Thoughts on Miley Cyrus

To anyone who has ever read this blog, it is obvious that I never write opinion pieces about current events. I genuinely enjoy home renovations & DIY projects, & created this blog to document our updates to our home in Louisville. But after the Sunday night MTV Video Music Awards I have several thoughts over the reactions that Miley Cyrus caused from just about everyone who either watched it or has since looked it up on Youtube. 

The outrage that Miley brought upon herself is a bit surprising to me. First of all, she was preforming on the MTV Video Music Awards. We are talking about the same awards show where Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera kissed Madonna a few years ago. The same company who makes money off of shows like Teen Mom. MTV isn't exactly the moral compass of our country, and they never claimed to be. 

I can imagine how shocking all of Miley's "twerking" must have been to many parents out there or anyone over the age of 30, but I was not shocked. Sure, I thought her outfit was weird and I couldn't figure out why she kept sticking her tongue out, but her dancing did not surprise me. She is a 20-year-old girl, and there are thousands of other 20-year-old girls dancing the same exact way on college campuses across the US. More than that, there are thousands of young girls dancing like that in middle and high schools across the US. I was one of them. I learned to dance that way at a Christian high school of all places. Miley was just bold enough to provocatively dance on stage the same way that so many teenagers do in dark, crowded dance rooms every spring and fall at homecoming dances and proms.

I understand that she was Hannah Montana and seemed to be such a good little girl before she grew up and the world ruined her. But I also grew up in the age of girl pop stars like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. Every one of them had a clean image in the beginning, and every one of them changed over to the side of the seductive female artist. I remember being in the fifth grade and sneaking to the upstairs television room of our house and watching Britney Spears sing about how she was "not that innocent" at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It was her coming out of sorts into the world as a sexy female musician, and people were shocked and outraged. The fact that another female star is making that same crossover just doesn't surprise me.

The surprising part about Miley's performance to me is the reaction I have seen from believers. People are genuinely outraged that a once clean, young star decided to vulgarly dance across the stage in a bikini and make suggestive motions with a giant foam finger. I understand that she used to be an icon to young girls back in her Hannah Montana days, but I also understand that she is not a Christian. Just because she used to do cleaner performances, does not mean that she was any less sinful before Sunday night. I do think our hearts should break for the condition of her soul, and it did make me sad to see how much she has changed, but at the same time, how can we as believers be outraged and shocked when the world acts like the world? 

Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians 5 that we are not to judge those outside of the church for their sin, but to look at those inside the church claiming the name of Christ. I believe it is safe to say that Miley is outside of the church, so why are believers so angry with her? If you are angry that your daughter's icon is now a bad example, there was already a problem there to begin with. Use this performance by Miley to instruct your daughter that this is what the world looks like, and it is not pleasing to God and it is not how believers are instructed to behave. Young Christian girls should be looking up to their godly mothers, Sunday School teachers, and other women in the church, not Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus. Christian parents are called to instruct their children in the way they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). You don't have to shelter your children or emulate the movie "The Village" to keep them from bad influences. Instead, use those bad influences as teaching moments.

I am so thankful to the Lord for a godly mother who instructed her young Christian daughters how to behave in a way that pleases Christ. I am also thankful that she didn't wait until after the 2000 MTV VMAs to do so, but she did see it for the teaching moment that it was and took advantage of that. I am thankful for a godly father who, after a time of rebellion in my life, held me as I cried and confessed sin to him and forgave me. He then instructed me on how to reflect Christ after a period of time that I no longer looked like Him.

Parents, do not simply get angry over Miley's performance. Talk to your children about it. No doubt everyone in their school is already talking about it. Use this moment to instruct them in the way they should go. Believer, pray for Miley Cyrus, but also pray for the young men and women in your church who are seeking to look like Christ in a world that wants nothing to do with Him. I understand that people whose media did not used to look the way it does today are upset that times are changing. But believers are not to behave as those who have no hope. Remember the Gospel. Remember the hope we have in Christ, and pray for those who are still in darkness.