Answers to Questions

Part of my surfing the past few weeks has been through "anti-emergent" websites that cry out against the changes they see in the church that are heretical, gnostic and faulty. One of the commenters posted the following question concerning entertainment choices, and I felt like I could at least share how I feel:

"Here's a question you could ask a ec leader but will rarely get an answer, 'What are your limits when it comes to how much of the world you will allow in to your life with respect to your entertainment choices? What do you tell the youth and kids in your church when it comes to engaging the world and making those kinds of choices'? If you even suggest there is compromise with them in that area, you watch, again you will be labelled legalistic."

i draw the line at anything that's pointless and exploitive. very little of the "hollywood machine" is worth my time, but occasionally a movie with otherwise questionable content will also nail it on a very deep and spiritual theme. "garden state" comes to mind - and "the big kahuna" with kevin spacey and danny devito is *the best ever movie on evangelism as marketing* even though it's laced with f-bombs and foul language. do i deny the truth in something because i don't like its presentation? that's what the pharisees accused Jesus of, eating with sinners and spending time with tax collectors. in places that were probably also replete with filthy language, Jesus was still holy.

thanks for asking - that's a really good question, because i don't think we've got a license to watch every movie just because we can (permissible vs. beneficial). at the same time, i don't think we have to turn the dial and miss out on a strong message when there's something disagreeable.