Big Brother Rant

I was thinking earlier today about a show I watched this summer called Big Brother. Big Brother is one of my wife’s favorite shows. I think she likes it because of the drama. Personally, I wonder if it’s rigged. I admit I did get into it this past season. Now, that I think back on it, I remember why I stopped watching it.

It gets is name from Big Brother, meaning the government (remember the phrase, “Big Brother is watching you”?), the lessons it teach are about the same. Like the government, the game teaches to get ahead you must lie, cheat, backstab, and double-cross. Isn’t that how people get ahead in politics? The winner of Big Brother 10, Dan Gheesling, won a half million dollars this way. So what is Big Brother endorsing? What benefits can one learn from a show that thrives on deception and betrayal? People form multiple alliances and stay true to the one that will get them the farthest. They give their word one minute and break it the next. They smile in a person’s face and talk about them behind their back to another. The sad thing is the winner of the game is the one who does this the best. This isn’t “outwit, outsmart, and outlast.” This is out-con, out-manipulate, and out-deceive.

Of course, the ones I was rooting for were evicted. Those were the ones who played the game with some sort of integrity. Big Brother isn’t about integrity. It’s about who’s the best at using people and maneuvering situations. Don’t get me wrong, to win you have to have good people skills. You’ve got to know how to read people and seize opportunities. You also have to be willing to do some unsavory things. Dan, who’s a Catholic school teacher, did not set a good example for his students, in my opinion, with his game tactics. How can he counsel someone on bad behavior when he was the epitome of bad behavior on national television?

Big Brother reminds me of a movie I once saw, Pleasantville. Pleasantville was a movie about modern-day siblings who were pulled into their television into a 1950’s sitcom. What I thought was going to be a movie about the wholesomeness of the 1950’s turned out entirely different. In the movie, instead of the wholesomeness rubbing off on the kids, they began to contaminate the 1950’s with their modern lifestyles. I suppose if anything it is a movie about Galatians 5:9: “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” In other words, a little sin can corrupt everyone.

Then again, what does it say about our society where a show like Big Brother can earn so many loyal viewers. Unlike other reality TV shows, Big Brother offers other viewing option for those who can’t get enough during the three weekly one hour episodes. To feed your fix for sin, you can also see then during Big Brother: After Dark on Showtime Too and subscribe to their 24-hour feed.

Stepping Out on Nothing

Perhaps you have asked, “What is faith?” I’m sure you’ve heard sermons on it and attended Bible studies regarding it. But what exactly is it? How do we exercise it? How do we walk in it? We are all familiar with Hebrews 11:1—“Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen.” But what does that mean? I believe the Holy Spirit has given us the answer.

Faith is believing in that which is not likely or is impossible to happen. Real faith does not just believe in what is improbable, but what is impossible. Real faith doesn’t just believe in that which is not likely to happen but in that which cannot happen. Real faith is not believing in the face of the odds but believing in spite of the odds. Real faith is believing for that for which there is no earthly way possible it could happen.

Let’s allow a few heroes of the faith bear witness:

· Noah exercised faith by building an ark to be saved from a flood, even though up to that time no rain had fallen on the earth.

· Abraham exercised faith by believing God for a son when he and his wife were elderly and she was unable to bear children!

· David walked in faith when he entered into a battlefield to face down Goliath, an experienced and armored warrior. He exercised his faith by believing that God would give him the victory even though every natural and military law would have marked him for dead.

· Peter literally walked in faith when he stepped out of the boat and stood on the surface of the water even though every natural and physical law dictated that he should have sunk to the bottom like a rock.

The best definition of faith I can think of is line from one of Shirley Caesar’s songs. “Faith is stepping out on nothing/landing on something.” Essentially, that is faith. It is believing God for what you want or need even though everything is against it happening. Circumstances, laws, or situations do not bind God. God is God. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or even think.

Genuine faith does not just believe in something or for something that could possibly happen. Genuine faith believes in something or for something that cannot. In short, faith says, ‘yes,’ when everything else says, ‘no.’