50 Shades of Grey. Yep. Goin' there.
*Caution: This post contains somewhat explicit material.
[also, it is long...but I believe the content to be worth it]
So,
I’m about to address the book – and upcoming movie...
“50 Shades of Grey”.
“50 Shades of Grey”.
This
book has sold over 100 million copies, bringing in over $95 MILLION in revenue and
in some countries has replaced the Gideon’s bible in hotel rooms. Rumor has it that
everyone from college students, to Grandma’s to pastors’ wives have devoured
this book, and the two others that followed…
That
being said, let’s discuss … “50 Shades of Grey” and : THE
HEART.
Merriam-Webster
defines the heart as: “: the organ in your chest that pumps blood through your
veins and arteries : the front part of your chest : the
heart thought of as the place where emotions are felt”
A
heart that longs for intimacy can be swayed ever so easily. As Christians, we
are to put God first…to allow him to fill that place in our heart. Often times,
however, we stray and convince ourselves that ‘it' is no 'big deal’, and we end
up reading books like ’50 Shades of Grey’ allowing them to permeate our heart
and affect our relational decisions.
Clinical
Psychologist, Dr. Juli Slattery has said of the books,
“Some women who read erotica end up in sexual addictions, constantly seeking that next sexual thrill. Others leave their real-life husbands or boyfriends to chase a fantasy, no longer needing a real person to be sexually satisfied. They progress in their own private sexual world… a world that doesn’t require the hard work of relationship. Nor does it yield the satisfaction of intimacy. Self Magazine and The New Yorker ran articles on this phenomenon in recent years. The both concluded that if you want to have a great sex life now or in the future, get rid of porn.”
Wait.
'Self Magazine' and 'The New Yorker' ran articles concluding that a great
[healthy] sex life = no porn?
#boom
Additionally,
and more importantly, in the Bible, the prophet Jeremiah says, (ch. 17, vs. 9-10a)“The human heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I, the Lord,
search the heart and examine the mind”.”
There
are many times that I probably wouldn't want God to examine my heart or my
mind.
And
maybe it’s just me, but I certainly wouldn't want the Lord or anyone else to
examine my heart or mind after reading this book...
Lastly,
if you grew up in church, you’re familiar with the verse, Proverbs
4:23, which says, “ Keep and guard your
heart with all vigilance and above
all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” [AMP]
Expositional
writer, John Gill, said that this basically means that [the heart],
“is the seat from whence all actions of life are derived; … it is the seat of spiritual life the principle of it is formed in it; from whence all spiritual and vital actions flow, and which lead unto and issue in eternal life: as is a man's heart, such is his state now, and will be hereafter; if the heart is quickened and sanctified by the grace of God, the man will live a life of faith and holiness here, and enjoy everlasting life hereafter: and if the heart is right, so will the actions of men be; they are regulated and denominated by it; they will then spring from right principles, and be directed to right ends, and performed with right views; great care therefore should be taken of the heart, since so much depends upon it, and it is so well known to God the searcher of it."
Okay,
so bump what it does to the heart…how about what it does to : THE
SOUL?
The
soul. It is mentioned 269 times in the Bible. That must mean it’s pretty
important, right?
When
we entrust our souls to the Lord, in Psalm 107:9 it says that He, “…satisfies
the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.”
Merriam-Webster’s
dictionary defines the soul as: “: the spiritual part of a person that is
believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live
forever : a person's deeply felt moral and emotional nature : the ability of a
person to feel kindness and sympathy for others, to appreciate beauty and art,
etc.”
In
light of the latter definition…this book is a breeding ground for
soul-sickness. It’s a twisted, sadomasochistic fairy tale.
No,
really.
And
we feed our souls with this.
As
my dear friend, Bianca, says, "Our souls are like sponges,
we suck it in and then find a way of letting it out."
-
It’s
been said that by the end of the trilogy of 50 Shades, “…bad
boy [Christian] Grey is saved by the love of a good woman and Ana is rewarded
for enduring the turmoil and physical pain inflicted upon her with a life of
luxury with the reformed man of her dreams.”
Seriously?
Award
winning journalist and [crime] novelist Kathryn Casey says of the book,
“What I find unsettling is that in Christian Grey I see the attributes of so many of the men I’ve written about over the years, the ones who abuse and sometimes even end up murdering their intimate partners. Experts have said for decades that rape is more about control than sex. What I’ve seen over and over again is that a man who needs to dominate, humiliate, and physically abuse a woman isn’t a hero. He’s not doing it out of love. That guy isn’t the man of any woman’s dreams. He’s a mistake, one she won’t end up rehabilitating but fleeing.”
Lord
have mercy on us.
Similarly,
Dr. Gail Dines, who is a professor of Sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock
College in Boston says of “50 Shades of Grey”:
“Indeed, men like Christian Grey are never loved out of battery and brutality; they just keep getting more drunk on their power over women. Battered women's shelters and graveyards are full of women who had the misfortune to meet a Christian Grey. Fifty Shades glamourised and eroticised violence against women and rebranded it as romance. No doubt the film version will do the same, because a film with a happy ending always makes for a good "chick flick". Films that tell the truth about sexual sadists like Christian Grey – films where we see broken bones, black eyes, funerals and motherless, traumatised children – don't seem to generate the same profits. One of the last things Stella says to serial killer Paul should be said to all those who have already profited from Fifty Shades, the book, and who stand to profit from the film: "You try to dignify what you do, but it is misogyny. Age-old male violence against women."
We
have allowed a book about warped sex to entertain us and even influence our
relationships.
The
Lord made sex to be a beautiful thing, with a beautiful outcome [hello,
babies!]...not something to include rope, whips, and pain.
And,
lastly … let us discuss : THE BRAIN.
I’ve
learned a thing or two about the brain over the last 2 years.
How
it works, how things affect it, change it…etc. So let me share a few [crazy]
points with you.
- Porn is like a drug. On the surface, cocaine and porn don’t seem to have a lot in common but studies are showing that viewing pornography tricks your brain into releasing the *same pleasure chemicals that drugs do. What’s more is your brain actually begins to rewire itself because of this *artificial stimulation.
- Porn changes your brain. Literally. They say that neurons that fire together, wire together. Just like other addictive substances, porn floods the brain with dopamine [known as the “gotta have it” molecule, dopamine has been described by one brain expert as the gas that fuels our desire engine. This neurotransmitter involves anticipation and expectation]. That rush of brain chemicals happening over and over again rewires the brain’s reward pathway, ultimately changing the makeup up of the viewer’s [or readers] brain. This can result in an increased appetite for pornography or the like.
In
fact, check out this brain scan (SPECT scan…).
It’s
rather telling. The 'holes' in the brain aren't actually holes, but they are
places in the brain that lack blood flow.
So...I
don’t know about y’all … but I think the evidence is pretty clear.
And
honestly, even more importantly than any of this (and this is for my Christian
friends), why would we expose ourselves to something that is so clearly
contrary to the character and nature of Jesus?
To
be a ‘Christian’ means to be a little [Jesus] Christ…
[let
that sink in, but I shall digress]
All
this to say, my friends, that I would dissuade you from seeing the movie…even
if you’ve already read the books. And if you haven’t read the books, I’d
seriously encourage you not to.
Because now
that we know what it can do to our heart, mind and soul…why even go there?
Recovery
from taking a wrong path is long, and it is hard...
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