Wednesday, February 11, 2004
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Wednesday, February 11, 2004 |
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Some ‘revealing’ thoughts about forgiveness By JOHN HATCHER “I know it’s been a rough week on everybody. And what occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable, and I apologize if you guys were offended.” Those were the words of Justin Timberlake as he accepted a Grammy at Sunday night’s musical awards show. Timberlake accepted the award for best male pop vocal performance in “Cry Me a River.” As he made his remarks, Timberlake was genuine and sincere. As he accepted his award, he appeared truly humbled by the recognition by his peers. Unless you just arrived from another planet, you should know to what Timberlake was alluding, the thing that “occurred” and that was “unintentional,” and that was “completely regrettable.” He was referring to the ripping off of Janet Jackson’s costume revealing her right breast for an international television audience. The incident has given the television network such a case of the shakes that the whole event was put on a five minute delay. Everything we saw Sunday night was history by the time we saw it, giving censors enough time to whack off anything that was offensive in nature. Personally, I believe Timberlake and accept his apology. Certainly I could spend another two or three weeks dwelling on the “unintentional” aspect of his apology. The bottom line is that the young man made a mistake of epic proportions and has apologized for it. Time to move on. In his way, he accepted responsibility and asked forgiveness. I, for one, appreciate his being a “man” and I accept his apology. Somehow we in America refuse to let bygones be bygones. We want dwell so much on someone else’s imperfections and failures so we are more comfortable with our own faults. Can’t we get a life? Once the baring of the breast made it into our thoughts, you would have thought America was the moralistic nation in all the earth. You would have thought we did not have our fair share of porn channels. You would have thought that porn magazines could be found under the beds of some of our leaders, Christian at that. I mean, with all the hoopla over the bare breast, you would have thought America was a innocent damsel in distress. The truth is that America, not Iraq or Saudi Arabia or Iran, is the one whose entertainment is in the gutter. At least in those countries their religion holds a reign on moral filth. It seems we want to spread democracy and indecency all over the world. Jesus had a word for those who got out of joint over the Jackson/Timberlake event. He said before you start trying to remove the splinter in someone else’s life, try removing the board that is in your own eye. Good word. Remember the evangelist who preached fire and damnation on all those who were engaged in perverted sex, only to be found out himself to be deeply involved with several sexual perversions. Perhaps Justin and Janet should be stimuli not so much for moral outrage, but our inward examination. When was the last time, man, you tore off a woman’s cover with your eyes? John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303
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