Musings Part I - the sequel

Hello again!

For those of you who read my first post I want to expand a little bit on that. I think my tone in that one may have been a little mis interpreted, and for that I apologize, I think I just got heated and wanted to fire people up about this, not "Call people out" or condemn. So I will summarize that point of that post and then expand a little on that idea.
   All I was trying to do was show that porn in the common idea of it is really no different then when a movie as nudity and graphic sex scenes in it. So, I mean let us just think about this for a bit. I know I have seen many movies with that stuff in it, and just because the whole movie is not devoted to the sex and nudity, is that one scene therefore okay and permitted? I answer no. I honestly think it is ridiculous that we can condemn the porn industry and the evils of porn, and yet find it okay to watch a movie that has scenes, no matter how small or short the scene is with that in it. Recently I have really been thinking about this and it seems that they are one and the same thing. Again, I am not trying to come down on anyone, I am merely trying to get  people to just think about this a little more. For those of you who have read my first blog, I am sorry if this seems redundant. I just want people to think about a bad scene in a movie that we have scene and compare that to a possible inappropriate thing that we searched for on the internet and really ask themselves if it is different. And if you are someone who does not look stuff up on the internet then lets ask ourselves if it is better to watch a movie with that in it than to look something up online. I would venture to guess if you really think about it you will see that it really is no different. If you see the truth in this and want to possibly cut some of these kinds of movies out of your life then I want to encourage you to find a movie rating site that rates on a morality scale or scale of appropriateness  . I like to go www.usccb.org/movies to check out whats in the movie before going to see it.

   Now, I have another question I want to muse about.  I have wondered if one were to just fast forward through a scene or close there eyes or look away for that one or two scenes if that would be okay. At first glance I would say yes, because many of the movies I would refer to have just a couple of scenes and the rest of the movie really isn't that bad. However, I was thinking about this and I think an argument could be made that one should not watch this movie either way. I believe that a big part of it is the support we give a movie by renting or buying it. By doing this we are supporting what the movie stands for. For example, a movie that I have seen like 3 time, Wedding Crashers, highly regarded as one of the funniest movies in the past 10 years, and yes it is very funny. Now, everyone who has seen this movie knows about that one scene. A strong man could watch this and turn away during that one seen and then innocently enjoy the rest of the movie. I think, however, that every time I watched that movie whether I turned away or didn't during that scene I supported that scene with my time and money, but not just that scene, but I supported what that movie stood for. The premise of the whole movie is "wedding crashing", or going to weddings you were not invited to, in order to use girls, so you can sleep with them and then leave them the next morning. I mean really the premise is pretty sick, and every time I watched that movie I supported it. Again, the movie is very funny and most of the funny parts are not directly related to the manipulation of women for sex. However, that is still the whole plot, and I do not want to support a movie like that anymore. I mean if the plot of movie was glorifying genocide as a good thing, or killing innocent children as a good thing, would we want to see that? I know people will object to that analogy, saying that those two things are way different. I would understand that objection, but argue that men who do what the two main characters in wedding crashers do are killing those women, not in a physical way, but emotionally and spiritually. Women know when they are used and manipulated and that can really hurt them bad.
    Anyway I didn't want this to be about that one movie, it just provided a good example, and I am very guilty of that particular movie. I just want to encourage myself and anyone actually reading this to really deeply think about the next movie we decide to go to, to rent or buy. I want us to think, would watching this movie glorify God, or cause me to sin against him, or would not have an effect on my relationship with him at all? And, men and women, if we can honestly say that a movie would harm our relationship with God then I would strongly encourage you to refrain from watching that movie, to refrain from supporting what these movies of our generation stand for. I think this is a serious battle, because movies have really become infinitely more crude and risque over the past 10 years or so, and it is easy to say oh its just that one scene or it isn't that big of a deal. It is easy to make an excuse in order to watch a movie, I know I have done it. I really want all of us to be BOLD as I said in my previous post, to be BOLD in the face of this and stand up for what we believe to be right. Again, no one is being condemned here, I just want people to think about this and possibly share in this conviction of mine and change the types of movies we watch.

"Don't say that you have a chaste mind if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart" - Augustine


"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
-Paul