This morning I was watching Gospel Music Channel during the two hours of the day they actually show music, not Sister Sister. During this, they showed a preview for a new movie called Letters to God. The movie looks good, inspiring, etc., and at the end, it mentioned it was rated PG, and in HUGE letters said "THEMATIC REFERENCES." I have noticed this phrase since 2004, and I can only tell you one thing: Thematic Reference is another word for "THIS MOVIE MENTIONS GOD."
Can you imagine during the heyday of Hollywood in the 1950s & 60s, when such movies like King of Kings and the Greatest Story Ever Told, these titles being rated PG or even PG-13 for "Thematic References?" Even though Jeffrey Hunter's classic portrayal as a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus is not totally accurate, it was piercing. It was inspiring. It was Hollywood at its finest. These days, violent movies can get by with a PG rating. Movies that would have been rated R 20 years ago now get a PG or PG-13. Yet we have to be warned when a movie may have Christian undertones? A person can take the name of Jesus in vain, and they won't even blink. Yet a movie can teach a spiritual lesson, and it must be tagged, and audiences must be warned. WHAT A JOKE!
It reminds me of the verse in Luke 9: "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory (verse 26)." Hollywood is ashamed of God. God draws audiences to the theater. Yet they see God as a narrow view in a broad world. They see God as intolerant of many of the lifestyles and the choices they embrace. They slap PG ratings on anything that mentions Him. They despise God.
Talk about a narrow view and intolerance. Hollywood, nothing will wake you up until that final day. God will be ashamed of you. I cringe at that thought.
