Watching A Movie with Evangelicals
A number of years ago I watched the movie Schindlers List with a group of friends.
One friend got up in the middle of the movie to fast forwarded the scene of Schindler and his wife making love. I am not sure if he realized that scene was a moment of beauty, healing and intimacy in the story. He did identify it as sex, and he apparently did not think that any of us should watch that type of behavior.
Oh yeah, that same friend did not have any problem “allowing” the group watch the violence and killing in the film.
That story is telling of how many of my fellow evangelicals deal with sex and violence.
Why do we think that sex on the screen is bad, but violence on the screen is good?
Many of us are sex resistant.We think that sex is inherently “dirty.”
Many of us embrace violence. We think that it is good to kill the “bad guys.”
Where does that approach lead us?
Studies show that evangelicals have the same sexual behavior as the rest of the country. Studies also show that we evangelicals are more supportive of violent force than the rest of the country.
Comparing Sex and Violence in the Scriptures
Sex is a powerful and good part of God’s creation. Once sin enters the world, there are times when sex is abused and tainted. However, sex within the proper context continues to be celebrated.
Violence does not exist in the biblical story until after sin enters the world. The first few times that we read of violence, the point is that sin has broken the world. God gave people the guidline “No Killing.” Anytime that violence is seen in the story it is either described as an act of evil or a response to evil. It is not a good thing. Jesus and His followers seem to go even further, telling and showing us that violence is not the right response to evil.
How shall we deal with sex and violence?
Do we evangelicals need to do a better job living out biblical sexuality? Yes!
We also need to be more consistent with how we address sin and morality. Specifically, we need to drastically readjust our views on violence. Scriptures call us to reject the glorification of violence.
May we lead our culture in support of peace, not violence.
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