How would you feel if your spouse cheated on you then even more outrageously claimed there was nothing wrong with this behavior? How would you react if the pastor of your local church slept around, embezzled money and engaged in illegal activity? What would you do if your best friend stole from you, had casual sex like it was going out of style and treated his body like a trash-compactor?

Needless to say, if you’re a healthy, normal individual, all three of these things would infuriate, sadden and disgust you. People do not act like animals and just do whatever the hell they like…right? It’s morally despicable…right?

Ironically the same form of media which teaches us that cheating on your spouse, being a terrible excuse for a man-of-God and acting like a total jack-ass are wrong, is the same exact media that tells us these things are great!

One second, you’re hearing how awful this cheating wife/corrupt church/hedonistic jerk is and the next, you’re watching a slick show about how glamorous they are!

Let me elaborate. People often complain that relationships have grown less faithful, that love is dying off, that lives are being ruined by divorce and cheap sex. Then those very people run home at 6:30 to watch an episode of Maury or Desperate Housewives! They can’t miss their chance to see, acted out before them, the cause of all those terrible problems which by now, have been conveniently forgotten about.

Another example: How many times have you heard lamenting that organized religion is too corrupt? Whining about this bad pope or pastor who has ruined God’s good name? If only people in church would act as holy as they look!

But secretly, we relish the fall of a holy man. At least TV would give us that opinion. The same person bewailing corrupt religion soon walks right past their dust-covered Bible and turns on any of numerous movies featuring some priest who runs off with a woman. They say: “Look, the pope’s a hypocrite,” while grabbing the remote to watch The Borgias on-demand.

A last example: “Oh my friend, she doesn’t respect herself. If only she’d stop jumping into bed with random guys.” So says the same exact person who plans an evening alone with American Pie or Sex in the City.

Are we really that schizophrenic? We damn certain actions at one moment then encourage them at the next. We celebrate the evils that we bemoan. We tell our daughters to be honest, to stay innocent, save sex for marriage…so on…so on… then buy them scantily-clad Barbie dolls and miniskirts. We tell boys to be brave, to protest the weak, to always do the right thing…then give them a box of condoms.

Seriously, what the? How can we, as a people, hold any moral values if we so quickly abandon them as seen fit. Oh no, TV is not real life. Yet Maury is only a reflection of hundreds of girls who are used, impregnated and abandoned. Instead of being glammed-up dolls, these young women really look more like this:

Yes, there were several actual popes in history who were horrible, murderous people. Except you’d expect skilled screenwriters to know that Pope Alexander VI didn’t resemble in the least, a handsome movie-star:

Oh…and every day, some young kid gets convinced he’s just an animal, a worthless thing best filled with drugs and alcohol. Our boys are destroying themselves and hiding their hearts:

This is the reality of sin. Take off the garnish, the special-effects and the coolly glittering accolades. Get rid of the blinding mask. Stare the evil we have created and nourished for so long, right in its hideous face.