ESSAY
50 Shades of Surprise
POSTED
February 24, 2015

I confess that I’m surprised by the number of Christians who are surprised by the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey. Many are simply bewildered by the buzz the movie has generated. They shouldn’t be.

This is the world we live in. More precisely, this is the country we live in. We live in a sex-crazed culture that can’t get enough of this sort of thing. Sex is the air we breathe in America. There’s simply no escaping it.

Whether it’s the conspicuously visible signage in the lingerie section of the department store, or the commercials that run during an otherwise family-friendly TV show, or the pop-culture stories on the “conservative” online news source, we are constantly bombarded by sexual imagery. It is marketed to us 24/7.

The fact that this is perpetually the case, and that it is increasing in intensity all the time, shows that this marketing works. And it shows that the American culture is not only accepting of this sort of thing, it has an insatiable appetite for it. And this brings me to a concern that the response to Fifty Shades has raised for me.

It seems to me that Christians in America tend to address the culture as though it is a Christian culture. I would argue that American culture is not Christian, and that America is not a Christian nation. It may have some vestiges of Christendom, but it is not Christian at its core.

What is it then? Is it a pagan nation? Perhaps. Though, some might be more comfortable calling it post-Christian or increasingly anti-Christian. But whatever label we attach to it, there’s no denying that America bears a striking resemblance to the pagan world of the first century—full of idolatry and sensuality.

Writing to Christians living in that pagan world, Peter said, “3For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.” (1Peter 4:3-4)

Notice, Peter says that unbelievers are surprised when Christians don’t act like unbelievers. But we get no sense from him that Christians should be surprised when unbelievers act like unbelievers. But that’s exactly what’s happening in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Christians are surprised by its success. They’re surprised that there’s a viable market for this sort of thing. And I’m convinced that at the root of this surprise lies this “misread” of American culture. By-and-large, the church in America has failed to recognize that America itself is not the church. That is, the church has expected the culture to act like it’s Christian, when in fact, it is not.

So, enter Fifty Shades of Grey . . . 

In their surprise over the favorable response it has received, many Christians have responded by shouting at those who are embracing and enjoying it, demanding that they stop enjoying it, and behave more like . . . well . . . Christians.

What if that tactic worked? It hasn’t; but what if it did? Would acting Christian get anyone closer to Christ? Is a person justified by what movies they watch or don’t watch?

It would be appropriate to be surprised over Christians who engaged in such behavior. It would be appropriate to call them to holy living that is consistent with who they already are in Christ. But it’s another thing to call unbelievers to righteous living. You can’t expect people who are not in Christ to obey him. What they need is the gospel.

Now, it would be legitimate to use the one-two punch of the law and the gospel with them. But that’s not what I see happening. I see the law being used by itself as a call to live in a way that is pleasing to God. But somewhere, someone has written that without faith it is impossible to please God.

So here’s the sobering reality that we need to come to grips with. As long as the church in America continues to assume that our culture is more Christian than pagan—and, therefore, not in desperate need of the gospel—it will continue to flounder in the waters of obscurity and irrelevance, and will be good for little more than shouting moralistic platitudes at people who are genuinely surprised by the fact that we’re not joining them at the theater to watch Fifty Shades of Grey.


Aaron Gunsaulus is the pastor of Newton CRC in Newton, IA.

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