My purpose here has not been to endorse the books or the movie, nor is it to censure others from reading them or seeing the movie, but to share this young person's testimony of how the books, principally the third book, adversely affected her spirit and conscience.It is not my purpose to review the books or the movie but, based on secular and Christian reviews of others, suggest some caution and restraint and ask some serious questions that need healthy debate.
I realize that many believers read a wide range of books and view many types of movies about which they feel defensive and offended when anyone suggests that this kind of entertainment might be spiritually unhealthy, unwise, or just dangerous to the soul. I suppose it is only natural to defend our habits and customs. After all, is it not a question of personal freedom and our liberty in Christ?
Yet, I am concerned when well-meaning Christian leaders not only indulge in such entertainments but by their words and recommendations encourage others to do so as well. Are we not concerned about the weaker brothers who might not be as judicious or discerning as we are and might be sucked into the world's blood lust? Are we approving that which is evil, or at least questionable, with the hope that some good may come of it?
In our personal lives my wife and I have set boundaries for ourselves regarding what we allow ourselves to read or view. We have on occasion walked out of movies that we felt were on the dark side, sensuous side, or where profanity was particularly vulgar or repetitive. Sometimes books and movies are not what they are alleged to be. Reviewers sometimes hide the truth from us. At other times we have thrown away expensive books we have purchased thinking them to be harmless but finding them uncomfortable to read in the presence of our Savior.
That doesn't make us better or more holy than others. We have Christian friends who are appalled to see our movies and books that offend their sensitivities and convictions. We don't try to force our convictions or our boundaries on others, nor do we try to convince more strict believers to loosen up their standards. We all stand and fall before the Lord for the things we allow to enter our lives. We will all give an account to God for the things done in this life.
I urge every believer to make specific personal boundaries regarding what they will or will not allow their eyes to see, their ears to hear, and their minds to think on. Boundaries should also be set by the parents for their children. I urge every believer, male or female, to make a covenant with your eyes (Job 31:1) that they should not feast on what will not be allowed in heaven. I believe those convictions and boundaries ought to have their roots in specific Scriptures that define holiness. (Have we forgotten about the "holiness" principle? "Without holiness no man will see the Lord." - Hebrews 12:14) Then let the Holy Spirit who dwells in you lead your conscience by the "still small voice" of his whisper. (Isaiah 30:21)
I find it particularly ironic when well-meaning friends tell me I should read these books and/or see this movie before making a judgment about it. To me that is like saying you should not judge a brothel until you have been inside to see whether it is evil or not, or that I should not judge drugs or alcohol until I have indulged in it personally. Or maybe I shouldn't censure pornography until I have investigated the magazine or visited their web site to judge it first hand.
Think about it! If I know from reliable and multiple sources that a thing is questionable at best and dangerous at its worst, why should I subject my soul to its evil in order to cast my vote?
Friend, I choose to steer clear of these things personally, not for some legalistic rule, but for the care of my soul. What I see, hear, and read does affect my soul. I have enough wickedness within me. I don't need to feed it from without. I know there is a beautiful side to evil or else it would never be tempting. When someone says it's evil, dark, sensuous, wicked, or horrific, why should I go anyway just to prove a point?
And if I go just to prove whether it is good or evil for me, then I might be inadvertently be encouraging another believer (or unbeliever for that matter) to also go and test their soul with the temptation to view evil and fill their mind with its images. I choose to steer clear of it so I am not influenced by its evil images that I can never erase from my mind. I practice abstinence for my own safety if not for the safety of others. That is not legalism - that is practicing "safe sense."
Now for the book and movie at hand, "The Hunger Games." Should I go to the movie or read the books? I have read many reviews on the books and the movie. (Beware that you do not assume that because the movie is not as gross as the book it is somehow innocuous. Many have told me that now that they saw the movie they want to buy the books.) All of the reviews, secular and Christian, warn that this movie is "graphic, raw, intense, violent, disturbing, visceral, and with scenes of children killing children."
When Stephen King (remember him, the king of horror?) says it is "violent and jarring" and he couldn't put it down," that in itself ought to warn me away from it.
When Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight Series (Vampire books and movies) says, "I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it..." That ought to be a clue to the true nature of the book's allure.
When Time Magazine says, "The Hunger Games and Catching Fire expose children to exactly the kind of violence we usually shield them from." I take notice and shield my children and grandchildren from it.
When the New York Times reports the movie contains scenes of "…brutal child-on-child violence and death….in a rapidly cut massacre that pits boy against girl and finds youngsters killing and falling and dying in a frantic, fragmented blur…" I for one do not want to flood my mind and soul with those images.
When all reviews of the movie (and the books even more so) report it to be questionable material that walks a fine line between light and darkness, it is dubiously beneficial for those who delve into it, and it is by all definitions "disturbing." I for one chose not to subject my soul to it, let alone my family and friends.
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I am really not upset with Hollywood. I expect Hollywood to produce this kind of entertainment. It's what she has always done. She serves her master. Whoever heard of Hollywood holiness?
What concerns me most is the church's response to this kind of entertainment. There seems to be a wholesale abandonment of holiness in a blind rush to see this movie and then read the books. Is the church of Jesus Christ saying, "I want this kind of stuff!" or "I love this kind of entertainment!"?
What are we saying by our entertainment choices? Are we in love with the world and the things of this world (1 John 2:15) or are we in love with Christ and his righteousness and true holiness?
What ever happened to "holiness"?
Whatever happened to "friendship with the world"?
Whatever happened to "separation"?
Whatever happened to Christian "liberty"?
Whatever happened to the "weaker brother"?
Whatever happened to the "Scriptures as the rule for faith and practice"?
ho has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? (Gal 3:1)
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For my final comments on this issue don't miss tomorrow's entry
which will be Scripture itself speaking… See you later.
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