Motive Counts

Reflections on Upchurch asks, Is it godly to watch a rated-R movie? and looks to Romans 14 for the answer.

We began by asking the question, “who is more godly?” and filling it out with different scenarios:

…the person who gossips or the one who tames their tongue? Yep, a softball to get us going.

…the person who watches rated-R movies or the one who limits himself to rated-G movies? Now it gets dicier.

…the person who believes in courtship or the one who practices some form of dating? Hmm…trickier still.

…the teen who attends youth group or the one who doesn’t?

We had more but you get the idea. So, how do we go about answering these questions? Romans 14 has much to say to us here.

The conclusion is that sin is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, something that sounds like postmodernism (what’s true for me isn’t necessarily true for you) but is actually biblically sound in this case. There are some hard and fast rules in Christianity. And not generic sounding “love thy neighbor as thyself” but specific positive and negative commands that we must follow in order to be within God’s will. But there’s also a lot of “gray area” where we have to apply biblical principles and rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance.  And in that gray area, motive counts.

It may sound like a loophole that a person can say, “Well, I’m not convicted of that so it must be okay,” but it has to actually be true.  God knows whether it’s true.  For example, I think the The Lord of the Rings books and movies are wonderful.  I read the books at least once a year, and we periodically do a LOTR movie marathon.  (It’s irrelevant to the content of the books and movie, but here’s a bit of trivia for you: JRR Tolkien was a committed Catholic who, along with another friend, led CS Lewis to Christ.)  Yet when the first movie came out and we were making plans with friends from church to go see it, a woman who overheard us was simply horrified.  “There’s witchcraft in that movie!”  I can watch it, she can’t.

When there is doubt whether something is a sin, I must first find out if there are any specific injunctions against it.  If there aren’t, then does it violate any biblical principles?  If it does not, then do I think it’s wrong?  If I do not, then I’m free to proceed. For example, there’s a clear injunction against adultery.  But the bible doesn’t say a word about pornography, so I’m free to watch it, right?  Not so fast… Jesus said that if a man looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he’s already committed adultery.  So the porn is off limits, too.  (It’s also wrong because it’s abusive, but that’s another post.)  Imagine if I were a medical/psychiatric researcher and I needed to view pornography in order to do my job.  Then, given that my original motive is not lust, do I feel it’s wrong?  In the unlikely event that I think it’s okay, then I’m free to proceed.  But if it becomes a sin for me – if it becomes a source of lust – then I need to stop and repent.

Motive counts, and there are no loopholes in Christianity.  It requires study and reflection, and searching, honest self-assessment – the pursuit of holiness.