This morning I was reading an interview with Jaci Velasquez over at CMCentral. Velasquez is a Christian singer/songwriter who has achieved quite a lot of success in the mainstream market, especially the Latin market. Not too long ago she decided, as so many musicians do, to expand her portfolio and give acting a try. Her movie debut was in a small film entitled “Chasing Papi.” I have not seem the movie, and judging by the reviews of it, that is a good thing. It seems it is just another forumulaic romantic comedy, little different from any of the other 10,000 romantic comedies that are sent our way every year.
Velasquez, as one would expect, took a fair bit of heat from Christians for acting in this film. After all, it was rated PG-13 due to the use of various profanities as well as some mild sexual content. I won’t get into the specifics, but suffice it to say that while there was no explicit sexual acts in the movie, such acts were presupposed (ie her character, as well as several others, had all had sexual relations with “Papi”) and each of these characters offered themselves to him during the film. Many Christians were upset that she would take such a role, and quite justifiably, I should think.
Back to the interview. In this interview Jaci was asked if she had any regrets about doing the film. Her reply was quite telling:
No regrets. I chalk everything up to a lesson learned. I feel like if I regret something then that means that I didn’t learn anything from it. And I learned a lot. I love acting. And this next time I’ll be more choosy with my roles, and think of what the repercussions are going to be. [laughs] You know, it’s like you live, you learn, and you grow up. I mean, looking back as a grown-up, a married girl, and knowing that I’m going to have kids one day, truthfully, would I have wanted my kids to see that, with their mom in it? Maybe not. But, once again, I chalk it up to a lesson learned and walk away. [laughs] But it’s not to say that I won’t do anymore acting cause I love acting. I just have to pick the right roles, and the roles that really suit me the best. I’m actually looking at a picture right now. It’s an independent film; it’s based on Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility.
I would love to see some Biblical support for her statement that “I feel like if I regret something then that means that I didn’t learn anything from it.” Regretfulness and learning are not mutually exclusive! I think the exact opposite is true, for when we regret something, turn to God and ask for forgiveness, we can learn so much! Instead she quickly excuses her sin (which she does not see as sin) as a learning experience and even laughs at it. I think it is wonderful that she has learned a lesson from this experience, but had she really been convicted that what she did was wrong, she could easily have said so. It seems her regret is based more on the fact that she turned off some of her fan base more than that she participated in something that was sinful.
To Jaci I would say this: what you did was wrong. You glorified sin and made light of things God has forbidden. But God is a gracious, forgiving God. When you regret what you did, turn to Him and ask for forgiveness, He will help you learn lessons about His grace, His forgiveness and His willingness to help you avoid committing similar sins in the future. He is more willing to forgive you than you were willing to sin in the first place. Turn to Him.
