This is the second of a two-part blog about the relationship between American Christianity and celebrities. In this case, the subject is Miley Cyrus. The content here may soon appear on the Axis Worldview blog.
Do you remember learning about how the Titanic had all of those compartments built into its hull that were supposed to keep water from traveling throughout the vessel and sinking it? Well, we can sometimes set ourselves up in a similar way. Like the sea water in the ship, we want our faith to only go into certain compartments of our lives. But the danger to us is the opposite of the Titanic. If we only keep our faith in secluded areas of our lives, we have a greater chance of them becoming a shipwreck.
Sure, you go to church on Sundays and maybe Wednesdays if you feel really spiritual. But that is all neatly contained in your Faith compartment. And you’re sure not to let those contents spill into your School compartment or Social compartment, etc. What happens when a teacher asks you about macro-evolution? You mention that your Faith compartment believes the Bible, but the more professional School compartment believes Darwin, more or less. How about partying? Your Faith compartment objects, but your Social compartment tells you to go ahead with the beer pong (or Salvia bong, in Miley’s case). Point number two of this Miley Cyrus series is this: a life of separation leaves you ever-divided. Either Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.
It seems like we’ve heard something about this before. In fact it was Jesus who told us that, “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25) In other words, the compartmentalized life is unsteady, ready to fall at any time.
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In Miley’s case, she once proclaimed that, “Faith is a big part of my life.”
That was a good enough testimony to give her a great reputation with Christians. She and her daddy, Billy Ray were featured in numerous Christian magazine articles and put on a pedestal of sorts in the Christian community. Her TV shows, movies and songs weren’t really Christian in nature, but not terrible either. After all, many Christian artists don’t necessarily mention Jesus in their songs. No big deal.
“Life’s what you make it, so let’s make it rock!”
“Nobody's Perfect! I gotta work it!”
“You know they say, when there’s a will there’s a way. Lives are free, talk is
cheap.”
These songs were pretty neutral to the average consumer, so they passed the basic morality tests pretty easily. Now in 2010, Miley’s songs have a bit more bite to them.
“For those who don't know me, I can get a bit crazy. Have to get my way, yeah,
24 hours a day, 'cause I'm hot like that. Every guy everywhere just gives me
mad attention, like I'm under inspection. I always get the 10s, ‘cause I'm built
like that.”
When Miley first moved to Hollywood, she seemed like a good girl on a mission: “That's kind of why I'm like here in Hollywood — to be like a light, a testimony to say God can take someone from Nashville and make me this, but it's his will that made this happen.” Instead, it appears that Hollywood has had more of an impact on Miley. “I'm a completely different person [than when I released 2008's Breakout]. I'm much more confident. You know, I've always been a confident person, but I was going through a lot then," she told MTV news in June. "There's so many people in your life telling you who you should and shouldn't be," Cyrus said. "And that's what Tamed [is] about. It's about being who you are to the fullest. And now I know who that is."
Who that person is, is not what we all used to think she was. But it’s easy to redefine yourself when your faith only occupies a neat little space in your life. It’s true that nobody’s perfect, but on the other side of the coin, talk is indeed cheap. What should we expect from Miley in the future? We can’t be sure exactly, but we ought not raise our expectations.
The question is: Now that Miley’s faith has started sneezing, will you catch the cold yourself?
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How do we respond to this danger of a fragmented life? Here’s a solid answer from the Word: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” All your heart, soul, mind and strength means everything. It’s not a matter of filling a time quota in church, feeding enough homeless or visiting enough elderly people in your spare time; it’s about knowing God and loving Him. Your life will reflect that. That is how the world gets changed.
