Spiritual Porn

Since a few friends of mine recently rented that movie Constantine last week, I have spent some time reflecting on what truly attracts us to movies with such a huge spiritual connotation. I headed out as soon as the movie started, claiming that Taco Bell and an early night to bed would be a better use of my time. As a personal decision, I decided in the past to avoid all of those movies that have no true context and spiritual foundation and I'm sticking to it for now. It is hard for me to see any viable reason to spend hours out of a day watching movies such as these. As spiritually flawed as many movies are, I can hardly see what place they would hold in my life because they certianly do not make me "think." Nor are they entertaining...which is the other reason I would choose to watch a movie.

Because of all of this, I do wonder what would cause a group of Christians who I value and consider very similar to myself, to watch such a movie. The only thing I can come up with is that movies like Constantine or that exorcism movie that recently came out, appeal to us spiritually in a very similar way that porn might appeal to some. Obviously I'm not as disgusted by Constantine or the people that watch them as I am with porn addicts, but I do see similarities in the appeal. Just like porn, I think movies with a heavy spiritual context that is obviously far fetched, offers us a false reality that makes our heart race and minds wander. I've heard the arguement..."as long as you keep it in proper context its ok blah blah blah...." but truly I wonder why you would want to even watch a movie that requires the viewer to maintain a "context." Isn't creating the context the producers and directors responsibility? Similarly, many will say that as long as you are solid in your belief, viewing movies like these shouldn't be a problem. Wasn't it during his sermon on the mount that Jesus said just lustfully looking a woman was as bad a sleeping with her? I think part of what He was offering in that was that no matter how "solid" or outwardly "good" your behavior or spirituality may look, we never can really eradicate the sin completely on our own. Why must we tempt ourselves and in the context of this blog, why must we open the door to a spiritual battle that is very visible and apparent by supporting such fallible movies?

Rolling 20 Deep

That's it....I'm doing it and theres nothing anyone can do to stop me. I'm off to Target to buy the Kanye West CD. Listening to 107.5 all day long in hope of hearing that one cool song is driving me crazy (i.e. Maria "Sell-out" Carey and Enminem) so my only solution is to purchase the disk. A CD that has Jamie Fox singing back up cant be bad, can it? As a friend pointed out.. that guy is so cool cause he can sing, acts, and he "rolls 20 deep" at all times.

P.S. If you have any questions as to what that previous statement might mean, I recommend moving to Denver. Who knew that the people of suburban Colorado would enlighten me so much on the ways and terms of the ghetto? I suppose living in Stillwater, OK for 6 years did shelter my perspective a bit, but I truly am surprised. I once lived across the street from a dark and dank truck stop and now have to dial in a code to get to my condo. I would never have guessed that the former would prove to be the more mundane.