Appropriate media consumption

[pensmama87]

Satan can be subtle as well as obnoxious. We aren’t always aware of how the things of the world are influencing us.

Prayer is key to the efficacy of the Sacraments. When we allow the Lord of sanctify us, then we can SEE!

If half the time spent in entertaining ourselves is spent in prayer…oh what a difference it would make in the world.

I don’t deny that most of us could probably benefit from more time spent in prayer. That said, this attitude strikes me as a tad sanctimonious.

Most media produced for mass consumption is terrible regardless of form. It just is, and I don’t dispute that. But I find the dismissal of *all *of it curious. What if we applied this to the written word? (Historically, novels were regarded with a high level of suspicion.) Should we throw out Shakespeare because he didn’t write miracle plays? Is he really on the same level as the latest trashy bodice ripper?

And yes, I think this applies to visual media too. There’s really amazing art out there, and I don’t think I’m somehow an unholy, unfocused on God person because I see some of it and enjoy it. Relaxation and entertainment are not sins. Even nuns watch movies. Stephen Greydanus is a film critic and deacon who sees a LOT of movies and I love his approach to them.

I also just found out about a service called VidAngel that sounds interesting - it’s a streaming and filtering service so you can edit out whatever objectionable content you like in film and TV. I’m not sure if we’ll use it because they don’t have an app for our streaming platform at home, but if they do I think we might.

If you just don’t like TV or movies, or books, or art museums, or whatever, then that’s fine. But it’s a little rich, I think, to take that dislike and assume those who enjoy it must enjoy it too much and inappropriately and that it distracts them from a rich and fulfilling prayer life. I find God in art all of the time, and I have the added boost of having something I can talk about with non-Christians, maybe even to evangelize.

 

[E_7]

You know, some may disagree, but I believe that if it isn’t appropriate for children then it isn’t appropriate for adults. We will not enter heaven unless we are like a child like Jesus said. Innocent and pure. But some may debate that to justify themselves. And truth to be told, we should be detached from things of this world because this world’s prince is Satan, and he and his demons easily influence society and the media to lead us away from God.

I stand with what I said. And I add that I find it imprudent of us humans to think we are smarter than angels and demons by throwing the excuse of being mature enough. We shouldn’t underestimate evil because we are prideful and think we are smarter.

 

[LittleFlower378]

If you have an hour watch Fr.William Casey on unregulated TV viewing.
youtu.be/lB3_9Y3aHQo

 

[Patavium]

You know, some may disagree, but I believe that if it isn’t appropriate for children then it isn’t appropriate for adults. We will not enter heaven unless we are like a child like Jesus said. Innocent and pure. But some may debate that to justify themselves. And truth to be told, we should be detached from things of this world because this world’s prince is Satan, and he and his demons easily influence society and the media to lead us away from God.

I 100% agree

I am always amazed on how easily demons trick us to think that simulated sex scenes are OK in our entertainment. It is at best an occasion of sin. Do we drink a glass of water with a drop of poison?

Also, let’s remember that NOT all Art is morally appropriate.

 

[Rosebud77]

I 100% agree

I am always amazed on how easily demons trick us to think that simulated sex scenes are OK in our entertainment. It is at best an occasion of sin. Do we drink a glass of water with a drop of poison?

Also, let’s remember that NOT all Art is morally appropriate.

Well said, … and a vivid image of a dark drop of poison contaminating a glass of pure water,

 

[pensmama87]

I 100% agree

I am always amazed on how easily demons trick us to think that simulated sex scenes are OK in our entertainment. It is at best an occasion of sin. Do we drink a glass of water with a drop of poison?

Also, let’s remember that NOT all Art is morally appropriate.

Nobody, absolutely nobody, has claimed that on this thread.

 

[Lea101]

I stand with what I said. And I add that I find it imprudent of us humans to think we are smarter than angels and demons by throwing the excuse of being mature enough. We shouldn’t underestimate evil because we are prideful and think we are smarter.

? Has anybody said that? Mature enough=the witch in TVD is fictional, doing this in real life is a sin. Not mature enough=wow, witches are so cool, i want to resurrect somebody!

