Whenever Christians start arguing about entertainment—why they see or don’t see certain things, Philippians 4:8 is sure to pop up before the conversation gets too old. It goes like this:
“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.”
And that verse did indeed pop up in several comments after last Friday’s blog, both here and on Facebook.
When Paul wrote those lines to the Philippians, he was talking—just as we are—about influence. If you surround yourself with good stuff, odds are you’ll not only become a “better” person from the world’s perspective, but you’ll also become a more righteous person from God’s perspective. Here’s the way one of our reader’s (Songnverse) put it: “Even when I don’t read a review, I see that the closer I draw to Jesus the more he draws me away from certain movies. It’s amazing.”
It is amazing. I believe that God really does like for us all to concentrate on the true and the noble and the lovely. Plugged In is founded on that premise, and we want to give you the tools to maximize your chances to see good movies and minimize your exposure to the bad ones. (We’re speaking morally in this context, by the way, not artistically. That’s another issue maybe we’ll tackle another day.)
Here’s the rub though: Good and bad often intermingle in the same two-hour film. What are we supposed to do with that?
We’re all part of God’s wonderful creation. Augustine tells us that it’s impossible for evil to create anything, which means that anything that is—anything that exists—contains elements of God’s boundless awesomeness.
But while evil can’t create anything, it has corrupted everything. We’re all tainted by sin, and the things we craft are inherently tainted, too. And that, of course, goes for movies. If we only watch movies that are perfect—films that show only the pure and the lovely and the virtuous without any alloy—we’ll have to wait until we hit the heavenly multiplex.
Consider Soul Surfer—a cool film loaded with heartwarming messages and a Christian undercurrent. Plugged In praised it. Bob Waliszewski gave it four-and-a-half stars for family friendliness. We gave a DVD of it away on our podcast.
But it’s not completely pure and lovely and virtuous without alloy. Aubree illustrates why in last Friday’s blog comments:
My husband cannot watch [Soul Surfer] because of certain issues that he deals with, and the fact that the beachwear could cause him to struggle with this. After reading the review, we decided that it would be okay for me to watch the movie, but that it would be better for him not to.
I love Aubree and her husband’s commitment to really grappling with what they watch. They take this stuff seriously.But her note highlights another important reality: If we decide to engage with movies at all, we’re forced to judge them on a curve—one that can differ from person to person. As individuals and parents we take into account personal sensitivities and predilections. We weigh degrees of content—the number of f-words, for instance, or the amount of violence. While Plugged In tries to give you objective information, your decision to watch or not is always subjective.
There are those who might say, “Well of course Soul Surfer is problematic! Didn’t you see those bikinis?!” But every film—and I mean every—has its problems. In Courageous and Fireproof (two of the most appreciated Christian-made movies of late) we see people behave badly and suffer deeply. In Pixar’s animated films, we see bad guys almost win the day, which means we witness behavior that is not virtuous or pure or lovely (just as we do in real life). But we accept it. Why? Because we know there’s a purpose behind it. We know it’s building to something better.
In the comments string last Friday, readers brought up a bevy of movies with problematic content that still have a purpose: The King’s Speech. The Descendents. Slumdog Millionaire. All are harsh in their own ways. Two are rated R. But all have lessons to teach if you’re looking for them.
Don’t take that last statement as justification. Just because movies might have lessons in them doesn’t mean we should go see them. Lots of you wrote in to tell us about how watching content-laden movies sometimes affects how you act. And for those who don’t think problematic movies have an impact on them, here’s an interesting exercise: Imagine how different you’d be now if you’d never, ever seen a movie. How would that affect the way you think about romance? About heroism? About evil? We’re all impacted by what we see. None of us are exempt, and we should be correspondingly cautious.
But sometimes that impact can be positive. Sure, we’d never advise you to go to a harsh, R-rated film. But if you stumble into one—by accident, let’s say—your time need not, and should not, be wasted.
Remember what Paul said: “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” We can find excellence in The King’s Speech. We can find themes to praise in The Descendents. We should follow Paul’s advice and concentrate on the true and virtuous in every film we see, whether it’s G or R or somewhere in between.
I think following Philippians 4:8 is like working a muscle: The more you run after God—His truth, His virtue, His beauty—the easier the run gets. The muscle grows stronger. And just as working out can encourage you to eat better, stretching and developing this muscle may make you more aware of what entertainment you consume.
Hey, none of this is easy. It takes discipline and commitment, just like running or lifting weights does. But it’s worth it.
This post is the second in a series. Feel free to click on these related posts:
How Come They Get to Watch Bad Movies and I Don’t?
Getting to the Very Art of the Matter
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