My Newest Guilty Pleasure

Before I tell you about my newest guilty pleasure, let me give you the disclaimer. I believe that God created all things and sat back and admired his work. He declared it good, and it, therefore, has great value to me.

I support conservation and I believe its sinful when we harm the environment. That said, let me tell you about the TV show that's caught my attention...

On Friday nights, Animal Planet has started broadcasting a show entitled "Whale Wars." It's highly entertaining and if you're not doing anything tonight, pop some popcorn and sit down for some quality entertainment.

Whale Wars is about an organization known as Sea Shepherd. It's headed by Paul Watson (who is quite possibly the only overweight vegan I know). Watson is one of the 12 founders of Greenpeace and the one that happened to be voted off the organization's island for being too radical.

They've been well funded by some other crazies and thanks to Animal Planet, we learn that there are whole levels of stupid that most of us never knew existed. The crew, most of which have no experience at sea, steam around the Antarctic Circle in their ship, the Steve Irwin (you guessed it, the ship is named after the Crocodile Hunter). While on their cruise, they search for Japanese whaling operations. Once found, they make threats over the radio, hurl stink bombs and other various chemical grenades at these ships, and even pull off a couple of really stupid stunts.

Last week, Watson had the brilliant idea to have two volunteers from the Steve Irwin come alongside and board the Japanese ship. Once on board, Watson would call the Australian government and start a political fight, declaring his own crew members to be held captive. I always thought boarding someone else's boat without permission while at sea was an act of piracy, but I guess I'm just too reasonable as a person to see it Watson's way.

I'm not sure which part was the most enjoyable, that they threw the stink bombs on board and THEN jumped on, or when the Japanese crew members actually tried to throw one of them overboard into the icy ocean.

All of this is an attempt to deter people from killing whales for research and profit. I found myself asking one question over and over again: Is this really the best and most effective way to get your point across and change people's minds? I really doubt it.

As Christians, we could be accused of some of the same tactics. How we relate to non-Christians is often disgraceful. We forget that Jesus mentored and loved his twelve disciples (even Judas). We forget that Philip made a friend out of the Ethiopian eunuch. We forget that Paul was cared for by Ananias. Coercion and nasty behavior is never a substitute for love, mercy, kindness, and genuine care.

I have more to say about the Sea Shepherd crew, but I'll save that for later.