Righteous Anger?
My first knee jerk response when I had found out that the new Disney motion picture (released March 2017) “Beauty and the Beast” was going to have an ‘exclusively gay moment’ was a gasp. I immediately thought, “Stone them!” That is heretical and anti-God. My blood boiled! I told my wife, “Honey, we are boycotting Disney!” In fact, we immediately cancelled a birthday party we had scheduled at a local theater for our daughter who was turning 7. Talk about a bummer since our excitement to see this film had been building for months . A few days went by, and I anticipated that I would cool off. It didn’t happen. After all, I had righteous anger as a professing Christian–right? Furthermore, I teach an adult small group and preach God’s Word intermittently in the absence of my pastor and thus I must be justified in my response–right? I was determined to boycott Disney, at all cost, and even said so with a social media post and a plan to discuss this “issue” on my local Christian radio show, “Word For America”, on Grace Life Radio www.gracelifeadio.com. Then my lovely wife and sister in Christ, Jade (who is also a contributor to this blog), introduced me to an article written by Sara Wallace. I am thankful for this sister in Christ as this brought me back from the stoning fields. She presented a well balanced approach that was extremely helpful (Beauty and the Beast: Why Christians Can Calm Down).
Christian vs. Non Christian?
Sara reminded me that Disney doesn’t claim to be a “Christian” organization and that we as Christians are commanded by Scripture to live in the world but not be of the world as the world loathes us (John 17:14). Something I should have thought of–right? This is a perfect example of why we, no matter where we are or think we are in the Christian walk, are “to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24).
Taking the 3000 foot view of this, after reading Sara’s blog post, my reaction was much different. I had been to Disney World, unknowingly, during a week where they were celebrating “Gay Days.” And the things that I saw at that time made me thankful it was only my wife and I who were there. I should have known. This was not unexpected of a non-Christian company who celebrates an entire week of what God calls sin. (Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10). This should not have been a surprise to me–right?
Redemption!
We, of course, had friends who went and saw the movie and informed us that the “scene” was so subtle that one would have not recognized it without first looking for it. So, we discussed it and decided to take our children to the movie. We had previously pointed out that there were some discrepancies between the movie and our beliefs, and we planned to discuss any abnormalities with them post-viewing using a Biblical worldview.
What was my take away from this movie? Was I overwhelmed by the exclusively “gay” moment purposefully perpetuated by the films director and Disney?
Honestly, there is much more, overwhelmingly more, of a redemption story where Biblical application could be made than blatant homosexuality. In fact, my family and I have witnessed far more offensive instances of homosexuality while grocery shopping. One could reason that this story shows the sinful nature of man and where it takes him. It even goes so far as to show how sin can leave us dead in our trespasses, with only the hope of a redeemer to save us. Trust me, I understand that was not likely the original writers motivation but we as Christian parents can certainly make this Biblical real life application with our children. It is there! It is impossible to separate love and redemption apart from Jesus Christ no matter the intent of the writer or film director. Jesus Christ is the etiology of love–right?
And what about LeFou? He is the effeminate character that is portrayed as the male who has a man crush on the stories deviant manly man, Gaston. It was the movie directors, Bill Condon, intention to portray LeFou as such. Condon, who is openly gay, said in an interview with Attitude magazine that “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston.” Condon had also, in 2007, said that he wished he could “rip pages out of the Bible.” This only confirms the fact that he has an agenda that aligns him as an enemy of God.
Christians on Offense!
As Christians we should not feel as though we are victims teetering on the edge of being conformed by the world. On the contrary we should be motivated more than ever to equip both ourselves and our children with gospel saturated doctrine that protects us from the world. We should then see these types of situations as opportunities to share the gospel with others (including our children). Make Biblical application pertinent when necessary. Call others to repent and trust Christ as Lord and Savior when necessary. And allow ourselves to repent and become more Biblically balanced.
As Sara Wallace stated we need not be naive or fearful when faced with the secular world. Instead, we, as Christians, should be emboldened by the words of Jesus when he said that “on this rock (He being the foundation stone) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18).
Soli Deo Gloria!
By: Shawn Waugh (AKA Dr. Luke). Shawn is the host of Grace Life Radio’s weekly Christian radio show, “Word For America”.
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