Tag Archives: Culture

“Jesus Revolution” — some thoughts

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This post is an edited version of my comments to a recent Facebook discussion of the movie.

I just watched the movie last night. Yes, it seemed well done and compelling, and it filled me with nostalgia, but there were some areas where I wish they had been more accurate.

I’m not sure why they chose to cast Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee as decades older than they actually were, and I thought this added a kind of weird dimension to the story. Chuck Smith was only 40 at the time, and he wasn’t some cranky old boring guy. Lonnie was a kid, not someone who was so much older than most of the hippies that he seemed like a has-been himself, or some weird hanger-on who, instead of acting his age, was trying to pretend he was still cool.

So I found that aspect a bit jarring and distracting. I left the movie trying to figure out what the main message or even the main story was. Was it that Lonnie had issues with pride and tried to take over? Was it the “theatrics”, that things would have all been fine if they had just stuck to the Bible and left out the healing stuff? Was it that God can use anyone, from brand new converts with major issues to elderly, boring preachers? Or was the real story the romance between Greg Laurie and Cathe, and the “Jesus Revolution” was just a backdrop to that?

I was a a young teenager during the early 1970’s, and I was hugely impacted by the Jesus Movement. It was an exciting time. But I saw most if not all of the hippie kids “fall away” afterwards. I think one of the big reasons is because — as the movie showed — so much was based on feelings and finding a replacement for drugs. So many kids I knew would go on and on about “getting high on Jesus” or about how the music made them feel, or about how Jesus was the most far-out guru ever. Also, many of the well-meaning Christians who ministered to the hippies ended up catering to them, changing church to attract and suit them, watering down the gospel, and not emphasizing the need for all believers to walk out a lifestyle of repentance, and to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Once the “high” wore off, many of these hippies simply went on their hippy ways. The root causes of their rebellion and lack of purpose had never been fully addressed. For every Greg Laurie who managed to make it despite being thrust into leadership as an unqualified, unschooled, newbie convert kid, there were all sorts of similar stories where the kid crashed and burned and took a bunch of other kids down with him.

The huge “falling away” after the Jesus Movement shook a lot of us to our very core. It took me until later adulthood to realize how much a truncated version of the gospel, a focus on emotionalism, and a lack of emphasis on spiritual growth and maturity played a role in that.

I think sin was not, as a whole, addressed enough during that time. And it was a major issue. Promiscuity among the hippies was far more extreme than in the youth of today. The Bible describes rebellion as a “sin of witchcraft”, yet this sin was rarely preached against and was often coddled if not encouraged. (For example, rather than modeling respect for elders, some Christians adopted and encouraged the hippie’s lack of respect.) Many hippies survived on the streets through panhandling, thievery, drug dealing, and even prostitution — suffice it to say that sin was rampant. The mistake of many who wanted to attract hippies is that they presented a false view of Christianity. It’s not all about replacing the cross with a dove, or about cool music that makes you feel good, or about feeling accepted just the way you are. It’s not about turning church services into something that is “culturally relevant” and makes us feel good.

Deny yourself. Take up your cross daily. Be holy as Jesus is holy. His way is narrow.

The Epistles warn the church leaders not to be too quick to lay hands on someone and have them step into leadership and ministry. The story of Lonnie Frisbee should serve as a cautionary tale, only the movie didn’t tell the whole story. This young kid may have been able to attract a crowd and God may have used him, but he disqualified himself when it came to ministry. He divorced his wife and eventually died of AIDS. His story, because of his popularity and influence, is dramatic. But he’s not the only one thrust into some sort of limelight he couldn’t handle, while living a double life, and who never gained the victory over sin that is possible for those who, day after day, walk in the humble repentance and self-denial required of us.

Unfortunately, the movie didn’t offer itself as a cautionary tale. I’m not sure what message we were supposed to take away from it. Yes, it was a trip down memory lane for people like me (although I would have preferred more of that rather than the romance — perhaps the movie is really Greg Laurie’s “love letter” to his wife?) but I’m not sure what young people of today are supposed to take away — other than that churches need to change and embrace their culture, rather than requiring anything of the young people themselves. And I’m not sure that is a good message for these times… or any times.

Edited to add:

While most of the “Jesus People” that I knew left their Christian life, that was obviously not what happened to everyone. This article is one of many that describes what a huge impact the Jesus Movement still has to this day.

Unintended consequences?

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Have you ever listened, really listened, to women with Downs Syndrome talk about what it’s like to grow up in a society where the vast majority of babies like them are aborted? Have you ever listened to these women talk about how they deal with societal messages that it would be best for them if they didn’t exist, that their lives are not worth living? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to women who were conceived during rape and/or incest, sometimes when their mothers were really young? Have you listened to them describe what it is like to hear people say that their mothers, by not aborting them, did not make what is the “best choice, 100% of the time”? or what it’s like for them to hear that no one could possibly love a child conceived by rape? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to women who have survived their mothers’ attempts to abort them? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to women who grew up in the foster system describe what it’s like to hear that it would have been better for them not to have been born at all, that no one should have to live their life? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to women who regret their abortions? Have you held women in your arms as they wept over abortions from years, even decades, before? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to pro-life women? Or have you bought into the idea that all pro-life people are men who want to control women’s sexuality? Have you listened, really listened, to women who are falsely accused of not adopting, not fostering, not supporting single mothers, etc.? Have you visited your local crisis pregnancy center and politely asked the women there why they volunteer and what services they provide? I have.

