Cheering Miley Cyrus

Okay, so I am late to the game in writing about Miley Cyrus’s performance at the recent Video Music Awards, produced and televised by MTV. Plenty of others have written about her performance and how it did far more than push the lines of decency. No, I have not watched the performance, nor will I, so I must admit to writing from a perspective of partial ignorance, but I am grateful to be ignorant of the specifics in this case!

However, there is another angle to this ordeal that needs to be addressed. My friend Steve Higginbotham did a tremendous job in his short article of pointing out that, for at least part of the performance that night, Cyrus was not on stage alone. There was a man there with her, but no one seems to be pointing any fingers his way. Without excusing the actions of Miley Cyrus, we still need to ask why she is getting all the finger-pointing, while the man gets nothing.

But I want to take that line of thinking even a step further. While I have not seen the performance, I have seen two or three still photos (that were more than I wanted to see), and I noticed something. On the left, right, and bottom edges of the photos, there were plenty of concert-goers–probably at least 50 were visible in the photos I saw–who were cheering Cyrus on. Hands were in the air, and some were aiming cell phones toward the stage, presumably taking photos of the provocative performance. Reading an article about the performance, there was no indication that the crowd “booed” or started doing anything asking Miley Cyrus (or the man) to stop the lust-filled program.

May I remind us all that those who would cheer on such actions are just as guilty as the one actually on stage? But because we do not know the names of these cheering concert-goers, we just figure they are along for the ride, and we point all our attention at the celebrity. Cyrus deserves plenty of anger, as does her male counterpart.

But so do the people who cheered on her raunchy movements.

In Romans 1, Paul wrote,

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32, emphasis added)

It is easy to point the finger at the ringleader (so to speak), and such needs to be done at times. But God gave us minds that are to be used to discern His will. Simply going along with the crowd is not optional. We must decide whether to cheer or to leave.

So, before you buy that next movie ticket, sing that song, or watch that TV show, you need to put your moral thinking cap on. Are you, by your money or time, giving approval to those things that God detests? If so, then you are just as guilty as those who make and perform in those things.

I pray that Miley Cyrus and the man on stage with her will not just stop doing such things, but will turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. But I also pray for those who stood and cheered her on, that they would realize their error, as well, and would turn to Him.

And I pray for all of us, that we will always use the standard of God’s Word to decide what to “cheer” in our lives.

QUESTION: Why do we fail to focus on those who “cheer on” such sinful actions?

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Photo credit: Martin Thomas on Creative Commons

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