Thursday, November 15, 2012

Defiling entertainment (Angus T. Jones)

Sarah Butler as Jennifer Hill
The Day of the Woman (2010)
And no, Jesus is not talking about the dangers of non-kosher food.
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said,
"Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,  adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Mark 7:17-23

Quite a list that describes some of the story lines and plots we find so entertaining that millions of dollars are spent to defile us with the stuff. For without this, would it be true life, would it be even interesting?
We could easily give names of entertaining shows that are built around these themes rising from our human hearts

sexual immorality
theft
murder
adultery
greed
malice
deceit
lewdness
envy
slander
arrogance
folly


Well, is there anything we good people can do about the entertainment industry - from movie theaters and Broadway shows to TV series and arcade games - that defile our children and us while enormously enriching those who do so?


Not much, I guess, for the show must go on.

It is still worth remembering the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

Like a light in the night.




It is interesting in this context of the teaching of Jesus Christ in the New Testament that August T. Jones has apologised for calling Two and a Half Men "filth" and not to follow the example of the actors there.


No comments:

Post a Comment