Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A Big Pink Elephant

What ever you do, DO NOT think of a big, pink elephant.  You are not thinking of a big pink elephant, are you?

I have heard it many times.  It goes something like this, "I don't listen to the lyrics, I just really like the beat."  Or, "I can watch it and it not bother me.  I can handle it."  These are the common answers people give whenever their music or movie selection is questioned.  The question I want to ask is: can you really?

Today, MTV will be airing a special entitled "Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside."  When I saw the preview for this special over the life of the increasingly famous and provocative Lady Gaga, I heard something that made me sort of laugh on the inside.  Lady Gaga preached.  Yes, she preached and she didn't even know it.  This is what she said:

My parents got me Stevie wonder…and the Beatles when I was younger.  Good choices Mom and Dad.  Don’t spoon feed me the Beatles and Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd and  Led Zeppelin and Elton John and expect for me not to turn out this way.


Whenever I heard Lady Gaga say that, my mind went straight to Jesus' words in Luke 6:45.  "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."  The lesson of Jesus' words are simple.  People say and do according to what they think in their hearts.

Unfortunately, there are many Christians who do not heed the warnings of the Bible, which are sometimes conveyed unknowingly by people such as Lady Gaga.  Thinking that they can expose their minds to more and more garbage, via sight and sound, without any side effects, they do so until the spiritual poison they have ingested finally manifests itself in sin.  Don't overestimate your ability to sift through the impurities of the media.  What you see and what you hear is what you are going to think.  And chances are that if you fill your mind with poison, poison is what's going to come out.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

So, did you think of a big, pink elephant?

Post Script: If someone tells you they just like the beat, ask them if they know any of the words.