Help with movies.

I just want to quote some scripture that you should read and interpret. These words God uses highlight the importance of what we see with our eyes. Be very careful.

Matthew 6:22-23

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

Psalm 101

I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
with a blameless heart.
I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.
I hate what faithless people do;
I will have no part in it.
The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.
Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,
I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
I will not tolerate.
My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.
Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the Lord.

You'll often see the gospel story portrayed over and over again in most movies. It's a theme that runs through the whole creation and authors can't help expressing it, though they may be unaware of it's true significance. Obviously it's usually masked in filth and occult references but it's still there hidden below the surface.

I find certain movies helpful as analogies and reference points for the non believer. I just went and watched an oldee last night called Contact. Was listening to something William Lane Craig was explaining in a lecture recently and he used this movie as a reference. Obviously I had no idea what he was talking about and the analogy was lost on me.

Be careful that you don't remove yourself from society completely, it's a fine line you have to tread but being aware of popular culture can help us point out the gospel truths that lay below the muck.

On the other hand watching something like inappropriate content for example serves no benefit but to gratify your own lust usually to the detriment of others for example the women who serve these beastmasters.

Lastly if movies are an idol for you, you should learn to let go, you and God are the only ones who know the truth of this statement. Ask him to search your heart and help you overcome

There are some good movies with Christian themes on Netflix. We watched one the other day called "The Encounter".

In Philippians 4:8 it says:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.


I know this scripture looks at our thought life but what we are watching influences our thinking too. Honour God with what you watch.. Watch content that aims to honour God.

This is a touchy subject. We want to do what's right in God's eyes, but we don't want to be trapped by excessive legalism and thinking that we can win God's favor by "being good enough".

My advice is to get closer to God via prayer and meditation on His Word every single day. I've found that, the more you submit to Him, and the more you fill your heart with Him, the more sensitive you'll become to things that offend the Holy Spirit who lives within you. If you find that something in a movie makes you sort of "wince" internally, chances are, you need to pay attention to that warning. Whether it's a scene of violence or profanity or nudity or what-have-you.

There's nothing wrong with asking yourself "Would I watch this if Jesus were sitting next to me?" .. because in essence, He is there with you, all the time. It's hard to let go of our favorite forms of entertainment, but we're a pretty spoiled generation if we're honest with ourselves. Tossing out some movies or music or video games might make us feel sulky and irritable, but it's worth it for your soul's welfare in the end.

Last night I heard someone say that they had a cult experience in their past, and it only took them two weeks to be convinced to join up.

None of us wants to think we will be that influenced, but we are.

On violence, there is much of it in the Bible, so notice that realities of life are not wrong to observe -- but what you do with that can be wrong. Living in fear or revenge can be detrimental. Being in the constant state of readiness can be harmful, so too much action doesn't give your body or mind a chance to rest and recoup.

Try to get a sense of the writer's agenda from the previews. Are they twisting justice, will people be treated poorly, will values be off kilter, will violence be glorified? Are there certain actors in it that always tend to be in harmful movies? (Ones that you feel conflicted about.)

Think about what comes to mind when you see each actor's name on a cast list:

Bruce Willis
Tommy Chong
Julianna Moore
Cameron Diaz
Will Smith
Adam Sandler
Morgan Freeman
Owen Wilson
Mickey Rourke
Vin Diesel
Jerry Stiller

...and then there's the Arnold.

They might be typecast, but they also make choices about which scripts they accept, and how they will interpret their roles. You get a sense of what the message will be like before you go to the movie, based on the way they express their values.

There are inflated heroes, slackers, scoffers, wavering convictions, disdain for people groups... lots of things behind the violence.