Bieber Fever: 21st Century Idolatry? Helping Our Kids Love GOD Above All Else
They waited all night in the cold, wind and rain, thousands of fans stood outside for a chance to get an up close view of their teen idol, Justin Bieber, performing in Rockefeller Plaza last month. The Today Show said this Bieber appearance garnered the largest crowd ever for one of its concert series. Wrapped in winter gear, fans screamed, sung and flung tears as Bieber sang his latest hits. One fan stared in the distance as she, with bated breath, told of her good fortune of receiving one of Bieber’s hand towels from a backstage worker. These fans were pumped and came to give total praise to the one they adored. Some shake their heads in disbelief, and maybe you do so with your children, wondering how they could give that type of time and attention to anyone.
I understand their mania because their devotion reminds me of my idol worship days. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t the number one sorority member with my pink and green billboard self, serving on multiple committees; or that my backstage concert plans and other schemes to land face to face with Arrested Development’s front man, Speech, were not going to work to get him to fall in love with and marry me. Politics with my sorority and practicality with my would-be husband prevailed. I would eventually see that I could neither worship a group or a person who doesn’t have any eternal attributes and could not give me any eternal benefits. My epiphany came after giving my heart to them and being empty in return. This is the universal experience of idol worship. We continually strive to sacrifice for that god. It’s an insatiable course and one that most, if not all, of us have been on. And, of course, the only thing we should worship is a person, the Almighty God Himself.
"You shall have no other gods before me. . . .You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,…” (Exodus 20:3 and 5).
Without going in depth about generational curses just know this: Our children will be negatively affected by our sin of idolatry. And hasn’t this been, in essence, what I say in just about every column? Children learn our behavior (and receive our consequences) from watching us. “Do as I say and not as I do” should not be the preferred teaching method. Our children should be confident that their parents have a roadmap to get them where we are telling them to go. We may not have an internal map because we have yet to chart the course, but we do have the Bible as our number one source and godly resources, like EEW Magazine, to help us guide our children to godliness.
The Apostle Peter tells us to “(a)dd to your faith . . . godliness,” which is devotion toward God. Our faith is simply our confession of belief in Jesus Christ as God and acceptance of His blood sacrifice for us on the cross. God requires that we go beyond this confession and into daily living that reflects our reverence for Him. This is devotion toward God and only takes place when we remove idols and erect God in our hearts.
You don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol.—D. L. Moody
Examine your time
Where do your children spend the majority of their “free” time? Is the majority of their time spent in relation to playing a sport or an instrument? What about time spent with some academic pursuit or on video games? How much time do you spend instructing your children in and overseeing that they learn and display Christian disciplines? Your answers to these questions will give you an idea if you are instilling idol worship in your children.
There is nothing so abominable in the eyes of God and of men as idolatry, whereby men render to the creature that honor which is due only to the Creator—Blaise Pascal
Adjust your time
If you find your children are spending an inordinate amount of time on ungodly pursuits, make adjustments. You might not be a full-time homeschooling mom where you have the liberty to tailor the majority of your days teaching your children the things of God, but you can use wisely the time you have. Have morning prayer and Bible study before taking the children to school; discuss godly character traits in the car; give them memory verses to read on their breaks; have a theme verse that keeps them anchored when playing that sport or learning that instrument. Do what you must to show God that He is indeed first. Whatever time we have, I suggest teaching our children two major lessons:
•Why they should be devoted to God
God said of Himself that He is “a jealous God,” meaning that He has no rivals; He is in a class by Himself. He expects to be treated like He is in a class by Himself. Study the names and attributes of God with your children so they see for themselves why God stands alone. Also study from the Bible and share from your and others’ lives what God has done. Learn and meditate on the promises in the Bible. Don’t forget to teach them who they are and that God created them to worship Him (Psalm 139:14; Revelation 4:12). There is none like our God and we must teach our children to believe this with their lives.
•How to be devoted to God
Our children must be devoted to God in faith, fruit and fun.
1. Faith—In addition to bible study, encourage your children’s development of faith in spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, journaling, and Christian meditation. Focusing on these help to develop their inner person (Ephesians 3:16).
