Aside from theological series, what can you recommend as TV/Movie 'entertainment' for an Evangelical Christian?

[StephanT]

I attempted to 'search' the internet for TV series and movies that would be suitable for an Evangelical Christian audience. As a movie aficionado, I know there are works out there that are secular yet compatible with Christian values.

For example, take the movie "Primer". Yes it's secular, yes there is swearing, but it's a very far cry from the absolute degeneracy that has permeated most movies TV series of 2020 onwards. "Dancer in the Dark" is also secular, but it's undoubtedly a form of art. And while it contains strong material/violence etc - I dont' see it as "Flying in the face of Christian values".

If we were to limit ourselves to watching "Telestatai" (which is really not that well acted by the way) or "The Chosen" (controversial but Christian), we would be watching nothing. I know that watching TV is not the best use of our time, but we live in the world, even if we are not to be 'of' the world. It therefore seems to stand to reason to ask: what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

 

[Debp]

I attempted to 'search' the internet for TV series and movies that would be suitable for an Evangelical Christian audience. As a movie aficionado, I know there are works out there that are secular yet compatible with Christian values.

For example, take the movie "Primer". Yes it's secular, yes there is swearing, but it's a very far cry from the absolute degeneracy that has permeated most movies TV series of 2020 onwards. "Dancer in the Dark" is also secular, but it's undoubtedly a form of art. And while it contains strong material/violence etc - I dont' see it as "Flying in the face of Christian values".

If we were to limit ourselves to watching "Telestatai" (which is really not that well acted by the way) or "The Chosen" (controversial but Christian), we would be watching nothing. I know that watching TV is not the best use of our time, but we live in the world, even if we are not to be 'of' the world. It therefore seems to stand to reason to ask: what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

I like the new Magnum P.I. They show alot of Hawaiian scenery on that show.... really beautiful. The cast/characters are interesting. Storyline are light mysteries.

There's another good, new show called So Help Me Todd. It's about a quirky P.I. (investigator) who is hired by his lawyer mother since he needs a job. There is a lot of humor in this show which I enjoy.

I also watch Father Brown and Death in Paradise. Both have good scenery and are light mysteries. When Survivor is on, I watch that.... enjoy the challenges, scenery and strategy. Also, like The Amazing Race (racing around the world).

Currently am enjoying America's Got Talent.

If you load the Tubi app, they have thousands of free movies. Even faith and family categories. They usually have a trailer for most of their movies so you can see if you like it or not. I like mysteries a lot.

I recently watched two of the Jurassic Park movies on Tubi. They currently have four Jurassic Park movies on Tubi.

 

[StephanT]

Thank you @Depb! I'll try all these, and I didn't know about this app, so that's great stuff!

Thank you so much!
If i can help in return, I use Stremio. You install the app, then you can get a sub to "real debrid' and, using the 'torrentio' plugin, access ANY tv show or movie ever filmed and distributed.

It's not as technical as it sounds - and it made my life as 'House IT supports assistant for my wife and children' a lot easier, haha ((KI know many people will recognize themselves in that terminology).

Also, if it helps, I reviewed 351 movies and tv series on IMDB. I had a quick look and I can recommend the following films which I think are quite interesting , if maybe a bit 'obscure':

- Dogttooth (psychological study on human behavior)
- Children of beslan (children testimonies of real-life events that happened there - very shocking but eye opening)
- The Jacket (old school scifi dystopia)
- The city of the lost children (french scifi, beautifully filmed)
- The fall (very artistic)
- The killing of a sacred deer (adaption of the novel/story)
- Jacob's ladder (exploration of final moment in death)
- Magnolia
- Being john malkovitch
- Waking life (philosophical but not anti-christian)
- La jetee (the film on which 12 monkeys was based)
- Enter the void (a warning on idolatry with an arc of spiritual redemption, but not Christian)
- Tetra vaal (think district 9 without the woke bits)
- Amelie (maybe the only cheerful one in the list)
- Wayward pines (TV series inspired by twin peaks and kingdom hospital)
- Maniac (TV series)
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (bit of a classic)
- THe number 23 (carrey in one of his more serious roles)
- Alps (quite obsure)
- Holy Motors (this one is rough, but it's very well constructed)
- Enemy (a very powerful film by Villeneuve)
- Vanilla Sky.


