By now, most of you have heard of the controversy surrounding “Miss California,” runner-up in the recent “Miss USA Pageant. Carrie Prejean, Miss California, claims that her “politically incorrect” answer cost her the title of “Miss USA,” and even according to one of the judges of the pageant, she may be right.
During the pageant, Miss Prejean was asked her views on homosexual marriage. The question was asked by a celebrity judge who is openly homosexual. Here’s her response…
“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. But in my country, and in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offence to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”
For her answer, Miss Prejean immediately became a villain in the eyes of some, and a heroine in the eyes of others. After the pageant, Miss Prejean was interviewed by ABC and asked about why she answered the way she did, and she said, “It’s not about being politically correct. For me, it’s about being biblically correct.”
While I do not think it’s “great to be able to chose one or the other,” as Miss Prejean said, I do agree with, and commend her for her affirmation that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But here’s my confusion concerning this whole story. I can’t figure out why the political and religious right have embraced her as the new “spokesperson” for biblical morality. It was this same Miss Prejean who moments before being asked this question about homosexual marriage was parading her body before the nation in a skimpy bikini. Is Modesty not an issue upon which we should strive to be “biblically correct” as well?
The same Bible that condemns homosexuality (Romans 1:27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10), also condemns immodesty (1 Timothy 2:9-10). While parading herself on stage in a bikini, could it be said that she was dressed in such a fashion that was proper for women professing godliness? Could it be said that her attire was consistent with one who was trying to dress with “shamefacedness?” Just today I saw a news article entitled, “Miss California Becomes Right Wing Pin-Up.” How does being a “pin-up” square with Christ’s teaching on modesty?
Judging from some of the feedback I’ve received from this article, and from the way Miss Prejean has been embraced as a stalwart of morality, I have learned that although it once was, modesty is no longer considered a biblical issue by many today. That observation causes me to raise another question, “Just how much time must pass until “homosexual marriage” will also no longer considered to be a moral issue?
While our society may have relegated the issue of modesty to the periphery, God has not.
Wonderful article, Bro. Higginbotham! How sad that the world has come to embrace immodesty and homosexuality as “the norm.” What’s worse is the fact that there are those in the Lord’s church who refuse to teach or preach on the subject of immodesty for fear of offending anyone or because they choose to dress that way themselves.
Hello Holly,
Thank you for your comments. It is sad that we are being desensitized to immorality. I’m sure we all have a ways to go in “abhoring evil” (Romans 12:9) as we should. But there is a difference in not hating evil as we should (which requires maturation) and defending evil (which is an indicator of one’s heart). You’d be surprised to know how many feel compelled to defend her near nudity, especially since they, themselves, or their wives and daughters dress the same way.
You’re exactly right. Miss California is not a spokesman for Biblical morality, but for the political and religious right which has (intentionally?) linked American Christianity to the service of a couple of pet causes and politicians.
Such linkage is both lazy and intellectually dishonest. Clearly, what a person believes about the government’s reaction to homosexuality is no indication of that person’s morals. Likewise, a person’s tendency toward or away from “Biblical morality” is not a leading indicator of his or her politics.
But as long as the link persists — as long as it is perpetuated by the loudest voices in the public square on both sides of the aisle — the truth will be drowned out.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH BROHTER ALTHOUGH I’AM NOT IN STATE BUT I THINK YOU ARE DOING VERY WONDERFUL WORK THERE KEEP IT UP IF ALL PREACHERS WILL DO WHAT YOU ARE DOING WE WILL GO A LONG WAY IN CHRISTIANDOM.THANKS