The recent fervor surrounding the release of the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey”…
… may have settled down a bit, but left behind is a trail of dust full of heated opinions as to the quality and worth of such a film. In perfect irony, the “grey” movie holds no gray area for our society.
Opening night and beyond, women proudly, openly flocked to the long awaited screen version of the book series that captured their attention a few years back. They de-cried the voices saying this is mommy porn. With a new-found style of blazon feminism, a 21st century attempt at bra-burning, these women casted off any restraint. They walked arm-in-arm to the theater for a “Girls Night Out.”
While they were “celebrating”, heated discussions arose. Multitudes of prominent Christian ministries gave interviews, wrote articles and blogged about the dangers of this movie, which sat #1 at the box office for a few weeks. Many who partook of the show justified it by saying no one should judge them, since we all sin. Many said it is just fiction. Some even said it has a good story line.
God has given us free will, the freedom to choose that which we do in our lives. And certainly, if you do not identify as a servant of Jesus Christ, you will not abide by the expectation that God has given to those who say they love Him. Yet, if you DO say you are a Christian, and you would say you have salvation through Jesus Christ, you are on dangerous ground when you engage is such immorality, even in “fictional” movie form.
The root of this whole issue is whether or not we have healthy, Godly perspectives of sex. Hollywood has pushed the envelope of modesty to the point that a walk on the red carpet is laden with more bare skin than covered. Sex within a story line of a movie seems expected, whether it fits the story line or not. We have been grossly desensitized in this society. But does God approve?
When I was 18, I had an abortion. It was devastating for many reasons and it set in motion a series of consequences in my life that left me hanging by a thread for many years.
In my brokenness, I began to interpret that the act of sex (having been the root cause of my reason to abort) was wrong, dirty and shameful. Over the course of the years that followed, I cast off all restraint and engaged in very unhealthy relationships. I was doing the very thing I hated, all in a warped attempt to punish myself for the wrong I had done. (This is actually a very common response to abortion, and it is rooted in self-hatred). Any manner of reserve was cast aside until God grabbed hold of me and began to heal me.
I surrendered my life to Him. I was saved, got baptized and began to study and learn what God’s plan was for my life. When I got married at age 26, I knew that sex within marriage was God’s plan, but I still often felt the shame and degradation of my past. I struggled to find the healthy perspective that this was a gift God had given to husband and wife.
After our first child was born, I attended a moms group. One of the guest speakers spoke on the topic of sex, and very honestly explained God’s plan for intimacy. She had shared that for years, she and her husband engaged in a group of swingers, in which they all agreed to openly share sex partners, with no boundaries. Then, she shared how God grabbed hold of her and her husband and gave them the desire to live in a way that was holy and pleasing to Him. He healed them, and from that, they became Christian marriage counselors.
In the course of her presentation, she said something that was profound. She explained that as God is with each of us who call Him Lord, and biblically, a married couple is “one flesh”, He is present with us when we are intimate with our spouses. That is not a perverse statement: God is the author of sex. Satan is the master imitator. With whom should we place our trust?
The bible speaks much about the sexual relationship of a husband and wife. The word also speaks much about fornication, adultery, and sexual immorality. What God intended for good, within the confines of a monogamous marriage, satan will use for evil. Scripture even tells us that we need to make sure we are intimate with our spouses, so that we do not find ourselves tempted:
1 Corinthians 7:5New Living Translation (NLT)
5 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
In the aftermath of this movie, the calm may have returned for a while. The sequel is already being planned, however, so once again this topic will not disappear from our society. As a Christian, one has an obligation to test ALL things we engage in against what the Word of God says regarding it.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” is fornication, pornography, sexual immorality. One can attempt to justify in any way they please, but as a Christ lover, that justification must be tempered with what God Himself says.
Would you invite your church body to see this movie together? How about doing what was done with the Passion of the Christ: rent the whole theater and give free tickets to the lost, so they can come to see the power of Christ. Of course, a believer would scoff at such an assertion. However, any Christian who partook of the movie, shared their witness the moment they stepped into the theater. Was that a strong witness of the love of Christ? Were the lost drawn to Jesus as a result of your watching the movie? What did you do when you watched the sex scenes, did you cover your eyes or did you indulge and become aroused? What then did you do with that arousal? The marriage bed, God says, is undefiled. It is the single place where sex is intended to take place, and the single person intended to engage with you is your spouse. Once you see such graphic sexual imagery, you cannot unsee it. And to satisfy your arousal caused by something outside of your spouse, through your spouse, brings them into the sin. What thoughts did you have the Sunday after watching the movie, when it was time to worship God, pray unto Him, and sing unto Him? He knows our thoughts, He knows our ways. He 
desires us to remain a pure and spotless bride. It is an impossibility to partake of this kind of entertainment and say we are spotless.
We are a nation divided. We are divided on practically every issue: the environment, abortion, immigration, government’s role, homosexuality, taxes, and so on. Not in my lifetime would I have guessed that a divisive issue for America would be pornography. And, I would never have imagined Christians fighting FOR it. Truth has become so subjective, that we place our own perception of it above the Word of God. God calls Christians to be IN the world, not OF it. He tells us we are a light, and are not to be hidden, but to shine in the darkness for the world to see Him and glorify Him. How can we do this when we dive head first into the darkness and call it entertainment?
God aches for you to seek Him, in all ways. He gave a way for your flesh to be satisfied through the marriage bed. Intimacy between a husband and wife satisfies the body, soul and spirit jointly. Why seek to satisfy your flesh through sexual immorality? Seek instead the holiness your soul and spirit long for.
God has come that we might have life, and life abundantly. Satan is here for the express purpose to steal, kill and destroy. As the moral decay of our society continues to plummet, we must choose whom we will serve. The lines are being drawn ever more clearly, and there is no shade of gray where God’s Truth is concerned. On what side will we stand?
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
*** Becky Soske *** is a Kindergarten teacher with a passion for children and teaching. She is a public speaker and author. She resides with her husband children in Wyoming.
