Paradigm Shift: Sex, Country Music, and the Bachelorette

Paradigm Shift: noun. an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.

Hot take: I enjoy country music, but I think Luke Bryan is the worst thing to happen to the genre.

Music, and media in general, often influences culture and the way we think and interact with others. We create paradigms, viewing the world through colored lenses which taint our perspectives and identities.

Contrary to Luke Bryan’s song “Most People are Good,” nobody is inherently good. The Bible tells us our hearts are desperately wicked and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). From birth, you don’t have to teach a kid how to steal from the cookie jar or lie to parents. You do, however, have to provide loving rules, consequences and rewards.

It is also possible to be a nice person and not be good. God defines “good” differently than we do: the Bible also tells us that our best works are no better than filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Filthy rags aren’t just the ones you clean your car or a table with; during biblical times, filthy rags refer to the ones women used during their cycle. Essentially, at our best, we are no better than used tampons.

In our sinful state, we misidentify sin as freedom. We choose to pursue and elevate such sin over God, including alcohol, people, our ambitions and desires, money, comfort, and sex. But sin comes with consequences we fail to realize, shackling us in slavery to this world.

We feel condemned and broken by our past, unable to shake it. We blame others for the shame and guilt, confusing condemnation and conviction. God aches for us to turn away from our sins, and the Holy Spirit provides pricking reminders of the standard He has for us, spurring us to holy action.

Hannah Brown recently referenced John 8: 1-11, the story of Jesus and the adulteress. When Jesus speaks to this woman with a messy sexual history, he does not condemn her. However, Jesus did convict the women, saying “Go, and from now on, sin no more.” For those in relationship with God, there is no condemnation, but condemnation can come in whispers from the Devil.

God is love, so if Jesus is truly God and he IS the definition of love itself, then He is our example. But God, rich in mercy, while we were still his enemies, chose to send his Son to live a perfect life and pay the price of death for our sins. God gives us grace, forgiveness we don’t deserve, even when our sin warrants separation from him forever.

In response to His grace, we then want to ask how close to sin and temptation we can flirt. But Scripture tells us to flee such things.

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” – 2 Timothy 2: 22

True conviction leads to repentance. It’s like getting in a car with your friend in Atlanta and they need to go to Orlando. Instead, you start driving them to New York City. Repentance is not apologizing or justifying your wrong direction when they point it out. Repentance is turning the car around and driving to Orlando.

When dealing with sin and pursuing righteousness I was asked this series of questions: “Are you stronger than Samson? Wiser than Solomon? Spent more time with Jesus than Judas?”

Yet each of these men flirted with sin and were burned by it. Just as a single leak can sink a ship, a single sin can sink a soul.

Strength does not come from isolation, it comes from surrounding yourself with a community of like-minded believers. Matthew 18 tells us to approach one another in sin, this isn’t encouraging judgement, but rather a community holding each other accountable.

My intention is not to judge someone based off of 60 seconds of television, crafted to stir up drama, broadcasting great moments of human weakness to the masses. I do not condemn Luke Bryan, Hannah B., Luke P., or any celebrity.

I say these things not to condemn or slut-shame anyone, or to be legalistic. I say these things as a reminder of good theology, of what scripture teaches us. This isn’t legalism but finding freedom that God has to offer. Freedom from condemnation and the daily weight of past sins. Freedom from being perfect or holding each other to impossible standards.

Nobody is good, but God is, and in Him we are being made wholly new creations. Conviction is an indicator that He is at work within us, making us more and more like him.