Danny ChaiI actually think John might be the 2nd best ex-420 James Rd. worship pianist. He was messing around on our keyboard when he stopped by last week and I really liked his phrasing and chord choice. I hear him play so infrequently that I had forgotten how good he was.
I know that absolutely no one else cares about this and is bored that I’m bringing it up again, but I’m still disturbed that so many people consider Jack Bauer a hero. I’m done trying to figure out his standard of morality and whether he’s immoral or amoral; he’s just inconsistent. I have concluded though that Jack Bauer is a symbol of our times: the ends justify the means. Bauer is this principle hyperbolically personified, and only by that standard can he be considered a hero.
And I strongly believe that that mindset is pernicious, even evil; certainly contrary to Christianity. I believe that for Christians, the means matter far more than the ends. And that the mark of a man is not what he accomplishes, but the quality of his character.
That message is completely lost in contemporary American society. My dad I think says this is partly attributable to the influence of the educator Dewey, who shifted the focus of U.S. education from producing people of good character – good citizens – to training people who can contribute to society – productive citizens. That the best society is the most productive society is virtually taken as a given today.
And I think it’s seeped into Christian culture also, with us maybe caring too much about results and associating our value with what we accomplish. We should certainly seek to do God’s will. But in terms of our value, we should find it more in being loved, not in being used.
I love what Rich Mullins said about this in an interview:
Rich Mullins: In terms of eternity, those people who did the greatest things for God were the people who weren’t trying to do anything at all. They were just simply being obedient
Interviewer: Those are the people God can use.
Rich: Those are the people God can use. And I want to be one of them. If God should use me, that would be great but if He doesn’t there is a very interesting thing you can do. In the gospel of Mark or in any of the four gospels, you go through the gospels and you say, what people are absolutely essential to this story? So Mary is essential to the story because Mary had to give birth to Jesus. And you could say, well someone else could have. But lets say that if she wouldn’t have done it then the story wouldn’t have happened. So, you have God who chose to become flesh, you have Mary who gave Him flesh, you have Jesus who was God in the flesh or who was the child of Mary and God, you have Pontius Pilate who had, in an artificial sense, the power to kill Christ, you have Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ and handed him over to the bad guys, you have whoever it was that nailed Him up to the cross. Out of those people that God used to accomplish His will in the gospel, only a couple of them were very nice people. Most of them were bad people. We all want to be useful to God. Well, its no big deal. God can use anybody. God used Nebuchadnezzar. God used Judas Iscariot. Its not a big deal to be used by God and the shocking thing in the book of Mark, and the reason why it is so shocking is because Mark is the briefest of all the gospels but he has these terrific little details and one of the little details is that it says, “and Jesus called to Him those that He wanted.” And you realize that out of the twelve people that He wanted, only one was essential to His goal in coming to earth. The other eleven people were useless to Christ but they were wanted by Christ. And I kind of go, I would much rather have God want me than have God use me.
He’s overstating things a little, I think, but it’s still a great quotation. We should find more value and joy in being loved than in being used. And we do better not when we focus on the ends, but just the means – obedience. I totally resonate with what he’s saying.
I suppose I feel so strongly and feel we have to be hypervigilant against this because 1) the Jack Bauer ends mentality is so prevalent in our culture, 2) it’s so detrimental to our Christian walk (in my opinion), and 3) it’s a particular danger for those of us who are Asian-American, who are already prone to being achievement-oriented.
So I’m going to make the claim that Christians cannot admire Jack Bauer. His fundamental character is too contrary to true Christian values. And people who do admire him should think long and hard about why they do. My bold claim.
I still find the show entertaining though, but not for the “hero”. And definitely not for its portrayal of women. Have you noticed that every female character on the show is annoying, crazy, and/or evil? There’s only been one completely good / non-annoying female character, and she’s dead. What a misogynistic show.