A quick look through my DVD and CD collection will quickly reveal that I’m a ‘fan’ of Michael Jackson’s work. I personally believe that ‘Dangerous’ was his best album, ‘Who Is It’ his best single, his best unreleased single was ‘Streetwalker’ and his best video ‘Smooth Criminal’.
He set the industry standard of entertainment and his concerts, videos and music remain etched in our memories. But the obvious and disheartening truth was that his personal life was tumultuous, to say the least.
So when his death was announced a few days ago the world was appropriately shocked. The timing and suddenness of his death took everyone by surprise. The resulting overflow of tributes has been thick and fast.
Some would say a little too thick…
I haven’t been keeping much of an eye on the tributes myself, but I have been keeping an eye on facebook and the blogosphere to see what people have been thinking. Facebook has seen many people change their status to ‘RIP MJ’ (or the many variations of that). But the blogosphere has been set alight but commentary on, and, for the blogs I keep an eye on, theological reflection upon his life. Tim Challies has posted some helpful and insightful thoughts here, and Justin Taylor was quick to blog here and here.
What has been surprising in relation to those posts have been some of the comments condeming the posts as uncaring, inappropriate and judgemental. Whilst I agree that perhaps the blog posts came a little too soon after the death of MJ, I would like to venture one observation I’ve noticed as common with all the critical comments: that some Christians are beginning to fall into the trap of ‘justification by death’.
Central to all Christian beliefs is ‘justification by faith’ – that we are declared righteous, holy, pure and blameless on the sole basis of our faith in Christ’s atoning sacrfice on the cross. We are then ‘justified’ before God by being graciously credited with Christ’s righteousness. Only on this basis are we justified.
But in recent years there has been a gradual growth, parallelled with the rise of Hollywood and pop culture, in ‘justification by death’ – that no matter how we lived we are declared ‘good’ on the sole basis of death.
Two cases in point, and both from the same source, illustrate this clearly in our Australian context. ‘The Chasers War on Everything’ came under fire twice for skits mocking those who had passed away and children dying of cancer. In the first skit a member of the Chasers team wrote a satirical song regarding the exaltation of many celebrities (such as Steve Irwin, Peter Brock and Princess Diana) upon their deaths – mocking how their ‘sins’ (for lack of a better word) have been overlooked in favour of their good works and deeds upon their death. In the second skit the Chasers team satired the ‘Make a Wish Foundation‘ (which, admittedly, was a highly insenstive mockery of children suffering through terminal diseases and their families. The Chasers later apologised for this skit.).
In both cases the public outcry was enormous – or at least the media portrayed it that way. And what seemed to fuel the outcry? The sense that someone dared to speak about a dead persons ‘ugly side’, that a dead persons character would be called into question (despite plain evidence throughout the deceased’s life of such character flaws). The fact that the deaceased’s ‘justification by death’ has been called into question…
I enjoyed Michael Jackson’s art. I marvelled at his tireless work for charities and his love for the Earth and desire to preserve it for future generations. And whilst I can not claim to speak authoritatively on his final days on earth, I can say that there seems to be little evidence that he had faith in the atoning and justifying work of Christ.
Michael Jackson did many good works, but good works are not what justify us before God. I am sad that he passed away, but I am more sad that his eternity is uncertain.
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