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Tap Dancing Around What Jesus Might Do at Sundance

When I speak to youth groups and churches on the subject of media discernment, I encourage audiences to consider asking themselves this question when making entertainment decisions:

If Jesus and His 12 disciples were walking the face of this planet today—not 2,000 years ago—and one of His disciples, let’s say Matthew or Peter, came up to our Messiah and asked something along these lines, “Jesus, there’s this movie currently playing in the theater, should we load up the van and all go this weekend?” how would Jesus respond?

This question, while necessary and helpful, still leaves a lot of gray area regarding how Christ might answer. So to make this mental exercise more practical, I often tweak the question just a bit:

Suppose the film Peter is asking to see with the other 11 is reputed to be inspiring, encouraging and even uplifting, but contains two s-words, then how would Jesus answer?

I follow up this second question with a reminder that the answers even strong believers will give can be polar opposites. Some will say, “If it’s just two harsh profanities, of course Jesus would go.” Others will say, “If it contains any profanities at all, I’m pretty sure Jesus would steer clear.” Who’s right? Tough inquiry, isn’t it? And we haven’t even begun to talk about violence, sexuality or drinking.

Wrestling with questions such as this is my life’s calling, and an uncomfortable one at times. I’m a black-and-white sort of guy. Ask me if it’s ever OK for a couple to jump in bed outside of marriage, and I know the answer. Ask me if it’s ever OK for a person to get intoxicated (say at a wedding), and I know the answer to that one, too. The Bible’s quite clear on both of these issues. But ask me if a film is in-bounds or out-of-bounds due to a few harsh profanities, and I have to admit the Bible is silent. It talks about coarse talk coming out of our mouths. But what about hearing it at school or at work … or in a movie? A gray area indeed.

Still, just because the Bible doesn’t contain a direct admonition such as, “Thou shalt never go see a horror film,” that shouldn’t keep us from asking the gray-area questions and grappling with seeking God’s heart on the matter. We still must be prayerful and intentional about following and obeying Christ even (perhaps especially) when the Bible offers no express guidance.

Now, take my question above and go from two s-words to 75-100 f-bombs and ramped-up, R-rated violence (along the lines of American Sniper or 13 Hours), and re-ask the question. Because along these lines, sometime later this year or next, we at Plugged In (and you, the American moviegoer) will be wrestling with exactly that question regarding the movie Birth of a Nation.

I caught this much buzzed-about motion picture at the Sundance Film Festival a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve thought a lot about it since. I think the movie will be a big hit when it releases and most likely will be nominated for several Oscars. While it’s easy for me to quickly answer the “Jesus and the disciples in the van” question when it comes to films like How to Be Single, Deadpool or Fifty Shades of Black (or Grey), I still wrestle with flicks such as The Finest Hours and Concussion. Would Jesus watch or skip? I have an opinion, for sure, but I’m not extremely confident that my opinion is “gospel.”

Birth of a Nation is a rather unique film. Based on true events, it tells the story of Nat Turner, a slave and preacher who led a rebellion of his fellow slaves against their masters back in 1831. It’s kinda like the Exodus story found in the Bible with Turner being Moses. Except rather than just escaping their captors and heading for the Promised Land, the slaves heap vengeance upon their slave owners. Now, mind you, these slave owners were very bad dudes. But I, for one, wanted these slaves to slip away quietly to Canada. That’s not the way it happened. The film spends quite a bit of screen time showing several gruesome ways slaves killed their owners to get back at them for years of abuse. The film’ll be R-rated for sure.

As I drive to work, I’ve been listening to a lot of the Bible on CD. Currently, I’m in the book of Isaiah, and I was re-struck with the portion of that book (Chapter 61) that Jesus read in a synagogue, applying the words to Himself. What’s more, as believers in the Messiah, I’m convinced the words also apply to me (and you). Isaiah tells us that we should be about setting the captives free. God is pleased when that happens. It’s something near and dear to His heart.

So what if captive people set themselves free, as they did in history and do in this movie? I think God is pleased. But what if they take revenge after they’re no longer prisoners? Ah, now I think God frowns.

And that’s where this film goes. So, is the film in-bounds or out-of-bounds?

What would Jesus do? Would he have Matthew load the van? Or would the glamorization of vengeance cause our Savior to say, “Get thee behind me?” Your thoughts?