I don’t remember when it was exactly – two weeks ago? I was minding my own business, all set to go out on a girls’ night out to see Magic Mike on the big screen. I’ll be the first to admit it. I’ve had my eye on Channing Tatum ever since I saw him in Step It Up. (What can I say, I fall hard for any sort of dance movie, everything from Fred and Ginger’s black and white films to Richard Gere in Shall We Dance?) So when Channing’s new movie previews came out, I was signed up and ready to buy my ticket months in advance! Eh, so a few guys will be half naked, I’ll just do my usual “cover-my-eyes-while-everybody’s-naked” stint, and watch the rest of my movie. But the storyline of the movie is about Mike, who is a stripper, and his friends, who are also of the same paid profession. With that profession as part of the storyline, you can only pretend to naively shield your eyes for so long! Surely I could handle it, right?

Meanwhile, I was on a leadership trip (all women, mind you) that started about 4 days before the movie premiered. Several of us had plotted and planned to go to this movie while on the retreat, and at this point, I was still excited and “all in”. But something was nagging at me – gnawing at me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Surely, God didn’t want me to stay home from this movie while all my friends were going. You’ve gotta be kidding me! Doesn’t He know how long I’ve been waiting to see it? What a wet blanket I would be if I opted out? I brushed that feeling aside and thought if I ignored it, it would go away.

So we searched, and googled, and looked for times and theaters near us, but to no avail. And then I felt it. It was relief. Relief that we didn’t find a show to go to. And I knew then that I wasn’t supposed to be going to this movie – not that night, and not any night to come. But still I never said anything to anyone else about their desire to go. Was that my place to even do so? Why should my own conviction be forced upon someone else?

I got to thinking… is this how Peter felt?

Man, I hope they don’t ask me if I know him. Please just ask someone else. “No, I don’t know him; I’m not one of those disciples.” It sounds suspiciously like “Man, I hope we don’t go, I hope we don’t find a theatre, what am I going to say when they find a theatre and time? Am I going to have to stand up and be ridiculed for not going, when it was my idea to go in the first place?”, doesn’t it? Was I hoping to avoid taking a stand for Jesus in fear of being ridiculed? And if I couldn’t even muster up the courage to say no to my friends, how on earth will I find the courage to stand up for Jesus in end times, or if my life depends on it? Tough questions for a Saturday night.

What harm is there in watching the movie anyway? I mean, it was based on his life and actual events, right? And I know lots of friends – friends who’d sit right next to me in the pew on Sunday morning that have already been to this movie. They went, and they’re Christians, and I really do love my husband, so what’s the harm?

At first I thought the harm was because I’m married. That watching strippers on a movie screen is no different than watching strippers in person. And if I watch another man (or in this case, men) stripping on the screen, then when I do go home to my husband, my thoughts won’t be for him. They’ll be for Channing, or for Matthew, or any of the others on that big screen. The images in my head will be for another man, and that’s not God’s intent for me. I once dated a guy who had an addiction to these types of clubs. I didn’t find this out until several years after we’d broken up, and another friend spilled the beans. Ironically, I was still living at home when we were dating. I found out that after I’d go home for my 10:30 curfew, that was when he’d head out to town to “see the sights”. Once I found out, I remember wondering what I didn’t have that he was getting from these other women… and then I remember thinking how nice it was that we didn’t get married (and thankful that God doesn’t answer all our prayers!) so I didn’t have to wonder if he was truly committed to me or if he was thinking about those other girls during our marriage. That’s the same motivation I have for my husband now – I don’t want him to question my love for him. I want him to know that he has my heart, my soul, and my eyes are for him only, because that’s what I want for him and his desire for me.

Then I thought about the little girls I used to teach in Sunday School. Would it be okay for them if they were 18? They’re not married, right? So it should be okay because they’re not dedicated to one man yet. But that’s not true either. If one of them came to me today and said she felt like she shouldn’t go, I’d lead her to the Bible. How we are to be mindful of what we let our eyes see, our ears hear, and our lips speak. That the whole world is watching what we “Christians” do, and if we’re no different than non-Christians are, why would they ever want to follow us? And it wouldn’t be fair for me to say to them “you should remain pure and conscious in your thoughts… unless you’re over 30… and going to a movie with a lot of your friends… then it’s okay. Oh and be sure to cover your eyes during the nudity.” What a hypocrite I would be. And they’d know it, and see right through me, and start to think just like the non-Christians would. “If she’s no different than we are, why should I believe anything she has to say?” So little by little, Mike and all of his magic was slowly losing his sparkle. What started out as a bright and shiny box full of fun and capped off with really cute men, would eventually be replaced with the visual image of satan – horns and all – grasping a polishing cloth, doing his best to shine it up for me and tell me it really would be fine if I just lightened up a bit so I didn’t miss out on that time with my friends.