... i could go on - i hope others can post their favorites!

Thank you, have a great day and God Bless You!

 

[dev553344]

I attempted to 'search' the internet for TV series and movies that would be suitable for an Evangelical Christian audience. As a movie aficionado, I know there are works out there that are secular yet compatible with Christian values.

For example, take the movie "Primer". Yes it's secular, yes there is swearing, but it's a very far cry from the absolute degeneracy that has permeated most movies TV series of 2020 onwards. "Dancer in the Dark" is also secular, but it's undoubtedly a form of art. And while it contains strong material/violence etc - I dont' see it as "Flying in the face of Christian values".

If we were to limit ourselves to watching "Telestatai" (which is really not that well acted by the way) or "The Chosen" (controversial but Christian), we would be watching nothing. I know that watching TV is not the best use of our time, but we live in the world, even if we are not to be 'of' the world. It therefore seems to stand to reason to ask: what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

Well I probably would not endorse much coming from Hollywood as almost all contains blasphemy. But I stick with childrens movies as there isn't any sex or much violence in them. They have a lot of animated movies out there, so long as you don't get any LGBTQ stuff in them.

But it is kids stuff

 

[Debp]

what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

Also, Tubi has a category for films that received awards or nominations.

I just checked and they have Zulu in the awards category. True story about 100 British soldiers and 4,000 Zulu natives attacking. Saw it twice. Michael Caine stars.

Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone is also good. True story about the missionary/explorer.

 

[Debp]

Years ago I found an Israeli comedy on TV called Arab Labor. About Jewish and Palestinian friends. It was very funny!

Anyone ever see it?

 

[Rockerduck]

Stay away from movies or tv shows that have violence, drinking, drug use and Cussing. Garbage in and garbage out. What goes into your mind is there forever and the devil can use it.. Hollywood and Disney have an agenda to brain wash kids and adults to "normalize" deviant behaviors. Hollywood is the number 1 producer of porn so they can't make bible movies anymore.

No one can call themselves an evangelist that supports Hollywood movies and watches it..

 

[Behold]

I attempted to 'search' the internet for TV series and movies that would be suitable for an Evangelical Christian audience. As a movie aficionado, I know there are works out there that are secular yet compatible with Christian values.

For example, take the movie "Primer". Yes it's secular, yes there is swearing, but it's a very far cry from the absolute degeneracy that has permeated most movies TV series of 2020 onwards. "Dancer in the Dark" is also secular, but it's undoubtedly a form of art. And while it contains strong material/violence etc - I dont' see it as "Flying in the face of Christian values".

If we were to limit ourselves to watching "Telestatai" (which is really not that well acted by the way) or "The Chosen" (controversial but Christian), we would be watching nothing. I know that watching TV is not the best use of our time, but we live in the world, even if we are not to be 'of' the world. It therefore seems to stand to reason to ask: what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

Movies :

1.) The Young Messiah

2.) Risen

3.) Letters from Mother Theresa

4.) The Book Thief

5.) Tolkien

6.) The Beautiful Fantastic

 

[StephanT]

Stay away from movies or tv shows that have violence, drinking, drug use and Cussing. Garbage in and garbage out. What goes into your mind is there forever and the devil can use it.. Hollywood and Disney have an agenda to brain wash kids and adults to "normalize" deviant behaviors. Hollywood is the number 1 producer of porn so they can't make bible movies anymore.

No one can call themselves an evangelist that supports Hollywood movies and watches it..

I quoted you in entirety to give respect to the original material.

I am tempted to agree with you and leave all of that behind, too. So please don't feel that I'm disagreeing with you - I'm not. But I can't help but wonder... by that mindset, then what would we read? Is CS Lewis "Acceptable" ? What about fictional stories? Or non-fictional work by say, Neil Postman? What art would we enjoy? David by Michelangelo? Is 'modern art' acceptable? If so, which one? Who decides?

