Site Seeks to Restore Stephen Baldwin to His Former Glory (for God’s Sake)

I have nothing against Stephen Baldwin, I really don’t. He’s sometimes called the least-talented Baldwin, but I’d give that title to Billy. Still, the idea behind this video is all kinds of crazy.

Apparently Stephen Baldwin has fallen on hard times financially, and has declared bankruptcy. He’s not alone. Celebrities from M.C. Hammer to Donald Trump have declared bankruptcy in the past. What sets Stephen Baldwin apart is that an online charity is soliciting donations to “restore” the actor, for the sake of the gospel. You have to visit the site to get the full effect of how odd and ill-conceived the entire plan seems to be. Stephen Baldwin himself is reportedly not directly involved. For his own sake, I sincerely hope that’s true. If close friends of his were involved in creating this appeal, Mr. Baldwin may want to consider finding new friends.

I’d like to copy a couple of things from the Q & A section followed by my observations.

Q- Why does Stephen need personal wealth?

A- Stephen’s influence is in Hollywood. Hollywood worships money and without it you are seen as a loser and cannot be an effective influence to this group.

And? Are we to “buy” spiritual influence with personal wealth? Some Christians are wealthy and some are not, but to seek wealth so that you won’t be seen as a “loser” is to be seriously misguided. And, really, if millions of dollars were to be donated to Stephen Baldwin – and that’s a sizable “if” – would that produce effective influence? Or would it be seen as evidence that a sucker is born every minute, and many of them are fans of Stephen Baldwin? Perhaps, instead, there is another way to look at the difficulties he now faces. This may be an opportunity for Mr. Baldwin to have his values transformed, to be freed from trying to satisfy a culture that worships money.

Q- How much money does he need?

A- From what I read in public court documents Stephen needs several million dollars to pay all of his creditors but he deserves hundreds of millions for his Job like faithfulness in the face of relentless loss and persecution.

I’d like to see the formula used to calculate just how much money Stephen Baldwin “deserves”. And could we see how that formula works for some other faithful Christians? What about Bible translators? Orphanage directors? Hospice workers? Military chaplains? Or perhaps it’s the “relentless loss and persecution” that entitles Mr. Baldwin to hundreds of millions of dollars. In which case, could someone at The Restoration of Stephen Baldwin please apply the formula to the Christians currently being persecuted in places like Iraq, China and Bangladesh? I was going to speculate on whether teaching Sunday School might at least entitle me to a $100 Borders gift card or something like that, but I don’t think I’ll go there. The Christian faith rests on the conviction that we don’t deserve any good thing from God. The blessings we receive are gifts of grace, and they are certainly not always monetary.

Particularly galling to many who’ve commented on the appeal is that over $1 million of Stephen Baldwin’s debt is in unpaid taxes. It’s hard to see failure to pay one’s taxes as resulting from persecution. Here’s part of Rod Dreher’s commentary at Beliefnet:

What kind of Christian-crackhead logic is it that says the faithful have a duty to give alms to make a failed spendthrift actor rich once again to advance the kingdom of God? Is going broke in part because you didn’t pay your taxes really a matter of spiritual warfare? Did the Devil make poor Stephen Baldwin not obey the law? The mind boggles, the stomach turns. The funny thing is, this stunt, which will get lots of coverage, will guarantee both a) that Hollywood people laugh even harder at Christian nitwittery, and b) that no matter how rich he should become through this online telethon, Stephen Baldwin will have no “influence” in Hollywood — none, zero, gesphincto — because he’d be seen as the honor-deficient bozo who didn’t pay his taxes and got bailed out anyway by credulous born-agains.