The Most Fascinating People of the Year?
Newswoman, Barbara Walters has a long-standing tradition of assembling what she terms her “Ten Most Fascinating People” of the year. Each year she counts them down in an hour-long program on prime-time television. On Thursday December 4th she revealed her “Ten Most Fascinating People of 2008.” Her list included some which, were by no means, surprising. For instance at the top of her list was President-Elect Barak Obama. Former Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin ranked very high also at number 3. Listed below is Walters’ top ten:
- 10. Will Smith (Actor)
- 9. Michael Phelps (Olympic gold medalist swimmer)
- 8. Miley Cyrus (teenage actor/singer)
- 7. Tina Fey (Actress/impersonator)
- 6. Rush Limbaugh (Conservative radio talk-show host)
- 5. Thomas Beatie (Billed as the world’s first pregnant man)
- 4. Frank Langella (Actor)
- 3. Sarah Palin (Alaska Governor/Former Vice-Presidential Candidate)
- 2. Tom Cruise (Actor)
- 1. Barak Obama (President-Elect)
Barbara Walters’ annual list is for entertainment purposes only and carries no weight in the real world, however it does offer some insight to the onlooker. Michael Phelps has been hailed by some to be the greatest athlete of all time undergoing a rigorous training program for several years in order to not only win a gold medal in swimming, but to actually win eight gold medals – a feat never before accomplished! I suppose I was surprised to learn Thomas Beatie edged out Phelps by discovering one day he was really a man trapped in a woman’s body! With fully functioning female organs, this person became pregnant and had a child and now is pregnant again. I do not have a degree in biology, but I did take a few courses and I am pretty sure a person’s gender is not determined by what they say it is. It is true that someone can mutilate their body; we see that all the time. No matter what a person does, they cannot change the gender God assigned to them.
People have become increasingly fascinated with the darker side of life. It is reflected in the things that make them laugh, make them cry, make them mad, and motivate them to action. As our nation has become more obese physically it has become more obese mentally. American culture today is generally screaming for tolerance but intolerant of a Christian-Worldview, educated but foolish, possessing a strong faith but in everything and everyone other that God, and politically correct but nevertheless wrong.
In the Romans 1 culture in which we live, it makes sense we would see actors and actresses with eccentric lifestyles edging out disciplined athletes, skillful politicians, and upstanding moral citizens. This culture loves entertainment. When something loses its entertainment value, it no longer is important. The Romans 1 culture was guilty of “worshiping and serving the creation rather than the creator.” American culture, in the 21st Century, has largely abandoned God and what is natural and descent and chosen to fixate itself on the kinky, exotic, paranormal, sensual, and irrational. In spite of all we observe, believers can find certain comfort in knowing we have a future that is secure. The greatest preachers, the most Godly believers, not even Jesus Christ Himself will make Barbara Walters most fascinating list any time soon, but we are not surprised. Our eternal destiny rests in the hands of God and any worries we may have stem only from unbelief.
In Christ,
Pastor Allen Raynor