Separating from entertainment -- has the time fully come


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2 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I'll give you 100$ if you walk up to the mother of the daughter who was murdered-you know, the one where the killer confessed after watching The Passion-and tell her that the movie had "no value". Then, tell the cops who investigated the case that the movie had "no value." Seriously, 100$ is yours. You must do it face to face with her, then the same with the cops. Then the same with the killer who confessed. 

100$. Cash, all yours. 

MG, my friend (meant sincerely), this response is utterly bogus. You have pegged my bogometer. A few non-exhaustive examples of this bogosity, ranked approximately from least to most important, include:

  • I would never intentionally inflict such emotional distress on grieving parents, certainly not to win a hundred bucks in a bet (or, I hope, a hundred thousand, or a hundred million). This is because I'm a human being with empathy for other human beings.
  • You would not want me to do so, for the same reasons.
  • If I were actually to look these people up and tell them how vomitous and utterly worthless TPotC was, then reported back here with that fact, you wouldn't send me the hundred bucks anyway.
  • The response has little to do with what I said. I did not claim that TPotC was worthless (though I might agree with that statement). Rather, I claimed by ironic inversion that there was no value in the film that could not be gained through more traditional means such as scripture study and Sunday School attendance. My unspoken but (I flatter myself) well-understood addendum was that, by using such traditional means, you would avoid the horrific and soul-numbing effects of watching a graphic depiction of a man being tortured to death over the space of a few hours.
  • The important and atoning aspects of Christ's sacrifice had relatively little to do with the details of his crucifixion per se, thus removing the purported virtue of the movie.
  • The dollar sign precedes the number value, thusly: $100

Bogometer+Metra+Hit.jpg

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Guest MormonGator
9 minutes ago, Vort said:

MG, my friend (meant sincerely), this response is utterly bogus. You have pegged my bogometer. A few non-exhaustive examples of this bogosity, ranked approximately from least to most important, include:

  • I would never intentionally inflict such emotional distress on grieving parents, certainly not to win a hundred bucks in a bet (or, I hope, a hundred thousand, or a hundred million). This is because I'm a human being with empathy for other human beings.
  • You would not want me to do so, for the same reasons.
  • If I were actually to look these people up and tell them how vomitous and utterly worthless TPotC was, then reported back here with that fact, you wouldn't send me the hundred bucks anyway.
  • The response has little to do with what I said. I did not claim that TPotC was worthless (though I might agree with that statement). Rather, I claimed by ironic inversion that there was no value in the film that could not be gained through more traditional means such as scripture study and Sunday School attendance. My unspoken but (I flatter myself) well-understood addendum was that, by using such traditional means, you would avoid the horrific and soul-numbing effects of watching a graphic depiction of a man being tortured to death over the space of a few hours.
  • The important and atoning aspects of Christ's sacrifice had relatively little to do with the details of his crucifixion per se, thus removing the purported virtue of the movie.
  • The dollar sign precedes the number value, thusly: $100

200$. 

Edited by MormonGator
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On 7/9/2019 at 11:24 AM, Fether said:

You look at the “Arrow” CW series and like 1/2 the main characters are gay, bi-sexual, or transgender. At some point, even if you support those ways of life, you gotta get bothered by the unrealistic amount of “woke” characters.

Just like the way Dr Who traveled all over space and time for decades, meeting almost no species that weren't heterosexual, (Time Lords themselves being an odd exception since I seem to recall the opposite gender regeneration thing being established early on) but suddenly with the recent ones every other creature is either gay or bisexual. 

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On 7/11/2019 at 8:42 PM, The Folk Prophet said:

I would never let my children watch that, nor have I ever seen it, nor will I.

Hey MG, did you ever build that Clockwork Orange style theater room you were planning?  Sounds like someone needs to be dragged in to test it. 

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2 hours ago, NightSG said:

Hey MG, did you ever build that Clockwork Orange style theater room you were planning?  Sounds like someone needs to be dragged in to test it. 

That's awesome. Lol. 

In the end I'm not sure this movie conversation matters. You can only forbid your own children from watching this or that movie, you can't forbid anyone else from doing it. And when they turn 18, they can do what they want. So you don't really have much power in the big picture. 

Edited by MormonGator
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21 hours ago, Vort said:

Apparently, there is real value in torture porn such as The Passion of the Christ that cannot be had by more traditional means such as reading scriptures or in more mundane venues such as Sunday School.

I have no wish to dissuade anyone from the No-R-rating standard, nor to convince any to watch The Passion of the Christ. We've done those strings--and yes, I found the movie to be powerful. On the other hand, do we really want to lump Hollyweird's sincere attempts at promoting faith-based movies with the industry's seeming push upon our youngest to embrace the inherent goodness of same-sex love? You'll lose a lot of allies if you go down this road.

Edited by prisonchaplain
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15 minutes ago, prisonchaplain said:

I have no wish to dissuade anyone from the No-R-rating standard, nor to convince any to watch The Passion of the Christ. We've done those strings--and yes, I found the movie to be powerful. On the other hand, do we really want to lump Hollyweird's sincere attempts at promoting faith-based movies with the industry's seeming push upon our youngest to embrace the inherent goodness of same-sex love? You'll lose a lot of allies if you go down this road.

