The Gospel and Charlie Sheen

Human nature has always been fascinating to me.  We settle into routines, going back and forth in our daily lives, but oh how we seem to enjoy a good car wreck along the way.  We slow down, stretch our necks to see more closely, and drive away thinking, “Man, I am glad that wasn’t me.”

Such is the case with Actor Charlie Sheen.  For now, his life is the proverbial car wreck across our path, and it’s virtually impossible to escape.  If you’re late to the party, Charlie Sheen is an actor, the son of another actor, Martin Sheen, and he is going through quite the meltdown.  Charlie has had a successful career on both the big screen (Platoon, Wall Street, Major League) and the small screen (Spin City, Two and a Half Men).

As a result of this success, Charlie has a lot of money, but has proven to be extremely immature and irresponsible in his personal life.  By any yardstick, Charlie has had his share of problems: Drug and sex addictions, alcoholism, failed marriages, a penchant for prostitutes, and the list goes on.  Because of his fame, and an admittedly magnetic personality, Charlie gets to see his dirty laundry daily on TV and in the tabloids.  This week, he took his disputes with CBS and others public in a hyper-media push on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Piers Morgan Live and TMZ --- pretty much anyone who would listen.  I swear, I thought I saw him on QVC at some point.

During these interviews, Charlie has been everything from lucid to lunatic.  And as car wrecks go, it has had its elements of entertainment.  He mixes in lots of self-aggrandizement, with lines like “Sure, I’m on a drug, and the drug is Charlie Sheen,” or claiming to have Tiger’s blood in his veins --- still not sure if that’s the jungle animal or the billionaire golfer.  Both might apply.

As I’m flipping through the channels and stumble across Charlie, I have to admit that I stop.  He has this crazed look, but can also make statements that are quite profound.  One minute, he’s making perfect sense, and then just as quickly he looks like Jack Nicholson in “The Shining.”

Last night, he joined Twitter, and built up thousands of followers in a matter of hours, possibly a social media record.  So, why the fascination?  I still think it has something to do with my Jerry Springer theory.  No one admits to watching that crap, but we do.  And when we do, part of us sits back and says, “Wow, I’m screwed up, but not as much as those people.”

Here’s my point.  Charlie Sheen is no better or worse than any one of us.  What he is doing is what any of us might fall into, if faced with the same luxuries or circumstances. 

In Romans, the Apostle Paul writes, “Oh, wretched man that I am.  Who will save me from this body of death?”  Wretched people --- that’s you and me, and everyone.  We are all wretched, apart from the saving grace of God.  Wait, you mean Christians are sinners and not perfect?  Absolutely.  The difference is, as a Christian, you are bought with the blood of Christ, adopted by God the Father, and supported by the Holy Spirit against endless battles with “the powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Without Christ, you face those same challenges but alone, and that ensures ultimate defeat.

In Ephesians, Paul writes that we were all “dead in our transgressions and sins gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”  But then Paul adds a “but,” and for that I am so thankful.  “But God, being rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions --- it is by grace you have been saved.”

Grace…the unmerited favor of God.  That’s why we call it amazing in our hymns.  Totally undeserved, unmerited and unattainable, apart from the act of a Sovereign God.

As I watch the Charlie Sheen story unfold, I hear these verses and see myself.  This is normal behavior for someone dead in their transgressions.  Cast stones if you will, but I pray for Charlie’s salvation.  Not because I think he would make a trophy guest on TBN, but because with all of this attention on him and his life, God would be glorified, and Charlie would be saved.  

I’m not sure what God has in store for Charlie Sheen.  But I would love for him to have a Damascus Road experience, somewhere out there on Rodeo Drive.  Instead of “Two and a Half Men,” I want him to have an encounter with the three-persons of the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Bet that would make for great breaking news.