CULTURE SHOCK INVASIONS 11/3/08

A new week and a new month....we are moving right along. My plan was to talk this week on a very difficult subject 'grieving' but since last weeks was also difficult because of this time in our lives, I decided to use a devotion that hits us where we live. Right in the middle of our culture!
I am sure my story will ring some bells in your memories of the way things were and what they are today. If you can share your thoughts with me, by making comments, please do so.

CULTURE SHOCK INVASIONS
When I was about 8 or 9 my sister Jean took me and some of my sisters, to see Dennis Morgan in the movie "Christmas in Connecticut". It was my first time ever to ride on a street car and then cross the bridge that spanned the Missouri River from Council Bluffs Iowa to Omaha Nebraska. We went to the café that my Dad worked at and he gave us a fried chicken dinner which we ate sitting on stairs in the back room of the café. Again another first, eating in a café! Dennis Morgan was our heart throb at the time! Years later I saw that movie and others, with him and thought he doesn’t hold a candle to Charlton Heston. Moses and Ben Hur, Wow?
Today I really don’t like going to movies. Some stories I like watching up front and personal but I think movies have become far to personal. Becoming engrossed in the story is not enough for me to sit through explicit sex, unnecessary violence and rooting for the bad guys. Jim loves movie popcorn and so he usually eats his popcorn and then we leave. Expensive popcorn!
One of my problems is that unless the actors have a relatively sound character and no unpleasant baggage broadcasted through the media of magazines, TV, typecasting or their politics, I don’t want to watch, listen or see them. Have you ever noticed the list of names that are now actors, who use to be rappers and rock stars? They have changed their names probably to hide their real identities. There is Bow Wow, Ice Cube, Meat Loaf, Yahoo Serious, Snoop Dog and Emenem. When I see a nonsense name I am not interested!
In my lifetime I have seen some cultural changes in hair styles, clothing and how to wear them. I’ve seen the attractive modest look give way to the extreme, leaving nothing to the imagination. The culture shock is that this is not only drawing young adults, men and women. But it includes children, the elderly and even Christians. The belly button is no longer something cute on a baby but a focal point to be decorated to draw attention like a fireplace does for a room. It use to be that a look could say volumes but today the phrase; "A picture is worth a thousand words" seems to win the battle in drawing the lookie lues!
Every generation, experiences culture shock. If you look in the dictionary you will find that the word culture can mean; enlightenment, education, refinement training. It is the refinement of knowledge, crafts, art, literature, beliefs and customs of a people. There are many cultural differences in our world and have been since the beginning of time. Some cultures we can readily accept because they help us to change for the better. Today’s culture says that anything goes! If it feels good, do it! I find no refinement there! Many cultural changes are detrimental to our morals and Christian standards. Where do we draw the line?
If you believe there is right and wrong and I do! If you truly believe there is a God and I do! If you believe there is a heaven and a hell, and I do! Then you know that we should not fall into these culture traps that say; "Everybody’s doing it"! Better still; "My Mom and Dad don’t care, why not"! If you are a Mom and Dad, you better care. You better be about knowing where your child is not only at 11:00 o clock but all the time. You had better get on the ball and teach your children that the goal is not to be like others but to become like Christ. If you want to be happy and to have your children happy teach them about things that are good. We are to be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world". The lights on Broadway suggest that glamor is the way to go. I suggest that Christianity in any culture is the only way to go! In Provers 3:35 it says; "The wise inherit honor, but fools He holds up to shame"! Joy comes in the morning when there is Christ in you. By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/3/08