Faith and Culture

For this Friday I have been planning a movie night for Together Under Grace (TUG), the university/career fellowship at Chinese Alliance Church. I had recently seen a movie that really impacted me called Changing Lanes. I felt it would be great to show, but had some hesitations. Some Christians are definitely sensitive to things like crudge language, violence and that sort of stuff in movies. The question arose - what sort of movie should be shown at church?

This drives to much deeper issues that I've been thinking about - how should Christians interact with culture? Should we shy away from things that some Christians deem as offensive?

Then the deeper issues get into what is art/music and what is it good for. Consider a movie, which is offensive to some, but helps the viewer grow or think in a new way. Is this worthwhile to watch?

I tend to be more liberal when it comes to these issues. I'm glad someone made Saving Private Ryan, showing some of the violence and horror of WWII. Mostly because I think the film did a good job of showing the human stories, and that really impacted me. I don't know, some movies like 8mm, which delves into pornographic sex and severe violence - well I didn't find that very beneficial at all (I recall viewers walking out on the movie in the theatre).

I think we need need to be on the forefront of engaging and influencing culture. This can't happen without interacting with modern culture, and rubbing shoulders with the world. However, this should never be at the expense of our personal devotion to God, nor the cost of causing our brother to stumble.

Any thoughts?