Debbie, a Former Stripper: How Explicit Should Christian Broadcasters Be?
Posted on March 24th, 2008 by David Mackin into the Uncategorized, David Mackin Writes: categoryOn March 21, 2008, the 700 Club aired an amazing story about how God's grace saved and restored the lives of John and Debbie Lowe. Debbie was a former stripper. The way that the 700 Club portrayed Debbie's former life concerned me. In my viewed, it raised the question: How "true-to-life" and explicit do Christian broadcasters need to be in order to communicate their message? Here is what I emailed the 700 Club. What do you think?
As a regular viewer of the 700 Club and donor to Operation Blessing, I so appreciate how you use personal testimonies to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I viewed the segment that described Debbie Lowe's former life as a stripper, however, I felt very disappointed. In my view, it was not necessary to show a woman on a stage sensually dancing, stripping, throwing off her top, leaning over and offering her body to men who were lusting after her and coming on to John as a buxom, wanton prostitute.
I realize that you want to make your segments "realistic" but, in my opinion, this was too realistic. It was a stumbling block to me which Paul says Christians should avoid putting in front of their fellow believers (Romans 14:13). The segment could have been presented in a much more tasteful way by simply not showing as many dark behaviors.
In my view, everyone knows what strippers and prostitutes do. In the future, I hope that I do not see similar characterizations involving such unnecessary and sordid details.
Respectfully Yours in Christ,
David
To view the John and Debbie Lowe story see: CBN Media Center - Browse. Search. Watch. Share.
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March 24th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Excellent, David, excellent.
A blog-post about Christian strippers; this should definitely increase our readership.
Actually, I agree with you that it’s inappropriate. It’s something Fox News does all the time, they’ll spend 10 minutes condemning a sexy video, while the whole time showing the video on an endless loop. They’re clearly using the sex as a means to attract viewers; while condemning it to maintain their editorial purity. Kinda hypocritical.
March 25th, 2008 at 8:17 am
David,
Why, if you think the story was a stubbling block, would you put the link on this blog for others to see?
March 26th, 2008 at 10:18 am
My comment is exactly the same as NoOneimportants comment. Why DID you put the link on the blog if it was a stummbling block to even you?
March 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
NoOneimportant and Just Curious asked: David, Why, if you think the story was a stubbling block, would you put the link on this blog for others to see?
NoOneimportant and Just Curious, Great question. It would appear that I might have lacked some sensitivity by the posting. At the same time, as I think about it, there were four albeit subconscious reasons:
(1) I gave the source automatically without really thinking too deeply about it because I have a habit of footnoting; as long as I gave the name, the 700 Club, anyone could figure it out anyway if they were familiar with their ministry of live-streaming;
(2) I put it on there for everyone who wanted to make sure that I wasn’t just making up something, esp. since I noted that a specific Christian ministry was responsible;
(3) I posted it because Christians opinions about these kinds of matters might involve some differences as far as what is legit to be broadcasted and what should not be (she was not bare chested after she threw off her top and obviously the news editors of the 700 Club felt it was okay);
and, most importantly,
(4) since I detailed the segment fairly closely in my posting, I believed that those who would agree with me that this might also be a stumbling block to them would have the good sense and self-control enough not to look at it! : )
P.S. I have not heard back from the 700 Club as yet, but I do plan to follow-up on this.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
David said: (4) since I detailed the segment fairly closely in my posting, I believed that those who would agree with me that this might also be a stumbling block to them would have the good sense and self-control enough not to look at it! : )
David, Just thought you should know…I had the good sense and self control not to look at it.