments are right
on,they conform to the thoughts of a
post Christian USA. "Hot" I think
not,but beauty is in the eye of the
beholder. Pumpkins Rule!
OCU Wannabe
Adam was all by himself. He was in perfect relationship with God, Perfect relationship with nature, and perfect relationship with him self ... however it wasn't enough. God said it wasn't good.
Perhaps we should take a lesson from God. We by ourselves are never, ever, enough.
That's right, Aaron. I'm glad you brought that up. Everything in God's creation was good until the point where He acknowledges the absence of Eve. It's as if God was saying, "Adam, I am enough for you, but I am not all."
Doesn't the relationship of husband and wife image the Trinity greater than any other relationship on earth: Two persons (three with God) distinct from one another yet joined together as one? There's much more to be said here, but for the sake of these comments I think you really hit the nail on the head.
Sean another great post. Someone made the point that Adams means of reflecting the image of God was in loving Eve. In Gen. one when God creates man in His image that image is male and female. God does not say if you want to reflect my Image love me…He says there she is as you said God is enough, but not all. It’s that whole self-giving thing and as Catharine Booth points out… the world is waiting for those who do not exist for themselves, but others.
By His Grace
Heath
Heath, I tried to reply to your e-mail, but I got an error saying there's something wrong with your e-mail domain. Send me a different e-mail address so that I can reply. Thanks.
Sean...I sent you a new eamil from my yahoo account. Thanks and have a great day in Him.
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