An exploitive Joan Rivers misused her talent

By Jim Garlow

Joan Rivers has died. We pray for her daughter and her grandson during these days.

On TV, I have listened to the comments about her life from people who, among other things, have been married five times, are equally foulmouthed and some who are known for their willfully sinful and "degeneres" practices.

During these moments, my reflections are different, as I come from a different "kingdom." May I respectfully appeal to scriptural truth, as opposed to the idolizing of practices that are dishonoring to God? Going against the extolling crowd, may I have permission to be contrarian?

I sincerely hope Joan Rivers repented in her final hours. All of us must repent for sin in our lives, if we are to enter into God's glorious heaven. Without that spirit of repentance before God, along with heartfelt contrition, another place awaits us – you remember, that other place that no one ever wants to mention.

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Although God's grace can forgive any sin, I refuse to minimize sinful practices when they're lifted up and idolized.

Humor built on viscous attacks on others is not funny. It is unkind.

Humor built on minimizing human suffering (such as her jokes on the Holocaust and the Ariel Castro kidnappings of three young girls, for example) is not humor. It is tasteless and cruel.

Humor that is so sexually degrading and exploitive that, to quote Shepard Smith on Fox News Thursday, "We would have to bleep out her words because this is afternoon television" is not funny. It is gross. It is sad.

Authentically skillful comedians do not have to have a "potty mouth." We try to teach young children to have more class than that. Comedians should be held to a higher standard.

Every child needs to be taught how to respect and how to respond to others. Debating each other's ideas is healthy. In contrast, cutting personal attacks are not acceptable. Authentic and respectful "roasting" can be clever and truly humorous. However, degrading others is not "roasting." It is mean. Joan Rivers – along with several other comedians – never learned the difference. The fact that they got by with it, and were paid millions of dollars to do it, does not justify it.

Going on radio with Howard Stern – pathetic and tragic in his own right – to discuss her extramarital affairs while married to Edgar Rosenberg is not classy. That is sleazy and cheap.

Humor that exploits and degrades sex only demonstrates that the comedian either lacks the skill required for that profession, is too lazy to develop routines that are appropriate or they simply desire fame more than they desire decency. Joan did not lack skill. She was not lazy. I am left to assume that the cheap short cut to fame was just too attractive to her.

So the so-called "experts" are on all the TV shows talking about Rivers. One has been married five times. Another is so vile, his humor cannot be aired. Another champions immorality. They lift up Rivers' "talent." Yes, she was talented, but I say she abused it. And many were harmed by it.

I will be in the minority. The moral baseline has been moved so low that many Christians will be applauding her "contributions to life." But that only shows the depth of their lack of the understanding of the holiness of God, before whom every one of us will stand someday. Once we face him, being the snide host of "Fashion Police" on E! – or for that matter, any of the hidden sins in our lives – will not be "funny." It will be serious.

Allow me to close the way I began. I sincerely pray that in her final moments of consciousness, she became aware of sin and – as we all must – truly repented. And I do truly pray for her daughter and grandson in moments of loss and pain.

What about the rest of us? Let's not risk waiting until those unknowable final moments. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to repent. We don't want to "slide into" heaven with a deathbed repentance. We want to "walk out" a life of repentance that increasingly reflects the holiness of God.

Dr. Jim Garlow is the senior pastor at Skyline Church in San Diego, California, and is heard daily on over 800 radio outlets in his one-minute commentary, "The Garlow Perspective." Garlow came to national attention in 2008 for his leadership role in organizing religious groups to support California Proposition 8, which codified marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He has done more than 900 radio, TV and print interviews, national and local, covering a wide-range of historical, theological and political topics.