The Flinstones Error

I loved the original Flintstones productions by  Hanna-Barbera.  They were family oriented from what I can remember.  But lately, Boomerang has been showing a series of Flintstones movies and shorts from the eighties, and twice I have had to change the channel.

The first flick was about the marriage of Pebbles to Bam-bam.  In this movie, Wilma and Betty take Pebbles to a strip club - the Chippinstones or something like that, complete with dancing cartoon characters who were supposed to be like the Chippendale dancers.  Wilma and Betty were dancing around all wild and change the channel!  I am sorry but I am not going to expose my kids to pornographic imagery.  More on that in a moment.

Today, Fred goes to the doctor in another 1980 short and his x-ray is mixed up with Frankenstones.  Looked cute until Fred says, "Hey, Doc, Flintstone is starring in an X-rated film (wink,wink)."  Change the channel.

This angered me.  Why would a production for children even come close to referencing porn?  I heard someone say once that if you want to make something look normal then make a comedy about it.  By placing this in a kids film Hanna-Barbera is trying to normalize pornography and say it is okay for grown-ups.  They are (even unintentionally) planting the thought in the mind of children that when grown-up going to strip joints and x-rated films will be a part of their lives.  NOT if I have something to do about it.  I changed the channel.

Now you may feel it is okay for your kids to watch something that "subtle".  But hear me out for a moment:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (NIV)

Two key statements here -

• "Think on these things" - think on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy things in life.  There is not any room for the pornography which eats at the very soul God placed within you.  Porn will crowd out God and thoughts of God.
• "the God of peace will be with you" - put into practice a thought life that honors God and become obedient to the Word of God, and God's peace will be with you.  Many people who call themselves Christians never experience true or complete peace because they try to juggle God's righteousness with giving into a "little" temptation every now and them.

People go through life looking for something to fill the void they are experiencing.  People will try various religions, addictive habits (and pornography is very addictive), and even denying the presence of a real God.  They find that other religions leave them empty so they try to become more religious and do more religious stuff.  They find that the "little" addiction that they control (lol) is not enough so they move on to more.  They push out God or any form of religion so they will not think about God's existence yet the hole in their life still exists, so they blame religion and try to push it out of everyone's life.

You cannot trade the peace of God with anything else in life.  God's peace is the one piece of security that is guaranteed to us and with His peace comes love and mercy.  God's peace fills that void many people need.  God's peace makes us complete - something another person can NEVER do.  God's peace connects us to a pure love that renders all other love as insignificant and lacking.  God's peace is only available through having a relationship with Him.

God's peace comes at a price.  We have to think about the good things.  It comes in a choice - we have to make the choice.  Do we obey?  Do we think about the things necessary to help us experience real peace?  Are we able to depend on God who never forsakes (that means He is faithful)?  Can we be honest enough with ourselves to say that we need more of God and less of the world's ideas about pleasure and peace?

Think about that the next time you are watching something you would not want someone to catch you watching or listening to something you would not want others to hear or reading something that belongs in the fireplace.  Until we clean up our own thoughts, we will never be aware enough to protect our children!  Think on that for awhile...