Are Disney Videos Sinful?

Actually, I have used these sorts of things to show the kids that there is a universal need for rescue! So often a Prince Charming needs to rescue the Damsel in Distress. These stories are universally popular because people identify with them on a very deep level. I often told the kids when they were little that the Prince Charming was man's imagination but pointed to the need for Christ even in fairy tales!

Beauty and the Beast has that marvelous twist at the end but if you look at the story of the beast, it is the story of man. Refusing to love and obey in the first place, the prince became the beast. It is only in dying and being loved that a new life in his original form can be given. When you look at it that way, there's a neat hook for the gospel sitting right there.

Think of some of these things from some of the Disney videos and other fairy stories:

Dumbo -- even if something seems wrong with you that others tease about, God may have allowed that very thing because it will allow you to do something others can't do -- even if it means 'only' understanding others who are stuck with the same thing.

Bambi -- God will always make a way even if you lose your mom (remember, five of my kids are adopted!).

Cinderella -- don't look down on people and be snotty to them; you never know when God is going to turn the situation around. You never know who is really inside that person until you take the time to know them.

Snow White -- the original situation was dangerous for her. Even later, she needed rescuing from death itself. In the meantime, there is the valuable lesson that little people are not just 'little people' whether they be children or dwarfs or midgets -- they are each individuals.

Pinocchio -- lying is wrong; disobedience and laziness can get you in trouble or kill you; love and self-sacrifice (pointing to Jesus) are what a person needs to pay attention to.

Pete's Dragon -- it's OK to imagine things and have fun with your imagination, but later there will come a time when it's the real world that has to be lived in and dealt with. Still, imagination and fun can be great things to keep you company in rough times.

101 Dalmations -- a big heart and love can win in the end no matter what.

Fantasia, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Witch Mountain, and many others, however, have NO redeeming values that I can see. Fantasia scared me even as a kid. Glorification of witches as the main characters is truly wrong. But this seems to me a lot different from a lot of the 'standard' and 'old' Disney fare.

Still, if you see a kid having trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality (after the age of about 6), or if you can find no comment you can make about the show indicating that God's love and rescue is available no matter what, or that reality and fantasy are truly different, then maybe best to avoid the show.

 

Helen, great answer! Jesus used analogies from society to teach with, and so should we.


Colosians 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.


There is no valid list of do's and don't with movies. To use the original logic from the first post, the Bible should be banned.

Genesis: too violent. Same for Joshua and others.
Song of Solomon: too sexually explicit
Revelations: too rooted in imagination, not practical enough

I will not go on.

I am grateful to be a Christian, and am grateful to have God's help in preparing my children for the future. I do not believe in trying to protect my children from the world, because the gates of hell shall not prevail against them, for they are part of the church. To "protect from" instead of "preparing for" is also not God's will for my family.

Jesus is not your Savior if He is not your Lord.

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So sure there is some "good" in these movies ... but should they be used in church?

I have been to youth confrences that played portions of the videos to show their "errors" yet the little kids were watching the same video for the childcare.

The big question in our church when we came 5 years ago was if Disney was appropriate for use in the church nursery?

Thoughts?

-- Jeremiah

 

A preacher who teaches(i think) some at my church's preacher's school received in the mail a brochure about a "church" that showed PG-13 and R movies in church to teach a lesson. For example,"Liar,Liar" Be truthful. It hs different movies for every week. I think it has a large screen or something.This church obviously is very liberal and apparently does not preach the gospel. But I do not think I would use too many Disney movies as my example. I do watch them sometimes but would not call them prime examples. Disney is a well-known sodomite supporter and many of things accociated with them are geting mor worldly. I know something about them because of my two little brothers who watch it all alot. They have a show about a witch, a new one about a girl with psychic powers.They have numerous music videos daily, they advertise their new CD with worldly singers on it. So when watching Disney one should be careful and one should not be to positive about Disney.

 

Great analogy Helen!

How many kids do you have?? I wish our profiles had questions like that. I have 4 with only one being adopted but then he was our grandson first.

I LOVE kids! And they love me.

 

Everyone remember the story about the kids that wanted their dad to let them go to an "R" rated movie?

