The Blog

Hi Everybody! I am a christian teen who wishes to share his ideas on the web, and ultimately, create an online christian teen community. This blog is new, but I am hoping that you will be impacted by what I write and become a member of this online community. I have been greatly inspired by Alex and Brett Harris at www.therebelution.com and David Platt at www.radicalthebook.com thank you for reading!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Danger of the American Culture Part 1

This is the first article in the three-part series on the American Culture.

Red. Lethal Weapon. 3:10 to Yuma. Live Free Die Hard.

       These movies are all violent shooting movies. I’ve seen most of them and enjoy them, and chances are, you have too. But not even these, also other movies and shows, things that we think look cool or are funny. For example, in Red, there are several lines about killing that are somewhat amusing. In Live Free Die Hard, there are several shooting scenes that captivate audiences all over the country.
        I’m not necessarily saying that this is bad, in fact, I like the things mentioned above, as does many teens (and non-teens). This frightens me a little. We enjoy things like shooting, or maybe you get a kick out of a horror movie. This does scare me, are we falling into a trap, laughing at things like people getting killed in “humorous” ways? Is this what God wants us to do?    
             A story told by a friend of mine. He was in the theaters watching “Saving Private Ryan”, and there was a bunch of teenagers in front of him and a bunch of war veterans behind him. The teenagers were laughing at all the killing and blood and shooting. The war veterans were weeping. What does that mean? The veterans were actually there, what happened in “Saving Private Ryan” probably happened to them too. The teens had no concept of real war.
            Philippians 4:8 says “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praise worthy-think about such things.” Paul is saying here to think about pure things and not think about corrupting things. While I fall into this trap of American television and movies, I can’t help but think if all this shooting and killing and amusing lines about shooting and killing is God’s will or not. I don’t know if these things are “excellent” or “praiseworthy” or “pure”. And the thing is, I’m afraid to find out. If I explore this, what if I find a truth that will tell me to not watch these cool shooting movies? I enjoy them. But I feel that if it is God’s will, then it should not be hindered for evil, human desires. And what may be a sin may not be a sin for someone else, it depends on how God built you (this is not an excuse to sin).
           So what is the verdict on this? Are we to cease watching these movies, or can we go on with these habits? It depends. I am not ready to give a direct verdict, so I am going to end on this note. When you watch “Saving Private Ryan”, do you find it cool and laugh like the teenagers in the front row, or do you weep like the war veterans in the back row? My next article will go a little more into the dangers of the American culture. For more on this topic, I encourage you to read the book “Radical” by David Platt. His website is featured on my homepage. God bless.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for bringing up this issue. I wonder sometimes if anyone thinks twice about it.

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  2. A few days ago I was looking in a video rental shop, and I was shocked at how much garbage was in there. Indeed, it was virtually impossible to find a half-way decent movie with out stumbling upon ten or twenty titles with names like "Satanic". It is really sad. While this article deals more with the subtle dangers, I am shocked at how much outright ugliness are in the media. There is a book by Randy Alcorn, "Lord Foulgrin's Letters", that shows how the demons plot (much like the more familiar Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis) and many times the demons mention the terrible media. IT is sad, and another of the many things we must pray for. We need to remember the Bible verse Philippians 4:8

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