Is it okay for Christians to watch R-rated movies?
Hi, welcome to today's little lesson.
This is another special Burma edition, as I sit high above the former capital city of
Yangon, in my hotel room here.
Today's question comes from a viewer who wants to know what is and what is not appropriate
for a Christian to be watching as far as movies are concerned, and we might as well throw
TV shows in there.
Now, they rate TV shows nowadays too, and they should.
The people who are rating them, obviously, have some criteria as to what is more or less
offensive to potential viewers, and we know that if there is vulgarity, then they give
it a certain rating.
It's not for general audiences, not for young children, and if it's got sexual content,
you know, the rating goes up to PG or PG-13.
If the sexual content becomes even more graphic, or the violence and so forth, you know, you're
onto the R rating.
So, we know that the scriptures don't tell us anything about movie ratings, so we're
going to have to go by basic principles, basic biblical principles here, to try to answer
this question.
One scripture that comes to my mind, first off, is the fact that the Psalmists prayed,
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh
God."
That shows that God cares about what we're meditating on, what we're thinking.
Remember, he's the one that invented our brains.
He wants us to think and he knows what it's best for us to think about and what is best
not to think about.
You know, he knows what we're thinking, so that is a realm of his domain which he has
the right to legislate, because he's God, so let's not think that our thoughts belong
purely to ourselves and we can do whatever we want in our brains.
We need to be thinking about what is acceptable in God's eyes, for us to be dwelling upon.
And of course, when you watch movies and TV shows, you're giving your mind over to that
story, over to those people, to plan thoughts there for a long time.
You say, "Well, what could be the harm in that?"
Well, there can be great harm in that.
Advertisers, you know, pay millions of dollars just for seconds of time, because they know
they're going to influence people and they're going to change their behavior to buy things
that they wouldn't have otherwise bought.
Okay, so putting yourself into a movie theater for two hours, or in front of the TV for an
hour or two, it can have major ramifications in what you think, and then ultimately, in
your behavior.
The moral slide, across the world, but I'm most familiar with the United States, over
the last few decades, I'm sure has a lot to do with the fact that Hollywood has presented
as normal things that God says are immoral.
Even the heroes in the movies and TV shows are sexually immoral people, and you know,
that's become thought of as okay now.
It can't be wrong because the good guys are doing it.
All right, so I'm thinking of a scripture that has a great bit to say about what we
should be thinking, and I brought my little baby Bible here with me.
This is a great filter for us to be thinking about before we watch any movie, any TV show.
Are you ready?
Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever's of good repute, if there's any
excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
Wow.
So much for the movie ratings.
That's quite a rating right there.
Now, I know what someone's going to say.
They're going to say, "Well, you know, the Bible talks about some pretty bad things.
David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and there's wars, and killing, and you know, violence
in the Bible, and so forth.
Well, we've got people running around outside naked, right?
In the very first couple chapters of the Bible," but you've got to admit that there is a difference
between reading a sentence in the Bible that says, you know, "They were naked and not ashamed,"
or, "David committed adultery with Bathsheba," and watching, you know, a real filming that
goes on for minutes or longer, of two actual people, on a huge screen, performing ... you
know, engaged in some kind of sexual activity.
There is a difference, and so is also true with the violence and so forth.
It's so much more graphic when it's in a movie or on a TV show than what you're reading in
the Bible, and of course, the Bible always condemns immorality and sin.
It doesn't glorify it, like these movies and TV shows so often do.
So, you know, those are things to think about before you decide what's good to watch, and
what's acceptable to watch, and what the Lord would have you watch, and remember, the Lord
loves us, you know?
He knows what's best for us, and he wants us to be blessed, so we got to take his directives
when it comes to what our thoughts ... what we should be meditating on.
Great question that has been asked, "Would you watch that movie or that TV show if Jesus
were sitting there beside you?"
And that is a great litmus test, but guess what?
Jesus may not be sitting beside you, but it's even ... well, he is in a sense.
He's in you, if you're a believer, by the Holy Spirit, and Paul asked the question one
time, "Should I take the temple of the Holy Spirit and join it to a harlot, a prostitute?"
Well, the answer, of course, is no.
You would never do that to the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Well, shall we subject Jesus to watching this garbage on TV, and this garbage in a movie
theater?
You know, something to think about, so I don't think we should necessarily be all wrapped
up in determining which ratings of movies are okay and not okay.
I think that we should go by biblical criteria regarding what's pure, what's right, what
edifies, you know?
And there are some great things to watch.
I like, personally myself, movies that are redemptive, that something good happens to
somebody that things weren't going so good for, because they made a right decision, and
that is inspiring to me, to follow a good example, but I don't want to watch stuff that
God hates, and I don't want to hear people take God's name in vain.
I don't want to be a part of supporting, financially, something that's causing lots of people to
stumble, because we know that Jesus warned about lust, for example, in very strong terms,
and who would deny the fact that the graphic sexuality in the media today isn't fueling
lust, that is destroying lives and hurting a lot of people, okay?
God loves us.
That's why he tells us these things and warns us against these things.
All right, I'm out of time.
Thanks for joining me in Burma.
God bless.