I'm not sure how I feel about movies – what's acceptable to watch, what's not, where the Christian should draw the line. I used to think that Hollywood romanticism and sappy sentimentalism were more damaging to a Christian worldview than other films which very bluntly showed the effects of total depravity. Whatever else, at least the non-believers watching the latter wouldn't get any wrong ideas about the nature of man. But, many have confronted the fact of fallen man and a fallen world and become nihilists. A belief in total depravity, as much as I hate to say it, doesn't lead seamlessly into recognizing a need for salvation.

I used to think that it was necessary for Christians to get away from the ridicule engendered by films such as Left Behind and show the world that they, too, could be “gritty” and “relentless” in their look at “reality.” I used to think that movies, to some degree, could be a common ground upon which to witness – provided that I watched the right ones, usually rated R. But now I see that because I wasn't different from the world in the ways that matter, I had to draw it in by a display of similarity – a classic evangelical church-building tactic. My Christianity should be obvious to the world, not necessarily by the films I watch, but by how I pursue God and love those around me. I think if non-Christians saw the effects of a Christlike love in me, they'd be willing to overlook a reserved taste in movies. Little House on the Prairie, anyone?

Kidding.