Do you go to the theatre?

[John81]

The last time I was in a theater was in 1986. Prior to that, I used to go to the theater all the time.

[JerryNumbers]

The man who is for the Bible must be against the enemies of the Bible. The man who loves corn is going to be against weeds. The man who if for getting people to heaven must be against Hell. If you love sheep, you will be against wolves.

Dr. John R. Rice

Men hate the Bible because it tells them what they are. It never flatters, never apologizes, never praises man for his natural endowments, and often derides his wisdom. Even when he has climbed to the topmost bough of the tree of knowledge and there sways to the applause of the multitude, the old Book seems to look up and say,

[Guest Guest]

What if the movie you are watching isn't full of sin? What about stuff like Sheffy and Little House on the Prairie etc?

Katy-Anne

[kevinmiller]

The Nativity Story, for example. Produced by a Christian company. I don't see anything sinful about that.

I think kids following Hollywood is the parents fault though, not the kids. The parents are the ones who let their kids be raised by the tv and by a culture that looks at movie stars as gods. It's the parent's responsibility to teach their kids who to emulate.

[George]

The Nativity Story, for example. Produced by a Christian company. I don't see anything sinful about that.

Well now that would depend entirely on the content, would it not? Does this Nativity Story have a depiction of a person, whether it be infant or whatever, that is supposed to be Jesus Christ? If it does that is indeed sin.

(Exo 20:4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

A graven image is anything that is made or constructed. There are no known paintings, engravings or anything of that sort which actually show us our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. No matter the intent, if ANY film contain an image or a depiction of a person portraying Christ it is sin.

The world got along very well in spreading the Gospel for many, many years without the aid of motion pictures. It can continue to do so today if people will leave the films alone. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was spread by word of mouth and also the written Bible. If people will get out of their movies and what-not and more into their Bibles it will greatly aid the spread and influence of Christianity.

(Mat 6:33a) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness. This is a command. Is there any of God's righteousness in any kind of film no matter the origin? Not that I am aware of. And just where is this kingdom of God that we are supposed to seek first above all things?

(Luk 17:21) Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The kingdom of God is within us! Our mind, will and emotions as well as our bodies belong to God. In Galatians 2:20 we are told it is not even us that lives inside us but Christ that liveth in us. Anything that we put into us that is not edifying is polluting the very Spirit of God that dwells within us.

(2Co 6:17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

We are commanded to be separate. That does not mean to dabble in worldly things no matter the extent. We are supposed to be saved, sanctified and separated. WE cannot be a witness to the rest of the world if we indulge in the same things others do.

Clean movies? Does such a thing exist? I have both seen and read of some which are supposedly so. I also know great numbers of Christians who watched Finding Nemo because it was a "clean, family" movie. Far from it, the truth is that the voice of one of the main characters was provided by an openly homosexual woman. A portion of every dollar spent by hard-working Christians went to line this abomination of a person's pockets. The Passion of the Christ? What a terrible film! It was a Roman Catholic movie in the first place. It was not scripturally correct. It had a man portraying our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It did not go into the Resurrection at all. (Of course the Roman Catholics still have Jesus hanging on the cross.)

I could go on and on about this subject. Suffice it to say that I sincerely believe that unless we have a thorough and complete understanding of every last word in the Bible we do not have the time to dabble in such things as movies of any sort. My goodness, do you attend a Church in which the Pastor comes in on Sunday and puts on a film instead of preaching The Word?

In Christ,
George

[kevinmiller]

Quote:
The Nativity Story, for example. Produced by a Christian company. I don't see anything sinful about that.


Well now that would depend entirely on the content, would it not? Does this Nativity Story have a depiction of a person, whether it be infant or whatever, that is supposed to be Jesus Christ? If it does that is indeed sin.

Quote:
(Exo 20:4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:


A graven image is anything that is made or constructed. There are no known paintings, engravings or anything of that sort which actually show us our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. No matter the intent, if ANY film contain an image or a depiction of a person portraying Christ it is sin.

My understanding of that verse was that we weren't to make a graven image for the purpose of worship. Why is a movie, or even a play about Christ, a sin? Our church does a Easter program every year on Christ's death and resurrection.