He told them to come back in a little while. When they came back, he offered them a plate of brownies. As they eagerly took one each, he then said, "Now, I want you to know, I put half a spoonful of dog doo-doo in the mixture. But it was a large batch, and you'll never even know it's in there."

Needless to say, the kids wouldn't eat the brownies.

Now, I'm going to depart from the normal interpretation of this story (which is, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump) and give a different thought: We should also make sure we tell our kids there the dog doo-doo is.

That's it for me, folks. I'm moving, and probably won't be posting much (if at all) for the next two to three weeks.

Y'all take care, and God Bless!

 

I have six, Diane, but they're mostly grown and gone now. But, having six, that meant we also hosted half the neighborhood a reasonable amount of the time!

As far as kids in church go, there are far, far too many wonderful Bible story movies to show to resort to Disney! Here at our home alone we have all kinds of stories from the Bible on cartoon videos and a wonderful set of four or five of the Narnia adventures with real actors and actresses. The kids STILL love these movies of Narnia, as do my husband and I!

Why, in church, resort to secular materials when what we want so badly is for our children to know the Word of God?

The thread, by the way, was whether or not Disney videos are sinful, not whether or not they should be shown in church. I cannot think of a single reason why any of them should be shown in place of one of the many delightful Bible videos for children now available.

The vidoes the parents approve of, Disney or other, are great for popcorn nights with the family at home, though. One of the kids brought over "The Parent Trap" not too long ago and I enjoyed it as much this time as ever before (the original, with Hayley Mills). "Pollyanna" and "Heidi" are also classics well done. And I would give my right arm (only an expression, folks!) to get hold of a copy of "Song of the South" with the Br'er Rabbit stories and "Zippidee Doo Dah" and all again. I think because of the theme of slavery that it is probably too politically incorrect for release now, but it, too, is a classic in my mind that I would love to have.

Disney also put out some outstanding other videos people shouldn't forget:

"Love Leads the Way" about the first seeing-eye dog.

"Cool Runnings" -- that delightful and funny story about the bobsledders from Jamaica.

"Johnny Tremaine" -- the romanticized version of part of the beginning of the Revolutionary War, but nevertheless with enough historical accuracy that I used it in school to help some of the younger kids get an idea of who was on whose side and why.

"Light in the Forest" -- showing the confusion which erupted and the prejudices which were there in the time of the whites and American Indians trying to come to terms with each other.

Disney has put out, through the years, some incredible stuff -- some of it incredibly good, and some incredibly bad!

It just takes a little discernment.

 

Actually, I posted here a long time ago about some friends who do just this.

Their churches are anything but liberal.

My pastor tried to do this and I don't see how anyone could call our church liberal.

I think it's a great idea.

Really? Which ones?

The Disney channel is on a lot in our house and I don't think I've ever seen shows like what you're describing.

 

It is available. We have a copy.

If I can figure out a way to dub one, I'll let you know.

They still put it out, they just don't put it out here.

We got ours from friends in Ireland.

I remember that. I loved it as a kid.

"Johnny Tremaine" and "Spin and Marty" were two of my favorites.

 

Walt Disney was a Christian, and while he was alive he made sure all their products were family friendly. I think he probably rolls over in his grave at some of the stuff Disney or its conglomerate studios put out. Not to mention the gay week at the parks. I have a book of quotes of his, good reading.

Helen, I got a laser disk copy of song of the south as a import from japan. It cost me a bundle and is no longer in production. I don't think it is currently made in any country at this time. Your best bet is contacting a importer. The disk can be played in either japanese or english, the songs have japanese subtitles no matter which way it is played with the songs in english both ways too.

 

Helen, if you go to a site I believe is Songofthesouth.net you will see quite a lot of info on the movie and memoribilia. They have a list of countries the movie was released. Their was a tape released in Brittain in vhs, but not playable in our vcrs, but somewhere in the site is a link to a place that will sell you a copy with a complementary copy that will play in US vcrs, but it cost $230.oo. Check the site out, it is interesting

 

eh...I love Disney,in fact planning a trip and saving the money to take my son, he has a wonderful imagination and I think disney is wonderful in helping to creatively ignite the juices inside him to bring his imagination to life. If we stay away from everything that supports, promotes or teaches worldly things we will be stuck at home all day every day...no thanks I would rather take the opportunity to teach and love and he needs to learn that there are others out there with different styles and beliefs and even though we don't believe that stuff he had better respect those people and love them no matter!

