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Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Holiness: A Choice

Posted on October 17, 2022

I’m just going to say one more time that, in a society that has lost its moral way, Christian women today have to be more than a little different in our entertainment choices. Entertainment is optional. I can go to heaven without watching a single movie or attending a single play. Thus, if the language, portrayal of sex and the blasphemy in a movie or play is antithetical to the Biblical values system, Christians should choose some other form of entertainment. 

I go online and read reviews of movies or plays—reviews often written by people who have no practical religious affiliation—and find that a certain play or movie is at best littered with and, at worst, saturated with language that Christians should be working to keep from their minds rather than inviting into their hearing while paying money to do just that. Secular commenters are sometimes appalled by the same show that Christians applaud on Facebook. The non-Christians are shocked by the amount of inappropriate (i.e. sinful) language, while the Christians are applauding the wonderful evening enjoyed while ingesting it! 

I know all the repeated criticisms of those of us who keep saying it. “Everyone has to make the judgment calls about entertainment.” …”Who are you to be the media police?” …”Just because I am sitting there watching the real world, history, fantasy, etc., doesn’t mean that I am approving of every thing about every scene.”… I have also witnessed a generation of children grow into adults who can see little difference between the church and the world: in how we dress, behave, speak and entertain ourselves. They cannot recognize holiness (separation from the defilement of the world) and so they, in disillusionment do not see the choice to follow God as a clear and distinguishable path to be with Him. Christianity becomes, to the observant teen, a sort of hamper to staying within societal norms, rather than a full-scale rejection of sin and the father of lies and a hatred for the things that are of the world. 

Evangelism is diluted by the near-absence of any call to repentance—the crux of the salvation plan. People who are invited to become a part of a church that demands no holiness, of course, see no need to change sinful practices and life-styles. Conviction and the putting away of sin—the hardest part of the salvation plan—is the part about which that the candidate for baptism has little understanding. In other words, evangelism by those who are watching, dressing and speaking just like the world is relatively empty of conviction to change upon becoming a “disciple.” It’s important to remember, though, that a “Christian” is literally a “follower of Jesus.” 

So WOULD you follow him into the theater or into your living room to see, for instance, these movies that many of those who claim allegiance to him are/have been posting about seeing in the past couple of years? Is this where Jesus would lead the new Christian? 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8503618/parentalguide

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745960/parentalguide

 

These are just two examples of many from which I could choose. But let me be clear. People who need the gospel see our choices. Our children, who need the gospel, see our choices. We take them to Bible class, where they are exposed, at least, to the concept of holiness. They hear the readings and learn some of the verses.  

Be ye holy as a I am holy.

Come ye out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord

Whatever is true, just, pure, lovely, of good report—if there’s anything praiseworthy or virtuous, think on these things.

Let no filthy communication proceed from your mouth.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. …

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

I can hear some already: “But my Jesus ate with sinners.” Yes. He did. But your Jesus did not go to the arena of his day to be entertained by filth, to laugh at sexual humor and the taking of His own name in vain.  Those  who wear His name, but who try to put Jesus in an arena of being entertained and gratified by those who are mocking God, using impure and base language and applauding sinful sex, know better. They are not honest with the Scriptures. They are reaching to try and justify the gratification of their own desires for ungodly entertainment.  

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Let Him Have the Remote…

Posted on July 21, 2022

It’s really a daily challenge to be in this world and yet remain insulated from its spiritually destructive components. I cannot imagine going through a day without having to constantly remind myself of what conversations, media and relationships are appropriate for somebody who’s following Jesus and what Philippians 4:8 would filter out for me. I want His word to always be the filter in the nitty-gritty decisions of everyday living. I think sometimes it’s easy for me to say the big things like “I would give my life for Christ,” or “My favorite book is the Bible” or “Growing in Christ is my number one goal,” but it’s the all-day-long difficult and specific choices that make or break my big easily stated commitments.I don’t call into question the sincerity of somebody whose little choices don’t reflect the big professions of life. Sometimes I think we really do mean the big commitment statements found on our profiles on facebook. It’s just that the inconsistencies in the little decisions don’t sting because we’ve become environmentally and culturally anesthetized. What should really hurt us as His people doesn’t hurt at all because we’re breathing the fumes of the society in which we live. Once I accidentally made a pretty huge gash in my left hand; lots of blood and nausea, an eventual scar and a pain that was wretched. On another occasion a doctor made a similar gash in my foot to remove a piece of glass; lots of blood, a similar scar, but absolutely no pain. The difference was, of course, the presence of the anesthetic.

