I just finished reading the book of Romans yesterday (in the New Testament). I want to talk about chapter 14, verse 1: "Accept those whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters."

I have a Life Application Study Bible, New International Version. And the footnotes on this particular verse rang a bell for me (but not literally, though! LOL.)

It reads:

"Who is weak in faith and who is strong? We are all weak in some areas and strong in others. Our faith is strong in an area if we can survive contact with sinners without falling into their patterns. It is weak in an area if we must avoid certain activities, people, or places in order to protect our spiritual life. It is important to take a self-inventory in order to find out our strengths and weaknesses. Whenever in doubt, we should ask, 'Can I do that without sinning?" Can I influence others for good, rather than being influenced by them?'

"In areas of strength, we should not fear being defiled by the world; rather we should go and serve God. In areas of weakness, we need to be cautious. If we have a strong faith but shelter it, we are not doing Christ's work in the world. If we have a weak faith but expose it, we are being extremely foolish."

And of course, this makes me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. FYI: the show is a thousand times better than the movie - the latter is corny in that you can tell the actors are acting because they exaggerate lines and stuff. It totally stinks. But the show is different. The cast is the best of the best. Sarah Michelle Gellar puts her whole heart and soul in the character of Buffy, and it's very obvious. You can't think for one minute that she doesn't believe in what she's doing. People are actually afraid of the show because the storylines involve witchcraft, gay love, sex, addiction, and violence. Not to mention scary monsters. Well. HAHAHA. Too bad for you, I say. Tough. It's a free country, and thank GOD for that!

The show aired when I was a freshman in high school. We didn't have the cable network it was on (the WB, which is now the CW, having merged with UPN), and even if we did, I couldn't really say I would have watched it. I wasn't a real big fan of television back then (God bless the people who made closed captioning available). I did, however, like Sarah Michelle Gellar for some reason. Role model or whatever. I had seen her on the soap All My Children for a bit. She was really good as Kendall Hart. I'm a loyal fan, so anything she does, I'd watch. One Christmas (I think I was a sophomore or junior) I got the first two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on VHS. I was delighted. And I wanted more. So I turned to the only thing I could - BtVS novels! They sustained me until the show was finally sold to UPN and FX. I was attending community college by then. I watched the whole series and then I watched it again, this time taping every single episode. Then I watched it again. I was hooked. Hook, line, and sinker.

And I was finally happy. Completely and totally.

At first, I thought I just liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it portrayed a young woman with superhuman strength. All my life, I'd been weak. And suddenly, I had this show telling me, showing me, that I didn't have to be. BtVS makes me feel strong. It makes me feel like I can do anything I set my mind to. But it's so much more than that. It gave my confidence a much needed boost to where it is today, but it also helped me come to terms about what happened to me back in the 80s. It raised my faith in people, and yes, even in God. I thought, if God allowed Buffy into my life, gently guiding me there all the while, then surely He must care an awful lot about me. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to sum up, is about not giving up when the going gets tough.

God knew I needed to see and hear and experience that!

And so, no, the show doesn't defile anything or anyone, unless that's people's attitude going in. You've gotta have an open mind in order to live in this world, in order to survive. That's all there is to it.