First off I’d like to address the title of this journal entry. In very few ways to I believe that I have truly addressed the topic of “What Would a Follower of Christ Watch?”. I believe to address it as if there could be some sort of “do and do not” watch list, would be to reduce God to something stagnant and written. What should and should not be watched is much more personal than I could possibly address below. It has to do with the relationship that each of us might have with the God that gave Jesus for the sacrifice of our sins. Without further ado however, I present the below.
I had originally started to put this together for a movie night for a group of teens. They wanted me to get this movie list to them a lot quicker than this. However with such a short time left I know that they will not be able to use my recommendations now. So, my primary purpose for composing this is more for reflection and prayer. Most of them will not get to see this until ‘after’ the JCF get together.
JCF Movie List The following movies were put together by the JCF. As I looked over the list and thought of the titles of the movies, I wondered what each of them “stood for”. I didn’t know the answer to the question however. I also didn’t know whether Christ was in front of every decision that each of them made when selecting the movies. In other words did each of them ask theirself “In reflecting on how much God loves me and the life that Jesus has given for me, what kind of things does God want me to listen to and watch? What kinds of things does God want me to be exposed to so I will become the kind of son or daughter that God wants me to be.”. Check out this resource.
How to use the review below You can click on each of the movie title names in order to see a review that I looked at. Facing the Giants I think this movie looks pretty good. Though I do think the sentiment described in this link is something that should be considered while watching it. Oh, and here is the quote from the previous link “Troubled by it: This response comes, surprisingly enough, from Christians who feel the message of the film is that no matter how bad your problems are, if you turn them over to God, every single problem will come out with the happy ending for which you pray. You’ll get a raise. Someone will replace your old car. Your team will win. Your infertile marriage will be blessed with (multiple) children. Get a grip, they say. God doesn’t work this way.” High School Musical (HSM 3) From what I read about it I like it. Twilight I didn’t think the violence and sensuality were things that any of us (including myself) needed to fill ourselves up with. UP Looks like Fun Hannah Montana (The movie) Not crazy about this movie because of the “worldy” things that it teaches us to admire. I haven’t seen this movie, I’ve only looked at the reviews so I could be wrong. But if I ever watch a movie and I see people get excited because someone has the “cool stuff” or the “cool life” then I immediately think to myself that Jesus and his disciples were the only ones that had the ‘real’ cool life. Kimmy Dora My first impression of this movie was that it was funny and relatively harmless. I’ll spare the reader of some of my more personal convictions regarding the life we should live motivated by Christ. I’ll leave those for another time. YaYa & Angelina I think in “modern society” that are a lot of things that we find amusing that God (in His wisdom) does not want us to find amusing. And if we have the heart of God, if we love the same things that He loves and hate the same things that He hates, then rebellion will be one of these things. In Rom 1:30-32 we can read how those that are insolent and/or disobey their parents are on equal terms with those that are faithless, heartless, and ruthless. … Do we show that we approve of these kinds of things by our laughter? Clover Field In the first review that I saw I didn’t see anything in the description that seemed too far off base. However I heard Gilbeys mention that there was too much gore in this movie. And since I hadn’t watched it I decided I would trust Gilbeys’ assessment on this. Better to lean on the side of caution. But then I saw this review and a youtube video. And I have to say that the intensity of this film is something that I personally don’t want lurking around in my heart. “Above all else, guard your heart,for it is the wellspring of life.” – Proverbs 4:23 Death Note 1,2,3 This is a movie about a deranged serial killer and how he tries to take over the world. Is there anything admirable there? “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8
I am Legend Hopefully I’ll have time to flesh my thoughts out on this one some day. But in short there are a couple of scenes in here that are just a bit too intense and graphic (I don’t even want them “in my head”). If I had an entire day to import the movie into a fast multimedia editing computer I could take out the parts and the story would be completely in tact. My First Romance
I will have to review this later. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants One of the excerpts that I read of this movie said “Bridget, the soccer player, does manage to seduce the coach, and though he resists at first, finally gives in to his sexy, young pursuer. Afterwards, though, Bridget is devastated and depressed, and she tells her friends that premarital sex left her feeling incomplete, rather than healed.” This is actually one of the problems of movies that are marketed as wholesome or even worse marketed as “christian”. The idea of avoiding premarital sex ‘because’ it leaves you feeling incomplete is totally not something that Christ taught. … If the motivation for living a Godly life isn’t ‘because’ you understand the love that God has given you by the pouring out of the life of his son Jesus, then it is ‘not’ “Christian”. Resources you can use in the future
*to help you decide what movies you can both enjoy and ’should’ watch. http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/ http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/archives/ http://blog.beliefnet.com/moviemom/ http://www.christiancolleges.com/blog/2009/100-all-time-best-movies-for-christians/ http://www.christiankindred.com/2009/06/how-does-a-christian-decide-which-movies-to-watch/ http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/2008/09/Top-20-Inspirational-Sports-Movies.aspx Read more >> Options >>
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