Haters gonna hate. No matter what kind of movie/tv/play Hollywood makes, people will find something to complain about. It's human nature. 

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1 hour ago, prisonchaplain said:

I have no wish to dissuade anyone from the No-R-rating standard, nor to convince any to watch The Passion of the Christ. We've done those strings--and yes, I found the movie to be powerful. On the other hand, do we really want to lump Hollyweird's sincere attempts at promoting faith-based movies with the industry's seeming push upon our youngest to embrace the inherent goodness of same-sex love? You'll lose a lot of allies if you go down this road.

Playing devil’s advocate (or @Vort‘s advocate, as the case may be): 

As cultural conservatives we’ve used the “If they’re not against us they must be for us” line before—with Disney—and we’re seeing how that worked out.

As paranoid as it may sound:  we probably shouldn’t trust anyone in the filmmaking business any closer than a distance from which we can reliably spit in their eyes. 

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To offer a grossly oversimplified religious history lesson:  We've been here before. Circa 1940s America and though we won the Scope's Monkey trial it was already clear that society deemed us 'deplorable.' Ignorant really. Some churches had embraced higher criticism of the Bible (reading and interpreting it as literature, questioning the authorship and dating, etc.). At that time the conservatives were fundamentalists and the liberals were modernists. There really were no moderates anymore. Then rose up the Evangelical movement, with leaders like Billy Graham and magazines like Christianity Today. They argued for the ideas and positions of the conservatives, but said that their tone was too harsh, too opposed to culture. What if we engaged the culture instead? What if we made Christian movies, encouraged our young people to enter the sciences, and yes, the entertainment industry? The fundamentalists condemned this group as compromised. Today we find them pushing the home school movement, attending schools like Bob Jones University, and preaching in the streets. The Evangelicals became the Amy Grants, Lauren Daigles, and producers of Pure Flix. It all comes down to engage vs. oppose. Are we Noah's Ark or are we 'market place Christians?' Of course, there is room for both, and I expect to see fundamentalists in heaven. Hopefully they will forgives us when they find out we made it too.

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46 minutes ago, prisonchaplain said:

I expect to see fundamentalists in heaven. Hopefully they will forgives us when they find out we made it too.

 A devout Protestant dies and is met by St. Peter at the pearly gates for a tour of heaven. As the tour goes on St. Peter points out all the different denominations, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and so forth. As they come to a certain group way off to themselves, St. Peter draws the man closer and whispers, "Now, for this next group, we need to be really quiet. They are the Catholics and they think they're the only ones here."

Old but still classic. 

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1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

 A devout Protestant dies and is met by St. Peter at the pearly gates for a tour of heaven. As the tour goes on St. Peter points out all the different denominations, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and so forth. As they come to a certain group way off to themselves, St. Peter draws the man closer and whispers, "Now, for this next group, we need to be really quiet. They are the Catholics and they think they're the only ones here."

Old but still classic. 

"A devout Christian . . . They are the [insert fundamentalist sect name], and think they are the only ones here.".

 

Ironically, Catholics have seldom come across to me as claiming exclusive rights to heaven. They think they are right...the true church, etc. However, hierarchy calls us "separated brethren." Some fundamentalists groups, however, say that we Pentecostals speak tongues by the power of Satan. One prominent pastor, appropriately outraged at the antics of some TV evangelists, has stated that since Pentecostals did not condemn these folks (to his satisfaction) he no longer considers us brothers in the Lord. He holds regular conferences at his megachurch entitled "Strange Fire." The implication is that we Pentecostals/Charismatics bring unholy offerings to God and will be condemned. Sadly, 90% of what this fellow writes is quite good.

I have fundamentalist tendencies. The Bible is true, mostly literal, mostly historical, and written more anciently then some modernist scholars want to suggest (in attempts to downplay the prophesies and miracles...for the prophesies become historic re-tellings of the books are dated later). Further, there is great value in holiness, including such community covenants as your WoW. And...I do believe heaven will be bigger than even I want to admit.

Knowing this about myself, I check my hair-trigger condemnations. I listen more and speak less. When your missionaries come by, I generally take time to give them props for their faithfulness and diligence. I know what I know, believe what I believe, suspect what I suspect. However, Jesus is Lord, not me...so I follow the leading of the Spirit He sent. 

Edited by prisonchaplain
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Just an almost completely random and un-developed thought:  I'm going to ward conference in about an hour and I'm pondering the possibility that there might be some differences and similarities between a talk given in conference and an actor speaking on a film. AMong the many ways in which we can consider conference talks, could they ever be considered as entertaining?

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2 hours ago, askandanswer said:

Just an almost completely random and un-developed thought:  I'm going to ward conference in about an hour and I'm pondering the possibility that there might be some differences and similarities between a talk given in conference and an actor speaking on a film. AMong the many ways in which we can consider conference talks, could they ever be considered as entertaining?

 

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Hmmph! I saw Toy Story 4 over the weekend and totally missed any two moms scene. I forgot to watch for it. So...it was NOT obvious or blatant. Now if Bonnnie's parents had been two moms or two dads, that would have been uncomfortable to watch and something to make noise about.  But they were a regular ol' mom and dad. I suppose someone could make a stink about them only having one child. But then that would hurt many many couples who experienced infertility after their first child, much to their dismay. 

Much hoo haw about nuthin in my opinion! 

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