Monday, November 06, 2006

Ok, I'm ranting now... kind of.

Halloween is gone and the buzz from Saw III (no pun intended) has passed. After hearing so many people, even within circles of my friends, talk about this movie, I wanted to look into it a bit more. Basically, to at least be somewhat educated about it rather than just be saying, "I won't watch that piece of garbage", without really even knowing its storyline. I quickly found that my assumptions were actually extremely tame compared to the reality of this movie. Here are a few lines taken from a well-known movie reviewer:

"From chains that rip flesh, to contortionist machinery that shatters bones, Saw III is, in a word, brutal. Not one single detail is left off-camera and for the imagination. Viewers are forced to watch bones crack, skin deteriorate, faces freeze, and bodies explode. In simpler terms, Saw fans will be pleased by its bloodshed; others will be squeamish and might lose their lunch."

Now please keep in mind that I'm not a Baptist senior citizen that simply wishes that things could be like they were in the old days, I'm a young, active and pretty open-minded guy. But in researching this movie, I even found Christian blogsites that discussed how this main character, Jigsaw, could be looked at as a "Christ figure". The site went on to recommend that Christians go see this movie in order to "take a look at how you value the body that God has given you." If I wouldn't have been so appalled by this, I probably would have laughed until my side ached. Why do we continue to allow such sick and disgusting things to pass through our eyes and head straight into our souls? Do we have no understanding of how all that we see, hear, smell and taste actually combine to assist in making us who we are becoming? Lord, forgive us for our ignorance for we know not what we do.

Disclaimer: I used to be a big horror fan back in the day - Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Phantasm, etc. were all right up my alley for years, so please don't assume I'm talking out of lack of knowledge of this kind of thing. God has simply shown me mercy and grace - allowing me to see things for what they really are.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's actually sad and frightening how people will realize what they're doing to themselves and continue to do it in the name of entertainment. I'm by no means innocent of that, either.

Anonymous said...

hello cousin-in-law...I've got to say I highly agree with you on this one. It's a fact that once an image has entered your brain it never gets flushed. Covered up maybe, forgotten for awhile, very possible...but face it, it's there. We have but one body, a temple of Christ himself, including our brains and eyes. It should be filled with things holy and righteous. Images of love, love for family, love for good humor, love for God himself. Movies that present these types of images bring evil and being scared into the heart and mind of those that watch. God doesn't want us to be scared, I mean, a good suspense moment in a movie never hurt anyone but to be physically terrified of the gore on a screen defeats His purpose. How many times does He have to tell us in His good book "don't be afraid". I do believe he told Jesus' mom that too ;-) So, just backin you up on this one. Don't fill your minds with trash, look for something to glorify the Lord in all you do, including movies.

Anonymous said...

This one really hit the mark. It did shock me a little that Christians on blog sites are saying to go and relating the characther to Christ. May we who read Joel's blog be challenged to check all that goes in our ear and eye gates. We are being held accountable every day on what we look upon and what we hear. God sees.