Wednesday, October 17, 2007

What does God think about Hells Kitchen?

Have you seen this new show Hell’s Kitchen? How about the spin-off Kitchen Nightmares? They both feature famed chef Gordon Ramsay. This foul-mouthed, purveyor of fine dining spends time on these nationally syndicated shows demonstrating better ways to prepare meals.

Gordon has a trademark style that keeps his contestants and guests on their toes. His confidence in his trade gives him the poise to belittle the sub par offerings of those around him. I am not at all sure if there is anyone in the cooking world that could go head to head with him without breaking a sweat.

So, what does God think about this arrogant chef? What does He think about these edgy shows? Does He approve? Disapprove? Where does all this fall in the scheme of things?

Let’s look at three aspects of our hot-tempered chef and his shows. As I already mentioned, Chef Ramsay is arrogant. It should also be noted that he lives by his convictions. Finally,

Chef Ramsay is arrogant, lives by his convictions, and is painfully belittling to many of the people around him.

I think most people that consider themselves religious would immediately infer that God dislikes Mr. Ramsay (at best) and quite possibly believe that He hates him. This would of course be based on the arrogance thing. Proverbs says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, so how could God not oppose someone as arrogant as this?

On the other hand, how can you pass judgment on someone who stands by his convictions so passionately? Gordon consistently demonstrates that what he says he believes is how he acts, and he apparently holds himself to the same standards that he expects from others. Does this add any weight to the issue?

As a result of this unique cocktail of traits – arrogance, confidence, passion, conviction – he tends to belittle those around him. The brutality with which he inflicts these attacks can almost always guarantee a flinch among the audience at home. How can someone this cruel be anything other than appalling to God?

What does God think?

Anyone who spends anytime on this blog will soon learn that all questions regarding people will have a very similar response. The question of how God feels about any person can always be answered with, “He loves them”. Period. Whether the person in question is me, you or the most angry, vindictive person you know, the answer is always that He loves them. That being said, this would be an awfully boring blog, if every person that came under the gun so to speak was let off with a generic, “He loves them”. So what are God’s feelings on this one?

I believe that God is far more complex than we could ever comprehend. As such, His thoughts on anything would be impossible to catalog. However, I think it is safe to say that He loves the spunk and creativity of this powerful, passionate chef. The fact that people are improved by his rough nature probably brings a bit of a smile to the face of God. However, it is quite likely that he is disappointed with the way that the special skills and talents that He so generously gave this man are not being accredited to Him. Anytime we think that we are great on our own merit, we carve a distance between ourselves and the one who made us. I believe this makes Him sad.

Conclusion:

God loves Gordon Ramsay. He designed him and gave him some amazing gifts and talents. It is however sad that the relationship between God and His creation Gordon seems to be in disrepair.

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