American Idol: How Kris Allen Won

No, I am not going to use some scientific method to explain to you how Kris Allen won over the popular Adam Lambert. This is merely my opinion based on my observation of Season 8 of American Idol. Just for the record, I did happen to favor Kris Allen. “How can you not favor Adam? He was so good at everything he did!”. In the words of Scott Smith from Air 1, “Adam screams to much”. Those of you who know me know that I happen to like a little wild and loud music (much of what is played on Radio U). But, there comes a time when the loud, screaming, ear piercing music does not need to be played (there is a time and place for it, but not always). Adam gave me the impression that he couldn’t do anything else. Here in America, those loud, screaming bands are not exactly the best sellers. Since the title of the show is AMERICAN Idol, it would only make sense that the winner would reflect what the majority of America would want to listen to. I’m going to break down my thoughts on why Kris won.

Talent

I am not saying that Adam is not talented. His performance with Kiss was very good. That is his style of music and that is great. When it comes down to it, I see Adam as more of a performer rather than an artist (much like Taylor Hicks who NEVER should have won his season). Kris Allen in contrast, is a true artist. Not only can he sing, but he has other talents as well such as playing the guitar and piano. He is someone I can see most of America listening to in their cars or on their iPods (including my own). While Kris my have had a bad night here and there, he was over all consistent and never really tried to be bigger than he was. He was consistently himself every week. Adam tried to be a plethora of characters and I don’t believe we ever really saw him (with the exception of that really creepy version of Burning Ring Of Fire).

The Votes

This morning, it is becoming known that Kris won by a lot. Many thought it would have been closer. Here is my theory as to why it was not.

By the time we had found out who the final 3 were, Adam’s fate was already set. Danny Gokey and Kris Allen are very similar in style. Whenever a contestant is eliminated, the displaced voters do one of two things: They either stop watching the show (which is minimal) or they put their votes behind another contestant. Since Danny and Kris were very similar in both appearance, voice, and style, it is only natural that if either one was eliminated, then his voters would back the other. By the time we got to the top 3, Adam had already had the amount of voters he was going to get. Once Danny was eliminated, it could be assumed that Kris was going to win. Those voters who voted for Danny and stuck around to vote again would most likely put their support behind Kris.

Divine Intervention

OK, before you click to something else, let me explain.

There are two aspects to this. If you watched the Season Finale, both Kris and Adam were given brand new cars. Kris mentioned that he needed a new car. Wouldn’t it be great if God used this whole American Idol experience just to answer Kris’ prayer about needing a car? He didn’t even need to win the competition and he would have received the vehicle! To me, that is an awesome example of how God can work to answer prayers. But I think it goes further.

One episode, Simon Cowell commented about how humble Kris was. And, if you look back on the season, you will see someone who wasn’t really sure of his place in the competition. Yet, week after week he managed to stay in the game. I may be crossing the line in my next few sentences, but I’m going to say it anyway. The winner of American Idol has a tremendous influence on the masses. Wouldn’t it be great if God wanted someone strong in their faith to win so that he could win souls? Kris has mentioned that he wants to play Christian music and use his gifts for God. As if being a worship leader isn’t enough. And just think, if all he ever did was return to leading worship, the amount of people that would flock to the church just because of him may expose the gospel to those who would have probably not heard it otherwise.

Kris mentioned how Adam deserved to win. Even at the point where he could have jumped for joy and reveled in his victory, he was still humble enough to say it could have gone the other way. 1 Peter 5:6 says: “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.” His humbleness alone is a testimony of his faith. Look what God did as a result of it? He “lifted him up in honor”.

Closing Thoughts

Whatever you think of the show, it is true that those who win have a huge influence on many–especially youth. I understand the reasons that Christians have for avoiding the show. The term “Idol” makes people uncomfortable. When someone like Kris Allen comes along though, you can’t help but see how God can turn something meant to create “idols” among ourselves into something that will bring glory to Him.

Granted, it remains to be seen if Kris’ new found fame will take him astray but as Christians, we should all pray that this experience will expose others to who God is. My belief is that Kris Allen will be able to influence many for the kingdom of God.

I welcome your comments.

Economic Lessons From Joash

I’m sure many of you have found all the economic news a little disconcerting. I see it as a natural result of all the greed and self-indulgence that has plagued America for so long (and has yet to end). Instead of holding people accountable for their frivolous spending habits and teaching them to be better stewards of their money, we see a government that introduces stimulus plans designed to encourage more spending. I must have missed something. Isn’t that the problem? We spend to much because we over indulge ourselves in things that can’t truly make us happy. Then, we have this shocked look on our faces when we find out that greedy CEO’s have been using the money to benefit…well…themselves. This might sound rather childish but, “DUH!”.

Our president while probably full of good intentions, also is rather solemn and shocked that it would happen like that. Again, I am not.  But, our  Government continues to bail out this corporations anyway. And why? Why do they keep giving people money who obviously can’t use it correctly? We should take the money out of the hands of politicians, CEO’s and Corporate Boards and give it to those who will use it wisely. How can I tie this in Biblically? Well, let’s take a look.

In 2 Kings 12, we see King Joash dealing with trying to repair the Temple. I’m not going to quote the whole book, but you can read it for yourself in your Bible or read it here  (the link will open a new window). What we see is that Joash allocates funds to be given to the priests to repair the Temple. After some time, the Temple was not repaired. So, Joash took the Priests off the project. In a sense, he fired the priests and gave the money to those who did not require an account of how the funds were spent because they were honest. He took all the money away from the priest except the minimum required by God.

How great it would be if we took all the “excess funds” away from all the greedy corporate tycoons until things were fixed. Our self-indulgent and selfish society needs to return to God and see that if we all would be better stewards with the things God has given us, we wouldn’t be in the position we are in as a nation.

Hope everyone is having a blessed weekend!

Facebook 2.3

Facebook sure put themselves in to some hot water lately. As a Facebook user, I was just as concerned about the issue as anyone. The problem came when the new Terms of Service at Facebook gave Facebook a license to use content as the please including producing derivative works of your content with no compensation to the poster. After a media backlash, Facebook of course retracted that part of their terms of service and has sent set up groups for users to voice their opinion on the proposed new policies. One little item that seems to be cause for concerns is section 2.3.

2.3 For content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos and videos), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of (“use”) any content you post on or in connection with Facebook. This license ends when you delete your content or your account.

There are a lot of problems here. Some frightening and more overt ones are the words “modify” and “distribute”. Now while the distribution in itself is not necessarily bad (as it gives Facebook the right to allow you to distribute content to your friends), it does not limit who and where the distribution can go. Modify is a horrific word to any content producer. This also does not list a limitation. Therefore, Facebook would have an unlimited license to edit and “modify” your content as they see fit. They would reserve the right “censor” the information on their site. There are many people, like me, who distribute their blog from a external source (like wordpress) and send it through their Facebook account. Is Facebook trying to claim that since I posted a copy of this on my Facebook account that now they own the whole blog?

Of course the worst phrase in this whole section is “create derivative works of”. So, if we continue to keep our Facebook accounts active, we have given them the right to publish and create movies, T.V. Shows and novels based on our information royalty free? Facebook better think twice before going through with that. Luckily, for now, we the users have been given a chance to voice our opinion. Hopefully section 2.3 will be revised, or, better yet, rescinded so as we can keep our work truly our work. 

If you worked hard on something, would you want someone else claiming it as your own? I didn’t think so! Even God warns us about claiming things that are His work as our own, but I digress.