Trading Spouses
Did anyone see this program last night? If you didn’t, you really missed Christians being represented in a interesting way. Trading Spouses is a show that takes two families, and the wives swap families for a period of time. The two families, as usual, couldn’t be more different.
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From Fox’s web site:
D’AMICO-FLISHER FAMILY
Jeanne is a specialist in hypnotherapy and uses this valuable tool to help people reconstruct their lives, Chris works with astrology to help clients find their true life’s purpose. Chris believes that astrology provides people with their personal owner’s manual and can aid them in career and relationship decisions. He is also a writer and a mandala artist who has used his experiences in life and loss to guide others through similar challenges.
PERRIN FAMILY
The Perrin family has always been a very close family and the unexpected pregnancy of Ashley brought them some rocky times but it was God and their faith that kept them close as they welcomed the birth of Abigail into the Perrin home. Abigail is now considered the heart of the household. They consider themselves Christians in a sense that they believe in God and they believe that Jesus gave his life for all of us. Marguerite is a firm believer that God loves everyone unconditionally and does not like any alternatives brought into her life or her family’s life.
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The events that unfold when the wives enter the other family’s house are very eye-opening to say the least. One is closed to other people’s ideas and beliefs, the other is open and respects others. One screams and shouts in anger when someone doesn’t believe the same things she does, the other listens intently. One got up and left during a celebration having nothing to do with religion, the other held hands and prayed when the family did. Which one do you think was positive and understanding? Surprisingly, it WASN’T the Christian. Isn’t that odd? Someone that thinks they are following God to the letter, and yet they represent God by acting like that.
Let me ask you a question. Who do you think we’re supposed to witness to?
Matthew9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?”
12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Luke 7:33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ‘ 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
Now, I know that you read the Bible and read about those nasty Scribes and Pharisees. The law mattered more to them than loving and giving to others.
Luke 11:37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.
38When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.
39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.
40″You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
41″But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.
42″But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
Have we turned into the Scribes and the Pharisees of the 21st century? It seems to me that when I see a Christian on television, it’s always about no. It’s always about what they can’t do, instead of what they can do. Have we forgotten that we follow the living God?
The episode will conclude next Wednesday at 8 CST. Watch today’s church-going Christian fight the battle of good and evil for all of us…by shutting the doors on her home to all who don’t believe like she does. I’ll leave with the same verses I referenced earlier in the week, because I just don’t think anyone has read this part of the Bible.
Luke 14:12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
13″But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
I hope that the show isn’t typecasting Christians as negative. Assuming that it isn’t, it is true that some believers are like that. I wholeheartedly agree that if we focused more on the blessing of Christ, the “yeses” and “amens,” we’d attract more people to Jesus.
Unfortunately, Jeff, given that it’s “reality TV” — an oxymoron if ever there was one, we *should* expect negative typecasting. Christians, especially those who believe exclusively, are not media darlings. They’re oh-so-last-century with their definitives and categoricals, and when nobody wants to hear anything definite or categorical, Christians make good rogues. When ratings are the underlying motivation for every scheduling decision and program idea, feeding the poor and Mother Theresa are out. Preaching the idolaters into hell is in. And so the Bible-basher who’s hell to live with is *perfect*. I can imagine that when the lady eventually views that show, she’ll realize she got conned by “reality” scripting — yes, it was a set-up — and she’ll be mortified, just as much as we’re supposed to be.
At rock bottom, though, we don’t have much control over how “the media” portrays us, but we do have plenty of control over what raw image materials we give them to work with. And in our own corners, we can’t stop people being disgusted with folks on TV who aren’t polite, but we can live such that they won’t accept such “reality” characters as valid or representative.
I did’t watch the reality show but agree with both Jeff and KM, as Christs’ followers,we are to act Christ-like. But, unless those Godly attributes are a part of our daily lives we can’t expect them to be shown on a TV program. In otherwords, we are ALL seen as closed minded people because so many are, and have had the spotlight put on them just like in this situation. More Christians need to realize that we serve the same God. We are bought by Grace, and that same Grace is as available to people who don’t believe the same way as they do.
From what I saw of it (just a few minutes) There was evil in the D’Amico house. But the D’Amico’s couldn’t tell because they are ignorant of what they are doing. Mrs. Perrin was smelling something that made her gag and yet no one else could in the hosting family could smell it. I think you are all being a bit hard on her and judging her a bit unfairly. I realize that she is a truly frightening person to look at, but she claims to have faith in God and I am not going to judge that.
I encourage everyone to watch this Wednesday at 8 CST and make your own decision. I am making comments about how she handled the situation.
I was also ashamed at how “Christians” acted on this show. Notice I didn’t say “portrayed”, because they camera showed actual events. Those ladies who came over to meet the hippy mom were so hateful and nasty. They broke the mom down to make themselves feel superior because they were Christian. Of course she’s not if she had never been witnessed to! That should have been the only question they asked. Then they should have been excited to become a guiding light in her life!
