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My wife, Kelly, asked me today while we were watching a movie (The Patriot w/ Mel) “If we are anti-violence, is it OK to watch violence in the movies?”. This made me think pretty hard. I didn’t have a good answer. I wanted to say it was OK, so I could continue watching what ever movies I felt like watching. But I didn’t feel right saying that it was OK either.

So I came to this temporary conclusion. If the movie didn’t glorify violence then it was OK to watch. But that’s a simple answer to a far more complicated ‘problem’. What if a movie showed the harmful effects of violence on society in the end, or at some moment in the movie, but for the most part glorified it in the rest of the movie. I think that a majority of violent movies fall into this category. Even if the movie doesn’t glorify violence in the end I think it’s easy to gravitate, and remember the violence without it’s negative impact on society. I remember watching Goodfellas when I was younger and thinking the mafia was pretty cool. Somehow still thinking this even after the terrible lives the characters were living at the end of the film. The same went for Casino, Bravehart, Gladiator, and countless other action packed movies. So this really proved the point that a violent movie with some redeeming value still can be harmful, at least in my life.

So what about reality? The reality is that our world is violent. So to accurately portray the real world, a film must show violence. I think this is true to a certain degree. Watching a movie on the genocide in Rawanda was violent, but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anyone longing to be in that situation. The same goes for Shindlers List, The Pianist, and others. So there must be a difference between acceptable and unacceptable violence.

I guess I’m starting to understand the difference now. But how do you tell what a movie will be like before watching it? I don’t have an answer for that (as if I have an answer for anthing). I think a good place for me to start is to just deal with the obvious. Some movies are more obvious than others.

My wife mentioned to me a few other things we could also consider when it comes to watching violent movies. How about the historical, or educational value? Watching a movie on Gettysburg is a form of education, and it is very violent. Is this OK? The tricky thing about the educational value of a movie is whether it is the the kind of education that is worth being educated on. I don’t think I can use the education argument for mafia movies, arguing that I need to be educated on blowing someones brains out.

There is a lot more I could say about this, but the blog is getting long. I guess it all comes down to motive. When I watch a movie, am I’m looking for violence to be entertained? Or is it necessary for a good educational cause? I think this question is enough to get me 95% there.

Now that’s a catchy title. Might be good for grabbing someone’s attention.

So Christians are supposed to love their enemies. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how this can be much more difficult than just learning to love the dude that cut in front of you at the store. So what does it mean to actually love these people that we have, as a culture, been conditioned to hate?

One pastor’s words once said this. “If I preach on Sunday about feeding the poor, finding shelterand clothing for the homeless, counseling unwed mothers and helping with the adoption process, then this is praised with ‘God bless’. But what if instead I preached about providing medical aid to Iraqis, loving Muslims, befriending gang members, comforting the families of suicide bombers, loving rapists, wife beaters, tourturers and pedofiles? I’d most likely be thown off a cliff.”

I’d like to believe this is a bit dramatic, and ridiculous, but it does raise a pretty good point. It is really hard to love those whom we have been conditioned to hate. After all, the Christian love we profess MUST be strong enough to engage these “so called” enemies. We can’t, as Christians, pick and choose who we will associate with. Not that I or anyone should or would condone any of these awful things. But we need to embrace the “unembraceable”, just as Jesus did.

So why is ‘loving terrorists’ such a big deal? This is precisely what we are called to do by Jesus Christ. I hope that I’ll continue to learn more and more what it means to live this out every day of my life.