We are starting to live in a time when the word prophetic should be reserved for anyone who sees and notes what is obviously going on.
My (Douglas Wilson) previous post on The Donald elicited various reactions. One kind of response, both in the comments here and on Facebook, complained about the fact that I had posted a tacky picture. And so let us talk about that for a few moments.
Let us divide the response into the apologetic part and the unapologetic part. But the first part is nottoo apologetic because here the picture is again. I did size it a little smaller.
But I do want to begin by commending those men who have made a covenant with their eyes. I respect and honor that, and appreciate the fact that they have drawn a line that excludes looking with desire at a picture like that one. I appreciate the effort and honor the intent. And the Internet is a tough enough place to function without going to what you thought was that safe space known as Mablog only to be confronted by a chick on the piano. So I get that part, and I empathize.
Now speaking of safe spaces — if I may address a different but related problem for a moment — we need to step back a few paces and see what is actually happening to our coarsened culture. While a full-tilt crusade is ongoing to create “safe spaces” on college campuses, complete with therapeutic coloring books, the very same powers that be are also engaged in turning every public women’s restroom or locker room into an unsafe space — and a welcoming zone for creepers. Gnat, meet camel.
But believers have a tendency to do the same thing, only in reverse. The problem with porn, soft porn, and quasi-porn is not to be found in what a man sees, but rather in what he does NOT see. In this case, what is not being seen is the context.
One commenter summarized it well:
“Western civilization is perched on the edge, we’re surrounded on all sides, doom is impending.”
Followed immediately by:
“Yes, I know, but could somebody please get the scantily clad woman off the back of the piano?”
When you look at that picture, what do you see? You see a man who probably does not play the piano, sitting at a piano. You see his wife, aspiring to the honored position of First Lady of the United States, draped on the piano and with not very much draped on her. She has one of those black easy-off dresses that billionaires like. In the background you see an enchanting version of Versailles as envisioned by Lively Oak Mobile Home Manufacturing, Inc. You see a man whose taste, absolutely all of it, is located in his mouth.
What do you not see? Well, apparently a lot of people do not see that this man is being supported by a third of evangelicals. I know, I know, these are evangelicals as defined by Gallup, and not by the Book of Life, but we are still dealing with evangelicalism as a current political reality. And in that context Trump has been endorsed by men like Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Robert Jeffress. So what we ought to see is that this picture is not some random picture from the Internet to stumble guys, but rather the kind of picture that a third of all politically active evangelicals would like to see on future White House Christmas cards.
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