In a more relatable way…

Mature: (let’s say a character has a one night stand) that’s wrong (carries on watching the show, maybe past forwading the awkward scenes because you want to know what happens to so and so)

Immatue: see, sex is fine!

It’s really as simple as that. You don’t condone it and say “at least he didn’t rape her”, sure, that is pride, making up morals, but I don’t see how it applies when you’re watching tv shows, especially when the plot doesn’t focus too much on sex (as in, the sex are just ‘stuff that happened’ while the plot can focus on idk, a robbery, etc…). Simulated sex scenes are a whole other story…

Characters sin all the time. Including mortal sins (murder for instance). We don’t boycott something bc Johnny shoots someone. A person boycotts it if the show is tempting him to do that (an alcoholic wouldn’t/shouldn’t listen to songs about drinking and partying)

It’s honestly not an excuse…humans, while we are not amazingly intelligent about everything, are not stupid, and we know for ourselves what causes us temptation. (Game Of Thrones made me uncomfortable, but Arrested Development is fine for me, GOT has too much focus on sex scenes for no reason at all, arrested development focuses on humour as a whole) That varies, of course. Some will be tempted over an ankle, for goodness’ sake

In the case of children, they absorb everything and you don’t want the media to teach them stuff before you do

 

[E_7]

? Has anybody said that? Mature enough=the witch in TVD is fictional, doing this in real life is a sin. Not mature enough=wow, witches are so cool, i want to resurrect somebody!

In a more relatable way…

Mature: (let’s say a character has a one night stand) that’s wrong (carries on watching the show, maybe past forwading the awkward scenes because you want to know what happens to so and so)

Immatue: see, sex is fine!

It’s really as simple as that. You don’t condone it and say “at least he didn’t rape her”, sure, that is pride, making up morals, but I don’t see how it applies when you’re watching tv shows, especially when the plot doesn’t focus too much on sex (as in, the sex are just ‘stuff that happened’ while the plot can focus on idk, a robbery, etc…). Simulated sex scenes are a whole other story…

Characters sin all the time. Including mortal sins (murder for instance). We don’t boycott something bc Johnny shoots someone. A person boycotts it if the show is tempting him to do that (an alcoholic wouldn’t/shouldn’t listen to songs about drinking and partying)

It’s honestly not an excuse…humans, while we are not amazingly intelligent about everything, are not stupid, and we know for ourselves what causes us temptation. (Game Of Thrones made me uncomfortable, but Arrested Development is fine for me, GOT has too much focus on sex scenes for no reason at all, arrested development focuses on humour as a whole) That varies, of course. Some will be tempted over an ankle, for goodness’ sake

In the case of children, they absorb everything and you don’t want the media to teach them stuff before you do

I still stand with what I said. And I also add to my two previous post that we have an inclination to sin. We aren’t without the original sin. We are sinners, we are inclined to sin. Putting yourself in an occasion of sin is not wise nor prudent. Demons know us better than we know ourselves. Whatever evil passes into our eyes can be used against us at the moment or later in our weakeness. Especially sins of the flesh. We have to recognize that we aren’t perfect.

As for people with an unformed conscience (not necessarily mature or immature ) they fall into oppression and possession just like this exorcist in his book Exorcist and the Church Militant said that he has done the Rite to young people that were into Twilight (vampires and werewolves) and Harry Potter.

 

[Patavium]

? Has anybody said that? Mature enough=the witch in TVD is fictional, doing this in real life is a sin. Not mature enough=wow, witches are so cool, i want to resurrect somebody!

In a more relatable way…

Mature: (let’s say a character has a one night stand) that’s wrong (carries on watching the show, maybe past forwading the awkward scenes because you want to know what happens to so and so)

Immatue: see, sex is fine!

