Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The World's Disappointing Stimulants

Ray Ortlund on the movie, The Dark Knight:

I learned nothing. I was not enriched in any way.

. . . I’m weary with the world’s disappointing stimulants. I want more of Christ.

Read the whole thing.

Michael Spencer comments:
I have begun to suspect that we can’t see the entertainment idolatry in our own lives.

We’ve decided to talk about “how to relate Christ to movies” and so on, which I don’t deny is a worthwhile pursuit, and I believe the glory and truth of God shines through all kinds of cultural windows.

But there’s just a lot- a LOT- of garbage out there. A lot of lies. Distortion. A lot of very bad story telling. A lot of poorly executed entertainment. A lot of humor and excitement drummed up from the lowest common denominators: sex, violence, greed. A lot of wasted minutes, hours and days.

I know Christian young people who live- live- in the world of movies, tv and games. And when I’ve suggested they might be wasting chunks of their lives with what wasn’t worthy of their thoughts, I’ve been pooh-poohed.

Don’t get me wrong. I want Christians engaging art and entertainment. I want Christians making good art and entertainment.

But when we are supposedly deeply moved by something that, at its core, isn’t deeply moving, isn’t redemptive, isn’t part of the grand story, but is just a vast, pretentious, technologically overwhelming retelling of the worst kind of human story, I want to have the backbone to say so.

Ortlund did. Good for him.