2. Fruit—Engaging in spiritual disciplines means nothing if our children never display that faith in character. After you have studied the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), create opportunities and take teaching moments for your children to display the Fruit of the Spirit, use common courtesies and, for the children who are saved, to operate in their spiritual gifts.
3. Fun—Make sure to teach your children to display their faith as they use their talents and have recreation time. Showing them how to be gracious in winning and losing should be a key lesson here.
What each one honors before all else, what before all things he admires and loves, this for him is God.—Origen
Especially during this Advent season when our focus should be on worshipping Jesus, let us all strive to help our children walk in godliness, honoring, admiring and loving God before all people and things. Doing this, we are giving them a firm foundation to keeping the Kingdom first.
Rhonda J. Smith is a former college speech instructor & communications coordinator turned full-time homemaker & journalist. The writing of this committed wife and mother who earned her Bachelor’s degree in journalism and a Master’s degree in communication from Wayne State University, Detroit, has been featured in The Detroit News, Newsday (New York), Chicago Tribune, Daily Tribune (Royal Oak, MI),Guideposts, and Charisma Magazine.
Rhonda frequently speaks at ministry functions, writes and edits newsletters for Christian ministries, and teaches public speaking workshops. Three times a week, she encourages women to lean on God's strength instead of their own through her blog, Musings of a (Recovering) Strong Black Woman. She, her husband and three sons attend Evangel Ministries in Detroit, where they live.
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rhonda@eewmagazine.com
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9 Comments
Reader Comments (9)
Uh oh! You are taking on the Biebs?? I was a "belieber" for a while and I let my 7 year old listen to Justin Bieber albums, watch his movies and we even went to a concert. But when I saw him flipping the bird in some press shots and going on romantic vacations with his girlfriend I knew he probably wasn't the appropriate choice for my little girl. But she is still a big fan but it's my fault. I should have done a better job keeping her in balanc.
Sister Rhonda I think some of the parents are bigger Justin Bieber Fans than the kids! It's like what you say in your article. Parents are the ones modeling behaviors for the kids.
Great piece! With shows like "American Idol" with the word idol right in the name, it has become acceptable to worship celebrities. It's what we do here in America but as Christians that's not what we should be doing. We should be worshiping one God alone. But with the papparazi and entire news organizations built on selling the readers advertisers products by linking them to celebrities this idol worship and mania will never stop.
We are our kids first teacher. Amen!
Idolatry is a disease in this country. This young boy has a great talent, but the media has taken it to the level of worship and that is over the top. I have two girls (13 and 8) and I don't let them buy all this pop music and nonsense. It's unhealthy and only ends up stirring up their hormones and daddy ain't having THAT. I know what these little boys want to do. I used to BE one of those knuckle head teens, but they won't be living out their fantasies with any of MINE.
Balance is the key. Just don't go overboard.
I'm loving all your comments.
@Tonia and Eve, I would love to know what you think it means to have balance.
@Erin, you are so right! I saw a lot of grown folks rocking and singing when I watched the Bieber clip from the Today Show.
@Pooch, thank you. You have some great points. Our society is built upon idol worship, from the show with the name, to sports and movie stars the mania does seem to be here to stay. We, Christians, just have to decide how we are going to navigate it.
@Dee, thanks for commenting.
@Kev, wow, I guess you could call idolatry a disease because so many seem to "catch" it so easily. It's so good that you haven't forgotten who you once were and, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, that there is nothing new under the sun. Knuckleheads are knuckleheads no matter the generation.
I had so many aha! moments reading this. I would consider myself a liberal parent but my daughters have gotten uncomfortably obsessive about this young man. I gave up too much control and don't know how to get them back to where they need to be in terms of balance.
Olita,
Praise God for your aha moments while reading this. I understand your dilemma. I'm glad you recognize that you do need balance and that you don't have to continue to do what you have been doing. Perhaps you can write down the behaviors you see in your daughters that you believe are inappropriate, the allowances you gave them that may have contributed to their actions and the behaviors you would like to see them have. You can search the Bible, family-centered and biblical-centered websites and books for ways to help you get them to see how their view of Bieber is unhealthy and ways to remedy that. God bless you and I look forward to hearing a praise report!