Tiger Woods' Marriage is None of Our Business
I just checked the Drudge Report. Again, there was a headline about Tiger Woods' marriage. More time devoted to covering an issue that doesn't affect you or me in any tangible way. We could end the 24-hour scandal cycle by simply tuning out. Yet we choose to entertain ourselves with the shortcomings of others. The fact is, though, that Tiger's life isn't a reality TV show. He has asked that his privacy be respected, and we owe that to him. More importantly, we owe that to ourselves. We debase ourselves by feeding our lust for entertainment with scandal. Love "does not rejoice over wrongdoing" (1 Corinthians 13:6), and yet that's exactly what we have done. What is the cumulative effect of immersing ourselves and our culture in these narratives? Are we discouraging bad behavior by exposing it? Hardly. The lies, the arguments, the divorces are all part of the show. We are talking about morality, but in a way that is detached from reality. Not only are these events distant from our real lives, media gossip is detached from the reality of the situations it purports to illuminate. Think of how these stories usually end. A tearful apology is issued, and we're all made whole. Just like on TV. People's lives, though, aren't like television shows. When the cameras turn of, life goes on. No apology, no matter how sincere, can undo the damage of a true hurt. Only in the make-believe world of Hollywood with its make-believe grievances does life work that way. Love "rejoices with the truth," so let's not involve ourselves in the truth-distorting scandal machine. If we focus on the lives of ourselves and those around us, then we can experience the joy of God's true creation. Real life can certainly be filled with sorrow, but Christ has redeemed all suffering. He has made his suffering a cause for great joy. His pain is real, and His redemption is real. Without Christ, without the Truth, we are left with a bland indifference. We can turn off the TV and not really care about the celebrities we were busy judging just moments ago. We aren't truly grieved, and we aren't truly redeemed. That isn't Truth. That is Truth's absence, and we must reject it.