If people will get out of their movies and what-not and more into their Bibles it will greatly aid the spread and influence of Christianity.

Agreed.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness. This is a command. Is there any of God's righteousness in any kind of film no matter the origin? Not that I am aware of. And just where is this kingdom of God that we are supposed to seek first above all things?

I believe there is. In the Nativity Story, for example, it helped me to realize much greater than I had before that God really had become flesh. It also helped to put into a realistic setting the stories that I had read so many times I hardly took the time to really imagine them anymore. It really helped paint a picture of the events surrounding Christ's birth and showed the humanity and individual struggles that Mary and Joseph went through that I had never thought of before.

We are commanded to be separate. That does not mean to dabble in worldly things no matter the extent. We are supposed to be saved, sanctified and separated. WE cannot be a witness to the rest of the world if we indulge in the same things others do.

We could almost start another topic on this alone. How far exactly are we to take the command to be seperate? Are we to dress like the Amish to avoid being stylish? Should we not use computer programs used by most of the world? Should we throw out the tv and internet? To be honest, I'm not quite sure how far to take it. Some things, like music, for example, would be very clear cut as to what is different from the world. For other things, however, it seems like we should judge them by the Bible and if they pass the test of what is pure, then there wouldn't be a problem with it.

I could go on and on about this subject. Suffice it to say that I sincerely believe that unless we have a thorough and complete understanding of every last word in the Bible we do not have the time to dabble in such things as movies of any sort.

Movies are a source of leisure for some people. I think if you have a clean movie, it would not be wrong to watch it any more than it would be wrong to go fishing even if you didn't know "every last word in the Bible."

My goodness, do you attend a Church in which the Pastor comes in on Sunday and puts on a film instead of preaching The Word?

No sir, my pastor stands up behind the pulpit and says "open your KJV Bible to ---".

Kevin

[Tim]

:goodpost:

[bibletotingunslinger]

What if the movie you are watching isn't full of sin? What about stuff like Sheffy and Little House on the Prairie etc?

Katy-Anne

A sister @ Church is loaning Sheffy to us to watch this weekend. We have never seen it.

[JerryNumbers]

The Nativity Story, you say is produced by a Christian company. Many people call themselves Christians, but yet they do not teach the truth that is in the Holy Bible, so an outfit calling themselves a Christian company does not rightly mean that the movie is based upon the truth that is within the Bible.

Many Christians say the movie The Passion is a true story based upon the truth of the Bible, but its rightly based more upon RCC doctrine that is not in the Bible than the Bible. The RCC and many other liberal churches thinks its just wonderful. Find out how many conservative Baptist will recommend it.

The Nativity Story I know nothing about, but being produce by a company that calls their self a Christian company does not prove its worth watching. And to say it was alright I would have to know some quite good who has seen it and they give an opinion about it.

Little House on the Prairie , they have been several on here speak of this TV series, some say its ok, other say its not.

The blame game on parents you speak of.

Its so easy to blame father and mother for children having gone the wrong way. The father and mother just have so much control over their children and it takes very little undermining from the world to have a very bad influence on children and put them on the wrong road.

I've seen parents who have seemed to do everything possible in training their children in the proper way, but yet when their child leaves home they completely rebels against all they have ever been taught.

I grew up in church with my best friend, he was 1 year ahead of me in school, he always had the right answers in Sunday school, always quoted his memory verse perfectly and he was the perfect young man until he graduated high school. His father was one of the deacons, he and his wife lived a wonderful example for him and everyone else all the days of their life.

But yet after he graduated high school he rebelled against God in every way. He is on his 3rd wife who is just about the age of my daughter.

Our song leader was a deacon as well, he and his wife led a great Christian life in front of their children as they did in front of everyone else. His son was the star quarterback, the perfect student in Sunday School and made the honor roll all thru high school, never in any trouble, but yet after he graduate school he too rebelled against God. He was about 4 years older than I, he is still rebelling against God.

I could name a few more just like them, its not always the parents fault, but its very easy to blame the parents.

The 2 fathers and mothers I spoke of above they are some of the people who had wonderful Christian influence on me. Yes I will testify for the example all 4 of them set for their children and all other children, so no, its not always the parents fault.