Have you ever listened, really listened, to black pro-life women talk about the ugly racist legacy of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood? Have you listened to why some black women say that abortion is black genocide? I have.

Do you know what it’s like to have a doctor, mistakenly thinking that your medical condition is genetic, suggest your baby be immediately tested in utero because, “of course you won’t want to bring a child like that into the world”. What?! “Of course I don’t want to bring a child like me into the world?” Did you just seriously say that to my face?

Do you know what it’s like to have a miscarriage in our culture, to wake every morning with a grief so intense that it’s like a sledge hammer blow to the heart, and to carry that grief in a culture and society full of laws, politicians, and abortion advocates loudly insisting that it was not a child that I lost, but a product of conception, a clump of cells, a part of my body no more significant than an appendix, perhaps even somewhat of a parasitical creature — but certainly less than human because it had not lived long enough to take a breath. Do you know what it’s like to experience agonizing grief in a society that doesn’t think I lost anything worth grieving? I do. The only people who wept with me, who carried my sorrow with me, who were there for me, were the pro-lifers who supposedly don’t care about women.

My dear, sweet, beautiful daughter has lost babies in the womb. She buried four sons. Sons — not clumps of cells or potential humans. I lost grandsons.

Do you know what it’s like to hear the stories I’ve heard, wipe the tears I’ve wiped, weep with the women I’ve wept with, grieve the losses I grieve — and have to ask myself over and over again: Do abortion advocates realize how much pain they cause with their rhetoric? Do they even care about women? Or do they only care about women who want abortions?

This morning’s Gospel reading at Mass jumped out at me:

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a child has been born into the world. So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you. When that day comes, you will not ask me any questions.’ (John 16:20-23)

NOTE: I will not be approving any comments advocating or defending abortion. You have the entire rest of the Internet to do that. Not here.

EDITED TO ADD THIS EXPLANATION: What I referred to as a “crisis pregnancy center” can go by a number of different names. I was referring to local nonprofit organizations that provide counseling, resources and compassionate support (and all sorts of practical help) as an alternative to abortion.

Echo chambers of white privilege? | Responding to memes

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I recently encountered the following on social media:

Protestor with sign expressing a false accusation, unless the word “you” is singular and addressed to a specific person who believes that only white, healthy, non-impoverished babies have a right to life.

In an attempt to be charitable to the protestor, I will assume he or she truly believes what the sign says. That can only be possible for someone who lives in a bubble of white privilege, an echo chamber in which one does not actually encounter many (if any) people with divergent views, or people of other races, with disabilities, etc.

There is thinly viewed racism in what the protestor may have meant to be an accusation of racism against white pro-life advocates. The racist assumption is that no blacks and no Mexicans are pro-life. This could not be further from the truth.

I live in an area where I am increasingly at a disadvantage because I don’t speak Spanish. According to the 2020 census figures, the nearby city is 77% Hispanic, and the majority are from Mexico. At least one of the local pro-life groups is headed up by a Hispanic woman. At one of the local parishes, Mexican women gather often to pray for an end to abortion — for all babies. Obviously the white protestor holding the sign doesn’t live in a community like mine, or he/she would know of the strong pro-life and pro-family ethos among many Mexican women.

It is through conversations with Black women that I learned of Planned Parenthood’s racist origins (as far as I know, the organization has never repudiated their racist founder, Margaret Sanger) and what some view as a racist ethos that continues to this day.

To ignore the pro-life voices coming from the Mexican and Black communities is, at best, ignorance born from the privilege of living in a bubble populated only by people of similar beliefs and ethnicity. I would suggest that the protestor needs to venture out of his/her safe zone and actually engage with people before making assumptions about them.

Equally offensive, if not more so, is the accusation that people who hold the pro-life position only believe that some babies have a right to life. Those who truly believe in the sanctity of life do not believe that it only applies to their particular demographic, and only if the baby is healthy. As for the latter assumption, some of the most passionately outspoken pro-life advocates I’ve ever met or heard speak are people who were born with disabilities (the very disabilities or conditions that are often targeted for abortion).

I know many people who have worked tirelessly for the pro-life cause for decades. I have never encountered any who would suggest that a poor woman of another race, pregnant with a disabled child, consider an abortion. Instead, I know people who provide a myriad of services to support women with unplanned pregnancies, and who continue supporting them in many practical ways after the child is born. I know people who have adopted ill, disabled, and abandoned infants. I could go on and on.

The absurdity of this sign is even more apparent because the protestor felt a need to include “gay” and “transgender”, as if future sexual preferences and future gender dysphoria could somehow be diagnosed in babies. One would think the author of this sign viewed supposed pro-lifers as all being white racists who believe that only certain privileged babies have a right to life. If the protestor was pro-life, he or she would know that nothing is further than the truth. But it seems that the protestor believes that either no babies have a right to life — or only babies privileged enough not to be selected for abortion. Otherwise the sign would read, “All babies have a right to life, even if the baby is poor…” etc.

Pro-lifers believe that every baby, including the most inconvenient, unwanted, unloved baby — the very life too many in our society would deem as unworthy and disposable — is a human being created in the image of God, and thus is a life worthy of protection.

The protestor’s own privilege is showing.