movie nights at church

OiBoyz · 02-26-2011, 11:59 AM

I wouldn't support showing Hellboy. But then I also wouldn't watch Hellboy, either.

**thesteve** · 02-26-2011, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OiBoyz

I wouldn't support showing Hellboy. But then I also wouldn't watch Hellboy, either.

Hellboy is an interesting film. I would be tempted to say it's almost a LOTR type story. Sure there's lots of mythology and what not going on, but the focus is definitely on the struggle between good and evil and the choices the characters have to make. I think that a lot of people identify with the basic concepts of free will portrayed in the film.

I'm not saying that I would or wouldn't show it, just that I think a case can be made for showing it.

Also, to echo what was said earlier, let's stick to the topic of recommending movies. If you want to discuss the theology of it all, take it to the theology forum.

OiBoyz · 02-26-2011, 12:20 PM

I don't know if my movie night at the Prison counts as "Church" but one movie I would like to show is Seven Pounds. My biggest problem with showing it is that it needs discussion. I don't have the luxury of extra time to do the discussion. But I think the movie would generate a great opportunity to discuss atonement and redemption from a Biblical POV.

Gwenny · 02-26-2011, 04:58 PM

I think regardless of what movie is being shown at church, unless it is overtly Christian, someone will have an issue with it. We watched the Jungle Book, the animated version, at church one night for kids and families, and we had a few families who thought all Disney movies and any movie that not "Christian" were of the Devil and demonic. I'm not kidding. We showed TPB at our church summer camp and had a few families keep their daughters from watching it because it was also demonic. I think the only thing you can do is show the movies you think are acceptable and accept that there are going to be people who don't agree, and it's fine if they don't. They are the ones who have to live with their decision, just like you have to deal with yours. It's really not that big of a deal.

JerRocks2day · 02-26-2011, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Jer, buddy, it sounds a lot more like you're simply upset that Erick doesn't share your opinions about certain tv shows and movies.

I wasn't. I just thought I'd add HB in there because that's what he said about him.

But anyway, I think we should get back to the real focus on this thread.

SierraNichole · 03-02-2011, 09:44 AM

Im cool with movie nights and I personally love movie nights. Im not sure TPB is completely appropriate because honestly I wouldnt feel right playing it in the House of the Lord with all teh curse words and suggestive content. I personally love The Princess Bride but am not sure I would feel comfortable watching it at church where we come together to worship our Savior.
Im not crazy conservative or anything. imm a 24 yr old worship leader and love living out of the Christian "box",. but im not sure playing movies int he House of God is appropriate. Im not sure I would feel right watching TPB in my church. It would feel like when they were selling and trading in the temple and JESUS got angry and turned over the tables and said, “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[f]” Matthew 21:13. Would we be making the church a house of something else than prayer if we were showing movies with worldly messages and content in the place where we want God to live?
Just a thought, im not trying to be religious, just propose a different view.

OiBoyz · 03-02-2011, 09:52 AM

Jesus was referring to the Temple. Which had very strict rules and procedures. The modern day church building is NOT the house of God. As a believer, YOU are the house of God.

**Josey Wales** · 03-02-2011, 11:07 AM

Kris. · 03-02-2011, 02:14 PM

Some movies are great, and maybe some people can learn more about a (really) good movie, instead of another survey at the church at sunday night.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 03-02-2011, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SierraNichole

Im cool with movie nights and I personally love movie nights. Im not sure TPB is completely appropriate because honestly I wouldnt feel right playing it in the House of the Lord with all teh curse words and suggestive content. I personally love The Princess Bride but am not sure I would feel comfortable watching it at church where we come together to worship our Savior.
Im not crazy conservative or anything. imm a 24 yr old worship leader and love living out of the Christian "box",. but im not sure playing movies int he House of God is appropriate. Im not sure I would feel right watching TPB in my church. It would feel like when they were selling and trading in the temple and JESUS got angry and turned over the tables and said, “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[f]” Matthew 21:13. Would we be making the church a house of something else than prayer if we were showing movies with worldly messages and content in the place where we want God to live?
Just a thought, im not trying to be religious, just propose a different view.

Actually, the body of believers is the church. In other words, if you would watch it in faith in your living room, then it would be fine morally to watch in the building. The only real difference being is that there are separate commands for "disputable matters" which apply when you are in the presence of a weaker brother which might apply in a church setting.

Frankly, your reference to a building as the House of God scares me in that you are a worship leader. Such shows a great lack of biblical knowledge of what the church is, and the nature of worship. In perhaps the most famous passage on worship, where Jesus states that real worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth, he is deflecting a question about which temple is the real house of God. (The Samaritans had a rival temple at Mt. Gerazim.)

