Everything Pure (Part 1)

I like movies. There is nothing for it. Every week I spend time watching movies that I could be spending on other, more constructive things. I'm sure we all do. I have been thinking a lot lately about positive and negative aspects of this pass-time. I could beat around the bush and go on about how I come to thinking about these things, but I would rather get right to a simple question: What movies are okay, and what movies are sinful?

This is quite a large can of worms to be opening up all at once. If you are anything like me, you don't like opening it in the first place, because it could lead you to the conclusion that your favorite movie of all time is actually sinful to watch. I can't help it. I think about everything.

What kind of movies do you like? I don't know about you, but I like the scary ones. There is almost unfailingly bad language and gory deaths in the movies I like. I make great efforts to avoid the ones with sexual content in them. For me, if I walk out of that theatre looking over my shoulder to make sure no rabid monsters are chasing me, I have thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I have no problem with the scary part. If I, or anyone for that matter, feel like getting scared for fun, I see nothing wrong with it. It is the language and death that make me think. Is it really okay to watch seventeen people die bloody deaths through the course of a movie? Does God give no thought to the foul language used by the characters every two minutes?

Let's start with the language. Is it wrong to watch a movie with swearing? Most Christians would say yes, it is. I guess I could be counted in the "I have an opinion, but I'm liable to change it" list. What is in a word? A better worded question is what is the significance of a word. If I were to run up to you and shout "fire", what would cross your mind? More than likely you would picture a house burning down, and possibly become concerned, depending if I sounded serious or not. The significance of the word is what it means to you. It is significant because it conveys the message I am trying to get across to you. A word is a method of communicating a thought, idea, or an emotion to the listener. Beyond the implication, or meaning, the rest is simply grammatical context and a few letters.

What if I ran up to you, shouted "You're stupid, get away from me!" in your face, and walked away? What would cross your mind? You would probably be seriously offended, upset, and angry at me for being so rude. Why? Because I conveyed to you a message that was hurtful, cruel, and uncalled for. I offended you, and you would have a right to be mad. What about the word? Did the word "stupid" have anything to do with it? Some might say yes, but consider an alternative to my approach. What if, in the same scenario previously mentioned, I walked up to you and calmly said "You lack any form of intelligence, and can do nothing right. I do not like you, and want nothing to do with you. Good day." Would you feel any different than when I shouted the word "stupid"? Probably not. I conveyed the same message, simply through different means.

I am riding my bicycle at 20 mile per hour, and suddenly realized that I am about to run a poor, unsuspecting old lady over and have no time to react. I shout "Oh my goodness!" and plow into the lady. Setting aside the poor, injured senior citizen, would anyone call me a bad person for shouting "Oh my goodness"? Of course not! I was surprised! What if I had shouted "Oh shit!"? Then would people be offended? Of course they would, but why? I conveyed the same message, simply using different means. Instead of shouting about my goodness I shouted about poop. Sure, poop is disgusting, but is there anything inherently wrong with it? Not really; everyone does it. Some people are disgusted by throwing up, and "puke" is not a bad word. If I had used the word in reference to you, that would be a different story. I would once again be conveying a hurtful message, which is wrong.

I concur, then, that it is the meaning behind any given word that makes it inherently "bad" or "good". If you start condemning certain letter combinations it becomes a bit legalistic in my humble opinion. It is merely the spirit behind the word that is evil, because a word, in and of itself is inanimate. It can be neither good nor evil.

What then? Am I condoning a foul mouth? Certainly not! (I thought I'd go for a bit of a Pauline feel there.) Many people, in fact most people are offended by swearing. I am one of those people if it is done in extreme excess. However, as I said before, can the words themselves be bad? Not really.

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall." --Rom. 14:19-21

Food was the example Paul chose to use. It was the controversy of the day. Foul language may be compared to it. There is inherently nothing wrong with the words, but the affect they have on other people, especially Christians, is negative, and it then becomes a sin. This, I would say, makes it wrong in almost any case for a Christian. Further, if your parents tell you not to swear and you do, it is a sin. Most of our parents would tell us not to.

There are, however, certain words that I believe are unfit for conversation. Any foul word that is affiliated with sexuality or sex organs is unfit for normal conversation. This is what I believe the Bible defines as course talk.

In movies, for the most part I see nothing wrong with language. The people on the screen are saying the words, not you. If you are offended by them, don't watch the movie. Problem solved. If you are prone to repeating what you hear, it is probably best to keep away from the exposure. One could argue that the character is using the words with the wrong spirit behind them, thus making them wrong. This is true, but if you think thus, I suggest avoiding any movie in which people talk when they are angry. It is the spirit, not the words. You will find a sinful spirit behind many "innocent" words in any movie you watch. It is exactly the same thing.

In conclusion, then, I would encourage you by saying that if you have ever said a "bad" word, as long as your spirit was right and you didn't offend anyone, I seriously doubt you sinned. How much less a sin is it then to simply hear the words? If the script of a movie you choose to watch contains foul language, I wouldn't worry too much about it, as long as you are okay with it personally.

This concludes Part one of my three part post entitled "Everything Pure". In the next post I will cover the issue of graphic and/or pervasive violence, and in the final section I will take an over-all look at it from a strictly biblical viewpoint. Who knows? I might change my own mind. Only time and much thought will tell.