Here are what I think are some basic
biblical guidelines to help us think about what gestures may be appropriate when it
comes to watching movies.
First, Paul says,
For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the
gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. -
The foundation of Christianity is not about doing the
right things to earn our way to God. There is nothing we can do to earn our way
to God. Watching all the “right” movies and condemning all of the “wrong” ones
does not put you at a better place with God. You cannot earn your salvation.
Jesus Christ died on a cross because you and me and everyone in here deserves
punishment, deserves to die, and deserves eternal death. But Jesus died in our place and
God brought him back to life and he will also bring us back to life if we put our
faith in him. Being a Christian is not about being good, it is about putting
our trust in the only person who has ever been ultimately good and that is
Jesus Christ.
When we think about what movies we watch, we know have freedom in
Christ. Because of his death and resurrection and because we have put our
faith in him, we do not have to worry about condemnation. God is with us. God
is for us.
“All things are lawful
for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but
I will not be dominated by anything” - 1 Corinthians 12:6
We can go out and
watch any movie we want. Our eternal destiny is secure. God loves us no matter
what. But Paul is saying here that it does not necessarily mean everything is good for
us. We can go indulge in whatever we choose, but that does not mean that the
things that aren’t of God wont do their best to control us.
I remember
I was talking a student leader about a superhero movie that just came out. I
went to see it and I was dumb about it. I didn’t do my usual background checks on
the movie and it was filled to the rim with sex and violence. Although it did
have some interesting philosophical elements, it was just way over the top. So
I told this student that he probably didn’t want to see this movie because it as all of this
stuff in it. But his response to me was, “I
have to experience this for myself.”
And I think
its funny. When it comes to drugs, or murder, or suicide, our response is, “No,
I’m not going to do that.” But when it comes to movies, I feel a lot of us say,
“I’ll have to experience this for myself or judge for myself.” And there is a
disconnect. We indulge ourselves on things not beneficial to us and when we do,
those things start to dominate us.
Jesus himself said,
"The eye is
the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full
of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" -
I remember in High school, we would get together and
watch these violet films. And sometimes we would bring some high school
freshmen to watch some films with us and the violence would be too much for
them. And we would talk amongst ourselves, “Oh we shouldn’t have done that. They
aren’t as mature as we are. We should look out for them more.” Now that I look
back, when did becoming numb to violence become a strength? When did becoming
numb to vulgarity and sexual exploitation become a sign of maturity? I think
the most oxymoronic idea is that movies and video games that are hypersexual or
ultraviolent are rated M for mature. Is it the real “mature” people in the
world who go and watch these films?
The eye is the lamp of the body.
What the eye sees either lights up the body or fills it with darkness. What you
watch makes a difference. Whatever you gaze your eyes on has an impact. What
you are watching is what you are filling your heart with. It is what is what you are filling your life and your soul with. They say that theaverage 30 year-old has consumed 35,000 hours of audio-visual narrative. All of
that stuff goes in you. What you consume makes a difference. It changes who you
are.
When I was
a teenager, I remember watching an X-men cartoon and they were fighting
Apocalypse who was the epitome of all evil. And Beast, the smartest of the
mutants, made a philosophical comment that they could only contain Apocalypse and
not destroy him because the world would always need a balance of good and evil.
And I didn’t think anything of it until I was at Youth group the following week
and we were talking about evil and I said something like, “But there always
needs to be balance of good and evil.” My youth leader was wise enough to say,
“No, there doesn’t.” Then it occurred to me that my brain was hacked. Media
makes a difference. It changes how we perceive life and how we engage life.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and
acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:2
Finally,
beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever
is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these
things. -
Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -
What we put in our minds matters.
What we indulge in makes a difference. What movies we watch changes who we are
and how we see the world. When we choose to condemn, critique, or consume
cinema, we must keep this in mind.
But there is the other side of the
coin. It is no surprise that Christians are often criticized for being out of
touch. As we have stated, film is a cultural phenomena that impacts much of our
daily life. Karl Barth once said, “Take your Bible and your newspaper and read
both, but interpret the newspaper with the Bible.” While we should continue to engage
the news as the objective reality of our time, we should also engage film as
the subjective reality of our time. Approaching film with a complete posture of
condemnation is clearly not an option.
Paul has stated,
I
have become all things to all people in order that I may save some.-
If we live in a culture of
cinemaphiles maybe we need to become cinemaphile’s ourselves. We can get to
know what movies people are watching and what that says about what they
believe and how they see the world. While Paul was in Athens, he first took
notice of the things the Athenians thought were important to them and he used
that as a starting point to engage with them what he believed. Gareth Higgins says that one
pastor he knows has 90% of the spiritual conversations start by talking about movies.
Our movie going can transform how we engage the world around us.
But I say this with a disclaimer.
We do not need to see the Wolf on Wall Street to understand systemic greed or
see the latest horror movie to have relevant conversation with our friends.
Your friends don’t need you to be like everyone else they have in their lives.
If you are a Christian, they need you to be first a Christian. They need you to
love them with a sacrificial, unconditional love. If you love them well, they
wont care what movies you have seen. If you love them well, you will be
relevant to their lives.
But some film is good for
consumption as well. Film is a
incredible art form that helps us better understand our past. It helps us
understand the soul of human nature. It helps us understand the culture we live
in. It helps us see the tragedy in the world. But even as we consume watching
movies it comes with a price. For example, Higgins also says, “Watching a
movie about poverty and doing nothing is like a pre-revolutionary French king
being read biblical passages of justice while the poor were dying at his
gates.” As we consume film and learn about the realities of this world, we must
respond to the injustices in our day. If we see a film about human trafficking,
war, greed, poverty, we must respond. We must be the church and make an impact
in the world around us.
Now that we have some biblical
roots to help us choose what gestures of condemning, critiquing, and consuming
film, I will share a little about what I do. Its pretty simple actually. Usually
I wait until a film comes out and I check rottentomatoes.com to see how most
people have reviewed the film over all. If the movie was poorly made I won’t
waste my time or money with it. If the film looks good I will check a website
like kidsinmind.com. Kidsinmind.com will break down for me how much violence,
sexuality, and vulgarity is in a film. If I see the film is rated much more
graphic than I desire, I skip the film. And sometimes I change my gesture based
on some other circumstances, but that’s generally how I roll.
