The 17th of August will see the release of the movie version of hit TV show, The Inbetweeners. It follows the lives of four teenage school boys during their sixth form years and has been a large success over its three series stint attracting a wide and mostly young audience. I have watched a couple of episodes of the series and certainly there are some genuinely funny moments, the relationship between Will and Mr Gilbert being one of them, but it is a series mostly based on lude comments, around attempted sexual conquests and general vulgarity.
As said in my previous blog the main objective of a Christian life is to follow Jesus Christ with all our strength, he calls us personally to live a life of love for God and for all. A lack of chastity (selfless love for others according to our specific situation in life) has warped our society’s view of love, and as Christians we find ourselves in a constant battle against society in our quest for purity. If we are to strive to live out true purity of heart we must control what we are exposed to. What goes into us (via the senses) forms our consciences and makes us who we are. Someone who is serious about being an athlete wouldn't spend their time consuming junk food and neither should we as we train to be holy. If you don’t think that watching a movie about a few teenagers trying to have sex will affect you, well imagine the opposite; a culture where the only sex spoken of in the media told of the joy and beauty of waiting for marriage, where having sex before marriage was seen as the “weird” thing to do. Would that shape you? Yes. The same is true the other way around and we must take care of what we watch if we are to live pure and chaste lives.
I’m certain that virtually all of us will know people who will go to see it indeed we may be looking forward to going and seeing it ourselves. However when faced with movies of such content, as Christians we should act with caution. In western society we are surrounded by impurity in all forms of media (adverts, television, internet, magazines, newspapers etc.) and as Christians we should do our best to avoid it however difficult. We don't need to be pedantic about it, for example an hour and a half movie with one sexual scene which can easily be skipped is okay, but this movie is something different. Judging from the series and the trailers it can be deduced that this won’t be a movie with only some sparse references of a vulgar nature; drinking, lust, sex etc. will be the main focus.
St James in his letter said that with a horse, if you control its mouth you control the whole animal and the same is true with our eyes. In a Christian’s journey to chastity we must control what we look at as images are difficult to get out of our mind, and what we look at trains our body. If we hammer such images into our minds, which images and messages will we recall when we are faced with temptation? This is an opportunity for all Christians to be “in the world, but not of it” as John Paul II said and to set an example by not going to see this movie which is part of a wider trend of a normalisation of self gratifying sexual activity where any talk of chastity or waiting until marriage is scoffed at. The question for Christians really is are you willing to give God your eyes, give Him your ears and give Him your tongue? Even if it means missing out on something you were looking forward to? Love takes sacrifice.
If you do choose to abstain from watching this film due to its vulgar content, it should only be a reflection (or perhaps a start!) of what each of us should be trying to do in our own lives; remove all stains of impurity in thoughts, words and actions. I hope that I don’t come across as speaking down to anyone, I’m simply asking the Christians reading this to pray and reflect on this decision because it’s a battle that I have been deeply in and it is a tough battle which can only be won through a radical and total change in what we watch, how we speak, what we allow ourselves to think, but it's a battle we all must face if we truly aim to give our lives fully to Christ. Ask yourself a simple question: will this movie further or hinder you in your journey to purity and holiness and towards love of God? Reflect and pray about it before going to see the movie.
As Catholics we use the examples of Saints as guides for living out the Christian faith and so I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes from one of the most recent Saints we’ve had in the Church, San Jose Maria Escriva:
“Never talk of impure things or events, not even to deplore them. Look, it’s a subject that sticks more than tar. Change the conversation, or if that’s not possible, continue, but speaking of the need and beauty of holy purity – a virtue of the men who know what their souls are worth.”
“When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph”
To find out what Christian chastity is, please visit:
Let us pray that by God’s grace all may come to desire and live out the virtue of chastity.
Paul.
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