It's always entertaining to hear about celebrities engaging in crazy shenanigans, sporting new fashions, or splitting up as a couple. But Barrett Johnson, founder of INFO for Families ministries and former minister of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Atlanta, says Christians should stay clear of Hollywood gossip.
Just recently, celebrity news outlets went wild following the split of Hollywood A-list celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Johnson says the news shocked the world because the couple seemed to have it all together. "I can't help think that this is what it must have felt like a few thousand years ago to watch gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Sure, it's tragic, but most people can't muster the strength to look away," he writes for Charisma News.
When something horrible like a divorce happens to a celebrity, Johnson wonders what truly wins out in people's hearts and minds: Curiosity or compassion? For a lot of people, curiosity wins out, but Johnson says Christians should always be reminded that broken relationships are a tragedy, never a spectacle.
He says every couple starts a union committed to being one. But sometimes, things don't work out, and people fall apart. "The idea of a 'good divorce' is a myth. It's always hard on kids and they take the wounds into adulthood. We should hurt for them," he says. "We must offer compassion to those who are walking through it. We must do so without condemnation, all while desperately clinging to God's standard of marriage."
At the same time, families that fall apart in a public way are terrible to witness. Christians should stop watching and indulging in Hollywood gossip and just start praying, says Johnson. Instead of being "consumers of the pain of others," Christians should become active conduits of grace and love, he says.
"In our voyeuristic culture where we hear almost daily about the relational failures of famous people, we must never forget that their pain is real. Their kids feel the consequences. And their painful stories are not too different from the painful stories of those we know," he says.
