Posted on 01/06/2014 5:20:33 PM PST by ReformationFan
I grew up in a fundamentalist environment. The church I was baptized in believed it was inappropriate for Christians to go to a movie theater. To this day, my grandparents maintain this standard as a bulwark against worldliness.
The library at my Christian school had a variety of books for children, sanitized for Christian consumption. Encyclopedia Brown made the cut, but all the “goshes” and “gee whizzes” were marked out with a heavy black pen. No second-hand cursing allowed.
Films without anything objectionable were allowed at school, but looking back, I see how this analysis was applied simplistically. I still remember watching an old version of The Secret Garden - a movie with no cursing, thank goodness, but with a pseudo-pantheistic worldview that healing power is pulsating through all living things.
As a teenager, I discovered the work of Chuck Colson, Francis Schaeffer, and C. S. Lewis. These men had a different perspective on art and its merits. I began to see artistic analysis differently. I realized Disney movies weren’t safe just because they were “clean,” and PG-13 movies weren’t bad just because they had language or violence. It was possible to watch a movie with a critical eye for the underlying worldview.
I never subscribed to the fundamentalist vision that saw holiness in terms of cultural retreat or worldliness as anything that smacked of cultural engagement. I don’t subscribe to that position today.
But sometimes I wonder if evangelicals have swung the pendulum too far to the other side, to the point where all sorts of entertainment choices are validated in the name of cultural engagement.
Generally speaking, I enjoy the movie reviews I read in Christianity Today and World magazine. They go beyond counting cuss words or flagging objectionable content and offer substantive analysis of a movie’s overall message. But in recent years, I’ve begun to wonder if we’re more open than we should be to whatever Hollywood puts out.
Take, for example, Christianity Today’s recent review of The Wolf of Wall Street. Alyssa Wilkinson devotes nearly half of her review to the graphic depictions of immorality, yet still gives the film 3.5 stars out of 4. Another review counts 22 sex scenes, but can’t be sure since it’s hard to tell when one ends and another begins.
My question is this: at what point do we consider a film irredeemable, or at least unwatchable? At what point do we say it is wrong to participate in certain forms of entertainment?
I understand there are complexities to this issue. Some Christians disagreed with the praise showered on the recent Les Miserables film. I am among the number who thought Les Mis showcased the glory of redemption. It was a movie in which the sordid elements only served to accentuate the beauty of grace and the dehumanizing nature of sin.
Les Miserables is not unlike the accounts we read in our Bibles. Sexual immorality, rape, and violence are part and parcel of the Scriptural narrative. If a movie version of the book of Genesis were made, it wouldn’t be for minors. It seems silly to cross out cuss words from Encyclopedia Brown when first-graders can discover some pretty adult-themed events in their Adventure Bibles.
So, please don’t hear me advocating for a simplistic denunciation of Hollywood films. I am not. But I am concerned that many evangelicals may be expending more energy in avoiding the appearance of being “holier-than-thou” than we do in avoiding evil itself.
Yes, Paul used a popular poet of his day in order to make a point in his gospel presentation. Cultural engagement is important and necessary. But church history shows us that for every culture-engager there’s also a Gregory of Nyssa type who saw the entertainment mindset as decadent and deserving of judgment.
Is there justification for viewing gratuitous violence or sexual content?
At what point does our cultural engagement become just a sophisticated way of being worldly?
I find it hard to imagine the ancient Israelites admiring the artwork on the Asherah poles they were called to tear down. I find it hard to picture the early church fathers attending the games at the Roman coliseum, praising the artistic merits of the arena even as they provide caveats against violence.
Yet now in the 21st century, we are expected to find redeemable qualities in what would only be described by people throughout church history as “filth.”
What’s the point in decrying the exploitation of women in strip clubs and mourning the enslavement of men to pornography when we unashamedly watch films that exploit and enslave?
I do not claim to have this all figured out. But one thing I know: our pursuit of holiness must be the mark against which our pursuit of cultural engagement is measured.
If, like me, you’re conflicted about this issue, maybe it’s because we should be.
Oh yes had one of those moments with CBS 48 hours a few years back and that “news” program was a primetime program. My pre-teen son was doing homework in the kitchen and he could hear the TV in the living room. I was watching the news program before 48 hours, left the room with my wife and younger son to put him to bed. My older son came running in and told me that there was a pregnant “man” on TV. I looked at him with much skepticism and then went to watch what he was talking about. Well what was on TV was a woman who had some form of sex change and 48 hours was selling this as a man pregnant.
So needless to say I had to reassure my son it was really a woman pregnant mot a man and after that the questions became a bit more complex.
Did you ever see “Thank You For Smoking”? There’s a scene in it where TCM decides to use computer technology to replace cigarettes with candy canes. When the reporter ask if this is changing history, the TCM exec responds along the lines of “I think this is a ‘better’ history.” :?
Terrible that you and your son had to go through that. Then again, it was all part of their plan:
http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
Excellent scripture finds.
30s/40s/50s/60s movies? Gee whiz, what have you got against 1920s films?
(I say with tongue-in-cheek, having just watched the Helen Holmes railroad drama, “Webs of Steel” (1925) the other night).
Well said. Its a testimony to the degree of demonic possession of Hollywood that nudity, fornication, profanity are obligatory, and Christianity is so zealous against infringing Christian "liberty" that "modesty" now means a little less revealing than the world exhibits now.
Kinda like "conservative" Republicans who are like Democrats were 10 years ago.
***what have you got against 1920s films?***
I’ve got a few of them.
Do you have “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”?
Alas I don’t! I tried to record it on DVD but the DVD ran out before the end of the movie. Missing bout 15 minutes of the end of the movie.
I do have the later Glen Ford version which does not look anything like the silent version.