I walked away from that show SHOCKED. This “Christian” woman’s behavior was unbelievable. Does she realize the damage she has done for Christians and believers everywhere? Make no mistake…many reprehensible things have been done in the name of “Religion” and I am hoping her and her other “Christian” friends who brow beat Jeanne take a long look at how they come across in this episode and furthermore, I hope they are all called into Pastor’s office for some counciling. It is enough to drive people from the chruch. And if you think that I believe Marguerite “smelled” some vile odor,I would suggest it was her own aura of intolerance, hostility and closed mindedness. I found it interesting that when she found out how the money would be allocated she suddenly did an about face and decided the money was “Godly” afterall. Remind any body of someone we read about in the Bible…Kind of makes you say hummmm.
yeah, the episode tonight was more of the same, only even more ridiculous. It was just really ironic that she was saying Jeanne was dark-sided.
That woman was a mess! She did not represent Christians because a Christian would be tolerant of others, polite, respectful and would not lie like she did. She hurt and embarrassed her family.
But yet turned around and took the money that was from the “dark side”. Yet they live in New Orleans which has many psychics, and “dark sided” themes.
Sadly Mrs. Perrin forgot what I feel is Jesus’ most important directive; Love others as I have loved you. Love thy neighbor does not stipulate that they believe the same as you. In fact the spirit of New Testament is that we love each other DESPITE our differences and faults. That forgiveness of man is key to our own forgiveness.
Although FOX and reality television have many faults, this was not their fault. The Perrin family chose to be part of the program. And Mrs. Perrin chose to behave in that manner. And what hurt me the most was she was so caught up in her own disgust that instead of hugging her family when she arrived back home, instead of thanking God for her blessings, she chose to blame others for the experience. Even after her children asked her to sit with them to console her, she acted as if her experience was their fault. She lacked self responsibility, compassion and true understanding of God’s word. I pray she and others like her find the truth and understanding they are missing.
Oh and I forgot to mention that after her little show of ripping up the “contaminated” money, she did choose to accept it. I guess her convictions weren’t as strong as the dollar.
I watched the ending of the second show with great interest and concern. All that screaming and name-calling didn’t sound very “Christian” to me. She almost looked possessed!
As for her behavior within her own family before the swap, I was also concerned because she didn’t seem to have a “servant attitude” at all, but seemed to insist on it from everyone else in her family as they “served” her.
She may have tried to sow seeds of faith within her new family, but I feel that her negativity and intolerence seemed to create a “rocky soil” that failed to support whatever spiritual growth that may have sprung up. And her friends’ rude behavior did absolutely nothing to bring Jeannie to Christ! If anything, the “Christian” behavior shown on this program has pushed at least one family (and probably countless others who watched the program) AWAY from Christ and His love.
It would be a huge mistake for anyone to think that the media had to go out of its way in order for Marguerite to show her own dark side. What a hypocrite she is!! Her name-calling and judging of a beautiful and intelligent family (of whom she made no real attempt to get to know) displays for the entire viewing audience the reality of what many Christians feel is their right: to judge others, call names, and alienate themselves from something that could in the end actually be beneficial and enriching.
I can think of no one to better serve as the poster child for the closed-mindedness of Christianity than Marguerite. Her ranting and raving frenzy shows us what Christianity teaches its followers and zealots — to be narrow-minded liars who talk too much and don’t know when to shut up and listen to another’s point of view for fear that they might actually LEARN something!
Poor Marguerite thinks she has all the answers. Well, as we’ve all seen, she proved once and for all that the Bible doesn’t teach Christians to be good people, nor does it teach them to love their neighbors. Those traits come from the HEART. Jeanne has HEART. She has her priorities straight. She knows what it takes to be a good role model for her children. And did she learn that from the Bible? I guarantee you she did not.
I, for one, would much rather have Jeanne for my friend and neighbor for the next fifty years than to have to look at Marguerite’s hypocritical, self-righteous face for one more moment. As far as I’m concerned, she is not fit to continue being able to freely move among society.
This is a good lesson to us all. Take a good hard look at yourselves and make sure that you don’t end up where Marguerite is. Strive to be more like Jeanne and strive to continue learning about our beautiful world while at the same time keeping your mind open to new ideas and points of view. We need more Jeannes in this world and a heck of a lot less Marguerites.
I didn’t see the show, but I saw the
commercials for it. The shrieking woman
may call herself a Christian, but she is
certainly not a follower of Christ.
I am here only to represent Christ and his
most basic instruction to me and to all Christians
was very simply, “Love the Lord with all your
heart and all your soul and all your mind.
And love your brother as yourself.”
This woman represented neither.
[...] Pat Robertson is all over the news again. I don’t ever watch the 700 Club, but it makes me think that Marguerite does (Trading Spouses). MSNBC reported “Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting “intelligent design” and warned them Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.” Now my guess is, this is how these people get publicity. The news doesn’t cover boring, so to get on camera you have to do or say something outrageous, like Marguerite or Pat Robertson. That’s the problem though, I don’t think we should strive to be in the news. If we all did our job as Christians, the news would come to us. [...]
