There must be some sort of law in operation which posits that the higher you climb in the celebrity ranks, the lower you sink in mental ability and moral clarity. We have all sorts of Hollywood celebs, pop stars, and other media marvels who seem intent on doing and saying really dumb things.
I have often documented such cases on this site, and will undoubtedly have plenty of fodder in the future to keep writing such pieces. In today’s news we have another prime example of all this. It seems Miley Cyrus, the 18-year-old pop star, is again seeking to impress us all with her theological knowledge as she again champions the homosexual agenda.
Here is how the story is covered: “Miley Cyrus has gone on record in support of gay rights in the past, but this time she went with a decidedly more permanent statement. Last Friday, the singer tweeted a photo of her new tattoo, an equal sign on her right ringer finger, with the caption ‘All LOVE is equal.’ In a year where the ‘It Gets Better’ videos have served as a very formal, very scripted (and, yes, very powerful) beacon of the gay rights landscape, Cyrus’s subtle nod is a quirky (and dare I even say refreshing?) political affirmation.
“If nothing else, she is, in her own way, breathing new life into the debate with the kind of nonchalance that only an 18-year-old can. Unfortunately for Miss Miley, announcing her new art didn’t turn out to be all peace, love, and rainbows. Shortly after Cyrus showed off her ink, one of her followers, named @MileyCyrusLuver, tried to engage the pop star in a theology debate by citing Bible verses against homosexuality.
“Cyrus kept her rebuttal short: ‘Where does it say in the bible to judge others? Oh right. It doesn’t. GOD is the only judge honey’. Alas, the same can’t be said of her strong-minded fans. Over the weekend, a full-scale Twitter battle erupted between her fans, who reportedly went so far as to Tweet death threats against @MileyCyrusLuver.”
Now I have written before on this site about young Miley and her celebrity family: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/21/miley-cyrus-advice-for-your-dad/
And I have written before about when she actually starts preaching to us about what Jesus would do. She has told us earlier that Jesus just wants everyone to be happy, even in their homosexuality. I discuss her theological wisdom here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/04/25/more-celebrity-zingers/
So what we have here is just more of the same. She and her father, musician Billy Ray Cyrus, have had exposure to biblical Christianity, and he has even released several Christian albums. But she clearly seems to be happy to reject her family faith, and jump on board the trendy homosexual rights bandwagon.
Now if any celeb wants to push any radical agenda, that is up to them. But when they seek to drag God and Christ into the debate, and seek to justify what they are doing by appeals to Scripture, that is when I for one stand up and take notice, and feel compelled to weigh into the debate.
In typical fashion, she tries to make a biblical case when it is obvious that she does not even know what is in her Bible – if she indeed even ever reads it. So Miley the Bible scholar informs us that the Bible nowhere tells us to judge others.
Nowhere? So what do we do with the many dozens of biblical passages which command us to do exactly that? I recently went through the New Testament, jotting down every time Christians are told to judge, to discern, to test, to rebuke, and to hold one another to account.
All up there are around a hundred such passages, found in every single NT book bar one. When we do find a warning in Scripture about judging, it clearly has to do with hypocritical judgment. But I have dealt with this elsewhere: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2008/10/08/thou-shalt-judge/
Aside from getting this issue of judging wrong big time, of perhaps greater concern is her apparent complete ignorance about what biblical love is all about. Sorry Miley, but all love is not equal. Indeed, love has nothing to do with feelings or emotions in the first place. Biblical love is about willing the highest good of the other person.
It is not about affirming and endorsing a dead-end lifestyle which is not only biblically illicit, but is simply a dangerous and high-risk lifestyle that we should not wish on anyone. But I have discussed this quite often elsewhere. Indeed, in my soon-to-be-released book, I spend quite a bit of time on this topic. So let me conclude here with a short section from that book:
This is a common fall-back position. “God is love” we are told. “We need to love and accept people just as God loved and accepted all people.” This is of course a half-truth. And as with all half-truths, it contains enough truth to sound convincing, but it also contains enough falsehood to seriously lead one astray.
Of course God is loving and gracious. He is also holy, just and pure. All the attributes together make up the Godhead. His various attributes are never set at odds with one another, and all are fully present at all times. God always loves, but he always hates sin. He is always ready to forgive, but is always set to judge those who reject his love and forgiveness.
The loving Christ of the gospels was also the person who spoke more about hell and judgment to come than any other person in the Bible. The same Christ who drew children in his arms will also come back with a sword to judge the earth, as the Book of Revelation makes clear.
Yes love matters. But so too does holiness, righteousness and justice. When we come to God, we come under his terms, not our own. His holiness has not been lessened one iota. Christ’s death at Calvary was an act of supreme love and supreme justice combined. He has paid the penalty for our sins. But when we come to Christ and receive his forgiveness, we must, like the accepted adulterer, “go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
And as I already mentioned, if we really love someone, we will want the best for them. The best for a person never comes by violating God’s laws, which are for our good. As one Christian counsellor states, “God has already declared what love is and is not by the commands He had given. Love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:10), so any breaking of the law is an unloving act.”