So how is it that we can sing “I am mine no more, I’ve been bought with blood,’ or “Purer in heart O God, help me to be,” or ” I surrender all” or “Lord take control,” and yet fail to even feel the sting of the destructive media influences that are in direct opposition to the themes we’ve stated for our lives? I think we just don’t feel the pain that should accompany spiritual wounds because we are anesthetized by the culture in which we live. As the world becomes more and more ungodly, we are lulled into a kind of comfortable moral drowsiness that makes us unaware of the effects of the tools in the hands of the devil. We find ourselves laughing at all kinds of wickedness as it is digitally welcomed into our living rooms, bedrooms and dorm rooms. We can listen to vulgarity and profanity and hardly be aware we’ve heard them even as they work to erode the values that we’ve professed all along. Pretty soon we start thinking through our days about the drama or the hilarity of some episode that really was pretty far removed from the “I want to grow in Christ” thesis through which we intended to filter our choices. We start talking about things that are in the Galatians 5:19-21 list with the same nonchalant tone with which we would talk about the weather. Without even really thinking about it, we spend more time concentrating on the works of the flesh as portrayed by Hollywood than we do in Bible study or prayer. Pretty soon, the gap between what we profess and our practical focus is a chasm.Perhaps we find that in our entertainment choices, we sometimes “rejoice in iniquity.” Perhaps we even encourage others to violate their consciences by encouraging them to love what God would identify as abomination. In short, we’ve just become numb to the sorrow we should feel as his children at the presence of sin in our media choices. The devil wants to devour us and he is much more successful when we start failing to feel the pain of the lion’s tenons and teeth.

It’s been helpful for me to constantly remember and repeat the phrase “Entertainment is optional.” Being “optional” means it’s not a requirement for life. It means it’s not absolutely necessary. In fact, retaining entertainment in my life is probably less necessary than retaining my limbs or my eyesight. But Jesus said if your eye or your hand offends you, just get rid of it rather than allowing it to cause the loss of your soul. I can go to heaven without ever turning on the television, but I can’t go to heaven if I’m not “abstaining from the very appearance of evil” (I Thess.5:22).

Matthew 6:33 is not too difficult to understand when it comes to this abstinence from the appearance of evil. It’s not hard to understand when I try to conform my thoughts to Philippians 4:8. Where it gets hard is not in my ability to comprehend its meaning. It means when I have choices in optional matters I am going to make sure my allegiance is first to His kingdom and righteousness. Where it gets hard is in my willingness to apply it all day long. It’s difficult while I am watching the episode to stop and ask, “Am I seeking righteousness when I put this stuff into my head?” It’s difficult to just pick up the remote and say “I choose to seek first His righteousness.”

So many times, I can look back and know full well that a particular decision was completely out of alignment with the BIG profession I have made for my life. Those times are my biggest regrets. I want to adjust the practical part of my Christianity, because Christ can’t remain in my heart if He’s not affecting my agenda, dominating my calendar, making my choices, and shaping my plans. The remote should be controlled by Him.

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Incidental or Intentional?…The Incredibles 2

Posted on June 19, 2018

I’m not going to spell the profanities out for you here, but there are just too many moms who’ve been disappointed by obscenity/profanity in the language of The Incredibles 2 film; too many  exit reports, for the claims to be untrue. Some have said that the movie is definitely geared toward the now-adults who saw and loved the first film as children. But the sad truth is…Disney is, once again, showing Christians that our day to influence is over and our objections are inconsequential. Here are a few observations:

  1. There’s a level at which moms should not be surprised that there’s inappropriate material in the movie. The PG rating almost always means there will be something that’s offensive to someone. (If not Christians, who?) Occasionally, there’s a movie that’s rated PG merely because the theme is, while not offensive or profane, just too complicated or deep for littles. But mostly, the PG rating means there’s objectionable material for followers of Jesus. This is especially true about cartoons or Pixar movies. The PG is probably not going to be assigned in a cartoon because of a deep theme. Just saying here that diligent moms should have probably figured this out before entering the theater.
  2. This kind of language in a major kid-friendly movie is not inserted incidentally. Film-makers deliberated and intentionally pushed the language-line in the face of Christian parents. They are not overlooking our objections. They are aware and they are purposefully defiant of the Biblical parenting agenda. We know this from multiple offensive agendas being promoted by Disney.
  3. If everyone who is offended by the use of profanity would abstain from ever paying for it at the box office, our collective voice would be heard. But we complain privately, while we fork over the ticket prices and then we talk about how amazing the movie was, “except for the language they inserted….Why would they even want to do that?” (The logical response, then… “Why not?”)
  4. Entertainment is optional. If my entertainment choices compromise my holiness, I could just omit the optional altogether. I can go to heaven without ever being entertained. However, most Disney movies that would violate my profession of Christianity, could be watched a few months after release, using ClearPlay or VidAngel without the profanity streaming through. If entertainment is actually optional, couldn’t we at least delay the gratification until it might align with our values? Instant gratification is not always a good thing.
  5. The response of the producers to my boycott of material that should offend Christians should be irrelevant to whether or not I expose myself or my kids to offensive movies. Seven in ten Americans still claim to be Christians. Thus, it is true that, if all people professing Christianity would refrain from watching movies that contain obscenities and profanities, the industry would clean up its act. But that desired result should not be my primary goal in abstaining. Holiness should be my primary goal in staying away from movies that contain cursing, blasphemy and crude language. Philippians 4:8 should be the standard in my decisions about movies. My children will compare what I profess to what I actually do. They will, over time, come to understand whether or not my profession affects my decisions. They will assess whether or not my faith is real based on the decisions I make about things like entertainment, ethics, evangelism and involvement in the church. 
  6. Sacrificial choices are very tangible ways to teach children, Abstaining, because of conviction, from something that you’ve really been looking forward to doing has a far bigger potential for teaching commitment and holiness than does any rhetoric. As the world around us becomes more unholy, our chances to teach the contrast between holiness and this world become more and more plentiful.
  7. We should not let the fact that we’ve made poor choices before keep us from making good choices from now on. I know many have compromised multiple times before. Maybe you just did that very thing in recent weeks by taking your teens (or even your littles) to see The Avengers. (It seems the whole world did.) It’s never too late to start afresh if conviction and holiness is the motivator. Remember, we are talking about a tangible way to show your family Romans 12:1,2.
  8. We should never let the fact that we are imperfect people keep us from pursuing and touting the importance of holiness and sanctification. Our world loves to label any who plead for righteousness in practical ways as being “judgmental” or “holier- than-thou” or even as being arrogant/prideful. “Blessed are you when others…shall utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account,” said Jesus In Matthew 5:12. It’s important to remember that, except for Jesus, everyone who’s ever contemplated holiness and tried to discern practical ways to be set-apart from the world, has also often missed the mark, failed at times, and been in dire need of His mercy. But if we, out of misguided “humility”, all stop trying to be distinctive…if we stop teaching sanctification and fall in line with the ever-digressing culture around us, we really are prideful, because we let our own comfort in conformity take precedence over His will for our lives. 
  9. You might be thinking “Can’t Cindy Colley think of anything worse than a kids’ movie about which to have a rant?” Boy, I sure can. I can think of things like the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), and  the seven things God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19). But then I notice that in the former list there’s uncleanness and in the latter there’s “feet that make haste to run to mischief “. If you do look up the words in that movie, you will agree there are some that are simply not clean. They are unclean. So why would you want to make haste to get your children over to that mischief/evil? Maybe a little less haste could buy you some time to just wait and watch it with your filters on. That’s what I plan to do.
  10. You can incidentally ingest or let your kids ingest some impurities. You can do it without really thinking. Perhaps your kids won’t notice the language and the damage will not be great and eternal. But being intentional about entertainment choices will have a profound and positive effect. They will notice when you choose not to do the thing that the whole world around them is doing. They will notice and they will want to know all about the “why”. And there’s your big opportunity.
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Have You Been Anesthetized?