Karen

 

I would agree with Helen in that you can find good in anything. But many children (myself included) are drawn to enchantment and magic. I remember when I was a child that I thought if I spun around real fast I would become WonderWoman.

Several years ago, the Lord shewed us the dangers of what we watch and we threw out all movies that had magic or supernatural power other than demonstrated by God. When Harry Potter come about, many people critized the evil implications but it wouldn't have been received by the majority, if is wasn't for all the forrunners.

 

Would one continue going to a pharmacy if you found out thet also sell illegal drugs on the side?

Would one leave their kids at a child care if they found out the person beats their own child?

Would you buy a car from someone who also opperated a chop shop?

Sure these are extreme examples, but why would you want to support a company that claims to be family friendly while at the same time they support groups that are anti family and also produce films that you don't want your children to see.

No I don't plan on staying in my house all the time, and i do go to see movies, but Disney represents themselves as family friendly when they are not. Other major movie makers don't misrepresent themselves. You must always be wary of the wolf in sheeps clothing. I think kids will learn more from their parent explaning to them that sometimes you have to do what is right in God's eyes even if we have to miss out on something we might enjoy, like disneyland.

When I have kids I can teach them to love all people without haveing to expose them to negative elements. Think about it, to teach your child to love strippers because they are God's creation doesn't mean you have to take them to a strip club.

There are many places in this great country families can go to without sacrificing their Christian integrity.

Please pray about it.
Rearch disney and see if you still think it is ok to support them. There are several books written by Christian authors about Disney.

 

I don't think Disney movies are sinful. I do think that if there are Christian cartoon/movies available that those might be more appropriate for watching in a church setting. I also think that much of what Disney releases today is of much lower quality than its earlier movies -- it seems like everyday a sequel is being pushed, even to films where a sequel really isn't plausible given the original story.

Since I don't have children, I have no idea about what cartoons are available today with a Christian message. I do remember watching Superbook and Flying House as a child and while they probably are not going to end up in any cartoon hall of fame, they had a good message and were also entertaining.

Anyway, in my opinion, it seems like this issue is another example of a secular object not being wrong but that there are better choices available for certain situations.

 

If you take your child to a strip club during the hours of stripping your doing something illegal. Children are not allowed there. I've taken my son into bars to eat when the timing was ok and allowed according to age.

I personally do not think Disney World is wrong in God's eyes, which is why I have no problems buying their products and planning trips there. I don't agree with them supporting gays, but at the same time fact is they almost have to because if they don't it can be called discrimination and according to the laws they have every right to do so. I have a serious problem avoiding places for those reasons, now if I knew Disney World would diliberately rip me off, or sexually and vilolently abuse my child or even if they were doing illegal things that could possibly place myself or my family in danger then by all means I would not go to the park and support that.

All Disney is doing, is acting on a lawful right, christians may not approve, but oh well...there's plenty they don't approve of but as for me..I'll continue to enjoy.

karen

 

Helen said:

Fantasia, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Witch Mountain, and many others, however, have NO redeeming values that I can see.

I wonder how many people got turned onto Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky by watching Fantasia? The movie made classical music popular, and proved that animation was a viable medium for adult films, not just children's entertainment.

 

If I may ask ... how did the Lord show you these dangers?

-- Jeremiah

 

I have slew of disney movies and I don't see a thing wrong with them. My 14 yr.old loved them and so will my 7 month old (eventually). I think you can find bad in everyone and everything if you are so inclined.
Remember not too long ago the teletubbies were gay? It's all the the mind of who's watching and how critical they may be.
When I was 14, I used to wish I was Samantha on Bewitched, so I could blink away my fat and be skinny. I knew it was all fantasy, and I never grew up to be a witch.( I'm not fat anymore either