Miley, typical teenager, assumes she has vast new insights into God, happiness, and the meaning of life – just because they are new to her. She doesn’t have the life experience yet to know just how ignorant she truly is, nor to know how dangerous it is to espouse whatever her not-yet-fully-developed mind tells her is the truth. She lacks the capacity to use critical thinking and the foresight to understand the consequences of trying to make God in her own image.
If she’s lucky, she’ll continue her journey to adulthood and, when her developmental processes are complete, come to look back on her youthful proclamations as what they really are: the results of “zeal without knowledge”, which isn’t a good thing (Prov. 19:2).
However, due to the insulating characteristics of the celebrity lifestyle, it’s all too easy to surround yourself with people who will only tell you how wonderful you are, and never hold up the mirror of reality so you can actually grow. After all, they’re making their living off of you, and need to stay on your good side (even if they’re your parents) – why upset the goose that lays the golden egg? She’ll probably spend her entire life as an adolescent, supporting one liberal cause after another without ever asking herself if what she believes actually measures up with the truth, even while claiming the authority of God’s word. (That’s assuming she doesn’t decide she’s outgrown her need to believe in God.)
Makes you wonder why the heck anyone would care what she believes, doesn’t it?
Ronin Akechi
Mark Twain summed up the unique mix of teenage ignorance and arrogance well when he said:
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”
Mansel Rogerson
I find this commentary on St. Augustine’s famous statement “Love and do what you will” extremely helpful. It is refreshing to know that even he must have been vexed with the perverted thinking of the Miley Cyruses of his day: http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/homily-23sunday-a.html
As the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun.
Eccl. 7:5 “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.” – especially that of Miley!!
David Skinner, UK
Perhaps Miley could do with a few more years under her belt but I know plenty of adults who think the SSM marriage boils down to “If two people love each other they should be allowed to get married” and fail to think of all the consequences of SSM and homosexual lifestyles to the people involves their children and the rest of society.
Kylie Anderson
When the Mileys of this world say that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, we must point out neither did he ever say anything about incest, paedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, sado-masochism, transsexuality, bisexuality – but he certainly did about adultery and fornication in the most condemnatory way. “Go and sin nor more,” he said to the women caught in adultery.
David Skinner, UK
As regards “all love is equal” there is a clear difference between selfish covetous love and outgoing concern for another person kind of love. The ancient Greeks had 4 words for love: Eros (sensual love); Philia (brotherly love); Storge (natural affection of family love) and Agape (unconditional outgoing love). I would say the only love that is equal is the Agape variety as it transcends self interest and is constant. It is incorruptible and not influenced by circumstances to turn to hate. What little I know of homosexual love as an alternative to heterosexual love does not augur well as it seems short-lived but then constant love between man and woman is equally disposable in our continuing “Me now” society and wreaking havoc with our children. If you believe that homosexuality is a sin against God in your world view then you would want to warn a fellow human being of danger because you care and that person can choose whether or not to heed the warning.
Rachel Smith
When people like Peter Tatchell say that marriage or the love between a man and man is no better or worse than that between a man or woman, he is either ignorant of or denies the fact that marital love is not manufactured by men but by God. God created marriage and it is His love, not our own which is transmitted to our spouse. There is billion miles of separation between Peter Tatchell’s or Miley’s love and that of God. In a similar vein when people say that the Golden Rule is do unto others as you would have them do to you, or love others as you would have them love you, again, we recognise that our judgements and love are imperfect and instead of avoiding judging people or killing people with kindness, we ask God to enable us judge others and love them wisely and rightly as a father would judge and love his child.
Psalm 139 and 51 express the desire that God would first put us right so that we might gently draw others back onto the paths of righteousness:
Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
This kind of love is sacrificial and expects nothing in return. Homosexual love is parasitical, narcissistic and sucks the life blood out of each of the partners.
David Skinner, UK
This isn’t a surprising stance that Miley is taking – in fact I would have been surprised if she were to think any other way. She has been on a slippery slope for a while now, unfortunately a sparkly glittery one with no warning signs that it will lead to nowhere (or death, for that matter). I partly blame fame for this, but I also think that it is inevitable for somebody to start speaking half truths if they once knew God, but stray from relationship with Him. They don’t deny his existence, yet in essence they do because they only take the bits of Him that they want.
I’m not sure it has much to do with her age, to be honest. Perhaps the lack of intelligent rebuttal shows her immaturity.
I hope for her sake, and her many Christian fans that do still look up to her, that Christ will be revealed to her again and this will take greater importance than her career.
Jess Hagen
Due to the culture in which they have been immersed since birth, it must be very difficult for our youth to understand what love is. We have a huge responsibility to pray for them and to repent before God for our failures to create a society which fosters, rather than perverts, their formation as strong men and women of God.
By grace we can turn things around, but not if we just wring our hands and remain silent!
