T-Minus 1 day on 50 Shades

When I was a kid I remember Christians getting up in arms over the movie "The Last Temptation of Christ."  The uproar was over depicting a very weak and confused Jesus that had a last temptation that included marrying and settling down.  The movie included a scene in which Jesus Himself imagines what it would be like to enjoy the love of marriage.  It cuts away before anything extremely blasphemous takes place but you got the idea that he had children.

The activism of the Christian community got the movie more attention than it should have.  The boycott was an attention beacon.

This seems to be surfacing again.  There are lots of Christians who are really upset about the movie "50 Shades of Grey" hitting theaters tomorrow.  I have already seen boycott efforts underway on social media. 

It is my deepest hope that next week we see the numbers come in and it is obvious that very few people went to see this movie.  And no, I have never read the books.

How can you say this?  If you have never read the books then how do you even know what you are talking about?

It is untrue that you need to experience something to know whether it is harmful.  In fact, the hallmark of wisdom is knowing how to keep out of damaging situations, not the accumulation of damage.  I don't need to have lived like Keith Richards to know that heroin will ruin your life.

So when I hear that a series of books detail the descent of a young woman into the life of a psychologically unstable, manipulative, controlling and abusive person, I think 'that's sad.'  When I hear that it is being made into a movie I know I don't want to see it.  That is really end-of-story.  No boycotts needed.  Everyone has their right to read or see what they want.

But what makes this different is how it is being offered as an acceptable alternative to traditional romance.  This is where it becomes something to talk about.  We should not be offering men and women the opportunity to be aroused by an attractive man that inflicts pain on another person as a way of expressing desire.  This is irresponsible.

And what about those NFL ads that told us to say "No More" to violence against women?

  

Where are the voices that should be leading the debate on this?  Where are the feminists that should be decrying the storyline that has a man possessively controlling another woman's weight, food intake and decision-making?  

How many teenage young men and women will be opened up to a whole new way of looking at sexuality because of this film?  How many years of damage will this inflict on confused young men and women who will wonder why this film caused them to think in new and unhealthy ways.  I mean, there is a reason the books are popular . . . it is appealing to something to millions of people who have read it.  The question is whether it will cause more damage  than wholeness.  

And if you think that just because it has an R rating teenagers won't see it you are naive.  

So I get it that making too much of a fuss will cause the opposite reaction - I don't want that.  But how can we not call something evil that is evil?  Perhaps that is up to us in our personal conversations with people who are willing to hear the whole story . . .