It reminds me of the old ladies yelling at me to stop running around in God's house. Ironically, biblically, they should have asked God's house to stop running around an old musty building.

jthomas1600 · 03-02-2011, 02:51 PM

I take some issue with the "it's just a building, no different than any other building" approach. I agree that it is not the inner temple, the most holly of hollies. I agree that many people take the sacredness of the church way to far. And I agree that we are the church. However, I don't agree that it is just like every other building. Maybe if you're part of the commercial megachurch crowd and your building is paid for by a few large donations, or fund raising or something else. But every church I've been a part of has been built with money given to God for the express purpose of coming into that building and worshiping Him. The building is dedicated for that specific purpose. It's not at all uncommon (has been the case in the churches I've attended) that much of the initial building, most of the additions and modifications, the cleaning, the maintenance, etc. is done by volunteers who are giving of their time in service to the Lord. All that said to say, I have a pretty relaxed attitude about the building. I don't think God wants us to go stress about it. On the list of things to worry about I think weather or not we watch a movie or run in church is way down the list. But I don't think it's just a building.

***Art*** · 03-02-2011, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

I take some issue with the "it's just a building, no different than any other building" approach. I agree that it is not the inner temple, the most holly of hollies. I agree that many people take the sacredness of the church way to far. And I agree that we are the church. However, I don't agree that it is just like every other building. Maybe if you're part of the commercial megachurch crowd and your building is paid for by a few large donations, or fund raising or something else. But every church I've been a part of has been built with money given to God for the express purpose of coming into that building and worshiping Him. The building is dedicated for that specific purpose. It's not at all uncommon (has been the case in the churches I've attended) that much of the initial building, most of the additions and modifications, the cleaning, the maintenance, etc. is done by volunteers who are giving of their time in service to the Lord. All that said to say, I have a pretty relaxed attitude about the building. I don't think God wants us to go stress about it. On the list of things to worry about I think weather or not we watch a movie or run in church is way down the list. But I don't think it's just a building.

I am as committed to worshiping God in my home as much as I am at church...

And my churches, both of the ones I have called a home, plus the one I visit most often, hold service in school auditoriums, gymnasiums and multi-purpose rooms.

I honestly do not find those buildings any lesser to a dedicated church building. Honestly, I don't. It is not easier to worship God in a church than it is in a gymnasium, or my bedroom, or on a hike, or in my ambulance.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 03-02-2011, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

I take some issue with the "it's just a building, no different than any other building" approach. I agree that it is not the inner temple, the most holly of hollies. I agree that many people take the sacredness of the church way to far. And I agree that we are the church. However, I don't agree that it is just like every other building. Maybe if you're part of the commercial megachurch crowd and your building is paid for by a few large donations, or fund raising or something else. But every church I've been a part of has been built with money given to God for the express purpose of coming into that building and worshiping Him. The building is dedicated for that specific purpose. It's not at all uncommon (has been the case in the churches I've attended) that much of the initial building, most of the additions and modifications, the cleaning, the maintenance, etc. is done by volunteers who are giving of their time in service to the Lord. All that said to say, I have a pretty relaxed attitude about the building. I don't think God wants us to go stress about it. On the list of things to worry about I think weather or not we watch a movie or run in church is way down the list. But I don't think it's just a building.

But at its core, it is, just a building, maybe a special building, but it isn't God's house or anything of the sort. When I say just a building, I mean that the laws of morality do not shift because it is a church. If it would be wrong outside a church, wrong inside the church. The building may be special to people, and indeed that is good. But that in no way makes it something more than, just a building, that is special to people.

I have never been at a church that had volunteer janitors. (Which is funny given my temp scrubs moniker) I have been several churches janitors over the years, and they are just buildings, perhaps the creepiest subset and most evil seeming in the dark of night. When I say it is just a building, I mean that I treat it as any other place. Though as a janitor, I can vouch that churches are the single rudest clients I have ever had. (and this is across the board, I have cleaned charismatic, episcopal and baptist, and others. ...what, I change my name and I start talking about cleaning, I guess avatars make the man... )

I do this because unlike the ancient Israelites who kept themselves in ritual purity to allow proximity to a building which represents the holiness of God, we ourselves are called to be consecrated, and holy ourselves, meaning the temple of God is present on a fishing boat, and in my apartment, and in the ambulances, where we work. Thus, we should find what movies are acceptable, relative to what movies we would watch anywhere. (allowing of course for the disputable matters I mentioned earlier)

AlphaSigma · 03-06-2011, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerRocks2day

Yesterday, my friend [Erick] and I once again, had a heated debate, while he drove me back home--this time, it was on movie events at church.

When I talked about last week, when I went to see 'The Princess Bride' at my church I used to go to, he thought it was terrible to show that film in church; he believed it was a 'pagan film'* and thinks that churches shouldn't be showing 'wordly' films such as that because he thinks we're called to be seperate from this world; in which he believes that we shouldn't have movie nights and watch classics such as 'The Princess Bride.'

He even proclaimed, obnoxiously, that he wouldn't show that film at 'his church' if he were a pastor. If that were the case, then I'd probably wouldn't wanna go to 'his church.'

Anyway, I'm curious if there's anybody around here goes to a church, and they have a movie night? And What kind of movies would you watch at church, if they have movie nights? Also, would it really be bad to watch films such as 'Princess Bride' in church?*

*We watched Princess Bride, because it was a favorite of our long time friends, whose dad used to be the pastor of the church. And he's a really fun guy.

We just had a senior high movie night at my church to which I was asked why we can't watch Hot Rod.

For us, we try to stay away from movies that feature sexuality. We don't endorse a 'pg/g rule', but we do make exceptions depending on movie content and purpose.