But still, why this movie? That’s a good question. I’m not a holier-than-thou person. At least I don’t think I am. I recently had a friend say God had convicted her of watching The Real Housewives of “fill in the blank here, because really, aren’t they all the same?”. Yet, I regularly TiVo one of the housewives show and though I don’t watch it intently, I do have it playing in the background while I’m working on office tasks, or computer catch-up. I don’t feel any conviction, the same way she doesn’t feel conviction about going to see this movie. And I’ve watched almost every single episode of Sex and the City when it was on years ago, although I can’t say I would watch it today. So why were those shows okay, and watching Channing and his dimples (and Matthew and his rugged good looks, and… I digress) not okay? A Christian is a Christian is a Christian, so why don’t we all feel convicted about the same thing? I think it’s because we all have different paths, are all in different places in our spiritual walk, and all have something God is working on in us. That one thing is what God is perfecting in us at that particular time, and when that piece is complete, he starts working on something new. The woman that I was when I was watching Sex and the City is not the same woman I am today.  When we start to hear God speaking to us, it comes as a voice we may not even recognize, but as we hear it more and more, the desire to hear it again makes us want to be obedient, so that we can hear it again. Yes, there are some do-gooders and naysayers who are bound and determined to self-righteously proclaim the immorality of this movie. I do think it’s wrong, but that’s not the reason I’m writing about it. My purpose in this instance is to know what is wrong for me, to recognize that God wants me to refrain, to do what he asks and to let you know that if you have felt convicted about going, you aren’t as alone as you think you are. It’s about being obedient with the one thing that God has asked me to do today. This is my one thing today. Tomorrow that one thing might be different, and for someone else, that one thing may be different than my one thing today AND tomorrow.

But Karen, are you really sure it’s doing that much harm? Okay, I get it, you’re still not convinced it’s all that bad. Let’s take a different perspective. There is a chapter in the Bible, Proverbs 31, “The Wife of Noble Character”. This chapter is all about God’s views of a noble wife and woman, and what she is like. It reads a little like this:

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies….
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
Where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
26 ½ And when the townsfolk thinks she is being virtuous, late in the evening she sneaks out, and travels into a far away town to watch naked men dance for her pleasure and entertainment.
26 ¾ By morning’s dawn, she has taken her place again as a virtuous woman and returned to her home and no one will look at her oddly because many friends were with her.

Ah, the lost verses of Proverbs 31. They don’t really fit, do they? I’m not condemning anyone else for their choices, but I am asking you to think and pray about whether you should go to this movie. Maybe you never intended to go to this movie… is there something else in your life that doesn’t honor God and needs to come to light so you can see it for what it is? It certainly has made me realize that there are some other “Mikes” in my life that I need to set free.

What would God have us do, I wonder? I don’t think it’s to stand on the hillside and shout from the top if our lungs “Look at me! Look what I’m not doing! Look how sinful those people are, and how righteous I am!” For me, who asks God for stuff all the time – God, could you help me with this? Help me with that? Increase my something-or-other? Show favor over here? – I think being responsive to the ONE thing he asks of me today is the best offering I can give and speaks volumes more than me standing on a soapbox condemning others. And the next time someone asks me if I’ve seen it yet, I can recognize the “Peter” in me, and lovingly tell them No, I have not seen it and here’s why. Wouldn’t it be something if as a result of standing with my convictions and reflecting on yesterday’s “Today”, I might even be bold enough to ask God what today’s “Today” is, instead of waiting for him to tell me? Maybe that was God’s plan all along, that I would take one step closer to truly following him. And maybe that’s God’s plan for you too.

As for “Mike”, I wish him well. And P.S. to Channing, if you’re ever in another love story, adventure, dance movie, or comedy where you keep all your clothes on, I’ll be there in a heartbeat, no conviction necessary!