Anna Cook
Gay activists know that gay theology is false, hence their objection to publication of anti-sodomy Bible verses or references. Were gay theology true, there’d be no need for such objections, in a free and tolerant society…
Michael Watts
Miley, typical teenager, assumes she has vast new insights into God, happiness, and the meaning of life – just because they are new to her. She doesn’t have the life experience yet to know just how ignorant she truly is, nor to know how dangerous it is to espouse whatever her not-yet-fully-developed mind tells her is the truth. She lacks the capacity to use critical thinking and the foresight to understand the consequences of trying to make God in her own image.
If she’s lucky, she’ll continue her journey to adulthood and, when her developmental processes are complete, come to look back on her youthful proclamations as what they really are: the results of “zeal without knowledge”, which isn’t a good thing (Prov. 19:2).
However, due to the insulating characteristics of the celebrity lifestyle, it’s all too easy to surround yourself with people who will only tell you how wonderful you are, and never hold up the mirror of reality so you can actually grow. After all, they’re making their living off of you, and need to stay on your good side (even if they’re your parents) – why upset the goose that lays the golden egg? She’ll probably spend her entire life as an adolescent, supporting one liberal cause after another without ever asking herself if what she believes actually measures up with the truth, even while claiming the authority of God’s word. (That’s assuming she doesn’t decide she’s outgrown her need to believe in God.)
Makes you wonder why the heck anyone would care what she believes, doesn’t it?
Ronin Akechi
Mark Twain summed up the unique mix of teenage ignorance and arrogance well when he said:
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”
Mansel Rogerson
I find this commentary on St. Augustine’s famous statement “Love and do what you will” extremely helpful. It is refreshing to know that even he must have been vexed with the perverted thinking of the Miley Cyruses of his day:
http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/homily-23sunday-a.html
As the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun.
Eccl. 7:5 “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.” – especially that of Miley!!
David Skinner, UK
Perhaps Miley could do with a few more years under her belt but I know plenty of adults who think the SSM marriage boils down to “If two people love each other they should be allowed to get married” and fail to think of all the consequences of SSM and homosexual lifestyles to the people involves their children and the rest of society.
Kylie Anderson
When the Mileys of this world say that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, we must point out neither did he ever say anything about incest, paedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, sado-masochism, transsexuality, bisexuality – but he certainly did about adultery and fornication in the most condemnatory way. “Go and sin nor more,” he said to the women caught in adultery.
David Skinner, UK
As regards “all love is equal” there is a clear difference between selfish covetous love and outgoing concern for another person kind of love. The ancient Greeks had 4 words for love: Eros (sensual love); Philia (brotherly love); Storge (natural affection of family love) and Agape (unconditional outgoing love). I would say the only love that is equal is the Agape variety as it transcends self interest and is constant. It is incorruptible and not influenced by circumstances to turn to hate. What little I know of homosexual love as an alternative to heterosexual love does not augur well as it seems short-lived but then constant love between man and woman is equally disposable in our continuing “Me now” society and wreaking havoc with our children. If you believe that homosexuality is a sin against God in your world view then you would want to warn a fellow human being of danger because you care and that person can choose whether or not to heed the warning.
Rachel Smith
When people like Peter Tatchell say that marriage or the love between a man and man is no better or worse than that between a man or woman, he is either ignorant of or denies the fact that marital love is not manufactured by men but by God. God created marriage and it is His love, not our own which is transmitted to our spouse. There is billion miles of separation between Peter Tatchell’s or Miley’s love and that of God. In a similar vein when people say that the Golden Rule is do unto others as you would have them do to you, or love others as you would have them love you, again, we recognise that our judgements and love are imperfect and instead of avoiding judging people or killing people with kindness, we ask God to enable us judge others and love them wisely and rightly as a father would judge and love his child.
Psalm 139 and 51 express the desire that God would first put us right so that we might gently draw others back onto the paths of righteousness:
Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
This kind of love is sacrificial and expects nothing in return. Homosexual love is parasitical, narcissistic and sucks the life blood out of each of the partners.
David Skinner, UK
This isn’t a surprising stance that Miley is taking – in fact I would have been surprised if she were to think any other way. She has been on a slippery slope for a while now, unfortunately a sparkly glittery one with no warning signs that it will lead to nowhere (or death, for that matter). I partly blame fame for this, but I also think that it is inevitable for somebody to start speaking half truths if they once knew God, but stray from relationship with Him. They don’t deny his existence, yet in essence they do because they only take the bits of Him that they want.
I’m not sure it has much to do with her age, to be honest. Perhaps the lack of intelligent rebuttal shows her immaturity.
I hope for her sake, and her many Christian fans that do still look up to her, that Christ will be revealed to her again and this will take greater importance than her career.
Jess Hagen
Due to the culture in which they have been immersed since birth, it must be very difficult for our youth to understand what love is. We have a huge responsibility to pray for them and to repent before God for our failures to create a society which fosters, rather than perverts, their formation as strong men and women of God.
By grace we can turn things around, but not if we just wring our hands and remain silent!
Anna Cook
Gay activists know that gay theology is false, hence their objection to publication of anti-sodomy Bible verses or references. Were gay theology true, there’d be no need for such objections, in a free and tolerant society…
Michael Watts