Movies have a powerful effect on our emotions. They stir our feelings. They alter our moods. Their vivid images and sounds captivate us. They lead us to feel ways we otherwise would not. Sometimes these ways are good, but often they are not. In fact, movies often stir us up over trivial things. They cause us to feel good about bad things and to feel bad about good things when we throw our minds into neutral.
Have you ever watched a show that made you sad? What was the sadness about? Do you turn off your ability of moral discernment, watch a movie, and end up crying without thinking about why you are crying? The movie may be about a woman in a miserable marriage who finds true "love" with another man. Yet the other man dies before they can really be together. Hollywood movie makers are experts in getting you to feel sorry for the woman. But the truth is that she had no right to be with the other man, and you have no right to feel sorry for her! Satan has steered your feelings in the wrong direction!
What about anger? Have you ever watched a movie that made you angry, but you didn't ask yourself why you felt angry? Perhaps the film presented good, conservative parents in such a negative way that you became angry at them in spite of Ephesians 6:1. It may have presented a preacher as an ignorant, prejudiced person and given the impression that all preachers are like him. At the same time, the movie may picture people who do wrong in such a favorable way that you excuse their sins. Satan has deceived you again. He has you cheering for the bad guy and criticizing the good!
It is good to laugh about the right thing. But do you laugh at crude, disrespectful, and even vulgar things because you have been lulled into moral sleep by a movie? If you do, Satan has succeeded again through his servants. At the same time, how often does a movie move you to laugh about a good thing?
Fear is a natural human emotion. Just about all of us have watched movies when we were young that scared us to death. Then we later came to our senses and recognized that the things we were scared about didn't even exist. But have you noticed movies that often try to persuade you not to be afraid of things you should fear the devil, sin, and hell? Films often encourage us to take serious matters lightly and to take light matters seriously. The devil wins again.
I wonder if we realize how much our emotions are manipulated intentionally by film makers and musicians. I wonder if the reason church members seem to have little emotional energy and little zeal in their spiritual life is because they spend it all at the movies. Feelings are a powerful force in our lives, but they must be tempered and guided by reason and truth. If we give the reins of our feelings to film makers, writers, and musicians, we will be twisted in our hearts. And this temptation is not peculiar to our age. Long before the high tech movies of today people went to theaters to be entertained. It is interesting that for almost 2,000 years concerned people have warned about the dangers of the theater. Tertullian (145-220 A.D.) condemned "the father who carefully protects his virgin daughter's ears from polluting words" yet "takes her to the theater himself, exposing her to all its vile words and attitudes."[1] Pascal (1623-1662) said, "All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than the theater."[2] He observed the power of drama: "It is a representation of the passions so natural and so delicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in our hearts, and, above all, to that of love."
Be careful about what you see and hear. These things can have a powerful effect on you. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (I Cor. 15:33) .It is good to relax, but don't let your moral and spiritual guard down while you relax. "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil" (I Thess. 5:21). "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom" (Col. 3:16), and "be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2).
[1] Tertullian, De Spectaculis, ch. 21
[2] Blaise Pascal, The Harvard Classics: Thoughts, p. 13.
(bulletin of the Northeast Church of Christ, Cookeville, TN; Vol. 23, 12/17/2000)This item originally appeared in bulletin, Northeast Church of Christ, Cookeville, TN (12/17/2000)
