When I was 11, I saw my first scary movie- I Know What You Did Last Summer.
I only watched half of that sucker before my friends decided we would turn it off and finish it the next morning. By the time morning rolled around, I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't watch the rest so I left the group watching and went outside with my friend's mom. It was a traumatic experience for me. I spent the next two nights sleeping in my parent's room and the rest of my life checking in closets and behind shower curtains for murderers.....yes, I still do it.
That one movie, watched through my own fingers over my eyes, has altered the way I live for nearly 14 years!
After that, I made up my mind that I would not watch horror movies any more. I broke that decision once in middle school. We watched White Noise...only to wake up in the middle of the night to a radio blaring legitimate white noise that none of us turned on! Talk about freaky!
Because of those two experiences (and a few others from creepy shows I had no business watching), I battle living in fear when I am home alone. It isn't right, and it isn't Christ-like, but it's true.
Fear is not of God (2 Tim. 1:7). Fear is actually anti-God because when we are afraid, we typically aren't trusting God. We see our fears as bigger than God and un-defeatable, which is just a lie!
The bible tells us over and over again "fear not" (source). I believe this is because God knows that we are a fearful race; but Christ broke the chains of all sin- including fear- so that we could be free from it. So in my mind, when I watch a scary movie, knowing full-well that I'll come away pee-my-pants terrified, I believe that is extremely displeasing to God.
Some people don't get nearly as scared as I do. They don't worry the next day about murderers or rapists or demons; so maybe it's ok for them to watch scary movies... I honestly don't know, and it's not my job to judge that. If someone doesn't think it's bad to watch horror movies, that fine, I just won't be joining in on the festivities.
Not watching scary movies is a choice I made a long time ago. Fear is a big enough battle without adding a movie that makes me want to crawl in a hole and stay there forever...and that is why I do not watch scary movies!
Do you watch scary movies? Why or why not? Do you have anything that you abstain from for similar reasons? Comment below.
Agree completely! The word of God says, "not to even allow Satan to put his foot in the door". I believe one of his most effective tools is fear, so anything we do that invites fear into our lives, he will take full advantage of.
ReplyDeleteVery true!
DeleteGirl! Let me tell you ... somehow when I was 9 I saw some movies about WWII. Then I stumbled into Schindler's List. I made it through just a few minutes but I had the worst nightmares for YEARS! Some other scary movies didn't bother me as much but the older I get the more I realize that we should really guard what goes into our mind.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much more to put into our hearts and minds than scary movies!
Exactly! If it affects you like that, it's probably not a good idea! So much more beneficial things out there!
DeleteI don't watch scary movies (much), but mostly because they're rated R and filled with gore/violence/sex/language I'd probably be better off without seeing, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with the genre in general, but I think it's important to know the way media affects you and use it accordingly. I was watching a movie with my husband once that felt (to me) like it was glorifying casual sex and violence so I puttered off to do something else, but he enjoyed the action-adventure parts and didn't have a problem with it. Go figure.
Yeah, that's how I feel too.
DeleteI was watching Friends (for the first time ever) with my hubby recently and after we watched for about a month, I was really convicted about how numb I was getting to casual sex. I love the show, but had to step back for a while. My husband isn't affected in the same way I am though.
I don't watch horror films too because of my wild imagination. That fear feeling when tossing and turning at night just feel real crappy.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Elizabeth! It's an awful feeling!
DeleteI think it's cool that you wrote about this! I am on the same page as you and I like what you said about fear how it is anti-God. When we fear, we aren't trusting that God is able. But of course, sometimes it's just human nature. Anywho, I don't want scary movies because it's just plain disturbing and why would I want to put those images in my mind. I feel that way about too much cussing or sexual stuff. Thanks for writing this!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteI feel that way about too much cursing or sexual content as well. I have a little bit higher tolerance for those things, but they still bother me.
I saw The Sixth Sense when I was little. Oh man. My fiance and I don't like scary movies because it just leaves an imprint in our minds. While I recognize how scary movies affirm the existence of evil and (maybe, just maybe) expresses the "monsters" of humanity, I'm not one to sit down and actively watch one.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteThe scariest movie I ever saw was "Ernest Scared Stupid" when I was a kid. (You can probably guess from the title that it's not an actual scary movie). It was terrifying to me, though, and I don't watch scary movies at all, although my husband occasionally makes me watch 70s-era scary movies because he likes to mock them.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were first married, the husband worked night shift, and I would occasionally get a little nervous in our home alone. As a kid, I learned Isaiah 41:10 to a little melody, and to this day, when I sing it, it gets my mind focused back on the truth that I have no reason to fear. :)
I do the same with Psalm 91 :)
DeleteI get scared when I'm home alone at night too!
I am totally with you! I do not watch scary movies (my Halloween movies consist of Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin and Hocus Pocus) :) I always check behind shower curtains, which my husband thinks is the weirdest habit! haha
ReplyDeleteYep! Charlie Brown is my only Halloween indulgence! :)
DeleteI don't watch scary movies anymore for this very reason! Unfortunately, by the time I decided that it was enough (undergrad days), my mind had already been exposed to too much. My dad used to let me watch Freddy Krueger with him when I was little! Ugh, I still have to use a night light so that I feel a little more "safe" when I'm going to sleep. -_-
ReplyDeleteI understand completely! Even though I cut out scary movies, sometimes even crime shows are too much.
DeleteOne time I even called my hubby as soon as he got off work because I was scared that there was a serial rapist hiding in our house... yep....I'm cool :p
I stumbled across your blog and it was like reading my own story! I was raised in a Christian home with no tv and at the age of 11 started in a new school. I was invited to a slumber party and they had hired out a few horror movies, one being 'I know what you did last summer' and being the new girl I wanted to fit in and was too shy to say I wasn't keen so just watched between my fingers. Well I did not sleep well after that and to this day, 20 years later I can still remember those awful scenes from those movies! I vowed then that I'd never be pressured into watching a scary movie again. I also don't watch some crime shows as I know they'll affect me. I will protect my children from seeing certain movies for as long as I can too!
ReplyDeleteHeather, thank you for stopping by! I am so glad you can relate!
DeleteI really enjoy crime shows, but I have to be careful...and sometimes even when I am careful it still ends up being too much.