Malone calls on fellow bishops to oppose ‘Fifty Shades’ film

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Timothysis said:
Don’t look at it if you don’t want to! But before you or anyone condemn a book, movie, album or whatever, at least have the intellectual integrity to read, see or hear it before you do!

What do you say to a person who says, “yeah, my friend says that Jesus and God are just made up nonsense, so that’s why I don’t believe?” I’m sure that you will suddenly become concerned with making sure they have the facts before they make such a statement and that they should read firsthand what is taught about God and Jesus. It goes both ways, you know.

BTW, if your friend has such a well formed conscience, she should know that abandoning a book that she finds to be morally upsetting isn’t a cause for reconciliation.
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Oh,so now you are an authority on when one should or shouldn’t feel the need to go to Re onciliation? :rolleyes:
 
Jeanne_S said:
Oh,so now you are an authority on when one should or shouldn’t feel the need to go to Re onciliation? :rolleyes:
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And you are an authority on what is and isn’t filth in literature? Or at least your friend is? :rolleyes:
 
Timothysis said:
And you are an authority on what is and isn’t filth in literature? Or at least your friend is? :rolleyes:/

Now you are arguing for arguments sake.Let it go ready.
You enjoy reading this book,if you wish.
I personally,prefer to spend my time reading material that will enhance my knowledge,whether it be historian novels,faith based material,etc.
It has been wildly established that this is an amateurish attempt at writing at the very least and trash as well. A waste of time IMO
On a final note,the fact that our bishops are warning against reading this garbage,it enough reason for me,it should be for you as well.😉
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Jeanne_S said:
I personally,prefer to spend my time reading material that will enhance my knowledge,whether it be historian novels,faith based material,etc.
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Hey, that’s great. Now you can give a knowledgable opinion on those books that you have actually read instead of condemning those that you haven’t. Is that really asking too much?
Jeanne_S said:
It has been wildly established that this is an amateurish attempt at writing at the very least and trash as well. A waste of time IMO
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St. Jerome sometimes bemoaned his labors at translating the Old Testament because the writing was so much more “amateurish” than the Latin classics that he so loved. If you don’t want to read something, then don’t read it but citing that it is “established” to be “amateurish” and “trash” doesn’t make you sound any more knowledgable about the subject. I sincerely doubt that there hasn’t been an accepted classic that hasn’t been panned by someone.
Jeanne_S said:
On a final note,the fact that our bishops are warning against reading this garbage,it enough reason for me,it should be for you as well.😉
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My bishop hasn’t said a word about it. With what is available on broadcast tv, cable, dvds and the internet, I think this book falls very low on the list of priorities. If no attention is brought to it, it will quickly fade like every other “scandalous” thing that comes along like clockwork.
 
_Abyssinia said:
If you live in the USA and want to see what is basically an antidote of sorts to ‘50 shades of grey,’ check out ‘Old Fashioned.’
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Good suggestion. My wife and I have made the decision to cast our economic vote by going to see Old Fashioned on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a different trailer that plays on the “antidote” nature of it (and doesn’t give away much of the storyline): youtube.com/watch?v=qbMH9gYpAbQ
 
7_Sorrows said:
To me these types of books are a form if pornography so I choose not to read them. I think they can be addictive like a drug and I don’t do those either.
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I don’t know if the filmmakers/authors really care whether you actually view/read their works or not. The bottom line for them is how much revenue they generate in SELLING the stuff. Just sayin…
 
Timothysis said:
Hey, that’s great. Now you can give a knowledgable opinion on those books that you have actually read instead of condemning those that you haven’t. Is that really asking too much?

St. Jerome sometimes bemoaned his labors at translating the Old Testament because the writing was so much more “amateurish” than the Latin classics that he so loved. If you don’t want to read something, then don’t read it but citing that it is “established” to be “amateurish” and “trash” doesn’t make you sound any more knowledgable about the subject. I sincerely doubt that there hasn’t been an accepted classic that hasn’t been panned by someone.

My bishop hasn’t said a word about it. With what is available on broadcast tv, cable, dvds and the internet, I think this book falls very low on the list of priorities. If no attention is brought to it, it will quickly fade like every other “scandalous” thing that comes along like clockwork.
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Speakng of reading…,did you even other to read the title of this thread and the related article?:cool:
 
Timothysis, you’ve made multiple assertions that if ignored by the Church, it will fade away (“If you leave it alone, it will quickly fade away” and “If no attention is brought to it, it will quickly fade like every other “scandalous” thing that comes along like clockwork”).

That’s very unlikely, based on what it’s done already. It’s been a huge phenomenon for four years: 100 million+ copies of the series sold, best seller lists all over the world, and more popular than the entire Harry Potter series on Amazon UK. Now the first movie is coming out and, by all accounts, it will be a smash hit (based on pre-sales, current estimates for the first weekend are $60 million in the US). Two sequels have already been announced (next in 2016). Heck, mainstream retailer Target is already selling 50 Shades of Grey sex toys. We are only in the middle of an 8 year cycle of this being a huge cultural hit.

Whether or not the Church says anything about it will have a negligible impact on its overall success IMO.
 
Wampa said:
Timothysis, you’ve made multiple assertions that if ignored by the Church, it will fade away (“If you leave it alone, it will quickly fade away” and “If no attention is brought to it, it will quickly fade like every other “scandalous” thing that comes along like clockwork”).

That’s very unlikely, based on what it’s done already. It’s been a huge phenomenon for four years: 100 million+ copies of the series sold, best seller lists all over the world, and more popular than the entire Harry Potter series on Amazon UK. Now the first movie is coming out and, by all accounts, it will be a smash hit (based on pre-sales, current estimates for the first weekend are $60 million in the US). Two sequels have already been announced (next in 2016). Heck, mainstream retailer Target is already selling 50 Shades of Grey sex toys. We are only in the middle of an 8 year cycle of this being a huge cultural hit.

