PREGNANT, UNWED SONGSTRESS MAKES MAGAZINE COVER.
I was standing in the checkout line yesterday at my local supermarket when I saw a very nude, very pregnant Jessica Simpson staring at me from the cover of the April issue of Elle magazine.
She should be ashamed of herself.
The 31-year-old songstress, actress and fashion designer is celebrating her impending motherhood for the whole world to see. But it is no cause for celebration when a baby is born out of wedlock – even to a rich and famous mom like Simpson.
That’s not to suggest that Simpson should be punished with an Old Testament stoning (or be chastised according to Sharia law). And it’s absolutely not to suggest that the life of her soon-to-be-born baby daughter is anything but precious.
But Simpson knows, from her Southern Baptist upbringing, that it’s morally wrong to bring a baby into the world outside of marriage. Yet she is totally unrepentant, as evidenced by her all-too-brazen cover shoot.
The former gospel singer may tell herself that the fact she is engaged – reportedly – to her baby’s daddy makes her unwed motherhood okay. She may think that the fact she didn’t abort her pre-born child makes her a GCB – Good Christian Baby-maker.
Well, maybe so in the view of those who worship at the altar of moral relativism, but not in the eyes of her Creator. His word says, “Marriage is honorable among all…but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”
Simpson needs to acknowledge that, like it or not, she is a role model.
Millions of young women first fell in love with her when she co-starred with then-husband Nick Lachey on “Newlyweds,” an MTV reality show. They downloaded Simpson’s three gold and two multi-platinum albums on their Ipods. They bought her hair and beauty products, her shoes and handbags. They look up to her.
And at least some of Simpson’s girl fans will think that, if Jessica can proudly drop a baby out of wedlock, they, too, can make such a lifestyle choice.
Simpson will protest that she is not a role model; that she has never encouraged her impressionable fans to emulate her. But the once-wholesome Christian girl next door is no doubt familiar with the scripture that advises: “For everyone to whom much is given, from him (or her) much will be required.”
That’s not to condemn mom-to-be Simpson, but to pray that she has a moment of conviction. To hope that she recognizes how unseemly it is for her to so brazenly celebrate her unwed motherhood.
