<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

Standards

Censorship of films and books has been strongly opposed by numerous organizations as a violation of American freedom.

Yet the tide of pornography increases by the hour.

Where should the lines of censorship be set at?

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about movies and morals.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz and the Amazing Facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

To introduce our subject today, I'd like to read from 2 Timothy 2, verses 1, 4, and 5.

This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." Now these inspired words were written to describe the conditions of the last days when great profession of Christianity would be made.

There has been no time in the history of the world when more people belonged to the Church than now.

But friends, millions have taken the name of Christ in vain.

They have a great form of religion but without any power.

Our text says that they have no power because they love pleasure more than they love God.

Is it 1 who has his name on the records of some church?

No, no, a true Christian is 1 who is like Christ, who follows his example.

No 1 has a right to call himself a Christian if he continues to act and talk and live like the world.

You may ask, well, what's wrong with the world?

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Now Ferencz, here is a text which touches every phase of our life.

This brings the fact before us that there are only 2 patterns of life for anybody to follow.

There are only 2 standards by which anybody can live.

We must either move in the sphere of the world or in the sphere of Christ.

The antagonism between these 2 forces is so violent that there can never be any ground for friendship.

God's standard is so much higher than the world's ways that no basis of fellowship is possible.

No 1 can divide his loyalties between the 2 great opposing ways of life.

The Christian is so intimately connected and committed to Christ's life and example that the Bible illustrates it by the ties of marriage.

Notice these words in James 4.4, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?

Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

Now no stronger terms could be used to express divine disapproval of those who try to combine the 2 spheres of life, the world and Christ.

But now we are prepared to inquire about the nature of this gulf which should separate the Christian from the world.

What do we find in the world that is so violently at odds with God?

What is so foreign to the teaching of Jesus?

If we look long and hard at the lives of many modern Christians, we can see no contrast at all with the world around them.

They attend the same movies, wear the same clothes, eat the same food, and have the same fellowship with the unbelievers.

Even their speech and habits harmonize with the spirit of the world.

And so we are constrained to ask again, what does the Bible mean by saying that the Christian should not love the world?

Well, it means simply that the spiritual claims of Christ will so separate a man from certain influences in the world that he will be considered peculiar by the unbeliever.

Now, Titus 2.14 tells us that very thing.

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works?

Now this does not mean that we should be odd just for the sake of being different.

There is no virtue in seeking to be eccentric just to attract attention.

All right, what are those endpoints of the world, then, which contradict the Spirit of Jesus?

First of all, let me read some of the principles upon which the Kingdom of God is built, and they'll guide us in knowing where to draw those lines.

Jesus said in Luke 9, 23, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

In other words, some things must be given up in order to be a Christian.

They just don't fit into the framework of spiritual things.

Again, in John 15, 19, Jesus said, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.

But because ye are not of the world, But I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Now notice that, friends.

This means that a true Christian cannot expect to be popular with the world.

How can he when his standards make him seem peculiar in the eyes of the world?

Now let's read another principle in Philippians 4.8 that really makes a distinct line of demarcation between the 2 opposing forces.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.

If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Now this text guides the Christian in making decisions about recreation, reading, amusements, almost any other activity, and what a vast gulf it creates between those who follow the ways of the world and those who live by the principles of Christ.

Now we'll apply the test of Philippians 4, 8 to some of the popular activities of the world And notice how they fail to meet the high standard of Christianity.

Now friends, I maintain that it is not pure and virtuous.

It is not of good rapport, as our text requires.

Who can say that the modern dance forms, with their suggestive and often vulgar body movements are pure and virtuous.

And if we apply the test of the theater, we get that same result again.

My friends, there is no influence in the world that is so subtly intended to poison the imagination and destroy religious impressions than the movies.

Hollywood and its scores of movie idols have been a moral taint upon the whole world.

The make-believe images on the screen with their glittering glass of wine and glorified sin have reached into almost every country to mold the minds and character.

I blush to tell you that so-called Christians have been the very ones to sit by the hour feeding upon the vice, crime, human passion that's glorified and glamorized in the theater.

Now I know that very few pastors dare raise their voice against it for fear of being called old-fashioned.

But it's time that somebody calls sin by its right name.

I say it's not pure, virtuous, and true, and just, and of good report.

There's no agreement between the theater and the Christian.

1 is of the world, the other not of the world, even though it's in the world.

You know, friends, even so-called historical films and Bible pictures are twisted beyond recognition in order to instill that element of impurity that the carnal mind demands.

The films, of course, are made to appeal to the majority of the people.

It doesn't take a great deal of wisdom to discern what the majority want.

Their unspiritual cravings are in conflict with the exalted ideal manifested in Jesus.

There's been a lot of publicity about censorship boards, production codes, and so forth.

None of them are acting on the basis of Bible standards.

This is why Christians need to draw the line for themselves to set up ideals based upon the Bible and not Hollywood.

But you say, surely there is an occasional good educational picture that we can see and that will agree with the Bible principle.

Well, friends, I am the first to agree that pictures can be very educational.

There's nothing wrong with a picture simply because it moves.

But I'd say about 99.9 of the movie fare is not in any sense of the word uplifting or instructive.

I'll concede that there might be 1 in a hundred that might not be objectionable, But that 1 could never be recognized by the title or by the advertising of it.

I maintain that it's not worthwhile to dig through the contents of a garbage pile to get 1 good banana at the bottom.

And the Bible rule, abstain from all appearance of evil, would lead us to guard our Christian influence by staying away completely from those places where sin is commercialized, either in picture or deed.

In Revelation 22, 15, I read these words, For without, that means outside the holy city, are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Now those are left out of the kingdom of God here, even those who love or make a lie.

Now Hollywood pictures are lies, friends, and as such they have no common ground with the true spirit of Christianity.

In this category we could put all those stacks of multicolored trash that appear in the form of magazines and novels on the newsstands.

Wherever the evil is magnified and spotlighted and wherever a lie is dwelled upon, the test of Philippians 4.8 is not met.

What we see enters the mind and is translated into thought.

And the Bible says, Whatsoever a man thinketh in his heart, So is he.

Now the very same indictment, of course, against movies can be also leveled at television.

Some pictures that can't even pass the censors for theater screening are fed into the front room of millions of Christians.

Yes, it's impossible for people to control the set and to keep out the evil if they don't have the power of God abiding in their hearts.

In fact, there are many Christians who find it impossible to control that little button.

Back to Menu

Standards

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine