Echo Hub

There was a very insightful conversation that took place around this issue at the 12 Cities 12 Conversations gathering in Orlando a few weeks ago. They just posted a video snippet on their blog about it.
http://www.12cities12conversations.com/2010/08/31…

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this topic!

Remember when Britney and Justin Timberlake said they were Christians and were waiting until they were married to have sex? I just thought I'd start out like that.

Helpful: Celebrities are role models whether they want to be or not; what they do and say has a deeper impact in our lives (especially our youths' lives) than most preachers/pastors/priests.

Harmful: See above. Celebrities are people who face incredible temptations we (thankfully) will never face. When they fall, they fall harder than most. Because Christianity is now set up as a works-oriented religion in the eyes of most people who aren't Christian (and many Christians), the work "hypocritical" dominates people's minds.

Also, I don't want a Republican, conservative Christian celeb who preaches at people, but shows no love for people hurting. Those are my thoughts.

1…another Christian teacher, minister, leader (on the left or right) says that this new celebrity is teaching something dangerous, heretical, misleading, sinful, etc.

2….we crave leadership and guidance. we need people that we can look up to and learn something from.

3…they tend to divide rather than unite. Now instead of having Christians that can talk to one another and love God and their Neighbor to their fullest extent we argue back and forth about which Mars Hill church is more biblically based and theologically sound.

The surest sign that someone is a Christian celebrity is . . . they speak at a lot of conferences. And sell books. We all wish they would be the mouth piece of our Christian generation instead of Pat Robertson.

Christian celebrities are helpful because . . . Hopefully they paint the picture that Christians love and extend grace to others and we do not want to burn Harry Potter books and condemn people on street corners.

Christian celebrities are harmful because . . . we trust in them more than Jesus.

The term Christian celebrity should not even exist.

Would you care to elaborate?

There's a difference between a Christian celebrity and a celebrity who is also a Christian – I'm going on the assumption that you're talking about an in-the-bubble celebrity who may or may not be moving outside the bubble as well…
surest sign: the celebrity gets airtime and slips in references to God/Jesus as much as he can
helpful because: they have potential to be helpful because they have the public ear; I can think of only a few who may have used this potential
harmful because: they seem to believe their own rhetoric – that they are indeed on a higher spiritual plain, and when they fail our human expectation, it's a big fat, public failure with no real redemption because the celebrity has the spiritual depth of a puddle.
And really, all our perceptions are based on what we see of Christian celebrities in media – so they remain just that – perceptions, certainly not the truth.

The surest sign that someone is a Christian celebrity is… they have attained their popularity and/or wealth by identifying with and selling/promoting things exclusively to Christians and would arguably not have attained said popularity and/or wealth without exclusively targeting Christians.

Christian celebrities are helpful because… they often bring important issues and causes into the limelight.

Christian celebrities are harmful because… they usually let the world think those issues and causes are what define the Christian life.

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Surest sign … big, big hair and permanent smile.

Helpful? I dunno…

Harmful? Because people assume they represent ALL Christians, ALL the time. That rarely goes well.