The Greatest Show on Earth; what are we willing to accept?     

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.” Romans 1:18, 24 NLT

Last Sunday the greatest show on earth, Super Bowl LX, was televised and streamed across the world. That title once belonged to the circus act of ‘Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.’ I realize they are still around, but the NFL’s Super Bowl has long surpassed them in more ways than one and not for the better.

Writing as one who watched the first Super Bowl as an impressionable youth, the NFL has changed dramatically over 60 years. The game itself has not changed all that much except for how the game is played according to the NFL but that is a subject for another day. Today is about what we as Christians are willing to accept in our entertainment choices when they cross the lines of decency, morality, and the Word of God. Rule changes in the NFL do not cross any of these lines. What does cross the line is the NFL’s push to grow its product by bowing to a decaying culture at the expense of corrupting our future generations. Of course, I’m speaking of the morally bankrupt half-time show witnessed by millions of people especially the impressionable youth of our day.

No, I didn’t watch it not even to be able to better review it, there was no need to. Debauchery does not need to be witnessed to know what it is. The problem within the current culture is that many people don’t see the problem and it is a big problem, nor do they care. It is understandable those outside of Christ would fall into this category, but for Christians who claim to follow Jesus and His teachings to not see the problem by staying silent or worst yet accepting it is unconscionable. The book of Romans says, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Ro.1:18 nlt) God is angry and so should we be.

Before someone thinks ‘who are you to judge’ I’m not judging. I’m angry, and mostly angry at my brothers and sisters in Christ who are accepting of this kind of public behavior for all the world to see. It’s not OK, and no I’m not perfect, but I know when something is not OK with God. His Word tells us, for all who care to pay attention, what is right and wrong, what we should accept and what we should condemn. Reading through the Bible can be unsettling at times for we will come across passages we don’t like, but they’re in there, so we need to deal with it.

What are we willing to accept to be accepted by the culture? Many of us stay silent to not offend others notably friends, co-workers, and family. We want to be part of ‘the greatest show on earth’ with the Super Bowl parties, the commercials, and the half-time entertainment. We bring our families together for some family entertainment. The sad truth is Super Bowl LX was far from family entertainment. The Greatest Show on Earth clearly belongs to ‘Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.’ Pass the cotton candy.