Archive - April 25, 2013

After the play, I interviewed the two leading ladies. One of my questions was, “What message do you think the audience left with?”

They said, “We’ve actually talked about that a lot. We think they just laugh.”

Kevin and I, however, discussed the moral lessons during the ten minute drive back home.

The plot of the play, or at the nutshell version, goes like this. Groom wakes up on his wedding day lying next to a woman in bed who is not his wife – more so  he does not so much as remember her name. We later discover that she is his best man’s girlfriend. After an hour of lying to one another in order to prevent the bride from discovering that he slept with someone else and also to make certain the best man doesn’t discover it was with his girlfriend, the play unravels in the last sixty seconds. The bride marries the best man and the groom marries this other woman.

All’s well that ends well. Or is it?

I’ve been thinking about entertainment all week. I know that I don’t fill my head with Scripturally-based messages with every movie I watch or book I read. But I am able to point out the messages that contradict Scripture and am able to explain why I disagree with them.

As a Christian who majored in English, I will readily tell you that I have read books with characters searching for whatever spiritual truth they could grasp or even create. I have not agreed with every character, just like I don’t agree with every person in real life. But we need to be able to communicate.

Here are a few of my personal thoughts to keep in mind when confronting culture:

1. The journey matters. This play clearly taught that as long as everyone ended up with a partner at the end, all was forgiven. Suddenly, no one cared that they had been cheated on and lied to. Fidelity in words and actions matter. Luke 16:10 reminds us that whoever is faithful in small things will also be faithful in the large things. Often, we are too focused on the big things in life. We think, “if only God made us millionaires, we would give all the money to missionaries and charities!” Or, “if only God would let me be the teacher, I would read and pray harder than ever!” God is not promising to give us these “big things.” Instead, we need to practice faithfulness throughout our daily walk.

2. We can never shut off our brain. As much as I want to say that watching a television show where everyone is living however they please does not affect me, I am allowing those thoughts to creep in. I am allowing a sinful lifestyle to become the norm. And not just the norm, but a common place matter that is so trivial we can laugh at.

3. Be careful what you recommend. I love to completely lose myself in a well-crafted fiction book. This year, I have completely enjoyed two recently released books. And yet, I don’t recommend them to everybody. Before you open your mouth to say, “Oh yeah, you should see that movie” you should consider the person’s background and personality. Even if  a book is marketed toward young adults, and even if I thoroughly enjoyed it, I may not tell a high school girl that she should read it. Books force emotional reactions from the reader that not everyone understands. It makes me think of Paul in 1 Corinthians 8. He says that he will stop eating meat if it makes a brother stumble (see context). In the same way, if I know a person isn’t strong in their faith, I’m not going to recommend they read a book whose main character also doubts the authority of God. I don’t want the book, or my recommendation, to cause them to drift further from the truth.

Not everything has to be “Christian.” But our minds and hearts must always focus on Christ. We cannot allow the pleasures of this world to take heart in our minds.