Excellent thread. One of the most edifying that I’ve read a in long time.
Well said.
ladyL said:
” So I would conclude if God delivered us from a long time recreational habit, when we didn’t even ask for it, I would say it’s probably something Believers should stay away from.”
ladyL, I must disagree with you on this point, although I appreciate your devotion and desire to follow the Spirits leading.
To suggest that ALL believers should follow you and your husbands decision is quite presumptuous. The Lord works in His people in different ways. He also communicates with His children in various ways.
redleghunter explain it well when he said, “It is oh too easy for one young in the faith to excuse themselves for being worldly and too easy for one mature in faith to lean towards the study room and cloister oneself.”
If we were to excuse ourselves from the worldly ways, Paul would never have ministered to the Romans on their ground, so to speak.
One of the main reasons our society is at a moral/spiritual crossroads today is as a result of the church and it’s failure to engage the culture on its turf. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that we sin in order to evangelize and share the Gospel. Jesus Christ and the Apostles traveled and shared that Gospel and ministered to the Gentiles and Jews alike without sinning.
Music and film are some of the most affective means of communication and propaganda today. Christians can and should use these tools just as non-Christians do in order to produce that which is beautiful and true. Lest we fail to remember, ALL things beautiful and true come from God. Whether we are producing a film with an evangelical message, or a project which features redemption in the midst of betrayal, pain, and sorrow, it still brings glory to the Lord because there is NO true redemption without Christ.
Our eldest is studying to be a filmmaker. It is his hearts desire to produce quality, edifying, redeeming stories which is lacking in the film industry today. We are also a family of musicians. Some of us have worked in the professional music industry for decades. These two industries are in desperate need of Christians who can share Christs love in places which are devoid of love, mercy, and grace.
ladyL, should my son abandon his dream because you and your husband have no desire to support Hollywood? Should we, and Christian musicians; bestowed with God-given talents, abandon the industry because some of our brothers and sisters in Christ felt led to refrain from supporting these industries? The answer lies with this final anecdote which was told to us recently.
A couple of Saturdays ago we met a man in a music store. We had traveled out of state on a little shopping trip. We discovered that this man actually lives in the area we’re from. He happened to be traveling out of state as well. This gentleman is also a fellow Christian. Our youngest actually worked with him at a soup kitchen. Also my very own spouse actually talked with this man over the phone, but they had never met. They had talked about playing music together because the gentleman is a musician. What are the odds of us meeting at that music store on that day?! With Christ, all things are possible.
During our conversation he (lets just call him Steve), told us about his drummers unexpected death recently. Steve told us that the drummer wasn’t a Christian, but accepted Christ shortly before his death. Steve commented, “I guess that’s why I played in the band with him.”
In other words, Steve was part of this non-Christian band so that he could evangelize to the drummer before he died. I had to fight back tears in that music store after Steve shared with us that touching story.
ladyL, I deeply appreciate your commitment to serve our Lord, and your desire to be faithful. I don’t wish for you to misunderstand where it is that I’m coming from.
We need to engage society, but we must use discernment and wisdom, and be in constant fellowship with the church body, as well as our spiritual leaders for support, guidance, accountability, and encouragement. Keep running the race.
I am a Christian who does watch movies. I am not setting myself as an example to follow. If a person completely avoids Hollywood entertainment I don’t think much would be missed.
The standards I apply are probably not as high as they should be, but I do avoid movies that depict immorality graphically and are filled with cursing, especially blasphemy. The degree to which these things are present is proportionate to the delay before I will consider watching them. So I may watch Les Miserables on video (haven’t seen it yet) where I can fast forward through anything I don’t want to watch, but will avoid paying a premium to see it in the theater. Some movies I will not pay for directly even on video but might watch otherwise.
In spite of this I still often feel like I am trying to find a gourmet meal in a dumpster. It’s like dumpster diving for entertainment rather than food.
The Bible describes the corrupting influence of Sodom on the righteous man, Lot, through his seeing and hearing. I think many believers tend to underestimate the damaging influence of exposing ourselves to evil on T.V. and in movies.
That being said, your experience is a testimony to fruit that is the outcome of a growing relationship with the Lord. There is a dangerous tendency to try to make the Christian walk into a list of rules. Attempts to outwardly conform to a list of rules will fail or result in a hypocritical life unless it is an outgrowth of the inward reality of our walk with Christ. It may be that other believers will only reach the place where you are by walking the same path to get there.
Perhaps it would be better if believers spent more of their time making films, music, art, video games, literature, etc. rather than consuming them.
bump
I truly did not mean to be presumptuous but in re reading my post it does come off that way, doesn’t it? Living in Nashville, being part of both the music and religious communities for years, my husband and I decided to get out of the religion business. Saw too much, said too much and grieved Abba’s heart too much. I now leave every man’s relationship with Yahweh to his own private walk. Most definitely, what the Father has shown us about the Kingdom of the world is what we personally must walk in or out of. Everyone will stand alone, one on one for their placement in eternity...may you hear the words, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
RE: “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” 1921 Valentino version
Youtube single file in MP4 format, approximately 333 MB at standard quality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7I_ltX6-ZY
==
Archive.org has several video formats — Ogg, WMV, MPEG4, and the film is broken into 5 files:
https://archive.org/details/The_Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse
If you are familiar with torrents, the torrent allows you to choose which formats and which sections to download.
Case in point is the wonderful mini-series on History channel "The Bible." The Irish-English couple Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are Christians and when interviewed you can just see their love for the Lord. I have seen them in hostile interviews making the secular host look like a cad because they expressed their love for Christ and the Bible.
As I mentioned up thread, the couple slightly modified the mini series in a feature movie called Son of God which will be in theatres before Passover and Resurrection Day.
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