I was pleased to find a Christian site discussing the Trading Spouses episode. I was a little surprised, though, to find so little compassion for Ms. Perrin. Was she close-minded? Yes. Absolutely. But, I spent several years in a fundamentalist church that taught us that to even put yourself in the presence of “dark sided” influences is to open yourself to satan. So, I could understand Margaret’s unwillingness to “see the other side of the story”. And it was blatantly obvious that the producers of the show manipulated both families to get the strongest, most ratings-worthly reactions from them. I felt so sorry for Margaret, coming home from a long trip, after an emotionally and physically exhausting week to bright lights and cameras in her face. No wonder she lost it.
Oh, by the way, I’m an agnostic.
Tami
Wow. What a woman. What a “Christian”. I have not seen the whole show but I have seen the clips with her hysterical antics when she arrived at home. I wonder what the children go through? They showed them staring at their mother with a mix of embarrassment and fright. If they have to deal with that temper everyday then I wouldn’t be surprised if they resent and close their hearts to true Christianity in the future. Yes, I do think that was a temper with a dose of demon possession. It is a real situation as was witnessed where satan puts false precepts and principles even into claimed believers. That’s a good way to harden the hearts of the unbelievers: offend them with unrighteous Christians who are not displayng true Christianity. If that’s all they see then they won’t have a desire to have that joy that God promises us Christians.
It’s also a pity that the woman was on television representing Christianity. What about the good ones?!! They knew what they where doing though (the executives). They wanted to find the most over-the-top and controversial character to clash with another. But if people are going to make assumptions about the whole from a few, shame on them. Christ came here not to please and make everyone happy, but to convict and bring those who wish into redemption. We should never (Christians) step down on our values and beliefs but rather evaluate if they are aligned with God’s. Apparently Marguerite wasn’t.
Reprove and rebuke. Not condem, judge or complain about others actions, inactions, or “Christian Walk”.
If someone is doing something in their Christian walk, it is not anyone’s place to point them out as a sore thumb, no matter how bad they have messed up. Christ didn’t do that with the woman at the well, nor should we do that with others today.
Reprove and rebuke them, in their space and time with scripture alone and let the judgment and penalties come from God alone.
I agree we should never let our standards falter - but let he who is innocent cast the first stone.
No, we are to reprove, rebuke and rebuild the lives of Christians that have fallen. Did the Apostle Paul, in all his letters, condemn those who have fallen in the churches of Thesolonica, or Philipi? Or did he, through scripture, remind them of the truth, reprove them to the words of Christ and rebuke them into turning back to the Lord to let the Lord have his way with them, and warn them of the Lord’s promised judgment if they should continue?
I really hated to see a Christian display such rudeness and close-mindedness on a nationally-aired episode of ANY TV show. Upon doing further research (check out her new website) it’s quite apparent that Mrs. Perrin is only into “Christianity” for the money and exposure. Unfortunately, the FOX network only cares about turning profits and making “Trading Spouses” into another version of “The Jerry Springer Show”; check out their advertisements looking for “more eclectic families” (sure to ensure ratings spikes!) to pit against each other. I’m sure more “Christians against the Lions” episodes will be sure to follow, so get used to the exploitation and poor representations of Christian families.
Christian or not this lady needs to be on medication. I saw more Christ like attributes come from the humble, meek , charitable Bostonian than from the “Warrior”- I dare not put The name of the Lord anywhere near her name. She had one chance to plant a seed in the hearts of millions and she blew it BIG TIME!!!
The spirit of God cannot and will not preside in or around a person as angry as Marguerite. She has no humility. She shamed her family but she should not shame true Christians, because she did not represent one in the slightest.
In Australia we have just seen this.
My heart goes out to M Perrin’s family. What a cross they have to bear, you could see how terrified and dissapointed they were at the way the mother behaved.
Her accusing her daughter for not praying enought for her when she was away and putting that level of guilt on the poor girls shoulders.
M Perrin’s behaviour reminded one of mobs with pitchforks and burning brands. Or the Salem witch trials.
M Perring has her own website where she has tried to show that she has a sense of humor and an openness. It brings to mind visions of shutting the gates LONG after the horses has bolted.
She has shown her true colors and they are not pretty.
I am not a Christian but I know of some christians who I have a lot of respect for. They have built their faith into their lives and are wonderful warm and decent people.
M Perrin seems to have chosen Christianity as her personal crutch to explain all that is wrong with herself and her paranoia’s.
Her friends are just as bad. Does anyone know what demonination or church that they attend? as I am puzzled to what must be taught there. Certainly nothing of acceptance and tolerance.
Just my viewpoints
Marcwolf
that show should of never came on tv it presents no real solutions on how we should raise our kids or treat our spouse and it is just another program to watch people yell and hate one another