The Greeks had a wise saying: “Call no man happy until he is dead.” Celebrity culture calls a man happy as soon as he has enough followers on Facebook. We do not know enough about celebrities to call them “happy” as the biographies that come out after their deaths often demonstrate. We trivialize our goal of happiness when we take the appearance of happiness for the reality. Happiness is not a “feeling,” but human flourishing. Human flourishing is having harmony between reason, emotions, and desire in a community of happy people. As Aristotle understood and Jesus demonstrated, happiness is hard to gain this side of Paradise, but priceless when acquired.
Celebrity is particularly dangerous for Christians because we should know better and because the worship of celebrity is antithetical to the Gospel. The Scriptures and church history teach us that what seems to be true often is not. Satan himself can appear as “an angel of light” or a network television program.
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