Intellectually topless

Doug Wilson has spilled some digital ink on the question of whether Evangelicals are being any kind of right-minded in adopting a girl who tries to win contests by wearing bikinis (because they are bikini-wearing contests, after all) as some kind of spokesperson for "Christian values", and while I think publishing photos of her said-bikini-wearing doesn't really help anybody, this link has come to my attention for a variety of reasons, and I wanted to talk about it.

No: she's not wearing any bikinis in that link, but there are links there to worse, so be warned.

Anyway, get this part, right at the start of the article:

By now, everyone knows about the semi-naked Carrie Prejean pictures. We told you that the pictures may cost her the Miss California crown, and that somewhere deep in her empty head, Carrie also tried to turn the release of the pictures onto the “liberal” media, claiming that the pictures are meant as a way to silence her because of her conservative views on gay marriage. We’re not trying to silence you, Carrie. We’re just pointing out how hypocritical you are. How can you represent good Christian values when you’re posing topless as a minor?

Think about that for a minute: because she ever did anything which she now regrets and denounces, she can never denounce any sin. My first thought there was that this line of reasoning silences all converts to atheism.

What's that you say? You used to be a Christian, but now you're an atheist, and you denounce the stupidity of worshipping this guy Jesus who you now say prolly doesn't even exist? Doesn't that make you a hypocrite -- because look: I have pictures of you at Bible camp.

Tres Stupide, as they say in cartoon logging camps. But that's not really my axe-weilding uber-point. My uber-point is this: the world can see through our stupid attempts to trojan horse them into agreeing with us. You know: when some girl dressed in clothes that frankly promote fornication if not adultery gets on national television and starts braying about "Christian values", and the rest of the "cultural conservatives" line up behind her as if she was leading the way up to the boat to Pleasure Island in Pinnochio and all they lack are two good puffs on a cigar to start braying in exactly the same was she is, even the gossip bloggers can see that either our appeal to the world is phony, or our appeal to Jesus is phony -- and that it's prolly the latter which needs to go since whatever it is we're talking about has nothing to do with dying to sin for me because I have rubbed sin all over me in order to be more like what I say I hate and what Jesus abhors so that you will pay attention to me.

There's a pastoral lesson in there someplace, but I admit I am too tired right now to get into it. I am sure the more-gifted among you can work it out and apply it as necessary.