Some movies truly can be works of art, and nothing in the bible tells us only to enjoy "Biblical" content, as in their wisdom, the early Church members knew that much would come after them. They may not have predicted AI, but I always find it truly magnificent how the Bible is just as relevant today as it was in the 1st century.

I still think there's a difference, so major it cannot be ignored, between the following:

One one hand, movies such as "The Sound of Freedom", which highlights the plight of the children victim of human trafficking, was distributed by Angel Studios (who did "The Chosen") and have a Director that openly talks about his Christian values.

On the other, a "woke" TV series that actively describe Christians as neo-fascists who border on the cannibalistic (our Holy Communion, of course), all the while promoting that 'redemption' is achieved by, say, becoming best friends with the LGBT4k kid in class. I kid you not, I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness these exist, and not only exist, but they also represent the majority of the garbage Hollyweird pushes on our most impressionable and most vulnerable member of society - our children. Some go as far as encouraging the children to abandon their parents, depicting a theoritical ban on mobile phones and the use of services like Tik Tok as 'Child Abuse'. Think the worse, and you're halfway there.

NOT consuming any media is one way to go about it, but it feels like Hobson's choice. Not because it's too arbitrary (I'm a Sola Scriptura, Tota Scriptura kind of BA Christian), but because it feels our Western culture, generally viewed as holding "Judeo Christians" values, is under active attack.

Instead, Rewarding content producers that create material that respects everyone's values, including Christian ones, while embargoing material that actively attempts to either a) discredit our values or b) outrightly promote a bizarre form of Christianity where the Bible is all but gone is another approach.

Thoughts?

 

[Rockerduck]

Philippians 4:7-9 - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

I grew up at a time when the black and white TV went off at 6 pm on week days and 9pm on weekends. Everyone was friendly then, from neighbors to school teachers. We knew everyone. We said the Lord's prayer every morning in school. Pastors came to classrooms. Police and fireman came to our class rooms. We carried knives, and in high school some kids hunted with their parents and brought rifles in their cars to show off, nobody cared. What happened? Hollywood. Instead of the 10 commandments, Ben Hur, Mary Poppins, Disney classics, and movies they used to put out and TV shows made for family entertainment; Nudity crept into the movies. Then prayer was taken out of schools.. One generation later, school shootings.

Even the Chosen, especially season three, had some parts that were not fit for children. Don't trust independent movie makers either. It started in the 60's marketing "sex sales". Let the Holy Spirit guide you, don't decide for yourself. Pray before watching. We are in the Last days, Christ is coming soon. Maranatha

 

[MatthewG]

sometimes you just need to laugh, and enjoy being human.

 

[Wrangler]

I always recommend Star Trek because most shows present a moral dilemma. For instance, one episode of Enterprise, the doctor was taken hostaged by Klingons. His option: let his patient die or allow the anti-bodies that saved him to be used to make a super-race of Klingons.

This episode explains the bad special effects of TOS, where the Klingons looked half man and half alien.

It's not the doctors answer to the moral dilemma but our answer that makes the show worth watching. What action would you take? In real life, we often have to choose among bad options. Good moral exercise.

 

[Wrangler]

Twilight Zone and X-Files are also recommended for the same reason as Star Trek.

In one episode of the new Twilight Zone, a professor struggled for months to solve a math problem, exclaiming, "I'd give my soul for the answer." Suddenly, the devil appeared stating the answer.

Satan smugly said there is one detail in the fine print to seal the deal. The professor had to ask one question or one command the devil could not complete. The professor pulled out a brilliant display of logic.

In X-Files, the over-riding moral dilemma is what do you tell the public about surrepticious alien colonization? Who seem like the bad guys end up having a difficult choice to make, that once the audience realizes the options, one has sympathy with the people in power positions that have no good options.

 

[Wrangler]

I also recommend wholesome family shows of the past

• Brady Bunch
• Andy Griffith Show
• Leave it To Beaver
• Father Know's Best

 

[Debp]

I also enjoy the older TV show Monk. It's a light mystery with lots of humor as Monk has lots of quirks. We need some laughter in our lives, good medicine.

Monk is currently shown on Cozi TV which carries only older shows.

