Yesterday on the Denison Forum, this post appeared on his daily article: “Why I refuse to see “Oppenheimer”—and you should, too”.
I had heard about the Christopher Nolan movie and its impressive weekend opening against “Barbie”, grossing $80.5 million dollars. It’s about the life of the brilliant scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped create the first atomic bomb.
Although Norma Jean and I don’t attend movies as often as we once did, Denison’s post assured me that we won’t be seeing this one.
Jim said that he and his wife Janet had seen the previews and were excited about seeing the movie until they learned that it includes “scenes with explicit sex and nudity.”
I checked and indeed “Oppenheimer” received an R rating for its graphic “sex scenes, prolonged full nudity,” and “strong language.” One reviewer on Movie Web raved about the movie and opined that “the presence of explicit sex scenes, talks of sexuality, and forceful language gives Oppenheimer an impressive edge…” Well, such is the view of the world.
Denison’s post reminds Christians about the importance of keeping our minds pure and our hearts holy. Watching any movie with explicit sex scenes does nothing to help us think on things that are pure, lovely, honorable, and virtuous (Phil. 4:8). Furthermore, such scenes have the potential to violate Jesus’ warning, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
Of course, warnings against lust in our permissive age are often laughed at and ridiculed as being outdated and old fashioned. I recall an account by Phillip Yancey, in his book “The Jesus I Never Knew,” about a Texas A&M professor, Virginia Owens, who assigned her students to write a short essay on the “Sermon on the Mount.” One student offered this critique. “The things asked in this sermon are absurd, To look at a woman is adultery. That is the most extreme, stupid, unhuman statement that I have ever heard.”
To the worldly minded the moral message of the Bible is both “extreme” and “stupid.” I suppose both posts from the Denison Forum and ThePreachersWord on this issue might sound extreme to some as well. However, if we are to take seriously the Biblical admonitions to holiness, righteousness and godliness it must apply to our choices of entertainment, the music we listen to and the movies we watch.
For those of my generation, we’ve witnessed a gradual erosion of what is generally accepted by society and specifically by too many Christians. We’ve come a long way from the days of watching a little TV in black and white with only 3 channels, to our days of cable and satellite TV with hundreds of channels. Movies that are rated “R” today, would have once been once been considered XXX.
Our societal shift reminds me of a quote from the 18th century British poet Alexander Pope from “An Essay on Man.”
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
We see things that shock us. Immodesty, immorality, indecency, and infidelity. But as we repeatedly see them, and they become ingrained in our culture, they don’t shock us anymore. We not only become accustomed to them, but in some situations find ourselves indulging in that which we once opposed and pitied.
The children’s song we sang last week in VBS may well in its simplicity and innocence, serve as a warning to adults about our viewing choices in movies and TV shows.
O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
Great point, Ken. And there was a time … Motion Picture Production Code (Adopted 1930)
The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. No film shall infer that casual or promiscuous sex relationships are the common thing … These [seduction and rape] should never be more than suggested, and then only when essential to the plot. They should never be shown explicitly … Crime shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime … Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail … Revenge, in modern times, shall not be justified … Mercy killing shall never be made to seem right or permissible … Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or emphasizing indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene … Laws – divine, natural or human – shall not be ridiculed.
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Thanks for sharing that Kent. That in itself is powerful. Not that I question you, but can you direct me to the source to verify that information?
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I am reading the book American Prometheus, about Robert Oppenheimer, and fortunately haven’t come across anything like that.
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Like you, I thought it would be a great movie. Then, I saw the rating. That will be a big NO for us.
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The Story of the Woman Trapped in Adultery was not originally included in the Gospel of John. According to GotQuestions.org the Story had circulated as Oral Tradition, but it was not included in the original Greek manuscripts. Perhaps the Greeks were offended with this story and thought it should not be told because it would implicate Jesus the Teacher of Israel as the Man who said to the PURE CLEAN wee little person called Zacchaeus in Hebrew…I must stay at your house today (Luke 19:1-5). The Story of Rahab, the Story of Bathsheba, the Shulamite of Song of Songs, the Story of Ruth and Boaz, the Story of the Anointing Woman contain sexually explicit concepts innocent little children do not often pick up on. The Book “The Harlot By the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible” is a book written By Jonathan Kirsch, a book critic. In this book Kirsch reveals the Bible as a book full of sex and violence and brings those stories to the attention of adult readers. In my view, keeping adults “little” and “pure” by keeping them in the dark and forbidding them stories of sex and violence, keeps the Light from coming and standing among those longing to see and touch the Bride of Christ, saying I AM the LIGHT, showing and telling them how and why Jesus comes and stands among them…in John 8:12, the very next verse after Jesus the TEACHER of ISRAEL, the RABBONI, says to the Woman Jesus Trapped …Go and Sin No More…before Jesus is lifted up by Simon the Cyrene (Mark 15:21) and securely attached to a BRANCH (Jeremiah [1:11] saw as an Amygdala) with the help of a silversmith while the disciples “watched” from a safe distance.
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Reblogged this on Linda Vogt Turner-Author, Faith Based Speaker: and commented:
In my view, keeping adults “little” and “pure” by keeping them in the dark and forbidding them stories of sex and violence, keeps the Light from coming and standing among those longing to see and touch the Bride of Christ, saying I AM the LIGHT, showing and telling them how and why Jesus comes and stands among them…in John 8:12, the very next verse after Jesus the TEACHER of ISRAEL, the RABBONI, says to the Woman Jesus Trapped …Go and Sin No More…before Jesus is lifted up by Simon the Cyrene (Mark 15:21) and securely attached to a BRANCH (Jeremiah [1:11] saw as an Amygdala) with the help of a silversmith while the disciples “watched” from a safe distance.
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Reblogged this on Preach The Text and commented:
As Christians, we have to be careful about the medial we consume (Ephesians 5:3) and we also need to be careful that we are not giving our approval of wickedness (Romans 1:32).
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I too think we need to be careful and aware of what media we watch. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ is full of violence and unbridled passion of those approving the wickedness of depicting Jesus struggling to breathe say…Father into your hands I commit my Spirit as a soldier rushes in to trust his spear in Jesus’ male side. Little children and people without a Christian Education, may fail to see or understand Good Friday as an event that “kills” puts an end to the tyranny of the Law that keeps the Spirit from illuminating the hands (the workers, the common Joes and Janes) of the Father. This tyranny of the Law which includes political, grammatical, and historical correctness kills the Spirit, and brutally whips, beats, stones and enslaves her and her children. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her children and the Dark has never overcome the Light.
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So how did and/or knows that millions of people committed adultery after seeing the movie?
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Millions of people committed adultery last weekend
Jesus was clear: “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). The same is true for women who look lustfully at men. According to Jesus, Oppenheimer caused millions of people to commit adultery over the weekend. For clarity and accuracy, how does he know that millions committed adultery last week? Making statements like this is far-fetched unless he is a fly on the wall, as only Jesus knows who, if any, did so. I am not saying explicit scenes are appropriate; they are not. Be careful, Jim, in making statements like these when no foundation of truth can be established.
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Amen Ken and Mr. Dennison 🙂
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