Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Wild and Enhanced

Every few days or so I enjoy reclining on the couch and watching TV. For years we did not receive cable television so I was limited to whatever was on network, but since moving we decided to go all in and get satellite. Now I can watch more sports, which I like, and my wife can watch cooking shows, which I also like on account of the increased variety of meals at home.

There are so many interesting things that can be viewed such as Man Vs. Wild, Intervention and The First 48. I admit that I have enjoyed the increase in choices I now have when it comes to entertainment. Without premium channels that are notorious for showing sleazy things late at night, there is relatively little temptation for a man who is trying to remain faithful to his wife and fight off lustful thoughts.

I found however that there is one animal that will attack a man when he least expects it. While watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central one evening it attacked me in my own home. “Warning, the following may contain content not suitable for children.” Oh yes men the Girls Gone Wild beast struck again trying to convince men everywhere that women were made to look at and they will gladly show you anything you might want to see if only you have a video camera handy.

I have disciplined myself to battle this beast by simply switching the channel down or up one until everyone has their clothes back on and so employed this defense. This usually means watching a minute or two of Golden Girls, or MASH, depending on what time it is. Once I felt like the assault is over I clicked back.

I was duped however into walking blindly into another attack. This one did not try to trick me with pleasure, but shame me with inadequacy. That’s right, natural male enhancement was the product this time. I suppose it is brilliant business sense to couple a sex add with a sexual enhancement add, but I was irritated. Enhanced women one minute and enhanced men the next. What is a regular guy to do anymore? Calling a regular guy small is like calling a regular woman fat. It really hits below the belt (literally).

Well I weathered that storm and finally got back to Colbert making fun of politics and serious issues which is all I really wanted in the first place. It is a shame that I have to endure enticing images and ignore challenges to my manhood just for a little entertainment.

This experience makes so clear the fact that as Christian men committed to being Christ imitators, we must keep our guard up and resist the temptations of the world. The world does not want us to be pure of mind and body. It wants us to buy a film with “wild” girls and then purchase a product to “enhance” ourselves for women. The message is, as I sat in my living room with my wife, “she is not good enough, and neither are you.”

This message is poison to a relationship. To even entertain the thought of lusting after another woman is to dishonor my wife, or as Jesus explained at his sermon on the mount “you have already committed adultery in your heart.” To believe that I am not good enough, or that I need to be enhanced, is to say to God, “I am not satisfied with the way you created me. I am going to do something to make what you made better.” Both messages are contrary to the very life God has called us to.

Imagine telling your wife, “you know honey, I love you and all, but these girls on this show are way better than you.” I don’t suppose any man would have the you know what to say such a thing and with good reason—it would hurt your wife in a deep way. By simply looking at those images I am communicating that she is not good enough for me.

On the other hand, imagine your son telling you that he is disappointed that you are his father and that he would rather have had someone else’s genes. It hurts, and so it hurts God to reject what he created. It is better to take care of what we already have, rather than try to get something else. So many temptations are about convincing us to abandon what God has provided in order to pursue more.

Jesus was tempted with three things: more food, more power, and more fame. We are tempted in similar ways because the world is all about more. Jesus resisted those temptations with the Word of God and we can do the same. Paul wrote that the sword we carry when we have our armor on is the Word of the Lord. When I am tempted I often recall his word to remind me that there is no need for more than what God has given me. My wife is a gift from God and all I need to satisfy desires for companionship, and I am good enough, because of God’s workmanship, to satisfy her as well.

So we will continue going through life being regular people and not enhance people. To the world regular may not seem good enough, but to God we are already enhanced by his Spirit and we cannot top him.