Did You Hear? - Celebrities

Greetings Dear Reader,

We sure do love our celebrity gossip.  There exists an entire billion dollar industry tasked to mine, manufacture, and produce celebrity gossip.  Many see this as allowable and harmless.  Our society treats its celebrities as a type of royalty.

People think that the actions of those in the public eye are fair game for talk, speculation, and judgment.  Lindsey Lohan’s drug problems or Tiger Woods’ affairs become lunch conversation.  Their problems and failures become our entertainment.

There are many reasons why this is wrong for me as a Christ follower.  The first is that I am commanded to love everyone.  Gossiping about people and their problems is the opposite of loving them.  I have no right to say anything negative about someone I do not know. 

I have the privilege of knowing a few famous people.  It makes me keenly aware of how media speculation and public judgment hurt those at the center of the gossip.  My responsibility is to love.  My obligation is kindness. 

What I do to combat this is express my compassion when someone brings up a celebrity in the news.  I pray for them.  I ask God to send someone to help them.  Not knowing the persons does not limit my ability to care about his or her needs. 

We are warned to treat strangers well.  We are commanded to love our enemies and neighbors.  Speculation and judgment about a celebrity violates all of this.  Gossip about celebrities does great damage.  The damage that we need to worry about is the damage it does to us. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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