Kathy Griffin’s “New God”

Not that Hollywood has done any favors for Christianity in recent memory–in fact, Hollywood has seemed more like an a national audition for the anti-Christ than anything else–but recent comments by Kathy Griffin seem to have Tinsel-Town plumming new lows. Host of her own reality series, My Life on the D-List, Griffin won a creative-arts Emmy and, perhaps, got a little too creative with her acceptance speech. Griffin remarked that, “a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus.” Griffin, not satisfied with merely one religious slur, continued with her rancor by claiming, “This award is my god now!” (To read the full comment, if you can stomach it, go to kathygriffin.net.)

The sad truth here is that Griffin rightfully railed against the questionable comments from celebs that seem to be more about gravitas than gratitude. I mean, it is difficult to take any actor/actress seriously when their public careers have little to do with their private convictions; yet he/she sounds deeply spiritual when on stage at an awards show. (Eeeeerily familiar to certain presidential candidates suddenly attributing personal strength from a relationship with Jesus that seems to have surfaced ever since the “religious right” actually made a difference at the polls in 2000 & 2004–go figure!)

However, even though Griffin may have shed some light on “thankless thesbians,” that does not give her the right to share her less-than-spiritual opinion of Jesus and the Emmy–I’m all for free speech but not, to borrow a phrase from the far left, ”hate speech.” Griffin is right that Jesus had nothing to do with her award; I have never seen her show and I can surmise this truth pretty easily. Unfortunately, she is probably right that the award has some diety status in her life as well. In a culture driven by performance and achievement, the Emmy is an ultimate goal for any television personality. Performance and achievement are not evil by themselves; they are simply better slaves than masters. Griffin’s comments are telling of a world that glorifies personal aggrandizement and belittles true spiritual sentiment (especially when it’s Christian).

I suppose I have two primary questions regarding this “celebrity faux pas”: Why is this not a story that warrants any more than the minor press attention it has received? (Is it because Hollywood wants to create “distance” between itself and Griffin’s inflammatory remarks or because she’s just not worth it?) What would the reaction have been if remarks had been made by a Christian entertainer about Mohammed? (Remember the press that the questionable cartoons received.)

Mike Vick found Jesus?

Unless you have been hiding under a “proverbial rock”, were recently thawed from your 100 year slumber in a carbon-freezing chamber, or you are new to this planet, then you’ve probably heard about Mike Vick. To be sure, Vick is not going to run for either town dog-catcher or chairman of the local chapter of the ASPCA. The events that have unfolded in recent days concerning his dog-fighting ring have been both confusing and disappointing.

Freakishly talented, Vick has shown flashes of both brilliance and frustration on the football field. His athleticism has allowed him to make “oh, my goodness, did you just see that?” moves to illude would-be tacklers, yet he could never evade the constant critiscism of failing to be the quintessential pocket quarterback. Regardless of people’s take on his maturity as an NFL qb, before his involvement with dogfighting, Vick was one of the main reasons for putting “meat in the seat” each Sunday afternoon in pro football stadiums across the nation.

While I was saddened by his recent legal troubles–which seem to be the culmination of poor choices that have surfaced in the last couple of seasons; i.e. one-finger salute to fans while leaving the playing field, etc.–I was intrguied by one phrase he uttered in his four-minute, twenty-five second public apology Monday. Vick’s intersting words were, “I’m upset with myself and through this situation I’ve found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God, and I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.”

Now, I realize that Jesus is THE Judge of mankind and, according to Scripture, is the only One able to judge the hearts of men, which involves the sincerity of their salvation. In fact, in one of the most misquoted passages in all of the Bible, Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” Christ is referring to someone’s salvation–He is not saying that we cannot identify sin, merely that we cannot make the call on a person’s eternity.

Having typed all that, two points to ponder from Vick’s mea culpa: 1) He found Jesus is biblically incorrect–Jesus was never lost; never even misplaced or misdirected. I know, I know, that sounds pedantic and pompous (look ‘em up, they are real words), but Scripture says that no one seeks after God, because of the stain of sin in our lives (Romans 3:10). Scripture also states, in Luke 19:10, that Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” We don’t find Him, He finds us.

Maybe that’s being a bit nit-picky, but it leads me to the second interesting piece of verbage (that’s a word, too): 2) “I think [giving my life over to God] is the right thing to do as of right now.” Right thing as of right now? What?! Again, I want to avoid the kind of theological snobbery that can accompany many detailed examinations of the faith-based statements of others, but what in the world does Vick mean here? The reason I ask is that, as a pastor, I run into people all the time who run to God when it’s convenient–in other words, when life pulls the rug out from under them and they have nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, in many of these cases, the sincerity wanes when circumstances loosen their apparent strangle-hold from around the person’s life. Perhaps it’s the cynic in me, but I pray that Vick is real in his remorse and his new-found faith. I hope it’s not a convenient confession for a confusing and crippling circumstance. I hope what seems the right thing to do “right now” will still seem right when he’s no longer behind bars and the money, fame, and positive recognition potentially begin anew.

Only time will tell. Jesus, THE Judge of mankind, said that the world will know Christians by their “fruit”–the difference made in their lives after asking Christ to be their Savior. Vick’s life will either produce Christian fruit or it won’t. That’s not to say that somehow he has to return from his prison sentence and become a priest or pastor–or even an altar boy, for that matter. But it is to say that, at some point, the Christian life that he claims to have “found” will either come out in the kind of person he will become or it will fade into the abyss of forgotten potential (as, at least, the next season of Vick’s career as an NFL quarterback). I pray he is sincere; I will pray for him as he faces an uncertain future. I will pray that he returns, not only to play in the National Football League–he has too much talent and star appeal to wish him away for good–but to publicly make good on his claim to have “found” Someone who had been looking for Vick for some time.