I am very sure that you are tired of hearing people talk about Miley Cyrus. In the aftermath of the VMAs (the MTV Video Music Awards, a live performance in which Miley twerked on Robin Thicke (for the definition of twerking, please resort to your local Google machine (or not)), there was an outpouring of public response, both Christian and non-Christian. The Christian responses were comprised mainly of tender claims of tears on Miley’s behalf, praying that she find her true self and cast off her sinful ways. Her “true self,” they claim, can only be found in her eventual salvation. Blogger Rihanna Teixeira penned “A Letter to Miley Cyrus” that went viral soon after the VMAs. Teixeira felt “sad” for Miley, expressing concern for her continuing rebellion and encouraging her, “I know that there is something deeper in that little heart of yours and that’s what the world wants to see.” The prevailing sentiment in Christian reactions has been the poor Miley clearly has no idea what she is doing, she is not being true to herself, and some kind of dark outside force is pressuring her to do the things that she is doing.
But, according to Miley, she has never been more herself than she is now. In interviews surrounding the release of her upcoming album, Miley has stated numerous times that she finally feels able to express herself artistically. She told Billboard Magazine, “I want to start as a new artist… I actually found out more about who I am by making this music.” Like it or not, Miley is not being anything but herself. It is surprisingly hard news to conceptualize for many. Miley used to be so innocent and no one can believe that she really turned out this way. Christians in particular want to believe that if she came to follow Jesus, she would become a different person.
When Saul became Paul, he was in the midst of a Christian-slaying rampage. He was angry, passionate, and stubborn. Christians everywhere had heard of his rage and spoke the name Saul with fear. He was a dangerous person and I am sure they all wished that his craze would cease. He was quite literally on the warpath when he was stopped in his tracks and spoken to by Jesus, and came to follow Christ. Thus he became the Paul that we know: prolific, articulate, confident, and, yes, angry, passionate, and stubborn. Paul, in essence, did not change. He stopped killing Christians. But he himself did not change.
Miley Cyrus does not need to be saved. That is, no more than anyone else. Her actions may be grandiose, but her motives are no more so than any other average human being. Saul did not need to be saved any more than anyone else either. Saul was and Miley is on the same level of metaphysical priority as every other soul. And I think it is safe to say that if Miley were to start following Jesus tomorrow, she would not change. She would stop twerking, and posing nude, and singing about drugs, but she herself would not change. Her personality would remain very much the same.
We were created with unique personalities. The same characteristics that made Saul a great persecutor also made Paul a great evangelizer. He believed in himself. He had strong convictions. He was convincing and powerful and a hard worker. Those character traits were an intrinsic part of his self and his personality, and after he began following Jesus, those same traits that caused him to voraciously hunt Christians then caused him to be one of the greatest Christians in history, and the writer of a hefty chunk of the texts on which we base our faith.
Miley’s empire spreads far and wide. Starting with Hannah Montana and continuing on through Party in the USA, her haircut, twerking, the VMAs, and Wrecking Ball, she has been one of the most talked-about celebrities in history. Her personality is a large part of what has made that possible. She is a workaholic; she told Sunday People, “I work so much, I’m always on the road so I eat healthily. I have to give my body what it needs to keep going.” She’s passionate about what she does. “I have just put this music first,” she told Billboard Magazine, and to MTV News, “I have had to fight for what I want on this record.” Hard working, passionate, ambitious, prolific—Miley’s personality is something to be valued and not overlooked. It is thoughtless to assume that everything Miley has strived for and thrown her energy into is but a façade and some kind of leftover scrap of teenage rebellion. Yes, her actions are irresponsible and often in poor taste. Saul’s actions could have been described as irresponsible (if slaughtering human beings can be described so lightly), but no one would ever doubt that he was doing them intentionally and of his own volition.
It is a fine distinction between thinking of being saved as a transformation and thinking of it as a repurposing, but it is an important distinction. Talking about coming to Christ as being completely changed devalues the strengths and passions that we were born with and probably sounds, to those who are hearing the message of salvation for the first time, as if we must give up being ourselves in order to know Christ. Salvation is not an erasure of the self. Salvation is an acknowledgement of self-worth, and a strengthening of the natural personalities and gifts that God blessed us with in a way that brings glory to God.