Justin Taylor tries to synthesize two contrasting views, or at least suggest they are compatible. Douglas Groothuis offers the tougher critique that turns out pretty hard to harmonize with the more gentle evaluation.
Me: Groothuis is tough on beauty queens and beauty pageants. No doubt about it. There's a part of me, though (in fact a major part actually), that says he's right. (The comments on the post are pretty interesting and worth reading.)
Update: Nancy Leigh DeMoss offers her comments (text here; audio here) on the Carrie Prejean situation. DeMoss says:
I’ve been asked numerous times for my take on the firestorm surrounding
Carrie Prejean—the reigning Miss California who lost her bid for Miss
USA after publicly affirming her belief that marriage should be between
a man and a woman.
Those who hold to the biblical concept of marriage couldn’t help but be
glad that this young woman courageously stood for the Truth, knowing
that to do so could be costly.
Yet, for those who affirm and cherish the biblical perspective of femininity and sexuality, this story has an important subtext and raises a number of issues that should be of great concern to us as followers of Christ.
Carrie has made a strong public profession of her faith in Christ. As Christians, we are called to live as redeemed men and women and to reflect to the world the beauty and holiness of God. I’m not in a position to judge Carrie’s motives or her heart. But while I applaud her courage, I also believe some of her choices and public actions, past and present, are representative of many women who consider themselves Christians, but who lack clear biblical thinking and conviction on such matters as virtue, womanhood, beauty, modesty, and discretion.
In my mind, Carrie Prejean’s story is symptomatic of deeper root issues in the evangelical world—issues that in my opinion outweigh most of what is being debated in the secular press.
Sadly, Carrie is the product of a Christian sub-culture that has lost a sense of what it means to be citizens of the kingdom of God and has embraced the values and thinking of this world.
By and large, young adults who have grown up in our evangelical homes, churches, and schools, are buying into a message that they have seen modeled by those around them who call themselves Christians—namely, that Christianity can be divorced from Christ-likeness, and that practical holiness in everyday life is out-dated, irrelevant, or optional.
Carrie Prejean’s situation highlights the desperate need for Titus 2 “older women”—mothers, youth workers, mentors—to take an active role in the training and discipleship of younger women—teaching them to live out the implications of the gospel in every area of their lives.
So many young women in the Christian world have little understanding or discernment when it comes to modesty and personal purity. And can you blame them when they are following in the footsteps of a generation of so-called believers who tolerate, justify, and flaunt immodesty, sensuality, and immorality of every form, along with serial divorce and remarriage?
That’s why as women we need to be asking ourselves questions like:
• How does my life measure up to the Word of God?
• Am I modeling Christ-like, Gospel-drenched virtue, modesty, femininity, beauty, and discretion to the next generation?
• What kind of impact am I having on the younger women in my sphere of influence?
• What I am doing to invest in their lives, to point them to Christ, and to mentor them in godliness?
Carrie Pejean’s story should cause us to be on our faces crying out to God over the extent to which the church today has accommodated to the world. It should cause us to plead with God on behalf of our children and grandchildren, and then to get up off our knees and go out and engage this younger generation with love and grace and truth and to become agents of redemption in their lives.