As Christians, what are we allowed to enjoy? It’s a complex
question that many theologians have tried to answer… with little agreement. In
my mind, this is not really an esoteric theological question, but a question of
practical everyday living. The question of what entertainment is biblical
encompasses movies, music, video games, books, and really anything that you do
to unwind and relax.
Well, as someone who has had a background as a skeptic, I’m
always suspicious when a brother in Christ tells me that I shouldn’t be looking
at something. As a child of the Enlightenment, I try to acquire new information
about our world and different ways of looking at things. Now, I still have a
Christian worldview, but if we’re afraid of challenging ideas, then how can we
say that Christianity is really true in the first place?
It’s with this in mind that I suggest that any piece of
entertainment, if it has an ultimate moral message, is worth taking in. I don’t
think it has to be explicitly Christian, as long as the message helps you
better yourself as a person, even if it’s in a small way. Now ideally, all our
entertainment would be Christian based, but I really don’t believe this is
feasible anymore, if it ever was. Just look at the state of the Christian movie
industry today, it’s terrible. I can count on one hand how many recent movies
explicitly based on Jesus have been legitimately great films. Honestly, you
have to go back to the 50’s to get good movies on faith like Ben-Hur and get
away from Kirk Cameron.
Christian books of fiction are in a similar position.
Remember works like Paradise Lost and Lord of the Rings? Yeah, well don’t hold
your breath for more like that. Christian writers today seem to be content on
writing about 90 minutes in Heaven or 23 minutes in Hell. I can’t wait for the
novel on what Jesus’ favorite color is.
Or you could look at Christian video games. Really, just
play any game made by Wisdom Tree, one of which puts you in control of Noah as
you calm upset animals on the ark in what looks like a Doom clone. Seriously,
stuff like this is why Christians get laughed at.
So, after examining all that, secular media doesn’t look so
bad anymore, does it? Now, I still believe we need to be careful at what we
look at, otherwise we’re just gazing upon pornography, but I think everyone has
the capability to know when something goes too far. Something that crosses the
line for me would be A Clockwork Orange. Women are raped by the main character
in the movie, and at no point is there even a moral message at all. In fact,
evil actually triumphs in the ending of that film, which is even more
disconcerting. I actually love 2001: A Space Odyssey by the same director, but
I couldn’t give the thumbs up for A Clockwork Orange to a Christian.
An example of something secular that I could recommend would
be Dragon Ball Z. It’s an anime that features a lot of martial arts fighting
but has a story that reveres all of the great Christian virtues. The hero Goku,
is a figure that is very reminiscent of Jesus in that he always saves the weak
from the forces of evil. He loves his friends and family, and only fights when
he must. Even some of the bad guys convert to being good after Goku’s kindness
is shown to them. It’s a show that has been sadly misunderstood by parents who
only focused on the fights and not the morals.
As Christians we must be open to entertainment that may not
be perfect, but still has something to offer us.