Posted on June 29, 2017

It’s really a daily challenge to be in this world and yet remain insulated from its spiritually destructive components. I cannot imagine going through a day without having to constantly remind myself of what conversations, media and relationships are appropriate for somebody who’s following Jesus and what Philippians 4:8 would filter out for me. I want His word to always be the filter in the nitty-gritty decisions of everyday living. I think sometimes it’s easy for me to say the big things like “I would give my life for Christ,” or “My favorite book is the Bible” or “Growing in Christ is my number one goal,” but it’s the all-day-long difficult and specific choices that make or break my big easily stated commitments.I don’t call into question the sincerity of somebody whose little choices don’t reflect the big professions of life. Sometimes I think we really do mean the big commitment statements found on our profiles on facebook. It’s just that the inconsistencies in the little decisions don’t sting because we’ve become environmentally and culturally anesthetized. What should really hurt us as His people doesn’t hurt at all because we’re breathing the fumes of the society in which we live. Once I accidentally made a pretty huge gash in my left hand; lots of blood and nausea, an eventual scar and a pain that was wretched. On another occasion a doctor made a similar gash in my foot to remove a piece of glass; lots of blood, a similar scar, but absolutely no pain. The difference was, of course, the presence of the anesthetic.

So how is it that we can sing “I am mine no more, I’ve been bought with blood,’ or “Purer in heart O God, help me to be,” or ” I surrender all” or “Lord take control,” and yet fail to even feel the sting of the destructive media influences that are in direct opposition to the themes we’ve stated for our lives? I think we just don’t feel the pain that should accompany spiritual wounds because we are anesthetized by the culture in which we live. As the world becomes more and more ungodly, we are lulled into a kind of comfortable moral drowsiness that makes us unaware of the effects of the tools in the hands of the devil. We find ourselves laughing at all kinds of wickedness as it is digitally welcomed into our living rooms, bedrooms and dorm rooms. We can listen to vulgarity and profanity and hardly be aware we’ve heard them even as they work to erode the values that we’ve professed all along. Pretty soon we start thinking through our days about the drama or the hilarity of some episode that really was pretty far removed from the “I want to grow in Christ” thesis through which we intended to filter our choices. We start talking about things that are in the Galatians 5:19-21 list with the same nonchalant tone with which we would talk about the weather. Without even really thinking about it, we spend more time concentrating on the works of the flesh as portrayed by Hollywood than we do in Bible study or prayer. Pretty soon, the gap between what we profess and our practical focus is a chasm.Perhaps we find that in our entertainment choices, we sometimes “rejoice in iniquity.” Perhaps we even encourage others to violate their consciences by encouraging them to love what God would identify as abomination. In short, we’ve just become numb to the sorrow we should feel as his children at the presence of sin in our media choices. The devil wants to devour us and he is much more successful when we start failing to feel the pain of the lion’s tenons and teeth.

It’s been helpful for me to constantly remember and repeat the phrase “Entertainment is optional.” Being “optional” means it’s not a requirement for life. It means it’s not absolutely necessary. In fact, retaining entertainment in my life is probably less necessary than retaining my limbs or my eyesight. But Jesus said if your eye or your hand offends you, just get rid of it rather than allowing it to cause the loss of your soul. I can go to heaven without ever turning on the television, but I can’t go to heaven if I’m not “abstaining from the very appearance of evil” (I Thess.5:22).

Matthew 6:33 is not too difficult to understand when it comes to this abstinence from the appearance of evil. It’s not hard to understand when I try to conform my thoughts to Philippians 4:8. Where it gets hard is not in my ability to comprehend its meaning. It means when I have choices in optional matters I am going to make sure my allegiance is first to His kingdom and righteousness. Where it gets hard is in my willingness to apply it all day long. It’s difficult while I am watching the episode to stop and ask, “Am I seeking righteousness when I put this stuff into my head?” It’s difficult to just pick up the remote and say “I choose to seek first His righteousness.”

So many times, I can look back and know full well that a particular decision was completely out of alignment with the BIG profession I have made for my life. Those times are my biggest regrets. I want to adjust the practical part of my Christianity, because Christ can’t remain in my heart if He’s not affecting my agenda, dominating my calendar, making my choices, and shaping my plans. The remote should be controlled by Him.

