Posted on 02/17/2015 6:45:20 AM PST by Faith Presses On
Christians across the country are expressing concern as Focus on the Family’s “Plugged In” movie staff has released its review of the pornographic film “Fifty Shades of Grey”—especially that a critic at the professing Christian ministry watched the porn just to tell other Christians that they shouldn’t watch it.
Plugged In said that it received an email from a follower who asked them not to review the film, and thus penned an blog post about the matter to explain its decision to watch and critique the material. “Fifty Shades of Grey is, without question, one of the most ‘popular’ elements of popular entertainment right now—a movie at the center of conversation in countless break rooms and living rooms and even churches across the country,” wrote staff film critic Paul Asay.
(snip)
"[M]y prayer is that I can craft something that, while not necessarily revolutionary, will help all of us, myself included, think through the issues that swirl around the film,” Asay said. “I feel a sense of purpose here in that—a calling, if you will.” But some state that Asay’s justification is faulty, as Christians shouldn’t be viewing porn just to tell others not to watch it.
(Excerpt) Read more at christiannews.net ...
Maybe they should also eat some dog s*!t to warn us away from it, too.
I think FOTF should be saluted for having the guts to sit through that trash so they could comment on it knowledgeably. Maybe by some slight chance there’s something redeeming in it. I can’t imagine what, but unless someone of like mind reviewed it, I’d have to find that out for myself, at great risk to $10, two hours, and my soul.
Meh, it’s what is inside a person that corrupts them, not external things.
A taste for disgusting “external things” implies some interior corruption.
I’m not suggesting this about the reviewer. Few would pay attention to the review if the writer hadn’t seen the movie. Some readers who wouldn’t really care about the evil content may be put off by the fact that it is (according to most reviewers) a really, really lousy movie.
Good point. Swimming in a sewer would do you no harm because the filth is on the outside...
I don’t care one way or the other that they reviewed the movie.
But I don’t need their review, nor is it necessary to watch it myself, to know that it is not proper food for my soul.
And, sadly, that’s true for about 90% or more of what comes out of the teevee and movie industry.
I let Dave Barry watch it for me. His review, though necessarily crude, is extremely funny, and spot on.
I believe in Christian liberty and often disagree with the well-intentioned legalists all-too-common in Evangelical circles. That said, there’s no Christian imperative to roll around in the world’s rot simply so you can warn others they shouldn’t do the same.
It’s a tough call. Paul said idols are nothing, and the meat sold that had been offered to idols was therefore open to those who understood it was just meat. At the same time he warned about the weak consciences of those who’d just converted from idol worship, that they not be injured by freedom that wasn’t yet understood.
It’s a huge tension between knowledge and conscience. FoF has for years recognized the value of knowing the enemy. Years ago Dobson recommended looking at porn to know how dehumanizing it is. (No, I don’t have the link or remember the source, but I’m certain of the memory.)
Porn is so readily available on the internet that it’s almost of zero value to warn about a porn piece like 50 shades by reviewing it.
My guess is that it’s more helpful to carefully write another article on WHY porn is destructive.
Soooo..... FOTF decides to write a review on a movie that they personally saw with their own eyes - and.....not base their opinion on what others are saying? What am I missing here? When a leftist reporter denigrates a book or movie from the right and admits to not even reading/watching it before their review, how many of us scream “bias”? For me, when I read the words: “here’s my opinion but I did not read/see it” I almost always stop reading at that point. Because, it then truly is gossip....
Very well said.
So far, the Christians I know that have seen it have said the anti-hype is just that. They had not read the book and assumed it was probably more provocative, but found the movie overall to be a fairly descent love story.
I agree. It’s discernment.
If you cannot trust someone to walk through the lion’s den, then what point was there in trusting them inthe first place?
That’s a flawed comparison. Do you not think that the armor of God can protect one from spiritual dangers better than your skin and immune system can protect you from physical ones?
It’s sort of difficult to honestly review a movie without seeing it. That’s what the MSM does. 50 Shades sounds disgusting, but I wouldn’t know and I’ve no intention of checking for myself. I like the fact that someone checked out the movie whose beliefs mirror mine.
Some people say that they shouldn’t have watched it event o review it, I think that it is not the act of watching evil that makes someone evil, but the act of acting upon it.
It is the same sorta argument people were giving last week why they should take down the ISIS video of the mad they burned in a cage. It is a “see no evil” approach that leads people to be Naive about Evil itself.
One has to confront evil and walk away unscathed (ie lions den and daniel).
Snow & ice DID come & school is, yay!, cancelled. I replied, but it was eaten. I love all kinds of books: great literature, biographies, Jacqueline Suzanne (sp?) Lawrence Sanders (He was an amazing writer, a great writer.)& I enjoyed all 50 Shades books. They are certainly not Shakespeare, but the point of the trilogy is all about true love, commitment and redemption. If it is not your cup of tea, don’t read them.
I do get very nervous when grown people want or feel the need to keep other grown people away from anything. It is called censorship. As a liberal who now has many conservative views on certain issues I just do NOT understand any “conservative” who would justify censorship or want to keep someone from finding out on their own if something appeals to them or not. We are grown ups. End of story. (if for some reason my other post shows up, I apologize for the duplicate.)
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