Rated R U Sure You Should Be Watching This?

About two years ago Benji and I decided to remove R-rated movies from our Blockbuster Queue. This decision came from a question we raised to each other over discussing a current topic Benj was preaching on in youth group: Is it OK to be entertained by things that are “sinful?” The other part of that was: If this is not acceptable to me in my personal life (or at the very least I am trying very hard to not make it acceptable) how is this helping and why is it OK to be entertained by it?

So, we threw in the towel and said “bye!” to a variety of spicy and good (or so we’re told) movies. I did make one exception – I saw The Passion (I thought Jesus would be OK with it). The decision actually didn’t hurt as much as we thought it would…although it was painful to watch previews for the Matrix movies for Benj. Otherwise, not bad.

Here are some of the things that I’ve experienced since making that decision:

I feel like I have become more sensitive to sin…as in – yikes! Killing someone is REALLY BAD. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s changed my life.

The judgment I have felt from Christians (and others) when I tell them we don’t watch R-rated movies…as in “Oh…you are one of THOSE crazy conservative types.” Which (read my last post) I am not at all. And, strangely, I kind of like the dichotomy the decision produced about me – I am a crazy liberal democrat, but I don’t watch rated R movies because I’m tired of the trash. Ah! The irony!

I was reading someone else’s blog recently and someone made the comment that “people who don’t watch (Rated R movies and such) are in general just as judgmental about those kind of people (people who drop F Bombs, etc.) in real life.” Ouch. Is that true?

Currently finding myself wondering if it’s time to pull the ban…I am waffling. I am sure many of you will tell me that there are SO many great movies out there, just ignore the “bad stuff.” It’s not an issue of being “offended” by the bad stuff – it’s an issue of, can I justify watching this and being desensitized (possibly) to sin, but it’s worth it because of the potential benefits/challenges/entertainment involved in the movie?

What do you think web world? What’s your advice?