Sunday, July 25, 2010

LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES! 7/25/10

WHEN I WAS A GIRL we walked everywhere. My brothers had cars and would take us places; especially my mother for grocery shopping; but if there was anyplace to go and things to do we usually walked. Even my mother walked to and from work! I can't remember how we got the money to go to the movies but I do remember selling pop bottles and the brown beer bottles; we collected iron in a wagon and would sell it at the same place we would sell the bottles and newpapers. Anyway, on Saturday we went to the movies. I can't remember how far the Plaza Theater was from our house, perhaps a couple of miles, but when you are a child anything longer than a block is a long, long ways from home.

THE PLAZA THEATER was sort of like an island unto itself. It had a sidewalk all around it and to me it looked very majestic sitting there all alone. It had lodges with big, velvety seats that we never could afford to set in. We took our own big bag of popcorn, popped in bacon grease which you could smell throughout the theater. We would set through the newsreel which always came first. Then there were the weekly serials, usually two of them and sometimes three. They were about 10minutes long and were continued every week. You just didn't want to miss them! Then the cartoons! Tom and Jerry; Donald Duck; Mighty Mouse; my favorite the Tasmanian Devil came much later! However, I hated the Roadrunner!

YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT all of what we just watched was enough, but no; we would then watch two movies. Can you believe that; two movies for the price of one! In Iowa it cost 10 cents, in California it was also 10 cents; then 25 cents and today? I don't go to the movies and when I do Jim pays, but I know he needs at least $30 to $40 for the two of us on a date night at the movies!

SOME THINGS I hate and one of them is what movies have become. I remember love stories that filled your hearts with pleasure. Today they are lessons in how to become alluring to the opposite sex and your sexual fantasies are filled with explicit pictures that leave nothing to the imagination. The story is no longer valid it is what you see that sets the tone. Blood, guts and gore are the name of the game. The bloodier, the merrier! It is clear that blood, guts, gore and sex make money for those who produce films. The victim pays the price not only financially but mentally and emotionally. I don't want any part of it! How about you? I love a good mystery but even they are hard to find!

"SET YOUR MINDS on the things above and not on the things of this earth!" Colossians 3:2 Can God be any more explicit then that? The mind is the devils playground. When we take in the things that we see and let them take root, Satan couldn't be any happier! Jesus says that the 10 Commandments were taken a step further and became far more damaging than just "thou shalt not!" Jesus says, even if you think it in your mind and let it dwell in your heart you are just as guilty as if you committed the sin. Oh my! What tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive!

"WHO SHALL ASCEND the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from the God of His salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him; who seek the face of the God of Jacob." Psalms 24:4-6 This has become one of my daily prayers that when I come to Him; "I come with clean hands and a pure heart!"

AS I WRITE THESE THOUGHTS I give thanks for Jesus the Christ and the promise that when I strive to follow in His footsteps, God can see through my filthy rags and see's His Son. Please forgive me Lord for the things that I do that I do not want to do! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 7/23/10

1 comment:

elandreth said...

What does this mean? "It had lodges with big, velvety seats that we never could afford to set in." Lodges?

If you take your own popcorn today you have to smuggle it in. Is popcorn good cooked in bacon grease? That is good that you add smells in your writing. Makes it come alive.

We go to a movie maybe once a year. But others on fb talk about movies like they go all the time. The evil has sneaked in through the TV so the movies don't seem so bad to people. I don't recall the verse but it is in the OT and says something like "I will set no vile thing before my eyes." To turn on the TV you have set vile before your eyes--even on the news. I say the news is just a gossip column. Even the cop shows exploit evil. It's awful. I keep busy at my computer much of the time while Vernon watches TV.

When I grew up movies were "sin" at my church so I always felt so guilty when I went--which wasn't too often. Can you imagine the movies back then being so bad? Some probably were but my goodness, compared to today.

We live in the midst of Sodom and Gomorrah.