Fifty Shades of Shame

I know I’ve posted something already today on prayer, but I’ve got share some thoughts about this new movie.

Fifty Shades of Grey opened up this weekend and has already been awarded the record of the highest earnings of any film ever that opened up during the month of February. The film that did hold this record was The Passion of the Christ. Maybe we should just let that sink in for a moment. I can’t help but feel that this fact alone reveals the spiritual warfare aspect of this movie. Box office receipts for this opening weekend of Fifty Shades could be as much as $100 million. Did you catch that? $100 million! So, who is going to see this movie? Evidently a lot of people. Here’s the interesting thing. I’ve read a few reviews about the movie, from both Christian and secular sources, and I haven’t found anyone yet who says the movie is a great movie. So, even with bad reviews, the theatres are full this weekend of people wanting to see a movie that glamorizes the abuse of women and promotes a perversion of sex.

I entitled this article Fifty Shades of Shame because first of all, shame on Christians for reading this book, and now, going to see the movie. While I can’t know for sure whether or not Christians have done this, I’m guessing that this movie is going to make nearly $100 million this weekend with the help of curious believers. Christians could make a huge statement to Hollywood if we refused to see movies that do not promote themes that are wholesome and promote healthy relationships.

It is also shameful because few people seem to be calling this lifestyle what it is – a perversion of what God intends. We live in a time when everyone seems to be saying that anything goes and everything is okay. Everything is NOT okay. Everything has consequences, and the consequence of perversion is never ultimate fulfillment. In a day where the abuse of women is recognized as wrong, Hollywood and our secular media seems to be having a hard time calling these producers out for creating such a film. This movie should be the greatest flop in the history of Hollywood because American people do not want to promote such outrageous behavior and organizations across the country, both secular and Christian, take a stand for women and healthy relationships. What happened to the character of our nation? Why are we going to reward the film maker and the author of such shameful material?

While I could say more, I would like to address one final area of shame. Shame on Christians for not willingly promoting a biblical view of relationships, marriage, and even sex through our conversations and practices. Marriage is a beautiful thing, and sex is a wonderful gift from our Creator who designed the whole thing. While we need to be circumspect in how we talk about this subject, there are places that the topic of sex and relationships should be talked about, and when we talk about it, it should be in glowing terms. The problem is that for many Christians, relationships and sex are not glowing because we do not have the kind of marriages we should have. God intends marriage to be a joyful experience filled with happiness, support, encouragement, and fun – yes fun. Maybe young people would not be drawn to this perversion if the model they see in their parents and in this culture was one that showed the fulfillment and joy that is experienced in healthy marriages. Let’s let this Hollywood perversion challenge us not to settle for anything less in our marriages than God’s best so that we can model for the world the true shade of love and commitment.