Scary Movies and the Christian
Around Halloween I had some good conversations with different friends on the whole watching horror movies issue. In the days surrounding Halloween, as I channel surfed my TV by repeatedly pressing my already severely indented “channel-up” button (from the several quadrillions of times I have pressed it over the years), I couldn’t help but come across scary movie after scary movie being served up on my already over-priced, non-digital cable package. I know I’m not alone on this. Now I do have to admit that over the years I personally have enjoyed many a scary movie, everything from Jaws, Halloween and The Thing (the 80’s one with Kurt Russell) back when I was a teenager right through to more contemporary tales like Wes Craven’s Scream series, M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Village and a recent rental I got called Disturbia.
But as a Christian who should always be discerning about what aspects of the world around me I let into my heart and mind what should I think about all these scary movies that make their way into our TV’s, movie rental stores and theaters?
That being said I would like to pass on another good article on this issue that again relates to our recent discussions as a church on our value of discerning, missional cultural engagement. This one again is by Pastor Harleman of Mars Hill Church (pastor of film and theology) and looks more closely at the issue of the horror, gore and fear movie genre and the Christian life.
For the article click here
As a disclaimer I would like to say that there are actually some movies that I choose not to watch because I think they will be more harmful than helpful to my life as a Christian. I should also say this can often include really bad romantic comedies, etc. This is something that I have chosen to do because I, like Mars Hill and other culturally engaging churches, understand that movies are the modern preaching pulpits of our day. So the question is, how are we both discerning and engaging with this most important culture-forming media of our time in Jesus’ name (Colossians 3:17)?
