A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Caution

There are a few things we hope to accomplish at Reel Thinking.  One thing you hear us constantly harp on is illuminating truth in film.  We hope that readers of this blog begin to see that there is a deeper layer to film that points to the Truth of God’s Word.  Another thing we hope to establish is assisting our readers in the area of discernment. Discernment is a challenging process, at times, and is something that requires stewardship in the Christian life.  As we have said, it seems that Christians have become lazier in the area of discernment and have turned to associations like the MPAA who instruct them on what they should watch.  Therefore, instead of focusing on ratings, or even placing too much emphasis on content, we focus more on biblical themes and Truth in film.  All of this (we hope) trains a generation of Christians to appreciate God’s gift of film and assists them as they wade through the difficult grey area in film.

While we know there is much grey in film, there are times when things become black and white.  A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, is one of those black and white issues.  At RT we have made an effort to be different from most Christian sites dealing with film by not stating which films you should or should not see.  However, with a film like H&K3D, we will give our strongest statement we’ve ever given to a film.

We know there is such a thing as Christian liberty, which means what’s offensive to me isn’t necessarily offensive to another Christian and visa-versa. Romans 14 is a clear Scripture passage that illustrates this by using the analogy of food sacrificed to idols.  Paul says,

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Applying this to film, we must be cautious when stating whether or not a Christian can view a certain movie.  Because of the issue of Christian liberty, and desiring to be cautious in order to guard from binding a brother or sister’s conscience, we tend to lean away from that. While we want to remain sensitive to those issues, we also feel that this film gives us plenty of reason to issue a very strong warning to the Christian.  There are at least two cautions (there are probably many more) Christians must consider.

The first and most obvious caution is the sex.  The actual details list the film having ‘graphic nudity’ and ‘strong crude sexual content’.  It seems that you could stop the post here with enough reason why a Christian should not watch this film, but let’s discuss this a bit more.

Reading the same details of graphic nudity and strong crude sexual content and applying them to a film like, Schindler’s List, a Christian would most likely be able to make the argument that this content is needed to show an accurate portrayal of that historic event.  However, when we take that same content and apply it to an exploitative ‘stoner-bud-comedy’, Christians really don’t have a leg to stand on.

And that’s the real issue, exploitation.  This is the modus operandi of films like H&K3D.  Exploitation is the reason Christians should abstain from a movie like this.  The GOAL of the movie is to exploit sex and drugs, but let’s stay on sex for a minute.  The newest tv spot screams that exploitation is what this film is all about.  It says something along the lines of, ‘If we removed all the sex and drugs from the newest Harold & Kumar movie, it would look like this.’  The producers then show you a five second clip implying that when all the sex and drugs are edited out, there’s nothing left in the film.  They are telling you that this film is slam-packed with sex and drugs for the sake of sex and drugs.  Christians, you don’t have to be too discerning here, the producers are telling you what they’re all about.

Men, those who are married or hope to be married one day, Scripture tells us to ‘rejoice in the wife of your youth‘ [Prov. 5:18b], not some trashy woman taking her clothes off in the new Harold & Kumar movie.  Sex is something God created, not the perverted filmmakers of Harold & Kumar. Therefore, it is beyond disgraceful for them to take a good gift of God and whore it for their benefit.  I apologize for the strong language, but this is exactly what they’re doing.  They are removing sex from its proper context and using it, like it was their own creation, in order to make money.

As I warned you, this is the strongest post I’ve written on a film.  Anyone who knows these films, or films like these, know what they’re all about…sex.  Even though sex is a major emphasis and one that is guaranteed to make this film money, there is one more issue I would like to discuss tomorrow.  One that is more offensive than abusing God’s creation of sex.