Movies are everywhere in our culture and as Christians, we are forced
to consider how we should react to their presence and influence. We can
abandon movies entirely, we can watch any and every movie possible, or
we can steer a middle course between these two extremes. In this article,
I don’t have a list of rules that I want to offer for what sorts
of movies Christians should or should not be watching; instead, I want
to offer a general assumption about our attitude toward movies and then
two possible ways to apply this principle.
I want to begin with a few background assumptions. As Christians, we
should not think about movies in the way that the world thinks about
movies. We need to strive to have God’s perspective on this issue.
I once heard a sermon by Pastor Tim Keller on Christians and politics,
and if my memory serves me, he said, “I can’t tell you that
if you become a Christian your political beliefs will move to the right
or to the left, but I can tell you that your political beliefs will
change because you are a Christian.” I would apply this same truth
to the area of movie-watching: I cannot tell you what your practice
should be, but I can tell you that it will be different because you
are a Christian. We should evaluate our thinking about movies according
to the words of the Bible and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We should consider words of Scripture such as Romans 12, which says,
“do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will
of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” and Psalm 101:3,
“I will set before my eye no vile thing.”
In addition to Scripture, I accept the idea put forward by many Christians
today that deciding what movies we should or should not watch is a “wisdom
issue”: an issue where we have some freedom as Christians to decide
personally what it would be okay to watch. As Romans 14:5 says, “[e]ach
one should be fully convinced in his own mind” that what we are
doing is right, because there are some “disputable matters”
where opposing actions can both be done in obedience to God. But as
Paul writes “‘Everything is permissible for me,’—but
not everything is beneficial” (1 Cor. 6:12). Some of us are tempted
by one thing, while others are tempted by another. Additional circumstances
such as age, gender, and time in life will shape our choices about movies.
I agree with this principle, but it begs the question: how do we get
this wisdom? Wisdom in the Christian life means not accepting our natural
impulses without question. Wisdom comes from God’s Spirit: “If
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God” (James 1:5). If we are
going to base our movie-watching decisions on individual choices of
wisdom, we need to be praying to God and asking him for this wisdom.
But how often do we really pray before watching a movie? Christians
are called to step back and reflect on the world around us, and to think
differently about everything in this world, including movies. I offer
two pieces of advice that might change the way we approach movie-watching.
First Piece of Advice: Stay grounded in reality. One reason that many
Christians argue that we should watch movies is so that we can be a
part of our culture and interact with it in a meaningful way. In the
common phrase “we are to be in the world but not of it.”
I agree that we should be “in the world,” but I would stipulate
that God is calling us to be in the real world, not the world of movie
directors in which the harsh truth of pain, guilt, sin, judgment, and
death are suspended, perverted, or ignored. If we live too much in the
world built on fiction, we can lose our perspective and begin to believe
in lies about sin and its consequences. For this reason, I think that
we should show moderation in our movie-watching, and, rather than watching
more movies to be “in the world,” I think we should make
a concerted effort to be actively involved in the actual world.
For example, I am often tempted to watch and revel in romantic comedies,
where casual sex and godless relationships are often glorified and where
things turn out right for lovers who behave in sinful and unloving ways.
I need to check my idealization of these relationships with a good dose
of reality: what about the people that I actually know who have behaved
immorally in some way? Are they untroubled or unaffected by it? To know
the answers to these questions, I have to know real people and I have
to know them intimately so that I can be aware of what is really going
on in their lives. If we are attracted to some kind of glamorous sin
depicted in movies, we should give ourselves a reality check. Go and
be among the people who actually engage in those things and get to know
them. Instead of watching Pretty Woman, consider doing ministry with
actual prostitutes and see what they say about their lives. This suggestion
may sound silly, but it gives one a sense of what I mean when I say
“be involved in the real world.” I know movies are fun and
they give us stuff to talk about with our friends, but if we surround
ourselves mainly with these stories, we will start to live with the
expectations they set up—whether we realize it or not. It is like
spending too much time in a zero-gravity chamber: if we try to step
out in the world where people actually live—the place where the
rules of gravity really apply—we will be in for some major disorientation
and shock, and the expectations we set up will be dashed completely
to the ground.
Second Suggestion: Ask each other directly about this topic. This suggestion
is very practical: if you are in the movie store and picking out a movie
with a bunch of friends, particularly if they are Christian, take a
moment before you finally decide on a movie to say “Does anyone
have any misgivings about this movie, or does anyone think it would
be a bad movie to watch?” I think it is very important that we
make it clear that it would be better that nobody watched a movie rather
than that one person stumble because she watched something that she
felt she should not watch. Paul’s words in Romans 14:13-15 apply
to this situation:
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead,
make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your
brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced
that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as
unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because
of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating
destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
None of us should be so focused on watching a movie that we would not
be able to give it up for the sake of a brother or sister. And although
there may not be one law in regards to movie-watching, there is only
one Spirit that is guiding us into wisdom. The fact that this is a wisdom
issue does not mean that we have to forfeit the right to call our brothers
and sisters to seriously consider what they are watching. The difficulty
with me being the only judge of my own strengths and weaknesses in regards
to movie-watching is that my areas of weakness are areas in which I
am WEAK. I need help. I need someone else to say to me “Anna,
are you sure that you should be watching this?” because it is
more difficult to suppress an audible voice then the voice of my conscience.
Why do we have such difficulty admitting that we don’t want to
watch something? For one thing, it is embarrassing to admit our weaknesses.
It is embarrassing to imply that if I watch a movie with a sex scene
in it that I will be tempted by that scene. In our culture, we all like
to act cool and remain cool. We view those who are overly affected by
violence or horror or sex or nudity as people who are weak. Fine. As
Christians we can accept that label with humility and joy. Paul declares
“Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and
I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things
that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:29,30). As Christian brothers
and sisters, we are called to be open and vulnerable with one another.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book Life Together that the reason
we do not have true Christian fellowship with one another is that:
…though [Christians] have fellowship with one another as
believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout,
as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody
must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not
be sinners. (110)
Bonhoeffer then calls us to be a fellowship of sinners relying on God’s
grace, rather than a fellowship of those resting on a projection of
goodness or righteousness. Operating on this understanding, we should
not be ashamed to show our weaknesses to others. If you are tempted
or disturbed by some part of a movie, close your eyes, hide your head,
fast-forward the tape, walk out of the movie, or turn off the TV! Do
not go on sinning and struggling because you are embarrassed of what
other people will think. We need true humility that will admit when
we are weak and that will allow others to see that we are struggling
so that they can help us.
One final thought. The Christian mindset is not generally in sync with
the world’s views and if we are in agreement with the culture
around us, we at least need to take a second glance at the premise of
our actions. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I beg you that when
I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people
who think that we live by the standards of this world” (2 Cor.
10:2). I say this because I think it is too easy for us to justify our
movie-watching habits when they don’t feel wrong to us. Unfortunately,
this ease of conscience is probably due to the times in which we live
rather than the Spirit of God. Many Christians of ages past would be
horror-stricken if they knew what Christians today were watching in
movies. I do not say this as a condemnation; I say it because it is
a warning and exhortation to examine our own secure righteousness about
this topic. “Let us examine our ways and test them” (Lam.
3:40), and let us be open to how the Lord may change our lives and our
thinking in this crucial area of our culture.
Anna Megill ‘06 is a history major from western Pennsylvania.