inside the artist’s studio

The term liberal has many varying definitions when used in different social groups. In evangelical circles, most perceive it to have a negative connotation. The reason for this is because of the word being closely connected to the Democratic Party. Evangelicals attribute the word liberal to the Democratic Party, gay rights, and pro-choice movements. Liberal is a word that can be used to describe the Democratic Parties’ views, but it has a much more broad scope. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, liberal is defined as not being bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms, marked by generosity, and not literal or strict.
When we talk about someone being a “liberal” we usually mean they have liberal political views. Liberal often gets used in the place of Liberalism. By declaring someone as liberal we could be saying many things, such as they are very charitable, or open-minded. Yet in the evangelical circles (especially Grace College), when a person identifies someone as a “liberal” we know they are using the term as an insult. The term liberal has become a negative label we use to describe one’s political views that may be unlike our own.
Liberal can apply to many areas rather than just politics. It can be used to describe someone’s views on economics, religion, social issues, ethics, et cetera. Whatever the word liberal is being used to describe, it should always mean, not strict, open-minded, not bound by tradition, and generous. I was always taught that being open-minded, generous and creative were respectable. These lessons I was taught as a child seem to be ideas where being liberal is founded on, but now liberal can be considered an insult.
Along the way somewhere liberal has earned a negative connotation. Evangelicals often use the word liberal to describe things such as immoral entertainment, depraved celebrities, abortion, gay rights and the Democratic Party. Evangelicals view liberal not as a set of ideas but as a type of person, a person they do not like. Being liberal is not unbiblical because it is not a way of life, but a different viewpoint on certain issues. Christ never let himself be bound by tradition. In fact, Christ shattered tradition to bring about new ideas, and Christ rarely judged others but showed them forgiveness. Could Christ have been a liberal? (Is that blasphemy?) I don’t think Christ would have labeled himself as anything other than the Messiah, but I do believe some of his ideas and teachings could be categorized as liberal.
The Democratic Party supports abortion and gay rights. Should we let the Democratic Party cause us to reject all ideas of being liberal? Liberal is much bigger than the Democratic Party. We should shed the liberal’s negative connotations and realize that it is not immoral or unbiblical. Every so often it is good to try new things, break traditions and create change.

On vacation with my family this summer in North Carolina, we were bored one evening.  We drove into town to see a movie to cure our boredom. The only choice that all of us could agree on was “You Me and Dupree”. This is one of your typical PG-13 summer comedies with big name actors, weak plot lines, and a few good laughs. Dupree (Owen Wilson) plays a freeloading, fun-loving, thirty year old who can’t hold down a job and sleeps in a cot in a bar.  Dupree ends up moving in with his newly-wed and successful best friend Carl (Matt Dillon). The movie has a fairly predictable plot line similar to other comedies. Dupree is only supposed to live with the newly-weds a few days which of course ends up being a few months because he can’t find a job.  Dupree goes to job interviews and tells then up front all the negative things about him and doesn’t even try to sell himself. Dupree slowly ruins Carl’s house, career, and marriage. Carl’s wife Molly (Kate Hudson), in efforts to get Dupree out of the house, sets Dupree up on a date with a co-worker. Carl and Molly come back to the house to find Dupree and his date doing some extremely inappropriate things on their new leather couch to the tune of some very cheesy nineties hip-hop. They startle Dupree who knocks over one of the hundreds of candles that were lit and completely destroys the living room in flames. Carl who works for his father in-law’s real-estate development company is desperately trying to gain the approval of his wife’s father (Michael Douglas). Now add to it that Dupree happens to be sleeping in your living room while you are trying to start a new chapter in your life. To try and impress Molly’s father, Carl and Molly decide to invite him over for dinner. Carl tells Molly that her dad always asks people that he likes to go on a weekend fishing trip. Carl has never been asked to go on this fishing trip and he feel that Molly’s Dad hates him. Carl, Molly, Molly’s Father, and Dupree, who invited himself, all sit down for a pleasant dinner. Carl is expecting that Molly’s father will ask him to go on the fishing trip. Instead Molly’s Father hits it off with Dupree and he in fact asks Dupree if he would like to go on the fishing trip, instead of his son in-law. By this point of the movie Dupree has already done enough things to make Carl livid.  Carl reaches across the table and strangles Dupree. This causes Molly’s father to clock Carl in the head with a candlestick knocking him out. Soon after this Dupree realizes he must undo the damage he has caused in his friend’s life. Even though the movie was very predictable there was one quote that I could not get out of my head that night. The quote occurred in a scene when Carl is going home to get his wife back and Dupree is by his side asking him where he is going.

Dupree: “Carl! Carl! Wait, what are you doing?”
Carl: “I’m running… trying to gain my wife back!”
Dupree: “Carl… you have it all wrong. I’m not trying to steal your wife. All I am is that loveable f***-up that everyone can help. You are just the loveable guy that is lucky for having a wife like Molly.”

All night I could not get Dupree’s words out of my mind. I began to think about my school career, my low GPA, my lifestyle of chasing fun. I asked myself the question. Am I just “that loveable f***-up”?  Just like Dupree I always seem to have good intentions but I usually end up leaving important tasks such as homework to do something that is easier and fun.  I am fun loving and can make people laugh and most people seem to enjoy being around me. In the movie everyone loves Dupree but they know that he does not have the drive to accomplish anything with his life. They end up loving him but feeling sad for him. I began to wonder is this how people view me. That’s when I made the resolution to work hard in all my classes this year.
In Matthew  25 Jesus tells a parable of a master bestowing his servants with money while he leaves on a trip. The master gives each of the three servants money according to his abilities. When the master returns, the first two servants have doubled their money but the last servant buried his in the ground so he would not lose it. The master is so outraged that he commands him to give his money to the first servant who actually put his money to work. This parable should hit us right in the gut. I know that I have many abilities and talents that could be used for the Lord. I have been placed here in college to develop those gifts for God. I know that if God looked at my past three years here at college He would not say “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Like many college students, I have loads of student loans. I have slacked off enough to have to add a fifth year to my schooling, which gets pricey. God calls us to be good stewards of the gifts we have been given. College has been a gift given to me by God and my parents, who help with my finances. The only way to show God and my parents that I appreciate theses gifts is to try my hardest to not be just a “Loveable f***-up” but to be a Loveable guy who has been blessed and wants to be faithful with the gifts he has been given.
As a side note I just wanted to say that even awful worldly B movies can help lead us to God’s truth.