The Internet Monk
"Read.Think.React.Write.Live."
A Webjournal edited by Michael Spencer
Not Ready For The Real World
Will Truthquest show us what Christians are really like?
by Michael Spencer
It
makes perfect sense that someone has decided to make a Christian version
of MTV's phenomenal hit, "The Real World." American
evangelicals would rewrite the Bible into a collection of variations on
the latest hit videos or commercials if they could get away with it.
Imitation of secular success has become a science among American
Christians, who are so eager to make a Christian version of anything
successful that you have to wonder where is the Christian Brittney
Spears. (Oh. She is? Really? I didn't know. Sorry.)
As I was saying, there is a Christian version of "The Real World" coming in 12 episodes to FamilyNet, a Southern Baptist cable channel. The show will follow a group of students, representing grades eight through college, on a missionary project in California, showing us their lives and interactions. The intention of the show is to demonstrate that the sex-crazed, profanity-filled, godless boozing and whining of MTV's "The Real World" isn't showing the reality of Christian young people, who are having fun, living right, and confronting their culture with the message of Christ.
For those of us who have worked with students for a couple of decades, this type of exposure is strange in a deja-vuish sort of way, but I see the producer's point. Exposing the reality TV audience to your typical Baptist youth group will probably generate interest, open some eyes and start some conversations, somewhat like MTV's inclusion of a Mormon girl did last year. Anyway, it's bound to be some of the better programming on religious television. (Now an Osbournes-type reality show with Paul and Jan Crouch, that would get some ratings.)
In the articles I've read about "Truthquest," there are a lot of familiar conservative Christian criticisms of "The Real World." It's safe to say that the creators of "Real World" know what draws an audience. There is plenty of sex (of several varieties), lots of backbiting, tattling and gossip (obviously encouraged by the producers), and a generous demonstration of every kind of normal human vice from lying to complete worthlessness. But I like "The Real World" very much, and I wonder if "Truthquest" actually knows what reality TV is really all about?
I like "Real World" because, well....it's real. This show, more than any other I've ever watched, portrays people the way they really are: a mess. A big mess. A big, entertaining mess that we all recognize. In fact, this is the secret to the appeal of reality programming We recognize ourselves in everyone from the people surviving on islands and in jungles, to the people discussing who gets kicked out next, to the crowd locked up together on "Big Brother", and, yes, even to the weirdness of the Osbornes. All those quirks, flaws, petty crimes, selfish indulgences, eccentricities, immaturities, demonstrations of stubbornness and complete stupidity- that's us all right. And it is so much fun to watch.
"Real World" confirms what my faith tells me about human beings and our predicament as sinners alienated from God and lost in the cosmos. We are not noble savages, or evolving miracles or fallen angels. We are sinners, fools and petty criminals in the universe, who occasionally, by God's grace, rise to a greater height than we are used to, and sometimes, on our own or with Satan's help, fall to places so low they might be mistaken for hell itself. I do not expect "Truthquest" to be anywhere near so honest.
Christians have a great deal of trouble with the realistic portrayal of human beings. Especially themselves. Pick up a work of Christian fiction. Is this how people talk? Act? Live? Listen to a few hours of Christian talk radio or a round table discussion on a religious television show. Do you recognize any of these people as inhabitants of the "real world," or do you seem to be watching a strangely ad libbed skit based on some very dishonest assumptions about human behavior?
Listen to most ministers talk about their lives. Listen to the prayer requests in a church prayer meeting. Read Christian message boards or listen to Christian music. Is this the "real world?" Or do you, as a Christian, even have the personal courage and honesty to say it all reeks of phoniness? Maybe, like most evangelicals, you are playing the game as well, and even acknowledging the sham is frightening to you.
One thing you can be sure of: the unbelieving world sees this unreality and phoniness with consistent accuracy. We may talk about caricatures and misrepresentations, but those who stand on the outside and observe our lives, listen to our sermons and consider our behavior know what we are really like. It may make us angry to admit it, but the real "Truthquest" is often our non-Christian neighbors seeing how we really live, talk and behave.
On "The Real World," there is a massive dose of reality. It's a level of reality I don't believe any Christian program would ever approach or be allowed to present. It would be too distressing to a numbed Christian community, and too traumatic to our carefully constructed assumptions about our lives as "Christ followers."
Will we hear Christians using profanity? Gossiping? Lying? Will we see if people really spend time in the Bible? Will we see if Christians really pray? Will we see Christians struggling with lust and sexual urges? Will we see moral compromise? Cheating? Stealing? Will the flaws of each character be presented, and not just their Christian personality? Will we hear what Christian young people really have to say about the church? School? Their parents? Their views on living together? Pre-marital sexual experiences? Smoking pot?
You'll have to forgive me, FamilyNet, but I don't see anything like "The Real World" coming to Christian television in the near future.
Evangelicals will hold on to their illusions for many reasons. They have errant theologies to defend, theologies that tell them they are saved, healed, delivered and set free hallelujah. They are in positions of leadership and can't admit their struggles. (What would people think and say? I might lose my job.) They are parents trying to be good examples to their kids. They are youth trying to show their parents and the church they are "good, Christian kids." They are ministers who must preach next Sunday. They are you and me, and we know what we are really like.
The irony is, when the world sees us being honest, and yet holding to the Gospel, they see the greatness of Jesus. For the Christian message is not about Christians. It is about a God who loves and dies for and saves sinners while they are sinners. A God who justifies the ungodly. A God of grace and mercy. It is about alien righteousness apart from the law. It is about simul justus et piccator. Of course, vast numbers of modern Christians have deserted that Gospel for a message of religion, the phony hope that we can get ourselves religious, spiritual, moral and good enough to be Christians after all. Such a false hope is damning and delusional, but we show no signs of letting go of it.
MTV has more integrity than the church these days. We are sinners. That is the "real world" we must live in to have a real hope from Jesus. Jesus who said, by the way, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
I wish "Truthquest" the very best. But I'll be surprised if I see anything like "The Real World."