WWUTT 130 Q&A Christians and Deadpool

For today's Q &A, we're responding to a question about the movie Deadpool. Some of the content discussed in this answer might be mature for young ears, so parents you'll want to listen first.

It's an important discussion though, when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. Today's question doesn't have to do with one of our what videos. I haven't done one yet about what kinds of movies or music are appropriate for Christians to partake in.

I've discussed those kinds of things in sermons and I've done messages before youth groups about that. But the question today, this one in particular, came about because of a blog

I wrote over a year ago. Dear Pastor Gabe, I was introduced to your blog through Tim Challey's website who posted your movie review of the movie

Exodus, Gods and Kings. You should do more of those. I really like your reviews. I happened to catch in an interview or maybe

I read it in one of your other blogs that you collect comic books or you said that you used to.

How familiar are you with the character of Deadpool? I've heard the content is very adult and I wanted to know if you were going to see the movie and write a review about it.

Thank you for your dedication to defending the faith. Alan El Paso, Texas. Alan, yes,

I used to collect comic books. That was before I got married and had kids. I don't spend money on that anymore.

Occasionally I'll pick up a graphic novel, but rarely. It mostly has to do with how

I invest my time and money. I'm very careful with those things. Yes, I'm familiar with the character of Deadpool. No, I'm not planning on seeing the movie and I don't think that anyone should.

And I'll expound on those answers in that order. So first of all, I've been buying comic books since my parents started giving me an allowance.

My dad was very strict about violence and he would not let me play any violent video games. This was back in the days of the

Nintendo Entertainment System. You're talking about 8 -bit violence in video games.

And he was so opposed to that he would not let me play. Like there was this game called Kung Fu. Anybody that remembers the

NES, do you remember Kung Fu? I wasn't allowed to play that game. Contra? Yeah, couldn't play that one either.

Too violent. You compare these video games to the kinds of violence we're seeing in video games now.

I could play Mario and I could play baseball. That was about it. At some point he buckled and he got me

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Christmas. Like the original NES game. One of the hardest games ever made when you see some surveys out there on the internet.

I beat that game when I was 8 years old. No codes, no game genie. I didn't know such things existed.

I know people are still trying to get past stage 2 in that game. And I beat it when

I was 8. Because my dad was so opposed to violence, I did not receive comic books from my parents.

I don't remember ever even asking because I think that I knew what the answer was going to be. So when

I got an allowance, I bought comic books with my own money. I went down to the corner sandwich shop and they had this little turnstile with comic books in it.

And I would sit and read those comic books and occasionally I'd buy them. Spider -Man and Superman, those were the comics that I read and bought most of the time.

In high school, a friend of mine and I played a card game called Overpower. It was a comic book card game.

I don't even think it exists anymore. But one of the characters that I really liked was Deadpool. And we would trade cards for Deadpool.

I was always trying to get the Deadpool cards and the comic books as well. We would trade issues of comic books.

I loved that book because it was just so side -splittingly funny. It was a funny comic book.

Deadpool was a recurring comic character until his own title came out in 1997.

And at that time, Joe Kelly was writing the book and I bought every single issue.

Yes, that means I have Deadpool number one. Now let me say that comic book was violent, but PG -13 violence at the worst.

What they're showing in this movie and the Deadpool film is not at all how the comic book went.

They're trying to be over the top. It's Ryan Reynolds. It's Marvel's first truly irreverent character on the silver screen.

I get that they're using Deadpool to push the envelope on superhero films. Lots of bad language, lots of violence.

I'm not surprised. But varying opinions about violence aside, I know that different people have different views on what constitutes acceptable violence and what doesn't.

My biggest concern about anyone going to see Deadpool, any Christian going to see Deadpool in particular, is the sexual content.

It's bad. I do not watch a lot of movie previews and I don't read a lot of reviews.

If the movie looks interesting to me and I don't think it's going to be a waste of my time with a lot of special effects and no story, hence why

I've only seen one Transformers movie, then I'll go see it. My wife and I had planned on seeing

Deadpool. She knew how much I love the character. Thankfully, we got a tip from a friend who went and saw the movie that the sex is gratuitous and even pushes the envelope of being an

NC -17 film. It's that bad. It was at that point after we got that tip,

I started reading the parenting guides, which I don't ever do. My kids don't see a movie until I see it first, no matter what the parenting guides say.

But the parental guide on Deadpool reads like an adult film. It is really bad.

Desiring God and Tim Chalice have both written articles in the past week about this movie. Desiring God specifically wrote about Deadpool.

Chalice wrote about sex on the silver screen. He didn't mention Deadpool, but I get the impression that he was thinking of a recent superhero flick when he wrote it.

