AgapePress has an article reviewing two recent movies targetting teenagers (My Super Ex-Girlfriend and John Tucker Must Die) in light of their moral content. I wonder just how many of us today possess not just the ability but also the desire to flee from youthful lusts and to put that which is childish behind us once we reach adulthood. I know I certainly have room to grow, specifically in my perpetual enjoyment of cartoons, not just new ones but also those from my childhood (Transformers: The Movie from the 80s is still my favorite movie ever).
I know there are some Christian teachers who advocate a complete separation from the entertainment of the world.
Others teach against going to the theater to watch a movie but will watch the same movie when it comes on television. (A problem with this view is that typically it isn’t the language or the nudity that is the main problem of the movie–it is the lifestyles or philosophies encouraged by the movie which poses the bigger danger.)
Still others, quite like myself actually, watch television, own supersized movie collections, go to the theater, and rent movies.
What should be a Christian’s reaction to the moral content of entertainment (including movies, music, and television)? I’ll even add literature to the list as well. What would have to happen during the storyline to get you to walk out of a theater or to turn the channel or to put the book down? Is there anything nowadays that would?
Paul gave a warning that I can’t help but think is relevant to this discussion:
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8, NKJV
Are we letting entertainment determine how we live, dress, think, act, and respond? Are the baser values portrayed in entertainment the height or measure of our own morality?
Or do we take to heart what Paul admonished the Romans to do:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformeed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:12, NKJV
Very good Rick. Hopefully Christians will start thinking a bit more. The immorality shown on film, in books and just in life is overwhelming, and each Christian needs to individually get to God’s word to see what it says, so that they can say as the psalmist
“Ps 119:5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!” (esv)
Ec 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
PS. With that said, I too enjoy my cartoons (probably will never grow out of that). Me and the Real Ghostbusters go way back. :)
Well, that explains your unending curiosity of the supernatural. (Mine too, actually!)