“Awake. O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” (Eph. 5:14)…”We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” (I Thess.5:5,6) . Let’s get out from under the power of the anesthesia and into a well-lit recovery room!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: Give Him the Remote

Posted on January 19, 2017

It’s a daily challenge to be in this world and yet remain insulated from its spiritually destructive components. I cannot imagine going through a day without having to constantly remind myself of what conversations, media and relationships are appropriate for somebody who’s following Jesus and what Philippians 4:8 would filter out for me. I want His word to always be the filter in the nitty-gritty decisions of everyday living. I think sometimes it’s easy for me to say the big things like “I would give my life for Christ,” or “My favorite book is the Bible” or “Growing in Christ is my number one goal,” but it’s the all-day-long difficult and specific choices that make or break my big easily stated commitments.I don’t call into question the sincerity of somebody whose little choices don’t reflect the big professions of life. Sometimes I think we really do mean the big commitment statements found on our profiles on facebook. It’s just that the inconsistencies in the little decisions don’t sting because we’ve become environmentally and culturally anesthetized. What should really hurt us as His people doesn’t hurt at all because we’re breathing the fumes of the society in which we live. Once I accidentally made a pretty huge gash in my left hand; lots of blood and nausea, an eventual scar and a pain that was wretched.On another occasion a doctor made a similar gash in my foot to remove a piece of glass; lots of blood, a similar scar, but absolutely no pain. The difference was, of course, the presence of the anesthetic.

So how is it that we can sing “I am mine no more, I’ve been bought with blood,’ or “Purer in heart O God, help me to be,” or ” I surrender all” or “Lord take control,” and yet fail to even feel the sting of the destructive media influences that are in direct opposition to the themes we’ve stated for our lives? I think we just don’t feel the pain that should accompany spiritual wounds because we are anesthetized by the culture in which we live. As the world becomes more and more ungodly, we are lulled into a kind of comfortable moral drowsiness that makes us unaware of the effects of the tools in the hands of the devil. We find ourselves laughing at all kinds of wickedness as it is digitally welcomed into our living rooms, bedrooms and dorm rooms. We can listen to vulgarity and profanity and hardly be aware we’ve heard them even as they work to erode the values that we’ve professed all along. Pretty soon we start thinking through our days about the drama or the hilarity of some episode that really was pretty far removed from the “I want to grow in Christ” thesis through which we intended to filter our choices. We start talking about things that are in the Galatians 5:19-21 list with the same nonchalant tone with which we would talk about the weather.Without even really thinking about it, we spend more time concentrating on the works of the flesh as portrayed by Hollywood than we do in Bible study or prayer. Pretty soon, the gap between what we profess and our practical focus is a chasm.Perhaps we find that in our entertainment choices, we sometimes “rejoice in iniquity.” Perhaps we even encourage others to violate their consciences by encouraging them to love what God would identify as abomination. In short, we’ve just become numb to the sorrow we should feel as his children at the presence of sin in our media choices. The devil wants to devour us and he is much more successful when we start failing to feel the pain of the lion’s tenons and teeth.

It’s been helpful for me to constantly remember and repeat the phrase “Entertainment is optional.” Being “optional” means it’s not a requirement for life. It means it’s not absolutely necessary. In fact retaining entertainment in my life is probably less necessary than retaining my limbs or my eyesight. But Jesus said if your eye or your hand offends you, just get rid of it rather than allowing it to cause the loss of your soul. I can go to heaven without ever turning on the television, but I can’t go to heaven if I’m not “abstaining from the very appearance of evil.” (I Thess.5:22)

Matthew 6: 33 is not too difficult to understand when it comes to this abstinence from the appearance of evil. It’s not hard to understand when I try to conform my thoughts to Philippians 4:8. Where it gets hard is not in my ability to comprehend its meaning. It means when I have choices in optional matters I am going to make sure my allegiance is first to His kingdom and righteousness. Where it gets hard is in my willingness to apply it all day long. It’s difficult while I am watching the episode to stop and ask, “Am I seeking righteousness when I put this stuff into my head?” It’s difficult to just pick up the remote and say “I choose to seek first His righteousness.”

So many times, I can look back and know full well that a particular decision was completely out of alignment with the BIG profession I have made for my life. Those times are my biggest regrets. I want to adjust the practical part of my Christianity, because Christ can’t remain in my heart if He’s not affecting my agenda, dominating my calendar, making my choices, and shaping my plans. The remote should be controlled by Him.

