This week, we continued our series called “WHY?” by talking about why the media we listen
to or watch matters. Some Christians have been historically strict when it
comes to what people do for entertainment. It used to be that some Christians would say that you've committed an unforgivable sin if you played a game of cards (because it was related to gambling) or entered a movie theatre. When I was a teen, there was this huge Christian movement that involved burning cds and cassettes because the lyrics of those albums were all about partying, drinking, sleeping around, and being on the "Highway to Hell". This
isn't just stuff that happened decades ago- just a few years ago, some Christians were boycotting Harry Potter novels because they thought it would
cause kids to LITERALLY start messing with witchcraft. So,
what was the reason for all of those boycotts? Why do Christians tend to be so
strict about the shows and movies we watch, the music we listen to or the
clicks we make on the Internet?
1. GOD WANTS US TO LIVE
DIFFERENT
The
good news of the Bible is that God loves us, and as the ultimate parent, he
doesn’t want to see us make decisions that might wreck our lives. He
doesn’t want us to do stuff that will put up a big wall in between of the
relationship he wants to have with us. He doesn’t want us to live with tons of
regrets because of the mistakes we’ve made. The
Bible says that when we choose to do what we want instead of the things that
God wants for us, that’s sin—and it’s a problem. Everytime
we sin it’s like we’re taking a step farther away from the God who loves us,
and there’s a lot of danger in us becoming lost (where we’ve gone so far away
that we just shut God entirely out of our lives). Now,
the good news, is that because God loves us and wants us to be tight with him,
he did something crazy and miraculous—even though none of us deserves it--he
offers us forgiveness and a brand new start, a do-over, through what Jesus did
on the cross! And even if we mess up a million times, he just keeps on offering
us forgiveness.
But
here’s the deal- when God SAVES us from sin and forgives us for all of the ways
we’ve messed up- he doesn’t want us to just head right back in and do the same
things all over again. There’s this word in the Bible called REPENTANCE. To
Repent means to TURN AWAY FROM SIN and make some better life decisions. As Christians, there are probably some things in the media that we might need to turn away from- things that can pollute us or dirty us up.God doesn’t want us to watch porn-
something that’s a click away and can become an addiction, destroy real
relationships, fuels modern slavery, and changes the way we see &
relate to other people. He
probably doesn’t want us to listen to music that is misogynistic (violent
towards women and treating them like objects). He
probably doesn’t want us to watch movies where people are being tortured and
dismembered, full of sex scenes or where the F-Bombs are flying faster than
Superman! The
media that we absorb does have the ability to change the way we think and feel
about the world, and it can sometimes even leave us feeling just dirty and
shameful- and God doesn’t want that kind of life for us.
Phillipians
4:8 says, “My
brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is
noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If
anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things”.
Maybe
those cd burning Christians and strict moms took things a bit far, but they had
their hearts in the right place. We’re encouraged here to think about, to
watch, to listen to things that are NOBLE (decent, moral), RIGHT, and PURE. Does
the media that you enjoy fit in those categories?
2 BE A CRITICAL THINKER
There’s
this verse in the Bible that I like to call the MEDIA verse. It’s the movie verse! It’s the Internet verse! It’s the Music verse! Psalm 101:2-3 is part of
a prayer that King David prayed (by the
way—David was a guy who essentially looked at porn and then had an affair with
a married woman and then KILLED her husband—but ultimately he found
forgiveness, although it still screwed up his life and family).
“In my own
home I will lead a life that is without blame. I won’t look at anything that is
evil and call it good”.
David
is saying here that when he was alone, when he bored, when he was looking for
entertainment, he wanted to make right choices and not dig into stuff that was
evil and say that it was ok.
I don't want to give anybody a list with good movies on one side and bad movies on the
other side. I’m not interested in telling people what they should do when it comes
to what they watch or what they listen to….but what I AM interested in doing is
helping teens become CRITICAL THINKERS. Critical
thinking is the “objective analysis and
evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment”. It means thinking
about the pros and cons about something before you do it. If your friend is
doing cliff diving and encourages you to do it, you’re going to weigh the pros
and cons and think about the possible risks, you might even examine what’s at
the bottom, before just jumping off. Each
of us needs to really think about the things you watch or listen to before you press
play. That’s the kind of thing that makes God proud.
