Last week my wife and I went to see a movie called, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” starring a slew of\u00a0well-known English actors and set in India. As the movie opens\u00a0the viewer is introduced to\u00a0various characters experiencing specific\u00a0life events that are going to place them in the same\u00a0location, a start-up retirement community in India run by an ambitious young man who is the youngest of three sons. I did not read a review of the movie beforehand but had seen a preview of it. Years ago I had read a book called “Howard’s End” by\u00a0E.M. Forester and remembered the fine movie\u00a0I had seen made\u00a0from the book, so I was expecting something similar. Forester’s book is about three families and does address class and gender struggle among other\u00a0things.\u00a0The “expectations” of my mind\u00a0floated to an exotic location with an\u00a0understated plot full of subtle twists and turns with plenty of psychological nuances and tensions. Boy were we disappointed. Movies have tremendous power to convey messages and Hollywood\u00a0rarely disappoints when it comes to furthering an agenda that is not only misguided but very dangerous. We have a generation of brainwashed\u00a0individuals both young and old\u00a0falling for this balderdash like no other. It was actually embarrassing to see well-known\u00a0seasoned actors play parts beneath their true talents. What a waste!<\/p>\n
In the movie we see the word or concept of “love” linked throughout\u00a0to the following: a thirty-year marriage\u00a0portrayed as miserable, overbearing, and on the verge of breaking up; an\u00a0elderly man\u00a0focused on finding a woman to have a “mountaintop” sexual experience with; a recently widowed woman whose husband of forty years\u00a0hid\u00a0their finances from her throughout their marriage, thus leaving her broke and having to find work to support herself; an older woman with a\u00a0reputation\u00a0of multiple past\u00a0marriages; a recently retired\u00a0lawyer with health concerns who is returning to find a man he had a brief sexual fling with in\u00a0their late\u00a0teens (he is a confirmed lifelong\u00a0“gay” man);\u00a0a bitter old maid with deep prejudices (and no ability to hold her tongue about it)\u00a0who has\u00a0taken care of someone else’s children her whole life; and\u00a0lastly a young couple who are attracted to each other (it is implied that they are having sex)\u00a0but of course their attraction is counter to their stations in life (i.e.\u00a0clearly a reference to the\u00a0caste system). While we do get a very brief\u00a0glimpse of these people’s lives before they leave for India, the move seems impulsive because\u00a0they just up and leave family and friends. This is clearly an attack on the family and the stability it provides. Where are these people’s roots? Do their\u00a0life experiences count for anything? What we see in their behavior is just not realistic.\u00a0In short there is nothing that reflects a traditional view of what real love is as stated by Paul in the Bible.\u00a0“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong; but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7).\u00a0Upon reflection,\u00a0the movie bashed marriage\u00a0and quite frankly\u00a0why would the young couple in the movie want to persevere given what they witness going on around them in the\u00a0so-called “older and\u00a0wiser” generation. It was as if these people never learned anything from their own personal\u00a0life experiences. Human beings are not just reactive animals. We can reflect on our experiences and grow emotionally and spiritually from them.<\/p>\n
Mary Eberstadt\u00a0author of “Adam and Eve After the Pill” (a book everyone should read)\u00a0states that,\u00a0“Christian teaching in these intensely controversial matters (such as premarital sex, cohabitation, homosexuality, and birth control) is actually being vindicated by secular social science and secular evidence from elsewhere, including the popular culture.” Even an atheist\u00a0would draw the same conclusions.\u00a0Most of what is portrayed in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” strikes at the dignity of the\u00a0human person. There is not love but the “use” of another human being for one’s own\u00a0personal gratification (selfishness).\u00a0The evidence is in: must we as a nation collapse due to a lack of moral\u00a0clarity or can we begin to teach virtue and strive for the happiness that authentic and genuine relationships provide? Happily, ticket sale revenues\u00a0for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” are low and I am sorry\u00a0I\u00a0saw it. However I am grateful to point out to readers how\u00a0movies can associate truly\u00a0beautiful God-given capacities like love with such hurtful,\u00a0immature and destructive\u00a0behavior. This association is deceitful and will ruin lives!\u00a0There was nothing charming about this film and in fact, it made me angry and miserable on the inside.<\/p>\n
The book, “50\u00a0Shades of Grey” by E L James,\u00a0is being billed as an “erotic best seller” and is sweeping through neighborhood book clubs at an alarming rate. How can anyone in their right mind proclaim anything redeeming about\u00a0a book that portrays “rape” as some form of “romance.” St. Paul said “flee immorality” and we should all\u00a0do the same. I briefly glanced at a blog about the book and was simply shocked by the nonsense that I read. St. Augustine said, “Sin diminishes sight” meaning the more we separate ourselves from God’s self-revelation\u00a0through his Son, Jesus Christ, we don’t think or do things\u00a0in a right mind. We become senseless.\u00a0Where has common sense gone? The book is just another example\u00a0of the “pornification” of our culture.<\/p>\n
Studies clearly\u00a0demonstrate that premarital sex, cohabitation, and the use of birth control\u00a0lead to markedly\u00a0higher levels of marital\/relational dissatisfaction and ultimately divorce. Social science confirms what faith and reason already tell us. Spread the Word! If you or someone you know may need counseling, please contact Lamar Hunt Jr. or see his website at http:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week my wife and I went to see a movie called, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” starring a slew of\u00a0well-known English actors and set in India. As the movie opens\u00a0the viewer is introduced to\u00a0various characters experiencing specific\u00a0life events that … Continue reading