Oprah Winfrey Sermons

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."

Psalm 141:3 (NIV)

It's becoming increasingly common for sermons these days to mimic talk and reality TV shows. For example, a pastor might call up previously selected people from the congregation and interview them by asking personal questions about their lives that pertain to the sermon's topic. I don't know about others, but this makes me feel very uncomfortable: knowing personal, intimate details about people that I feel I don't have the right to know.

Then not too long ago, our church had a special speaker talk about sexual immorality. I thought this was great, but when the speaker began to share details about his sexual life before he became a Christian, I felt sick. The man divulged WAY too much information about his personal life, information that was completely unnecessary in supporting the message. Moreover, he wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable being graphic about a woman's body and sex. I felt like crawling under the seat, especially as I was sitting near my four sons.

Also, women today are exposing their bodies at an alarming rate, even revealing their pregnant bellies. Pregnancy is beautiful, but a woman's body should be viewed privately by her husband only, and that includes when she is pregnant. I know my sons would be horrified if they saw a picture in their older years of my naked belly when I was pregnant with them, or of me breastfeeding them when they were babies. (Just to let you know, no such pictures exist.) Do people even think about that? Nothing is sacred any more. We share intimate details about ourselves with everybody, anywhere, anytime. And this type of mindset is even being incorporated into today's sermons!

Don't get me wrong. I think it's good when a pastor or speaker shares personal details about him/herself to the congregation. It's just that nowadays we're sharing mega amounts of it. We're becoming a society that wants to hear it all, the more the better. And somehow the message is lost and we're left remembering repugnant facts about people's pre-Christian lives or personal information about people that should be kept private.