Not
too long ago a friend of mine (who isn’t a Christian) was surprised that I
hadn’t watched a particular R rated movie. He said, “Why not? I mean, you’re an ADULT!” and I told him that just because
I had the ability and freedom to do something, it doesn’t mean that thing is ok
for me or would make God stand up and cheer! In
1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul is writing to a group of Christians who were messing
with sin and saying it was ok, and he said this to them- “You say, "I am allowed to do
anything"--but not everything is good for you.”. God has given us the freedom to do whatever we want with our
lives—but that doesn’t mean that everything we do is actually good for us! Some
of that stuff will mess us up and affect us for years down the road if we don’t
think about it and make some tough choices. We need to trust that God doesn't want to ruin our lives, but that he really does know and want what's best for us.
-So,
here are some good questions you can ask to help you be a better critical
thinker.
-Does the
media conflict with my faith values? Is it moral, right or pure? Would you
watch or listen to it with your grandma in the room?
-What’s the
message the music/movie is conveying? It is communicating a healthy worldview?
-Is it
something that could possibly be bad for my emotional, physical or spiritual
health? What does the Bible say about it?
-Does it
make me feel dirty or distant from God?
-Will it
pull me farther away from God and what he wants for my life or would it make
him proud?
-Is it
addictive?
There’s ALWAYS going to be stuff that you’re going to have to overlook
because almost EVERYTHING on tv, the movies and the Internet is jam packed
with stuff that’s contrary to the Christian faith. Even in PG movies you’ll
have people swearing in Jesus’ name (which,
as someone who loves Jesus, always offends me). Some of that is stuff
you’ll have to overlook but you’ll also need to figure out where to draw the line
and determine for yourself how far is too far.
Some
practical things that I do (even as an adult) when I’m interested in watching a movie or TV
show are:
WHAT’S THE RATING?
I’ll
take a look at the rating. USUALLY an R-Rated movie is going to be jam packed
with crap and movies that are G or PG-13 generally have way less pollution. But
there are even cases where G rated movies are garbage. I brought my kids to the
movie SING and was shocked that the message in the movie was “Do whatever you can do—even if it’s
illegal- if it means that your dreams will come true”. Not exactly the best message.
IMDB
Another
thing I’ll do is that whenever I want to see a movie, I’ll hop on IMDB. When
you scroll down on a movie’s page you can click on the “Parents Guide” to see what content is in the movie—listing stuff
like profanity, sex, nudity and violence. There have been times where I’ve
really wanted to see a movie because it was about something like time travel or
space ships but when I checked out the Parent’s Guide it told me that there are
50 cases of someone using the F-bomb or it’s full of sex scenes, and those facts help inform my decision in whether I should watch it or not.
GOOGLE THE LYRICS
Anytime I’m thinking about buying a song or album, I ALWAYS take a look at the album lyrics. If the lyrics contain stuff that's contrary to my faith, I decide not to buy/listen to it. For example, I like Arcade Fire a lot and have a few of their albums—but
in their first album, they actually swear Jesus’ name a few times--- so I never
bought it, because it’s just not something I can bop my head to or sing along
with. It’s certainly not what I would want to play in the car with my kids.
Why do the things we watch or listen to matter? Because God wants us to turn from sin and not be entertained by it. Before you press play, ask yourself some of those
questions above to ensure that you're not building up a wall between you and God.
DISCUSSION FOR HOME
1. This week, if you're watching a movie as a family, take some time to ask some of these questions: What is the overall message of the movie? Is it good or bad? Why do you think so? Is there anything in the movie that would be opposite of how God wants us to live our lives?
2. If your teen listens to a lot of music, encourage them to do a project. Get them to google the lyrics of one of their favourite songs (or even one of the top songs on iTunes) and ask them to answer some of the questions about the song from the first discussion point. In my experience, teens are often amazed when they discover what some of their favourite songs are really about.
3. Encourage your teens that while some media is more obviously not the best thing to watch or listen to, and while you might have particular rules as their parent, they should also practice thinking for themselves to determine what movies/songs are about and whether or not the content in those things is spiritually healthy or unhealthy.
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