From hero to zero

In a relatively short period of time Jimmy Saville, after decades in the limelight, being adored by his public has gone from hero to zero. What lessons, if any, can society learn with regards to hero worship?

There's an obvious cheap shot at Christians there.....

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Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer - Voltaire

No it is not. Why not keep it on topic instead of taking cheap shots?

Yes, it's an obvious cheap shot at Christians and Christianity; but one that needs to be taken.

The topic is hero worship. The cheap shot would be entirely on topic. You may not like it but that doesn't mean it's not true.

What lessons can we learn? Perhaps that hero worship is unhealthy. Clearly, despite appearances and lots of stories of good deeds etc your hero may turn out to be something other than what you believe them to be. You may well be worshiping a wrong'un.

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Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer - Voltaire

Considering the hero aspect: what do you do if your hero for Jesus gets found out as immoral, dishonest or a pervert?

I was a typical shy mama's boy Christian for the first few years, lacking in confidence and worried about looking the fool. Jimmy Savile was a hero to me; bigger than life, extrovert, witty and no mamma's boy for sure. Ran 200 marathons raised a huge amount of money for charities and a light for Christ in the largely non-Christian dance hall night life scene.

That's why he was everyone's hero - a light in the otherwise much less interesting world of DJs.

But what do you do when he falls?

It has been pointed out to me that witnesses to Jesus are only pointers and not the real thing. Christians often live abysmal lives, full of ignorance and superstition. Nice people become nice Christians. Antisocial people become antisocial Christians. And so on.

My pastor stated one Sunday morning that 'an once of mothering is worth a pound of pastoring'. I'm now convinced that was one of the biggest understatements ever made.


So the 'pointer theory' is that you can ignore what the sign is made out of, plywood perhaps, and follow it to the real Taj Mahal it points to. But is that a valid theory? Christians seem to have more problems than anyone else. What about the proof of the pudding is in the eating theory? Well the counter argument is that Christians have higher rates of every kind of problem because Satan attacks those who are doing the most good.

There are two sides to this:

What did Jimmy Savile do for Christ / Christianity

and What did Christ / Christianity do for Jimmy Savile?


Taking the first, I would not expect all those he persuaded to become Christians as a result of his good actions, to leave, so overall a plus.


The second is more complex. Jimmy would not have been such a hit across all generations if he hadn't been well known as a Christian. So he got the fame. But I'm going to be a bit simplistic now and just ask why CF has so many people in the recovery sections who never seem to get any better?

I'm not convinced by the Satan attacks those who are doing the most good theory. Everyone prays to bind Satan. The Lord's prayer says to deliver us from evil.

The metaphor is that those without the light stumble in the darkness.

If that metaphor is true then it is the Christians who need the help.

So, with the cheap shots taken and ignored, now an opportunity to get this thread back on track!

"In a relatively short period of time Jimmy Saville, after decades in the limelight, being adored by his public has gone from hero to zero. What lessons, if any, can society learn with regards to hero worship?"

Gary Glitter (Paul Raven) another fallen hero has come to the media's attention for the wrong reasons (again). Who else, who is alive today, or in recent decades, has gone from hero to zero and why? What lessons can be learned from worshipping mere human idols, who like Saville and Glitter may have lived double lives, often abusing innocents along the way?

You are claiming that becoming a hero is the key to his behaviour.


I claim that Jimmy Savile would have lived a 'double life' even if he hadn't been a hero.

I think the same is true of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and even some people not called Jimmy and a lot less famous occupying space in jails and nut houses.

Statistically there is a higher crime rate in the Bible belt of the US than the more agnostic areas, and that applies World Wide as well.

Again I would suggest looking at the Christian faith and identifying where the problem is as an alternative to ignoring it completely and just carrying on.