I could name several people when growing up had ungodly parents and were never in church, but yet now they are in church and living a Christians life. In the end we all are responsible for our own choices.

I believe the real smart Christian will be careful what they let into their minds, and will be careful about what they recommend to others.

[kevinmiller]

The Nativity is not Catholic. The catholics actually dislike it because it's "too protestant." It shows the humanity of Mary and it is very accurate to the Biblical account.

I never watched the Passion and have no intention of seeing it.

No, it isn't always the parent's fault because we all make our own decisions. But I think so many young people are rebelling today because they only ever had their parents standards. They aren't given a chance to think for themselves while they are still under the protection of their parents. Because of the personality I have, I have challenged, in my mind, every belief my parents have ever held to and weighed the facts to see what made sense and what was true and right. Because I did that, I have adopted standards that are mine and not my parents. Some of their standards I had rejected only to take back up again a little while later. Some I have changed. But for the most part, I still have a lot of the same standards my parents have and I believe that is because they gave me enough freedom to think for myself while still being under their protection and guidance,

Kevin

[Anon]

It has never been accepted in Christianity to publicly go to a Hollywood theater until now, and in many IFB circles it is still not acceptable.

Now we may say "well that is legalistic, as long as I am going to something good, its nobody else's business".

We can also say "Its not consistent to watch tv at home and say its wrong to go to the theater".

However, on the other hand, I think its admirable when people still want to draw that line between them and the world. We personally don't go to the theater because we feel it would harm our testimony, esp as my husband is an example as a pastor. That's a line we are drawing to seperate from the world, as commanded in Scripture. There are many lines we have drawn in our lives, and I'm sure they are somewhat different in each family. However to say "Well we watch tv so we might as well do everything" is not logical or godly.

I fear, sometimes, that our generation has truly lost the sense of standards and seperation that our Baptist ancestors had. If one truly studies in God's Word the seperation God's people ALWAYS had when they were right with Him...and then one looks at modern American Christianity... well, its WAY different. And not all of it answers to "culture", either.

[dwayner79]

I think your view of what has been "accepted in Christianity" is rather limited. Perhaps in IFB circles this is the case, but I do not think this is a correct assumption across the board. As far as you DH and you not going to be separate, that is great. I would not choose to do so in that manner, I choose different ways to be "different" from the world, but each needs to decide how to do so for themselves. What you or I do not have the right to do is to force on others the same standard. I am not saying you have, but we all know there are those that do.

[kevinmiller]

What's the difference between going to a movie theater or theater to see a play?
But I don't follow tradition for the sake of tradition either. I must decide for myself what I believe is right according to the Bible, not based on what our Baptist ancestors did. Actually, I don't have any Baptist ancestors. :frog

[Anon]

I think your view of what has been "accepted in Christianity" is rather limited. Perhaps in IFB circles this is the case, but I do not think this is a correct assumption across the board. As far as you DH and you not going to be separate, that is great. I would not choose to do so in that manner, I choose different ways to be "different" from the world, but each needs to decide how to do so for themselves. What you or I do not have the right to do is to force on others the same standard. I am not saying you have, but we all know there are those that do.

The thing that perplexes me is that in the NT church, the entire church had a "tradition" as far as how they seperated from the world...how they acted...it was all unified and whatever "traditions" Paul or others laid down, that was followed.

Why is it that today, we sort of each do that which is right in our own eyes?

[pneu-engine]

The thing that perplexes me is that in the NT church, the entire church had a "tradition" as far as how they separated from the world...how they acted...it was all unified and whatever "traditions" Paul or others laid down, that was followed.

Why is it that today, we sort of each do that which is right in our own eyes?

I agree completely, Kitagrl, with this and with your previous posts on the issue of separation.

We modern American IFB believers are a lot softer than our forefathers that gave up and laid down their lives for the cause of Christ. However, in many foreign countries there are still those that are being martyred just to be counted with those that would not compromise their Christian faith. If we would speak to those being martyred regarding their views on Biblical separation, we would find that they would just as soon throw out anything at all that is even slightly questionable. What they sincerely desire is to have enough Bibles to pass out and even be able to read it without fear of reprisal.