Jerry, Tinky-Winky, & Culture Wars

[This essay was written in February of 1999. Before there were blogs, believe it or not.]

First, some background.  Teletubbies is a British television program designed specifically for children two and under.  It features a group of brightly-hued, fuzzy individuals with antennae who run around, sing, and fall down.  Apparently, the target audience loves the show.  I found watching it a bit like taking heavy medication, only more disorienting.

Of course, not just todd lers have televisions, and somewhat predictably, some (relatively) older individuals have become fascinated with the program in a hip, cynical, postmodern sort of way.  Also somewhat predictably, militant homosexuals have claimed, in their typically adolescent manner, that one of the characters, “Tinky-Winky,” is a gay transvestite.  This is because he definitely has a male voice, but carries what they claim is a purse.  Jerry Falwell weighed in on the matter  earlier this month, criticizing the Teletubbies’ alleged secret homosexual agenda in his National Liberty Journal.  According to news reports, Mr. Falwell observes that Tinky-Winky “is purple- the gay pride color;  and his antenna is shaped like a triangle- the gay pride symbol.”

What are we to make of this?  Is Mr. Falwell’s alert necessary?  Apparently not;  the producers of the show have stated that they’re not trying to promote homosexuality, and we have no reason to assume they’re lying.  Keep in mind that symbols can have different meanings.  Homosexuals use the rainbow as a sort of badge, but the Bible says it represents the Lord’s covenant promise to never again destroy the world by flood (Genesis 9:8-17).  The triangle, or delta, is the symbol for “change” in logic and science.  My Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says that purple suggests royalty.  Perhaps, then, Tinky-winky represents the Christian, who is changing into one who belongs to the King of Kings.  Or maybe he’s just a goofy purple dude with a magic bag, and not the next Ellen Degeneres.  To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a triangle is just a triangle.  Militant homosexuals claim that everyone is secretly gay.  The sane response to ludicrous statements is to ignore them, not publicize them.

The larger error here is adopting the worldview of militant homosexua ls.  One doesn’t have to imitate their sin in order to see homosexuality everywhere, as they do.  An analysis of popular culture which interprets Tinky-Winky as a gay icon mirrors that of militant homosexuals, even if it criticizes the Teletubbies.  It says the sinner is right:  this is his world, not ours.  The risk of waging a culture war this way, by affirming the wicked’s interpretation of things, is that one may very easily turn into one’s own adversary.

What, then, is the Biblical response to this situation?  How ought we engage our culture?  More to the point, how ought we engage the sinners in our culture?

Our response to homosexuals, in particular, ought be two-fold.  First, we must call them to repentance, pointing to Jesus Christ as the only hope for sinners.  Second, we should point out to them that attempts to legitimize their behavior by making it culturally acceptable are ultimately futile.  They cannot successfully cover their sins from God’s all-seeing, holy gaze, even if they can get United Methodist ministers to perform “union” ceremonies.  This two-pronged approach sums up what our interaction with our culture ought always be:  1) call sinners to repentance in Christ;  and 2) remind them that if they do not turn to Christ Jesus, they will face the certain judgment of the Lord.

At the same time, we must avoid the danger of becoming so obsessed with sin that we catalogue all the details of its practice.  We need not become experts on wickedness in order to call sinners to repentance.  All you need to know is that theft is a sin;  learning the best times for robbing convenience stores is unnecessary.  If we familiarize ourselves with sin to the extent that we adopt the sinner’s worldview, we will be unable to call them into a genuinely new life.  They may stop sinning, but they will continue to live in a world ruled by sin, and not the Lord.

Instead, our duty is to view the world Biblically, and to call others in our culture to do the same.  Scripture teaches that submission to the Lord means we focus the bulk of our attention on our own sin, not the disobedience of others (Matthew 7:5).  If you constantly look for wickedness, you will be sure to find it, sometimes even if it’s not there.  Are the Teletubbies promoting homosexuality?  Really, the question is not worth asking.  But I seriously doubt it;  not because I think the show’s producers are without sin, but because I see enough sin in my own life to keep me busy.

In this way, through the mortification of our own sin, we provide the best witness to the sinners in our culture.  We are called by our Lord to live lives which glorify him in every regard.  When we do so, we are like a light shining on a hill (Matthew 5:14-16).  Of course we must call sinners to repentance;  but when our light shines before men, they will praise our Father in heaven.