**It’s really as simple as that. You don’t condone it and say “at least he didn’t rape her”, sure, that is pride, making up morals, but I don’t see how it applies when you’re watching tv shows, especially when the plot doesn’t focus too much on sex (as in, the sex are just ‘stuff that happened’ while the plot can focus on idk, a robbery, etc…). Simulated sex scenes are a whole other story…
**
Characters sin all the time. Including mortal sins (murder for instance). We don’t boycott something bc Johnny shoots someone. A person boycotts it if the show is tempting him to do that (an alcoholic wouldn’t/shouldn’t listen to songs about drinking and partying)

It’s honestly not an excuse…humans, while we are not amazingly intelligent about everything, are not stupid, and we know for ourselves what causes us temptation. (Game Of Thrones made me uncomfortable, but Arrested Development is fine for me, GOT has too much focus on sex scenes for no reason at all, arrested development focuses on humour as a whole) That varies, of course. Some will be tempted over an ankle, for goodness’ sake

In the case of children, they absorb everything and you don’t want the media to teach them stuff before you do

Leah, could you please clarify the paragraph in bold?

Are you saying that when sex is just something that “happens” (i.e. actress and actor or even nowadays the LGBT kind simulate ehem passion on the screen, not necessarily showing any nudity) in the movie/TV series that this is NOT a simulated sex scene?

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

You know, some may disagree, but I believe that if it isn’t appropriate for children then it isn’t appropriate for adults. We will not enter heaven unless we are like a child like Jesus said. Innocent and pure. But some may debate that to justify themselves. And truth to be told, we should be detached from things of this world because this world’s prince is Satan, and he and his demons easily influence society and the media to lead us away from God.

Today is 9/11. What happened in New York that day was evil. My son was just 2 months old, but I didn’t let him see footage until he was old enough to understand.

I, on the other hand saw the footage as it happened.

Lots of films for example on the Vatican list of excellent films are too intense for children. “Schindler’s List” “Wild Strawberries”, “The Seventh Seal” for example are too intense for children.

I personally feel the Passion of the Christ should not be shown to children, especially young children. I cannot watch it myself, I find it too disturbing.

 

[PhiloMed]

Today is 9/11. What happened in New York that day was evil. My son was just 2 months old, but I didn’t let him see footage until he was old enough to understand.

I, on the other hand saw the footage as it happened.

Lots of films for example on the Vatican list of excellent films are too intense for children. “Schindler’s List” “Wild Strawberries”, “The Seventh Seal” for example are too intense for children.

I personally feel the Passion of the Christ should not be shown to children, especially young children. I cannot watch it myself, I find it too disturbing.

Exactly. It’s not as simple as “adults shouldn’t watch what children can’t watch.” That’s ridiculous. What about sci finand fantasy? Jurassic Park would scare the bejeezus out of my four year old but he will probably like it when he’s 10. Same for movies like The Wizard of Oz.

Let’s not forget war documentaries or any documentary on a more adult topic.

 

[E_7]

I thought we were talking about purity, no?

 

[petra22]

You know, some may disagree, but I believe that if it isn’t appropriate for children then it isn’t appropriate for adults. We will not enter heaven unless we are like a child like Jesus said. Innocent and pure. But some may debate that to justify themselves. And truth to be told, we should be detached from things of this world because this world’s prince is Satan, and he and his demons easily influence society and the media to lead us away from God.

I may sound like an old fogey, but I have to agree with you here. The crud on TV isn’t good for adults, either…! Jesus wouldn’t watch it. But he would look at people’s faces and look at them with love. Not to say they would all return it…

 

[Lea101]

Leah, could you please clarify the paragraph in bold?

Are you saying that when sex is just something that “happens” (i.e. actress and actor or even nowadays the LGBT kind simulate ehem passion on the screen, not necessarily showing any nudity) in the movie/TV series that this is NOT a simulated sex scene?

Stuff you see in sitcoms for example. They just show two people lying in bed, covered with a blanket. You know they just had sex, but they didn’t show it

Or when say, a couple makes out and then it leads to something else, but there isn’t an actual sex scene (basically um…no thrusting) so it’s basically them maybe removing their clothes, half naked at most and them it cuts to another scene, and when it cuts back, they are done.

Simulated sex scenes are basically Game of Thrones, nudity+the actions+the sounds…pretty awkward to watch. Some shows have sex scenes but they don’t show the nudity , (eg they show the top half of the bodies), I usually just past forward it or look at my phone. There’s literally no reason for that scene to happen!