Let it be clear that I do not follow the celebrity news in Hollywood. I actually check the magazine covers not to see who’s doing what to who, (You could drop “What to” in Hollywood today and it might be more accurate.) but simply to see the moral depravity of our nation. When a new couple gets together, I watch to see how long this happy couple will last. The stories of pregnancy constantly tell me enough.
Now the latest one is the sister of Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears. I’m one that sees this family on every week and wish that we could just have this whole thing go away. Why am I writing about it then? Because I see a contradictory message being given from the media and what they usually tell us about sex.
Doing a websearch for the magazine I’m thinking of was not successful when I typed in the headline I remembered seeing. However, it is amazing how much talk came up. The main news is that Jamie Lynn, the younger sister of Britney, is pregnant. At the time of my writing, this the girl is 16 and apparently has been offered $1 million for her pregnancy story.
My first thought is “What’s the story?” It’s not exactly a newsflash to us how pregnancy comes about. Oh wait. Maybe the story is we want to hear all the details. (I’m sure so many of you would love to have the fine details of your honeymoon put in magazines.) The idea that sex sells is true. Our nation feeds on it.
On a lighter note, I will say I am pleased with one thing. I am pleased that she has not decided to take the easy way out and have an abortion. I do look for the good where I see it and I believe we should be in prayer because there are several Jamie’s out there who need to have the support of the church. We can so often be so quick to condemn sex outside of marriage that we forget that the baby is still a person who needs to be loved and the lady who is pregnant is still someone who bears the image of God. She made a mistake. We all have. Let’s not make it worse.
However, one magazine did complain about Lynne Spears using her daughters as tools for financial income and how she let Jamie’s boyfriend sleep over. Now this is the part that I am interested in. I do not know if the allegations are true or not. Frankly, it doesn’t really matter to me. I am more concerned with how the media is presenting this.
What? Are they saying a mother shouldn’t let her daughter’s boyfriend sleep over? I thought this was the age of tolerance! I thought it was only fundamental Christians that had a problem with that! Why, we all know that this is just sex and kids are going to do it anyway so what is the big deal?
We do know this. Right? We see it on the media constantly. TV shows are filled with unmarried couples having sexual intercourse. From the movies, you’d think that this was something you were to do on the first date. It’s something casual after all. It’s no big a deal than playing a game of Super Mario Brothers together.
We all know that it isn’t. We all know that a daughter’s boyfriend should not be allowed to sleep over. While I am away from my parents now, I have some very strict rules on girls and my apartment and my roommate knows about them. When I go out on a date, I want him to grill me when I come back on how I acted. I don’t want to risk going too far because it gets harder and harder to stop.
Right now, I’m just wishing the media would get its message straight. It is not consistent of them to condemn Lynne Spears while at the same time making this be something normal. They can choose which ever way they want to go. Either this is something normal in which if the allegations are true, Lynne did nothing wrong. In fact, she furthered her daughter on the natural progression she should be going, or this is something morally wrong in which case there is responsibility.
However, let’s also be clear on responsibility. Supposing that they are true, that only means the door was open. There is only one person responsible for the decisions. It might have been made easier for sexual intercourse to take place, but the only people who are to blame with consensual sex, assuming it was, are the two people that were doing the act. Of course, this isn’t the case with rape where only the rapist is the guilty party, but it’s high time responsibility be taken.
Perchance, that is one reason Jamie is keeping the baby. I do not know. I do see that though as the responsible choice in response to getting pregnant. I wish more young women would take that route and I wish the church would be there to help them when they do.
Right now though, I want to see the media get their story straight on sexuality. Either what happens that we see broadcast constantly is perfectly normal and we should accept it, or else it is a violation of that which is sacred and we should condemn it. Once we decide, we should live accordingly.
All of us should!
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