The Gospel according to CSI

A while back I published a review called "The Gospel according to Oprah" (see link) which got a bunch of people riled up. I got emails such as:

"Oprah believes there are many ways to heaven and that it is ridiculous to think that you could only get to heaven by believing in Jesus. For the Christian, I have a problem with a woman with that much power deceiving people to not follow Christ!"

"She has encouraged women to continue living in sin by hi-five’ing them when they said they didn’t want to marry their live in lovers. Who knows how many women that watch the show have been encouraged to do the same?"

"I encourage you to go to your research feeling positively recharged with confidence, motivation and hope after spending time with your Heavenly Father, not Oprah."

Which sort of miss the point, because I wrote in the review that I too don't agree with everything Oprah teaches. I just wanted Christians to build on the good she does and learn from her success.

I'm going to take another risk and say we can learn truth from Crime Scene Investigation.

The fact that I've actually seen CSI, let alone become addicted to all three series is shocking, since The Muppets Take Manhattan gave me nightmares. Please don't take this as an encouragement to watch - many episodes are too twisted and disturbing, and all of them aren't for everybody. However, I think the fact that I watch more action on TV is a good sign because it reflects a shift in my character. I'm not a weepy movie person anymore because instead of crying over my own life I've started taking action.

So here is some truth I see in CSI:

You can plot, purge and lie through your teeth, but you can't hide the evidence you leave. Wherever we go we leave things behind - hair, fingerprints and our mark on other people. Jesus said our heavenly Father sees what is done in secret. Some day we will have to account for what we've done. The great thing is we had access to the best Advocate available, but he'll only speak to the Judge for us if we're willing to plead guilty.

Evil actions always start with evil thoughts. What's really scary about CSI aren't the reenactments of the crime, but how like me the criminals are. Jesus said, "Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement and anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell" because murder always starts with a thought. A jealous, vengeful, angry, superior, lustful, or greedy thought. Thoughts every one of us have had. When the Bible says, "Above all else, guard your heart" it's a life and death matter.

The Good outsmarts and outlasts and basically makes ground turkey out of the Bad. On CSI the good guys don't give up until they have solved the case, no matter how convoluted, and confronted the perpertrator with his responsibility. That's what I like about the Bible's book of Revelation: Good wins, Evil dies. It seems like the bad guys have the biggest guns and the longest knives, but in the end crime doesn't pay.