Justin Bieber

After Focus on the Family asked members to pray for Justin Bieber’s protection from Usher, the organization is now taking a stand against Lady Gaga. While Lady Gaga is a leading advocate of LGBT equality, Focus on the Family consistently lobbies against gay rights and is a chief sponsor of “reparative therapy” for gays and lesbians. Jim Daly, the head of Focus on the Family, writes about Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, and unsurprisingly finds her music and message deeply troubling. In his critique, Daly claims that people can be “set free from homosexuality,” and compares homosexuality to adultery:

I am not inclined toward celebrity psycho-analysis, and, candidly, find it strange to even write the word “Gaga.” But when millions of young people download her music and watch her videos, parents are wise to take note of what the hype and hoopla is all about.

In Born This Way, the claim is made that you’re born either heterosexual or homosexual. Don’t fight it - simply accept and embrace it.

The problem is, researchers are not sure about what causes homosexuality. Many are concluding it is a complex combination of things, but it is not as clear cut as simply genetic material.

The pulse and pace of modern culture can usually be determined from its music and movies, not faith and reason. That a song advocating for a genetic determinative for homosexuality sits atop the charts is disconcerting, but not entirely shocking. From the outside looking in, two things strike me.

First, by Stefani Germanotta’s own admission, she’s built her entire persona and celebrity on a platform that’s anything but typical. She is playing a part, a role, and not living as she would outside the bright lights. Put another way, Lady Gaga was clearly not born this way.

Second, and more importantly, the message found within the lyrics of Born This Way is in stark contrast to the message of the Gospel. All of us are born into sin, the Bible tells us, with desires and resulting actions that separate us from God and put us at odds with His blueprint for our lives. But the Good News is we’re not hopelessly trapped in our sin and failure. Despite the fact that we were “born this way,” each of us can be set free – from homosexuality, or heterosexual sex outside of marriage, or pornography, or greed, or gossip, or any other human shortcoming – to be the men and women God intended us to be.

Focus on the Family’s Chad Hills is concerned about Justin Bieber. Reacting to Bieber’s interview with Rolling Stone, where the singer discussed issues from abortion to abstinence and healthcare, the Focus on the Family spokesman is nervous that Bieber didn’t embrace the abstinence-only-until-marriage stance heavily promoted by Focus. Hills thinks that his manager, the “crude and sexually explicit R&B icon” Usher, may be corrupting the 16 year old singer. “Justin is already being asked – and criticized – for his political beliefs,” writes Hills, who goes on to criticize Bieber for his views on abstinence, “when he probably can’t even tell you why he ate waffles for breakfast.” He asks readers to pray for Bieber, whose movie is being marketed to evangelical Christians, from “being swept directly into the center of the extremely profane, hyper-sexualized, violent and self-indulgent culture of R&B.” Hills writes:

The secular music and entertainment industry is a sexual and political minefield for adult artists, much less for kids. Justin is already being asked – and criticized – for his political beliefs, when he probably can’t even tell you why he ate waffles for breakfast.

Bieber’s only a kid, and he’s being swept directly into the center of the extremely profane, hyper-sexualized, violent and self-indulgent culture of R&B. Moreover, Justin’s being “mentored” by the very crude and sexually explicit R&B icon, Usher.

The Bible warns us in 1 Cor. 15:33, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” Temptation is an ever-present force when people are in the spotlight.

What can you do? Pray hard for these people. Because, as Miley Cyrus and others have discovered, it’s much more difficult to keep your faith in the limelight.

Being young and famous does not destine you to moral failure, but it does mean you need to know where you stand – before you take the stand. NFL football star, Tim Tebow, is proof that it can be done.

Whether or not you like Bieber or R&B-style music, I know Justin’s mother is concerned. And she’s praying for her son’s protection. Shouldn’t we do the same?