 

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Sister to Sister: Fifty Shades: Five Excuses…Ten Reasons

Posted on February 16, 2015

Unknown-7Shocking is what it is to absorb the conversations among some of those who wear the name of Christ…women who see nothing wrong with being entertained by the erotica fiction of the 2011 romance novel and the new movie, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I do not have to read the books or see the movies to know that Christian women have no business anywhere near the “Grey” zone. Here are five of the top excuses for partaking in the evil of a blatantly pornographic form of entertainment:

  1. “It’s literature…a literary phenomenon.” Yes. It is. The original book has sold over 100 million copies, making in excess of 95 million dollars for the author. A sad commentary on our culture.
  2. “Just because I watch it doesn’t mean it will affect my behavior or my thinking.” Studies have already been done. One at Michigan State University found that women who have read the book are more likely to have abusive partners, be binge drinkers, and participate in unsafe sex, and eating disorders. I’m not sure if women who do these things are more likely to love the movie or the other way around. But, either way, the study results, in themselves, wave a big red flag to people of morality. It’s like the Good Book says: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
  3. “I’m just curious.” You could follow the link below if you’re curious about the content. My friend, Tom Holland used to say “You don’t have to stick your head in a trash can to know what trash is.” You will, for the sake of curiosity, put some images in your head that are not erasable.
  4. “I want to make our sex life better.” Would you like for your husband to work to make your sex life better by watching pornographic videos? Perhaps he does. If so, how does that feel to you? Besides, pornography does not enhance sex in the long run. It destroys relationships and cheapens what God has sanctified. The trump card is that it’s a clear violation of God’s commands. (Matthew 5:28; Titus 2:3-5)
  5. “It’s fun.” At least you’re being honest on this one. Sin is selfishly pleasurable in the short term. Satan loves this reason and, truth be told, it’s probably the reason we make up all the other excuses to sin.

And here are ten of the top reasons you should stay away from “Fifty Shades.”

  1. BDSM. If you do not know what that is, you may be fortunate. It is “Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism, Masechism, all of which are strong thematic elements in the movie. It is a portrayal of a perverted attraction to an extremely sexually abusive man who keeps Ana, the main female character, in sexual bondage using abuse, expensive gifts and confidentiality agreements.
  2. Your money. Do you really want your movie/book dollars to be included in the 95 million-plus that E.L. James has made/is making from her self termed “expression of a mid-life crisis”? Do you think God is pleased with that sort of stewardship?
  3. Christ is coming back. Do you want to be reading/watching “Fifty Shades of Grey” when He does return? And, if not, then are you okay with Him seeing you read/watch from His seat beside the throne?
  4. Your children. This movie is phenomenally huge. The book, sadly, has become the #1 seller in the world. The book has also now surpassed Harry Potter as the fastest selling paper back. It became the first book ever to sell  more than a million copies on Amazon Kindle.  James was named by Forbes as the 2013 best selling author in the world. Your children, even if they are small or not yet born, will likely one day hear about this book and ask if you have read/seen “Fifty Shades”. Do you really want them to know that you have? If so, you are not the kind of parent I’d hope you want to be. You should love your children enough already to be protective of your influence over them. (Kids have a way of thinking that, no matter what it is, if Mom and Dad have done it, it must not be too bad.)
  5. The rating. The film has an R rating for strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity, and for language. Christians cannot claim ignorance as they go to see “Fifty Shades.” We have been fairly warned. And when the movie industry puts out a rating because content will be offensive to some audiences, which audiences do you think those would be?…Christians, maybe?
  6. The woman who wrote the books (i.e. thought up the perversions of plot and sexuality) is also working as a producer of the movie. The movie promises not to be better or tamer than the book.
  7. The male lead in the movie, Jamie Dornan, actually visited a sex dungeon in preparation for his role as Christian Grey. Right. This is for Christians?!
  8. Producers are also planning a release of an NC-17 version of the movie, which will include more of the sexual content. (hard to believe there could be more.) They are doing it because   “the fans want it dirty.” Do you want to be a part of such a fan base?
  9. Evangelism: Do you believe, should your lost friends know about your viewing of the movie, that it would enhance or damage your ability to bring them to a life of purity in Christ? Which?
  10. Scriptures. Commands. Just a couple, though numerous ones come to mind. Philippians 4:8 Whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report. If anything is virtuous or worthy of praise, think on these things.” Imagine these words appearing at the bottom of the movie screen during a trailer of “Fifty Shades.” Would those words “fit” there? Would they, in any sense, be descriptive of this movie? What about I Thessalonians 5:22?—“Abstain from the very appearance of evil.”  This book…this movie, my sister friends, is evil come to your community.

Information obtained from www.covenanteyes.com/…/50-fast-facts–fifty–shades-grey/.