Charlotte is a Harlot 2

This is a copy of an article that I sent to a faith-based publication. In researching some demographics, I was shocked to discover that Charlotte has a higher crime rate than either New York City or Las Vegas. In 1990 Charlotte had an even higher crime rate than Las Vegas.

I read much about what Charlotte has and what Charlotte is gaining.

I wonder what Charlotte is losing?

Fred Goepfert
Charlotte, NC

Charlotte is a Harlot 2
Fred Goepfert

Charlotte is a prostitute? How dare you say that!

Sadly, it's true.

WSOC-TV recently disclosed that Charlotte was second only to the “Sin City” of Las Vegas in the number of strip clubs and topless bars.

My reaction upon hearing this was that Charlotte, a good city, was in the process of going bad.

The unhappy truth is that Charlotte exceeded the “Sin City” of Las Vegas in most per-capita crime categories in 2002 (the last year reported). In 1990 the situation was even worse! The figures are from The US Department of Justice and the FBI.

Charlotte appears to be a not-so-good city which may or may not be getting better.

In Sperling's BestPlaces©listing of crime rates in the 100 largest cities in the US; Nassau-Suffolk NY was number 1, with the lowest crime rate; Tucson AZ was number 100, with the highest crime rate.

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill NC-SC showed up as a poor number 80. In contrast, New York NY was number 14.

Before you say, “Oh well, it's those folks in Gastonia and Rock Hill that are causing all the trouble,” let's take a look at some county by county figures which are shown as an index for all crimes reported per capita. The higher the index number is, the greater the amount of crimes.

New York County, NY (New York City) 48532

Mecklenburg County, NC (Charlotte) 51913

Pima County, AZ (Tucson) 67687

(Those who enjoy Myrtle Beach, SC might consider that it has the highest crime rate amongst mid-sized cities in the United States.)

But is Charlotte a harlot? Let's go to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The word “HARLOT” means “PROSTITUTE” which according to the dictionary means:

1 : to offer indiscriminately for sexual intercourse especially for money
2 : to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes : DEBASE < prostitute one's talents>

The first definition is clear; let's look more closely to the second definition.

“DEBASE” means:

1 : to lower in status, esteem, quality, or character

Synonyms for “Debase” are:

VITIATE: implies a destruction of purity, validity, or effectiveness by allowing entrance of a fault or defect

DEPRAVE: implies moral deterioration by evil thoughts or influences
CORRUPT: loss of soundness, purity, or integrity
DEBAUCH: implies a debasing through sensual indulgence
PERVERT: implies a twisting or distorting from what is natural or normal.

Charlotte seems to qualify as a harlot.

Strip/topless clubs can be said to DEPRAVE and DEBAUCH.

Civic priorities which place the construction of an arena with much luxury seating and pursuit of a NASCAR Hall of Fame while city schools are steadily deteriorating implies VITIATE and CORRUPT.

Charlotte is known as the “Queen City.” That originally meant she was named after a wife of a British king. It is coming to mean that she is a gathering place for homosexuals and Sodomites, which implies PERVERT.

There is a local organization which is composed of Christians representing at least five different churches. They are currently bearing witness to people attending one of Charlotte's newest and largest strip/topless clubs. In their weekly news bulletin they said:

You meet the nicest Christians at the strip club! How we find out that they are Christians is one of the believers in our midst asks them. Many, let me say it again, many respond affirmative... "I am a Christian. Yes, I love Jesus. Jesus sees nothing wrong with me looking at naked bodies....Rick's is the nicest strip club in Charlotte. You should go to the others and protest them." Time and time again we heard comments like these!

What's wrong with this picture? The owner is a Christian, a deacon, a choir member...many of the patrons claim to be Christians. Most are really fairly nice and engaging! Many come from Christian backgrounds and upbringing.

There is a saying that one of Satan's greatest victories is convincing people he doesn't exist. There is a term in physics called ENTROPY. In the dictionary, the first definition is scientific, however the second definition states:

Main Entry: en-tro-py

2 a : the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity
b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder

How Satan loves entropy! It is his goal.

If Satan represents disorder, certainly God represents order, for He created it.

Amongst Satan's tools to destroy God's order is deception and lies. Satan is the father of all lies. Other tools are the love of money and material things of the world, and of course, fleshy things.

Jesus was quite clear about money and material things. He said in Matthew 6:24:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Mammon refers to material wealth or possessions. The “or” that Jesus used is, in logic, an exclusive "or.” It means that there can be only one thing or the other; there can be no overlapping between the two.

Overlapping is what many Christians try to do. An owner of the largest strip/topless club in Charlotte is overlapping and so are his Christian patrons.

The owner says he is a Deacon and sings in the choir at Calvary, one of Charlotte's largest churches. He feels that there are two paths he can tread upon at the same time; the promotion of flesh for the love of money and being a deacon and singing in the choir for the love of God.

The patrons see spending money to satisfy their lustful appetites to see flesh, and attending church as two things which can be practiced together without harm.

Where is the harm?
It is buried in the crime figures.

The Romans, after Jesus, had chariot races and public persecutions of Christians.

Charlotte has auto races. What will it go on to?

Too many Christians follow Jesus staying safely behind the brick and mortar walls of their churches. They do not testify at work or in public.

The latter is the Great Commission that Jesus gave us all.

There is no shame in not being a “perfect” Christian.
There was and can be only one, and that is Jesus.

We are human. We cannot strive to be sin-less, but we can strive to sin less.

The task at hand is not to save Charlotte from becoming a harlot, for she already is.

The task is to save Charlotte for Jesus.