 

[StephanT]

I always recommend Star Trek because most shows present a moral dilemma. For instance, one episode of Enterprise, the doctor was taken hostaged by Klingons. His option: let his patient die or allow the anti-bodies that saved him to be used to make a super-race of Klingons.

This episode explains the bad special effects of TOS, where the Klingons looked half man and half alien.

It's not the doctors answer to the moral dilemma but our answer that makes the show worth watching. What action would you take? In real life, we often have to choose among bad options. Good moral exercise.

I have bad news. I used to be a trekkie myself - i remember learning English (I'm French) watching TNG.

But look at the last season of ST - gay couples kissing, anyone who oppose them is a 'biggoted nazi', and so on. That franchise had fallen, just like all others. It's a disaster on a scale that's never been attempted before : mass conversion therapy through media consumption.

It's a policy that's 'forced in schools' and made 'desirable' outside schools, where 'adulteens' flock to watch this media, desperate for a bit of relief from their mind-numbing jobs, and when they criticize what's on screen, they are reminded of their place.

Hence, why I was pointing out that some show may not be 'Roman Catholic' evidently, far from it, but are also not 'brain washing tools of propaganda in disguise.

 

[StephanT]

Philippians 4:7-9 - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

I grew up at a time when the black and white TV went off at 6 pm on week days and 9pm on weekends. Everyone was friendly then, from neighbors to school teachers. We knew everyone. We said the Lord's prayer every morning in school. Pastors came to classrooms. Police and fireman came to our class rooms. We carried knives, and in high school some kids hunted with their parents and brought rifles in their cars to show off, nobody cared. What happened? Hollywood. Instead of the 10 commandments, Ben Hur, Mary Poppins, Disney classics, and movies they used to put out and TV shows made for family entertainment; Nudity crept into the movies. Then prayer was taken out of schools.. One generation later, school shootings.

Even the Chosen, especially season three, had some parts that were not fit for children. Don't trust independent movie makers either. It started in the 60's marketing "sex sales". Let the Holy Spirit guide you, don't decide for yourself. Pray before watching. We are in the Last days, Christ is coming soon. Maranatha

Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

[Wrangler]

But look at the last season of ST.... That franchise had fallen, just like all others.

Yea, there is a law about this sort of thing. The last decade or so has witnessed the younger writers imbuing their shows with woke culture, including especially the 3rd trology of Star Wars. Still, the earlier shows mentioned provide outstanding basis for social commentary and moral dillemna's.

I was thinking of another Star Trek episoide on the way into work this morning. This one is from the next generation. The actor who played Charles Winchester III in MASH was a leading physicist on a planet seeking acceptance into the federation. He was near a break through in harnessing unlimited energy that has no harmful side effects but had to participate in a ritual. The ritual was like Logan's Run, only instead of 30, it was 50 years of age. Mandatory suicide.

Roxana Troi, the mother of the Enterprise's counselor, was a Federation ambassador and had fallen in love with him. She wanted him to live. So, did he. The social pressure and family pressure, plus social disgrace for disregarding social norms do to 'Federation influence' made for compelling watching.

 

[sgodblacknet]

I attempted to 'search' the internet for TV series and movies that would be suitable for an Evangelical Christian audience. As a movie aficionado, I know there are works out there that are secular yet compatible with Christian values.

For example, take the movie "Primer". Yes it's secular, yes there is swearing, but it's a very far cry from the absolute degeneracy that has permeated most movies TV series of 2020 onwards. "Dancer in the Dark" is also secular, but it's undoubtedly a form of art. And while it contains strong material/violence etc - I dont' see it as "Flying in the face of Christian values".

If we were to limit ourselves to watching "Telestatai" (which is really not that well acted by the way) or "The Chosen" (controversial but Christian), we would be watching nothing. I know that watching TV is not the best use of our time, but we live in the world, even if we are not to be 'of' the world. It therefore seems to stand to reason to ask: what can you recommend in terms of TV series and movies?

Have you checked out "Primer"? Another option is "Dancer in the Dark"

 

[StephanT]

Have you checked out "Primer"? Another option is "Dancer in the Dark"

I watched both and both are in my top 10 list of secular movies (is there any other type of movie?)
Thank you!