By Darrel Proffitt, Lead Pastor
I made a bold pronouncement in Church last week: “Don’t go to see Fifty Shades of Grey.” I’m sure that statement surprised some. I mean, how bad can it be, it’s just a movie?
The problem with such movies and books is that they seek to reach a wide audience, many of whom are unsuspecting students and young people. The quality of a healthy, balanced and Biblical life has nothing to do with the abuse chronicled by Fifty Shades of Grey. To open oneself to putting this relationship as normal is dangerous. We are to be renewed by the transformation of our minds which means we need to monitor what we read and watch.
I was reading a review of the movie in Atlantic Monthly and came across this bit of dialogue from the movie:
He hits me again … this is getting harder to take. My face hurts, it’s screwed up so tight. He strokes me gently and then the blow comes. I cry out again.
“No one to hear you, baby, just me.”
And he hits me again and again. From somewhere deep inside, I want to beg him to stop. But I don’t. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Unfortunately, this is tame compared to much of the dialogue quoted. Do we really want to hold up domestic violence as something in which to be entertained? It’s more than the depravity of the story; it goes well beyond that. The story is about someone who abuses a woman and a woman who is violently abused and violated.. And we are told this is a love story? We live by a much higher standard than that.
Compare the above dialogue with God’s Word. From Ephesians 5 Paul writes:
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
So, let me say again, “Don’t go to see this movie!” Don’t give Hollywood your hard earned money. Each ticket purchased is a vote for this kind of damaging movie. Put your foot down and say: enough is enough. But don’t go mostly for yourself. If you own the book, throw it into recycling. Stand for the truth, not for such sinful and damaging filth.
I made a bold pronouncement in Church last week: “Don’t go to see Fifty Shades of Grey.” I’m sure that statement surprised some. I mean, how bad can it be, it’s just a movie?
The problem with such movies and books is that they seek to reach a wide audience, many of whom are unsuspecting students and young people. The quality of a healthy, balanced and Biblical life has nothing to do with the abuse chronicled by Fifty Shades of Grey. To open oneself to putting this relationship as normal is dangerous. We are to be renewed by the transformation of our minds which means we need to monitor what we read and watch.
I was reading a review of the movie in Atlantic Monthly and came across this bit of dialogue from the movie:
He hits me again … this is getting harder to take. My face hurts, it’s screwed up so tight. He strokes me gently and then the blow comes. I cry out again.
“No one to hear you, baby, just me.”
And he hits me again and again. From somewhere deep inside, I want to beg him to stop. But I don’t. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Unfortunately, this is tame compared to much of the dialogue quoted. Do we really want to hold up domestic violence as something in which to be entertained? It’s more than the depravity of the story; it goes well beyond that. The story is about someone who abuses a woman and a woman who is violently abused and violated.. And we are told this is a love story? We live by a much higher standard than that.
Compare the above dialogue with God’s Word. From Ephesians 5 Paul writes:
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
So, let me say again, “Don’t go to see this movie!” Don’t give Hollywood your hard earned money. Each ticket purchased is a vote for this kind of damaging movie. Put your foot down and say: enough is enough. But don’t go mostly for yourself. If you own the book, throw it into recycling. Stand for the truth, not for such sinful and damaging filth.
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