Whether or not the Church says anything about it will have a negligible impact on its overall success IMO.
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If the movie is as bad as the book is supposed to be, then it will most likely die a quick death. Constant attention to it will only increase the desire in people to be “naughty” and go against what religious authorities say.
 
Timothysis said:
If the movie is as bad as the book is supposed to be, then it will most likely die a quick death. Constant attention to it will only increase the desire in people to be “naughty” and go against what religious authorities say.
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Not if they have well formed consciences …
Not sure if you are old enough to remember when lists of movies were posted in church vestibules.They would either be approved or not acceptable …
 
Timothysis said:
I just have this crazy idea that a person should actually read the book in question before they condemn it. Relying on a news summary or a friends judgement doesn’t substitute for first hand experience.

We went through this here with Bill O’Reily’s book about Jesus. The thread went on for pages and pages with people condemning the book and him without even having read it. Don’t you see a problem with this type of position? If a person doesn’t want to read it, then fine but they are the last person who should have an opinion about it.
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Nonsense. You most certainly can have an opinion about trash. Even the people who like the book admit what it is…poorly-written smut. And that’s from those who are supporters.

There is no other view on the book. No one out there claims it is a great story with kinky sex mixed in. No one claims it has some deeper meaning and deeper substance to it.

So if that’s the BEST that can be said of the book, and MANY trustworthy people have read all or portions of it and come out and said the book is trash, then an opinion most certainly CAN be said about it.

Do I need to watch every porn flick to be able to form an opinion about a particular porn flick?!?!?! Of course not. It’s completely rational to form an opinion that a particular porn flick is trash and should be avoided.

This viewpoint of yours only hold weight if there are actually two sides to the argument. No one denies exactly what this book is.
 
Timothysis said:
If the movie is as bad as the book is supposed to be, then it will most likely die a quick death. Constant attention to it will only increase the desire in people to be “naughty” and go against what religious authorities say.
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This should clear up any questions re whether a person of good moral conscience should indulge in reading this book or viewing the movie.
From the Midwest Theological Forum,with ecclesiastical approve here is a guideline for examining one’s conscience before Confession.
Did I willfully look at indecent pictures or watch immoral movies?Did I read immoral books and magazines…
 
zz912 said:
Nonsense.
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:rolleyes:
zz912 said:
Do I need to watch every porn flick to be able to form an opinion about a particular porn flick?!?!?! Of course not.
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It would seem to be a bit contrary in any intellectual discussion for you to condemn something, even a “porn flick,” without having seen it. If you wish to speak intelligently about a subject, you must have some intelligence of the subject.
zz912 said:
It’s completely rational to form an opinion that a particular porn flick is trash and should be avoided.
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How can anyone form an opinion about anything if they have not experienced the topic in question? What you are saying is causing a plethora of philosophers of Western civilization to roll in their graves. It most certainly is NOT rational to form an opinion on something that you refuse to even review.

BTW, this juvenile habit of labeling things that you so readily condemn (without even reading it) as “trash,” “garbage” and “filth” only serves to make your arguments even more facile than they are in content.
zz912 said:
This viewpoint of yours only hold weight if there are actually two sides to the argument. No one denies exactly what this book is.
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There are always two sides to every argument. The fact that you refuse to even entertain one side does not make it invalid. It just makes you out to be seen as unreasonable. If you can argue your point, then fine, but I think that you will find yourself looking rather foolish by trying to argue against something that you haven’t read. Even Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens were well versed in the Bible and Christianity in order to, at least, make reasonable arguments against it. While I think they ultimately fail in their objective, I at least have to give them credit for being able to address the topic, something that you couldn’t do in a debate about 50 Shades.
 
Jeanne_S said:
This should clear up any questions re whether a person of good moral conscience should indulge in reading this book or viewing the movie.
From the Midwest Theological Forum,with ecclesiastical approve here is a guideline for examining one’s conscience before Confession.
Did I willfully look at indecent pictures or watch immoral movies?Did I read immoral books and magazines…
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There are people who consider the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey to be immoral, or most especially, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. There are others who consider the classic painting Naked Maja to be indecent, or even the book Lady Chatterly’s Lover. Have you ever read The Arabian Nights? Are you suggesting that persons who have watched these movies or read these books should confess them as sinful acts? Or could it be that the Church does not regard all of her members to be mere children who cannot address adult situations with an adult mentality? Does the Church have a list of books, films and pictures that it declares to be immoral?
 
Timothysis said:
There are people who consider the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey to be immoral, or most especially, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. There are others who consider the classic painting Naked Maja to be indecent, or even the book Lady Chatterly’s Lover. Have you ever read The Arabian Nights? Are you suggesting that persons who have watched these movies or read these books should confess them as sinful acts? Or could it be that the Church does not regard all of her members to be mere children who cannot address adult situations with an adult mentality? Does the Church have a list of books, films and pictures that it declares to be immoral?
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We are to the point in this debate where I get the distinct impression you simply do not want to accept any thoughts on this subject in terms of it being objectionable material for a myriad of reasons.You are coming across as a moral relativist.If that is the case,we are beating a dead horse. I have nothing more to say.I have laid out my case both personally as re the Church’s stance on immoral books,movies.Now it is up to you to open your mind and will to these facts.
 
Timothysis said:
It would seem to be a bit contrary in any intellectual discussion for you to condemn something, even a “porn flick,” without having seen it. If you wish to speak intelligently about a subject, you must have some intelligence of the subject.
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Are you really arguing that one would have to see the entire series of something like Hot Young College Girls volumes 1-36, before being able to say with any authority or certainty that it’s pornography?
 
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