Should religious people watch R rated movies? I saw this YouTube short in my feed. It's from a well known Christian apologist named Dr. Sean McDowell.
First of all, there are really 3 questions here. First is the video's title, Should Christians Watch Popular Movies? Second appears in the video as a question someone asked Sean, Should Christians watch Secular movies like Harry Potter or R rated movies... Aren't they bad and not morally neutral like sports? And the third question is the one Sean speaks in the short, Should Christians watch R rated movies like Harry Potter.
Let's see which parts of these questions Sean answers! Then I'll add my thoughts on the Hive version of this actifit post.
My Thoughts
First, I watch a lot of videos on religion. I think it is an interesting subject. I'm also interested in Psychology, Sociology, Economics and Science. I feel that religion can be understood from the framework of all these 4 areas. But that's for another day.
I was born into a Christian family and that's my religion. If I were born in India, I might be Hindu. If I were born in Indonesia, Pakistan or Bangladesh, I might follow Islam. I believe most people are the religion their parents taught them as a child. If you're not Christian, I love you and respect you just the same! I am NOT going to tell you that you are going to some bad place after death, like some people will say. No one comes back from death to tell us what really happens then, so my thought is that we can believe whatever we like about the afterlife but no one can prove anything, so let's respect different beliefs.
So adult movies - Sean, dressed as Harry Potter first says that you should honor and listen to your parents, so he is seemingly addressing this to kids under 18. I agree, we should honor our parents, but not because the Bible says we should, like Sean said. We should respect them because they have given us things we need to grow up when we could not get them for ourselves. We're born helpless and the only way we live is if someone feeds and protects us as babies and kids. That's usually our parents so I think we owe them a debt, and should show gratitude for that since we've received way more than we've given, as kids. Of course parents make mistakes or are sometimes intentionally cruel, and that might cause us to not want to honor them if it happens often.
Next he says that if we have a temper, might not be good to watch violent movies. I tend to agree. I think watching violent movies could cause some types of people to think that violence is the way issues of disrespect to ourselves should be dealt with. In my opinion, working out anger and violent thoughts is best done through some activity that is better for the individuals and society such as sports, exercise, physical labor or therapy. For some people, playing video games can help them find an outlet for their aggressive impulses. But in general, violent movies and video games could normalize violence in the minds of some people. If we find ourselves thinking that violence is the answer to our problems, we generally need to reconsider and find a peaceful constructive way forward.
Then he says if we struggle with lust we should avoid movies with sexuality. I think lust is normal and not something that should be struggled against in every circumstance. We're here on Earth to continue the population just like every other living thing on the planet. The urge to have sex is in all of us and it is perfectly normal. Of course it has to be expressed at the right time and place and way. Sexual interaction is complicated and movies often show it in a very shallow way. The same is even more true in some pop music and music videos, and of course in p*rn. People can get addicted to watching sexual movies and videos, and then they will need to find help either by thinking things through in their own mind or getting help in some other way. It's not good to be addicted to anything. But if your mind is in a good place and you find a scene in a movie that evokes lust or sexual feelings in yourself, my opinion would be, if you're an adult or possibly an older teen depending on your family and cultural rules, then enjoy it without guilt. Sex and nudity are natural and appropriate in the right circumstances.
Finally Sean says go ahead and enjoy secular movies but look for Biblical themes. He talks about how the hero often sacrifices their life to save the world. I agree that this is what Jesus is said to have done. But this motif of praising someone who loses their life for the sake of others is probably way older than the Christian story of Jesus. Before we settled down and began civilizations, people lived in tribes of not more than 100 people and the ones that had strong people who could protect the tribe from nature and other tribes are the ones who would more likely survive and pass those traits down to their offspring. Strong protective people are not always going to survive the process of protecting their people. Sometimes they will be defeated in the process. The strong person knows this and everyone around them knows this. Others may not have the courage or abilities to do what is needed to protect the tribe, but they respect and honor those who are willing to do everything for the tribe even at the risk of losing their life in the process. So this genre of hero movies would have been here with or without Jesus because it's just part of the story of what happens in human societies. In fact some animals also are seen to respect the alpha members of their group, possibly for the same underlying brain mechanics even if they can't tell us how they feel. It's just a natural thing to take actions of protection of others which might end up with the actor losing their own life.
That's just my thoughts. You may agree or disagree with some of it or all of it. That's cool, we're still friends and I care about you and respect you either way! :)
My Activity
My activity was a short walk. Again no hoodie required, its t shirt weather! I started late and part of my walk happened after midnight so by the time the app cut off i was just below 5K.
I wish you a wonderful day! ❤👍❤
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
Those who give more priority to religious issues will ignore these movies. They will consider it a sin to see it.
There are some people who watch these movies to learn something from them.
