The God of Pop
By: Jessica Trésor
Tags: Christianity, God, Religion, Exvangelical, Pop Culture

My adventures here on Medium first introduced me to the term “exvangelical.” Prior to that, I thought there was only one other “woke” person, author William Paul Young, calling out the destructive beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity. I had no idea there was an entire world of people like me coming out of the trenches of fundamental Christian indoctrination.

So here I am, trying not to be bitter about the shame that marked a good portion of my life because of things I believed were sinful and bad.

I think that’s why I’m now so engrossed in Pop Culture. Maybe it’s a form of backlash because growing up, everything Pop Culture was considered “of the world, things of the flesh, carnal, depraved, sin.”

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. (1 John 2:15–17 NLT)

Because of this verse above, and others like it (James 4:4), I was afraid that if I engaged in things of the world, I’d surely become a heathen and end up in hell. Consuming film, television, and music Pop culture had to offer would indoctrinate me with the following:

Sex outside of marriage is everywhere and totally okay. Swearing is no big deal. God is dead.

The solution was to shield my eyes and ears and forcefully indulge in Christian entertainment only.

After rededicating my life to God junior year of college, I spent so much energy replacing my forms of entertainment with those of the Christian variety. Being a music junkie, I sought out music that sounded like the R&B I loved but glorified God in the lyrics instead of bumping and grinding. Mali Music fit the bill.

I had a harder time doing so with shows but I made sure to support movies like Courageous and when watching Netflix, I only searched through the Faith and Spirituality section. Frankly, I’m not the only one feeling this, most Christian movies are whack. Nonetheless, I stuck through the bad acting and focused on the message because that’s what mattered.

When my friends got into The Walking Dead, I steered clear to avoid tainting my mind with this devil-worshiping show. I remember feeling ridden with guilt when I just couldn’t stop watching the shows Dexter and Awkward and absolutely loving the characters. One was a serial killer and the other a sexually active teen and I was rooting for them both.

Hell, here I come.

I really hope there are others that can relate to this level of religious indoctrination because as I write this, I’m feeling crazy for having lived life with such a mindset.

I guess I was.

Fortunately, I’m getting to know God for my self. Others like Young and writer Jonathan | sex & theology helped in deconstructing these purity ideals by showing their opposition to who God truly is.

Us vs Them.

The disdain for Pop Culture promotes the “Us and Them” mentality. I judged the entertainers in the industries as immoral. I judged those that consumed their entertainment and supported it as questionably immoral. It was Us, the Saints of the Church, versus Them, everyone else that’s “of the world.”

The God I know does not choose sides. He’s for us all, isn’t He? So what is the verse above talking about loving the world and not having the love of the Father? What in the world is this “world" business anyway?

With new lenses, I read a commentary on this 1 John 2:15–17 and gained a fresh understanding of the this term “world.” The shallow understanding of the “world” is best described by philosopher Latarian Milton.

However, as I understand it, the “world” isn’t a cluster of people that are unable to curb their cravings for sex and any other bad thing because it’s fun. The “world” is a belief system that places identity in anything other than the mere fact that we’re fully loved and accepted by the Creator. That’s what the verses before 1 John 2:15 tell me. All God cares about is that we trust Him enough to be secure in who we are so there’s no need to find that security and identity in things that are in the world.

I imagine Him as a proud father when Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” became the summer anthem. I imagine He’s proud of Jennifer Lopez working so hard on the pole to prepare for her role in the movie Hustlers.

Here’s the thing. God loves His creation. Like a parent doting over some scribbles their little kid presents to them as art, I imagine that’s how God sees the films, music, and television produced in Pop Culture. As a consumer, I’ve had the pleasure of God’s character profoundly revealed to me in the most non-Christian forms of entertainment.

That’s why I believe God is the King of Pop — the God of Pop.