Christian Book Notes

Nehring, Scott. You Are What You See: Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens. RightLine Publishing, 2010. 287 pp. $27.95. Purchase at Amazon for $20.12.

Introduction

First, I must confess that I am not a movie watcher. Unless my children (all younger than 6) are watching a movie, I am very unlikely to sit down and watch a movie. I would honestly, and perhaps obviously, rather read a good book. With that being said, I was intrigued by the statement on the back of the book that “Movies impact your life every day, even if you never watch one.” I mean, I know this, but had never really thought of it in the context of worldview development as much as Scott Nehring does.

For those of you who have never heard of Scott Nehring (like me), allow me to introduce him to you. He is a movie reviewer at Good News Film Reviews. His reviews have been syndicated in USA Today, Reuters, FoxNews, and The Chicago Sun-Times. Scott’s passion is to bring the Christian back to the Arts; specifically, the art of movies. He argues that by leaving and ignoring the Arts, Christians have become ill-prepared to be critical in a edifying manner thus portraying biblical Christianity in a negative light to the world. (Honestly, the world is going to hate us anyway–see John 15:18-25–we really do not need to add to their hatred by our own ignorance!)

Summary

Scott has divided You Are What You See into three fairly extensive sections. The first section looks at our culture’s standards of indecency. Here he tracks the corrosion of moral values specifically in movies and what it has done to us as people. He argues that movies are intentional in charting the direction in which the culture moves. Further, he looks at how God has been mocked and Christ crucified has been maligned in order to make a dime. This section concludes with a look at how we allow celebrities from Hollywood to become the gods our children worship and how we have allowed the ratings system to determine what is acceptable rather than using our own judgment based upon Scripture.

The second part looks at the details of a film. In this valuable section, Scott offers the basic plots to practically every genre of movie that has been written. By the end of this section, the reader will be prepared to be an active movie watcher using tools of biblical discernment in order to better understand the war that is being waged in your heart and mind through the television or movie screen.

The final part offers the tools to be a discerning watcher of movies. Perhaps the most helpful chapter in this section is chapter twenty-six where Scott offers tips on how to discern the purpose, truth, and content behind what is going on on the screen. He challenges the movie watcher to temper what he or she watches but whenever you do watch something to do so in a manner that honors Christ.

Review

I was impressed by the extensiveness in which Scott discussed movies and having a Christian worldview. There is a lot to read and even more to digest–especially if you are not an avid movie watcher. I appreciated the forthright language he used throughout the book. For example, he has a chapter entitled, Freedom from choice means the freedom to be an idiot. That is such a true statement, but in the PC world we live in, too many are afraid to state the facts. Scott does not shy away from the truth and for that, I commend him.

Reading You Are What You See was a stretch for me as I have never given that much thought to what I watch except on television. This is not because I lack the ability to discern; rather, it is due to the fact that I am not a movie watcher and therefore I just don’t think about it.

Recommendation

I do find it somewhat humorous that I am reviewing a book by a movie reviewer exhorting the reader to be more discerning about what they watch! With that being said, if you do watch movies, do yourself a favor and read You Are What You See. It will cause you to re-think what you place before your eyes on television or in the theaters.

If you are a youth pastor or even a college & careers pastor, you should really read this book. It will provide some excellent talking points with the youth and those you minister to as regards what they watch. Given Scott’s discernment and Christian worldview, Good News Film Reviews has become a resource I will return to again and again when deciding what to watch and what not to watch. I recommend you use this resource as well.