“…that’s what she said.”
Everyone enjoys The Office. Is The Office hillarious? Yes. According to who? According to a misguided sexual culture.
The United States has the highest rates of STDs in the industrialized world. In the United States alone, about 19 million new STD infections are estimated to occur each year. And then there’s abortion - over a million preborn murders per year in America. Why are the consequences of sexual sin rampant in our country? For the same reason we choose to be entertained by “double on tondras”.
Attempting to summarize all of the sexual commotion happening in the Dunder Mifflin office is dismaying. Fiances, coworkers, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends all engaged in sex and sexual jesting…for your entertainment. Jim and Pam cohabit, Ryan and Kelly are together again, Michael and Holly are together (Michael used to be with Jan cohabiting). Dwight and Angela have an affair despite Angela’s being engaged to Andy. There - I summarized it. Have you ever noticed that there’s a lot of sex on television and not a lot of having babies? Convenient.
I realize there’s more to The Office than sex. Its not “Sex in the City”. I became acquanted with the The Office series during what I’d call a low point of my life, when I watched an entire season online in less than a few days…while at work. So, please don’t think that I’m judgmental towards you for viewing this show. You at least probably don’t watch it on company time.
I am aware that all of this licentiousness is not the real thing - its the pretense of the real thing, acted out for us to watch. When Dwight has an affair with Angela, Rainn Wilson didn’t really commit adultery with Angela Kinsey. Does that make it ok to watch? Contrary to Hollywood, the Bible says that if you know “…the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” then you are guilty of the same sin. Its like sinning through vicariousness. King David said “I will put no wicked thing before my eyes”.
Some would argue, “the Bible contains plenty of raunchiness”. Soloman had hundreds of concubines and David slept with a woman after tom-peeping her bathing and then murdered her husband - I mean soap oparahs eat your heart out - the Bible is tops in disfunctionality. True, but is there a single occurance of sin in the Bible meant for your laughter? Did David retort Nathan with a “that’s what she said”? No.
I’d say the ugliest result of our misguided sexual culture (other than eternal damnation) is abortion. By choice, the church has little legislative effect on abortion. The church has opted to be impotent in the political arena (I’ll write more about this later). Rather, its “cultural transformation” that the church apparently is pursuing to stop the atrocity of abortion. I agree that we are a culture in need of transformation. And, I agree that the body of Christ must accomplish the transforming. But, I see a challenge facing the church. If we continue to be entertained by The Office and promote Pam, Jim and Dwight on our Facebooks then we’ve bought into the wrong system and are not transforming anything but contrary are being conformed to the culture around us. If we expect young adults to stop having irresponsible sex and not opt to murder their offspring then we need to live up to those same standards. Someone once said “be the change you want to see in the world”.
Be the change you want to see. I am steering clear of all the ABCs and NBCs online. And, not owning television in my home helps to not fall back into the entertainment of the idiot box.
I haven’t written this to bum you out on your favorite TV show or to say “be as sanctified as I am”. I’ve identified what I believe to be the greatest evil amongst us - abortion. I’ve heard the church say “we need to transform our culture” and I see an obstacle in the road that I want to point it out.