Philip Holmes is the one writing for Desiring God and he presents seven questions to ask before seeing

Deadpool. I'd like to present those seven questions to you. OK, first, when here's the first question.

When will I tear my eye out, if not now? Jesus said, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. This is what we're reading in the Sermon on the

Mount in Matthew five. By not seeing this movie, you're tearing out your eye, not subjecting yourself to sin before you even put yourself in that place of being tempted by sin.

Look, it doesn't matter how much you think you won't lust. No matter what you're watching up on the screen, you are a participant in watching two people taking their clothes off and doing something with one another that was meant only for a husband and a wife.

Ray Comfort, when he's doing street evangelism, I've seen him phrase this question this way. Is it

OK to stand at someone's bedroom window and watch them make love? How is seeing that in a movie any different?

Second question that Holmes asks here, am I longing to see God? And here he uses Matthew five, a blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

God participating in this kind of content stains the heart. Here's Holmes.

Third question. Do I care about the souls of the nudes? The actors on screen are unquestionably sinning and you would pay to watch them do that.

Holmes doesn't make this correlation. This is me asking you this, OK? If you're paying to watch two people on a screen having sex, how is that any different than paying a prostitute?

Fourth question. Would I be glad if my daughter played this role? And this question is very similar to the same kinds of arguments that Tim Chalice presented in his article as well.

I'd highly encourage you to read that. It's at at Chalice dot com. And again, it's called sex on the silver screen.

Phrasing questions like, would I be OK with my wife playing a role like that? Is it OK for my daughter to do a role like that?

Then you should not be participating in watching another actress do something like that. Here's Holmes.

Fifth question. Am I assuming nudity can be faked? Holmes says this nudity is not like murder and violence on the screen.

Violence on a screen is make believe nobody really gets killed. But nudity is not make believe. These actresses are really naked in front of the camera doing exactly what the director says to do with their legs and their hands and their breasts.

And they are naked in front of millions of people to see. Here's the sixth question.

Am I assuming nudity is necessary for good art? I mean, really, this kind of thing in these movies is not necessary.

It doesn't further the plot. It doesn't enhance the movie in any way. The scriptwriters, the filmmakers, the actors, they're all doing this because they can, not because they're trying to be artistic.

If you believe God created sex for the confines of marriage to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife, then you believe this.

No one needs to have sex in a movie to make that movie better. All right.

It does not further the film in any way. It doesn't make it better in any way. Here's the last question that Holmes puts.

Question seven. Am I free from doubt? And here, Holmes references

Rome's 1432. Whoever has doubts is consumed if he eats because the eating is not from faith for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

In other words, you've probably already been playing in your mind whether or not you should see this movie or that movie.

This doesn't just apply to Deadpool. It can apply to any film. If you have to ask if you should, you shouldn't.

It's a very simple principle. Now, you have got to take my word on this, and I hope that you follow my example.

I'm not setting myself up on a pedestal. I want you to hear me say, I grew up reading the Deadpool character.

I would like to see a Deadpool movie, but I will not be watching this film, not even when it comes out on video because I love my

God, my savior, and I desire to please him more than I'd like to tickle my imagination with a silly comic book character and fill my mind with all kinds of bad things in the process that I know do not please my

God, my savior. Understand that this is not about making a statement.

This is not about sending a message to Marvel or Fox or Hollywood. We will not see your pornographic movie with all your gratuitous sex scenes and whatever until you take those scenes out of your movies.

It's not about that. This is about worship. Romans 12, 1 and 2,

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

And friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, in Colossians chapter three, we are told that sexual immorality is idolatry.

It is bowing down to a false God. Our Lord Christ laid his life down to pay for sins such as these being portrayed in the movie

Deadpool to cleanse us of exactly this kind of stain. He spilled his blood for us that we would not have to experience the wrath of God burning against all unrighteousness.

Romans 2, 5, if you love him, you'll keep his commandments. That's what he said to his disciples, John 14, 15, keep yourself unstained by the world.

I know this next verse gets tied to movies and music a lot, but honestly, it's because it is a perfect fit.

It is something that we truly have to keep in mind before we subject our minds to the things the world calls entertainment.

Philippians 4, 8, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

And then we are told the God of peace will be with you. Deadpool opened us up to this discussion, but it doesn't have to be limited here.

This can apply to any movie, TV show, music that you partake in. Subject your minds to the things that are lovely and pure and honoring to God.

And this is your spiritual act of worship. Alan, thank you so much for your email.

If you would like to send a question, the address is whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

God bless. Enjoy your weekend. We will resume our study of Romans on Monday. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.