Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Throw Your Bible Away?
Many people make it a practice to complain about and condemn books & movies- even those depicting true stories that have a good moral. The main reason is that the characters make mistakes and are imperfect examples. This seems a bit self-righteous to me. Others are still hung up on the fact that movies are shown in a theater. (Keep in mind theaters are not the drinking, smoking, gambling, carousing hang-outs they were a hundred years ago.) I DO NOT condone watching perverse, satanic or degrading films, however, there are many lessons to be learned from watching true stories & allegories that teach a lesson. There seems to be this tendency among certain religious groups to condemn anything that isn't the Bible or SOP as wrong. However, as I was reading the rather racy Biblical tale of David & Bathsheba recently, it struck me, there is also a Judah & Tamar, Gomer & Hosea, Solomon and his concubines, etc. Did you know Noah got drunk? Peter denied His Lord by swearing?? The Bible is FULL of stories of imperfect people who messed up. It doesn't mince words in telling the full scope of the human experience. Another protest is the violence in films. I don't enjoy gratuitous violence either, but you know what? The Bible is full of violence! Whole villages wiped out. Prophets of Baal are massacred. People are stoned. Even King David has a man murdered. The Holy Canon shares these stories so we can see & know what happens as a result of human weakness- without us having to make the same mistakes. If there is a lesson to be learned- learn it from whatever source it comes! Often the phrase "By beholding we become changed" is used as an offensive statement for not enjoying anything not blatantly "Christian". Many believe reading/seeing a story about imperfect people will somehow contaminate us and make us weak. Truly, IF the story is glorifying weakness and saying it's okay- this could be the case. But there are many historical books, films and allegories that show the painful result of mistakes and give us a realistic picture of life. I find them valuable to my growth as an individual. I greatly treasure the tales in the Bible. One of the rituals often encouraged is throwing away anything that has "sinful" content. If the logic follows through far enough- wouldn't the same people who protest the movies need to get rid of their Bibles too? Kinda makes me think...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
First, thanks for the visit.
I've talked about this forever. Violence? I've not seen anything in films as violent as what I read in The Word.
My mom-in-law (whom I love dearly) use to be so upset that we had rainbows in our kids rooms because she said it was a 'gay' sign, and she's a strong christian and follower of Christ, but God gave us the rainbow as a pledge, a promise. Just like He gave me my children.
Then she said the moon and sun were symbols of the 'New Age' religion...?? Perhaps, but they God gave them to us.
Thanks for putting into words what I've been thinking for a very long time.
aaah... interesting facet of believes.
As I think about some of the points made by you and our last commentator, I wonder what and how this could be.
I think every indiviual has
Religion + religiousity
Religion is the teachings from the source of the faith
Religiousity is the person's knowledge, understanding of that religion, plus personal preferences, fears and phobias, tempermant and conciousness, wisdom and general world view.
I do not think the Bible suggests its follower to turn a blind eye to the ills of the world. At least, I am not aware of such verses.
In any case, I think that this will probably be true for all human regardless of what religion they claim to follow. Religion and religiousity effects the decisions people make.
To turn a blind eye to something is only a form of self deception. Even the existance of God must be questioned by believers;not in dis belief,but only to gain knowledge of Him and strentghen one's belief abou t Him. Any nation that turn a blind eye to reality, will not succeed in this world.
I know some parents get over protective of their children. I think, the children must be told about good,bad..how it works, and why it is good and bad, so when they find themselves at crossroads they have some foundation to base their decision to either brace of reject something.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Excellent observation there trailady!!!
Trailady, you think very deep. It almost wear me out trying to keep up with you! I never thought of it that way, but I guess its true. I will think about this more. Keep seeking. I enjoy reading about your journey.
I absolutely agree, one of my favorite movies and one of the most influentual in my life was The Power Of One, it is about aparthied , you cannot get the grasp and cruelty of aparthied by watching a made for tv movie. This does not mean you should go get the Die Hard trilogy. It means if you find a movie with an important moral or social message and the violence is key to the film, there is nothing unchristian about watching it.
'Amistad' directed by Steven Spielberg chronicles the tragedy of slavery. There is nudity in it, but not perverse- you want to look away. There is some violence in the film, but it's necessary to tell the story. Oh sure, I was touched when I read about slavery in history books, but I CRIED MY EYES OUT to actually see how our African brothers were treated!! It was the same when I saw 'Ghandi'. Lessons learned- very powerful!!!
Grace, your blog is awesome. I know i dont post much but believe me i do read. And thank you for the comments. Its realy a comfort to know somebody out there understands. Stay safe.
-Alex
Post a Comment