Have a nice day,sir
Very good points! Thanks for your comment and I respect what you said! :)
Thanks for the appreciation ,sir
Religious people rarely or never watch such movies. Why would they watch movies that have a little bit of obscenity? Abstaining from obscenity and unnecessary acts by religious people is part of their religious duties
Great point! I just edited my post and added a lot of my thoughts.
I guess different cultures would define obscenity in different ways. Some wear less clothes and might wear even less at the beach, and no one thinks anything of it. In other cultures it is considered a moral duty to stay very covered up. Generally I think adults should be able to decide for themselves and I don't like the idea of people being forced to do things against their will. But we all have to struggle with individual rights and the rights of the general society.
Thanks for your thoughts, I respect what you said! :)
Our freedom should not cause harm to others. Thanks
Nice steps, even if lower than ur usual.. 😎😊💪
I think of course u should watch whatever u want, for entertainment or to learn something, or whatever.. I am a huge movie watcher and couldn't imagine if I had to give that up..
I have a friend who's religion wants people to avoid R rated movies so they just wait until these kind of movies come on the channels that cut out the language and sexy bits!
I tried to walk a middle road in my thoughts for this post. I want to respect religion and culture but I also want to respect the rights of adults to make their own choices. Sometimes societies are too restrictive and then again some people are probably better off being restricted, for their own good. In the end, I really don't know the answers; I just try to keep an open mind and try to understand all points of view.
😜👍 yup, some ppl need to be filtered, but also, i think.. dude! it's just a movie or a song or whatever.. meant to entertain, not to be some attempt at religious or political brainwashing or whatever. :P but yea, if it bothers anyone, just don't watch..
Agree with this! I born in a Muslim family but I love Islam and became a Muslim by heart when read the holy Quran and lifestyle of our holy prophet. My religion doesn’t teach me to disrespect other religion, even there is no religion teaches us anything negative or bad. We human from different religions humiliate it according to our own but the holiness of a religion never should change for our wrong explanation and misunderstanding. That's all I believe. I'm not against any religion but from my soul and heart I believe in Islam and respect other religions because my Islam teaches me this. Our prophet always invited others to Islam by their gentle behaviour and kindness, they never force and did any injustice to others even tolerated the tortures of non Muslims, so whenever I get impatient, I think about the lifestyle of our prophet had, he had patience and no one can be like him.
Anyway, we all should learn from the lifestyle of our prophets, specially holding patience.
Thanks for the kind words about religions dear Kenny Sir 💝❤️💖
Thanks for your thoughts! I do think it's good to not disrespect other religions, which you say is what your religion teaches, not to disrespect other religions. That's good, we all will get a long better if we respect all the different ways people think and believe.
We can learn a lot of good things from our religious leaders and founders and prophets. We can learn from other religions too, not just our own. That's why I like to learn about other religions from people like you and the other commenters. I really like hearing all your thoughts and I respect you all! :)
Most people are way too religious than spiritual . I mean why would it be a sin to watch a Harry Potter movie?!
Thanks for the comment and that's a good question! I guess maybe some religions want to be the only thing in people's lives that have anything to do with magic, because I think some religions seem to talk about magic and miracles in their holy book, and they want to be the authority on that topic. Or the religion thinks that watching a movie with magic in it could somehow open a person up to demonic forces.
In general I think people should get to know themselves and watch what they want to watch, knowing how they will likely react to it. If they watch something that makes them feel really bad or makes them feel like they want to do something bad, then hopefully they have enough self-control to not watch something similar in the future. Just my random thoughts in reply to your great comment! :)
We have a lot of people that believe in religion much more than they believe in themselves
Thanks for that thought! It is important to believe in one's self, for sure. If a person doesn't believe in their own abilities they often won't try things and they will never find their full potential.
Religion could help with this, if a person feels their god is powerful and able to help them with things. It may make them try things they are scared to do. But also, sometimes a person might not try things because they think their god will take care of it for them. So it could go both ways depending on the person and the situation. Just some random thoughts based on your excellent comment! :)
thank you so much for sharing the report and video, have a nice day
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Great comment, thanks for your thoughts!
I do think it is easy to get caught up in too many of the things that are of this world. It's better if we spend a lot of our time being devoted to our culture and the people in this world that we can help, instead of just doing whatever makes us happy for a moment.
But I also feel that adults have to take the responsibility to decide their own actions. I try to be respectful of people who make choices different from me, and I don't try to force anyone to make the same choices as me. I just advise that people don't get addicted to any kind of behavior. I think some things can be done once in a while to relieve stress or just to enjoy for entertainment. People just have to really monitor themselves and watch to see if they are spending too much time on certain things.
We can certainly disagree somewhat, that is natural as we are all different in our thoughts and culture. I very much respect your thoughts and opinions and I thank you again for sharing your comment and tip! :)