The Person of the Year: Truly Representative of the World

Last night, as the new year was being ushered in, I noticed on the big screen television at the house of the party I was attending that CNN was busy announcing Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” award. Since I was unaware of the recipients of the award, as soon as I got home (after driving through fog with the density level of mercury) I hopped on Google to be informed of what I had missed. Well, “Time names Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates Persons of the Year.”

***QUOTE***

(CNN) — The good deeds of an activist rock legend and one of the world’s richest men and his wife carried the day in 2005, as Time magazine on Sunday named U2 front man Bono and philanthropic couple Bill and Melinda Gates as its “Persons of the Year.”

***END-QUOTE***

Charity is good. It is, and we shouldn’t mistake that. When those in need are blessed by those who have much, it is something that we can rightly call “good.” It would be ridiculous, therefore, to criticize anyone for simply being actively involved in charity work (that is, unless the motivation of such a task is purely self-promotional).

However, there are certain principles that permeate the efforts of people like Bono, and perhaps even Bill and Melinda Gates. What “cause” does Bono support? What is he defending? What is he promoting?

***QUOTE***

Bono is a co-founder of the DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) organization, which fights poverty and HIV in the developing world. From that organization was spawned the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History.

…Bono was one of the organizers behind this year’s Live 8 concerts in nine cities worldwide. The concerts were aimed at getting the leaders of the world’s developed nations to come to the aid of impoverished Africa. They did so at the G8 summit, agreeing to double aid to Africa to $50 billion by 2010 and cancel the debts of the poorest nations.

“Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world’s richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest,” the magazine said.

***END-QUOTE***

When it comes down to acting upon a position, Bono is obviously “anti-poverty” and “anti-aids”(have you ever met someone who was either “pro-poverty” or “pro-aids”?), yet Bono is pro-homosexuality (or at least, for this day he is. He is a people-pleaser and a chameleon when it comes to such subjects). So what makes Bono’s position special? What distinguishes it from the religiously pluralistic contours of the world? Bono is basically no one in particular. He seems pro-everything and activist-everything. He is a pluralist in all respects. What makes Bono unique, if, in fact, his position is monochromatic and generic? Consider this:

***QUOTE***

It is being reported at recent U2 concerts that lead singer Bono has started to wear a head band with the word “COEXIST” written upon it. The “C” is the Islamic crescent moon, the “X” is a Star of David, and the “T” appears to be a cross. While wearing this headband, Bono has said something like this to the crowd: “Jesus, Jew, Mohammed - all true sons of Abraham.”

***END-QUOTE***

After checking out COEXIST online, I found this statement:

***QUOTE***

COEXIST was founded behind the concept of the COEXIST design logo. Combining the three monotheistic symbols to spell “coexist” suggests a lifestyle of creative consciousness. COEXIST embraces life first. We design the possibilities of enjoying it together because we are all at the interface of what is and can be. We aim to expose the distraction of discrimination, while promoting the vitality found in “collective.” COEXIST expresses global beauty in all ways of life through the lens of fashion and design.

***END-QUOTE***

COEXIST enlists the three major monotheistic religions of the world that share one common concept: exclusivity. Not only does COEXIST arrogantly pronounce a statement with which not one of these religions would agree, but it itself uses the “distraction of discrimination” by, in essence, calling each of these religions “wrong” in their doctrines of salvation. It is very misleading for those in COEXIST to state that they “aim to expose the distraction of discrimination” because they utilize that very distraction to begin with. Therefore, not only is COEXIST unbiblical, but it is altogether inconsistent.

In Relevant Magazine, musician Tara Leigh Coble conveys the details of her experience at a U2 concert:

***QUOTE***

I’ve heard the urban legends of amazing things Bono has said about his faith, I’ve read the books, and I’ve peered deep into everything he’s said hoping to find something that makes his beliefs clear. For years, I’ve adored him and clung to the notion that he is believer, too. After all, he identifies himself with Christianity, doesn’t he?

When he stated that lie so boldly, it devastated me. It was, without question, the most disturbing experience of my life; I felt like I’d been covered in bile. As I looked around, I saw all the people standing and chanting with him-it was disgusting and beautiful all at once. Unity can be so enticing. It made me think of the one world religion and how that will probably look benign and beautiful from the outside, too. I even started to wonder if universalism just might be poised to be that religion. All these things were running through my head.

***END-QUOTE***

It is obvious that Bono lacks the grounding principle of the gospel. What does this have to do with his charity?

1. Bono’s Charity Lacks Cause. What do I mean by this? I mean that we cannot put a finger on one particular thing that Bono is supporting in his charity work. What is his cause? Bono has no label, no distinguishing belief (or, at least, nothing that is different from the rest of the world). Charity without purpose is just spending money. Yes, where Bono’s money goes is often good. In the beginning of this article I stated that Charity is a good thing. But what is so special about the person behind Bono’s charity that would warrant his winning of the “Person of the Year” award?

2. Bono’s Charity Lacks Consistency. Once again, this flows from our inability to put a finger on Bono. One minute he believes this. The next, he affirms something completely opposite. We have also pointed out that COEXIST is altogether internally inconsistent. How can we support something that has no definition?

3. Bono’s Charity Lacks a Desire to Glorify God. This is the most important point. A very familiar passage states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The standard is the glory of God, and anything done without the intention of glorifying God will burn up when it is tested with fire. We can, Biblically, call any charity “good.” But the Bible denies us the permission to applaud anything that is not done with the intentions of revealing the glory of God. Therefore, from a Biblical standpoint, the person of Bono is not one that we can applaud. When Bono denies the very foundation of the gospel (that is, salvation through Christ alone by grace through faith alone), he fails to promote that which is most important.

A Call to the Church

If I were to simply make note of the unbiblical principles in a certain person’s attempt to do “good,” there wouldn’t be much of a point. So people who have little-to-no grasp of the gospel are helping out the less fortunate. Would there be much of a point in simply pointing out this fact? No, there would not.

The new year grants individual believers as well as the church as a whole a time of examining drifting and seeking reformation. We can look back on our lives, compare it to the standard of the Scriptures, and get a vision for the new year. So rather than simply criticize the efforts of the persons of the year, we ourselves need to answer the Biblical call in this area.

Acts 11 27Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

This is what the church should look like. The giving is elder-centered (not through some ministry that is foreign to the local church). The givers are joyful, giving “everyone according to his ability.” Unless the church steps up with 1) promoting the gospel, and 2) joyfully giving to send relief, the world will continue to be plagued with charity that denies the gospel and fails to impart the most important relief. This is a new year. Have you been giving to God what is already fully and rightfully His?

Evan May.

[HT: Good Brownie]