Movies as Spiritual Vehicles
Category: Faith...
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 02:42 PM [GMT-6]

Jared over at Mysterium Tremendum takes exception (as I knew he would) with my observations regarding the movie reviews I found on the website of a church located in San Francisco.

Jared has forgotten more about movies than I'll ever know, and writes eloquently about them, as well as about matters of spirituality. Regardless of which side of the issue you find yourself on, his comments are worth reading. (Doesn't make him right, but that's beside the point. ;-)

I don't think I can add anything to this discussion; dropping a match in the gasoline and running like crazy is what I do best. But I would like to apologize to the particular church in question if I gave the impression that I was dismissing its overall effectiveness because of this relatively minor issue. The issue itself can generate some interesting discussion about the role of Christians in society and culture, but it's certainly not a bellwether for a church's legitimacy.

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Comments

Thanks for the plug.

I try not to be so concerned with people thinking I'm right. But I admit I tend to take it personally when someone, even innocently, harshly criticizes something I endorse. I take even greater offense when other people assert such things are "worldly." It seems to me they have little grasp of what the Bible means when it calls something "worldly."

Yeah, yeah -- it's all about Christian liberty. I tire of the insinuation of licentiousness on my part, as if the entire world MUST adhere to someone's personal areas of weakness.
But that's a rant for another day . . .

Thanks for your kind words.

Posted by: Jared at October 28, 2003 03:09 PM

I tire of the insinuation of licentiousness on my part

Well, now that you mention it, I've been meaning to bring up your penchant for cigars... ;-)

Posted by: Eric at October 28, 2003 03:15 PM

Heh.
Well, if you call smoking about 7 cigars (total) a year a "penchant," flame away! ;-)

Posted by: Jared at October 28, 2003 03:25 PM

7!? Son, the universe was created in just 6 days! So, that's more cigars than God needed days. Tremble at the implications...

[Obligatory smilie: ;-)]

Posted by: Eric at October 28, 2003 03:29 PM

Hmmm. And here I thought 7 was the number of perfection.
Maybe it'd be more biblical if I smoked one a day every day but refrained on Sundays. Yeah, that's what I'll tell the wife!

Posted by: Jared at October 28, 2003 04:41 PM

Well, I guess I'm just a bad Christian, because I think that "ungodly" is a pretty good description of most things Hollywood puts out today, and that Christians ought to avoid ungodliness.

If someone is running a "ministry" that is all about evaluating movies in light of what scripture says, I'm all in favor of that, but I think the result of such a ministry would be that more Christians wind up _avoiding_ movies because they'd be identified as ungodly.

Posted by: Robert Williams at October 29, 2003 10:31 AM
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