Heart Attack
If you had asked me a month ago who Joseph Kony was, I undoubtedly would not have had an answer for you. In fact, for most of us, the word "Kony" had never been uttered or heard of until recently. But now, it is the new buzz word and hot household name. For those of you who have been living in a galaxy far far away and have not hear of Kony, don't worry, he isn't running for president. The Kony 2012 campaign was created by a charity called Invisible Children which made a documentary featuring Joseph Kony as it's star. Kony is a Warlord in Uganda and several other counties in Africa, and has been accused of enslaving thousands of children into being war soldiers and sex slaves and killing those who do not comply. This social media campaign was created to bring awareness, which it has done successfully. With well over 84 million video hits and counting, people are pouring out money and support to "Stop Kony".
Although this viral video has stirred up a lot of controversy, there are several things that are clear. Whether or not the charity is honest or corrupt, the documentary has created a heart attack in those who watch. The majority of the audience who had no idea who Kony was previously, has been touched, moved, enraged and motivated to fight against a villain. Something pierced their heart. As Dr. Corsini explained, our heart is part of our intellectual life, emotional life, volitional life and spiritual life. Whatever is in our heart flows in and out of our entire life. From there, our conscience starts to weigh in, serving as a witness inside of us, which identifies what is right and wrong. Our mind then perceives, understands, judges and determines everything we are feeling and thinking. This has the power to also affect our soul and spirit.
While I believe that it is great to be aware of current event issues, I also believe it is important to be aware of how we can often be manipulated as well. A majority of the people who have watched the Kony video and have jumped on the Kony bandwagon have done so because their hearts have been touched. I believe that this was the film makers main objective, and to be honest, he has clearly done a great job. But all of this hype makes me wonder; what else do we let stir in our heart and affect our whole being? What motivates us to take a stand and feel powerful? How often is that not the Holy Spirit and not of God? How often do we even consciously recognize it?
Rachel, thank you for your post. I am glad that you addressed KONY 2012, as it has been a very prominent topic today. I agree that each of us needs to be careful before we "jump on the bandwagon". There are a lot of people who just act on their emotions and do not think everything through. I think this can come into play with our relationship to the Lord as well. Many times when people lose that "spiritual high" they begin to question their relationship with God. However it is important for us all to realize that our relationships are not built on emotions. Yes, the heart is important in relationships but we also need to acknowledge the important role that our mind plays as well. There are 5 areas of the immaterial that we discussed in class and we need to balance each of them out; not allowing one to control the rest.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you brought this issue up, Rachel. I think this issue definitely affects all five of the immaterial aspects that we discussed, particularly the heart. I spent a summer in Uganda working with ex-child soldiers who had been rescued from Kony's army and survived. Seeing the influx of people becoming aware of this war and acknowledging the atrocities as a result of IC's campaign has been encouraging. It is also questionable in some respects as it is hard to sort through those who are just stirred by their temporary emotions from those who are truly affected in all areas of their immaterial person and want to allow this to flow out of their entire life. I really like the question you raised about what else we let stir our hearts and affect our whole being. Like you said, it is important to realize the interaction between our heart, mind, conscience, soul, and spirit and to be sure that we are glorifying God with our whole being in the things we become passionate about and involved in.
ReplyDeleteThis post is a very appropriate response to the Kony controversy that is taking over the internet. I thought it was interesting that you addressed the fact that the interest many have in this campaign is due to a heart issue. Seeing child soldiers and sex-slaves definitely tugs at our emotions. I believe that the Lord gave us heart-felt emotions to stir up righteous anger at unGodly offenses. I agree that, as Christians, we need to view issues such as the Kony campaign from our entire immaterial being rather than from one area. It is extremely important to not respond completely out of emotions because such a response can produce more negative than positive outcomes. This is evident very often in the abortion controversy. Although righteous anger is an appropriate initial response, our rational mind and conscious as well as our God-given spirit and soul need to follow.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I really appreciated your post and completely agree with what you are saying. It seems that nowadays individuals, Christians and non-Christians alike, are so quick to jump headfirst into the next new idea without fully thinking about what it is they are really doing. The Kony 2012 seems to be latest big news in the nation today concerning this topic, and rightly so. I wonder how many people are shocked at how much they may have given to this organization, not giving a second though to what happens to their money though they were hoping for the best. It seems that there are a great many people in our world today that realize that we are an emotionally led generation, and a few heartfelt words may be all that it takes to push us motivate us into thinking we are doing the right thing. Though our emotions are vitally important, it is important that we never forget that God created us to be intellectual beings as well.
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