How They See Us - Another View

Wow, I was watching Dr. Phil and he did a segment on "What are you thinking!" He had two Christian guests on. The first was a famous evangelical Christian talking about deliverance. I was a little concerned; casting out demons can be pretty scary to the average onlooker. Generally Christians get a bad rap in the media, sometimes for good reason, but most times not. I don't personally think that Phil McGraw is all that spiritual. For him to have a Charismatic/Pentecostal minister on for some good reason was a stretch for me. He can be very condescending at times. I was interested to see if he was actually going to listen. My other concern was the Christian-ese culture that looks pretty stupid to the outsider. Dr. Phil didn't seem that "impressed" that with Bob Larson... he didn't' say there was going to be a link on his web site like he does for other promoted guests. I do believe people think that Larson looks for demons under every rock. I think that it is his ministry, just like others peach and and some feed the poor. I say thank God that someone is doing it!

The second guest was a father and his daughters. They seemed pretty normal to me, but I am a Christian. The father and his daughters had made a covenant for him to help them reach marriage without having sex. His church had a purity ball where the girls dressed in white and the fathers took responsibility for their purity. There they did symbolic acts signifying the covenant. I think most of it was a healthy Christian dad wanting the best for his daughter. After all he did have one daughter that was married and made the goal of purity; her first kiss on the altar of marriage. I have to say for a guy that for the most part has a no-nonsense approach to the human condition, ole' Phil seemed dumbfounded. The things the he suggests a lot of the time are actually Biblical. Being honest, being grown up, stopping bad behavior, taking the rightful place in families (where kids don't run the house) and things like that I applaud. This time, he certainly had an opposing view but didn't really voice it. The witness of the married daughter, and the unmarried daughter were really wonderful. To Phil's surprise a number of people clapped when she talked about how wonderful marriage was because of the commitment to purity she had made. Both girls seemed happy about their decision to remain pure. They also had a guest that had given up on the commitment as if practice was required for marriage. I was not impressed. She seemed a little rebellious in tone and began to justify her decision. I just didn't see any peace about it.

I'll be interested to see what the rest of the world thinks.