No Theaters!

[bookslover]

From my calendar page for this weekend:

"On September 2, 1642, the Puritan-dominated Parliament drafted an ordinance which technically ended the Elizabethan and Jacobean theaters, stating specifically, 'Whereas, the distracted state of England, threatened with a cloud of blood by a civil war, calls for all possible means to appease and avert the wrath of God. . .It is therefore thought fit and ordered by the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled that while these sad causes and set-times of humiliation do continue, public stage-plays shall cease and be forborne.'

"A steady rationale for this closure was provided by wordings of additional acts of Parliament, such as one from 1647 which went out of its way to degrade and villainize actors: 'All stage-players and players of interludes and common plays are hereby declared to be, and are, and shall be taken to be, rogues. . .whether they be wanderers or no, and notwithstanding any license whatsoever from the king or any person or persons to that purpose.' Even Shakespeare's Globe [Theater]. . .was shut down. But as might be expected, royalty and aristocrats circumvented these proclamations by staging private performances."

Interesting. No wonder the Puritans were despised by the generality of the English population.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

This was simple nonconformist (and even conformist) piety; and it stretched into the 19th century. The Reformed church frowned on going to movies well into the 20th I think I read somewhere. Here is Samuel Miller's famous 'puritanesque' sermon when a theater burned down with many inside.
http://www.naphtali.com/articles/samuel-miller/nature-and-effects-of-stage/

 

[C. Matthew McMahon]

If this representation be just; if attending on the theater is a criminal waste of time; if it tends to dissipate the mind and to render it indisposed for serious and spiritual employments; if theatrical exhibitions are, very often to say the least, indecent, profane, and demoralizing in their tendency; and if their patrons, by every attendance on them, encourage and support sin, as a trade; then I ask, can any man who claims to be barely moral, placing piety out of the question, can any man who claims to be barely moral, conscientiously countenance such a seminary of vice? Above all, can a disciple of Jesus Christ, who professes to be governed by the Spirit, and to imitate the example of his Divine Master; who is commanded to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;7 who is required to pass the time of his sojourning here in fear;8 who is warned not to be conformed to the world, and to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them;9 who is required to deny himself, to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts, and whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, to do all to the glory of God;10 can a disciple of Jesus Christ, who is commanded to shun the company of the profane, to avoid the very appearance of evil, and to pray, Lead us not into temptation,11 can HE be found in such a place without sin? Is the theater an amusement in the immediate prospect of which any man can go to the throne of grace, and implore a blessing? Is the theater an amusement which will be remembered with complacency by any man when he comes to die?12 Or is it a place from which any reflecting man would be willing to be called to the bar of God? These are questions which, I take for granted, some of my hearers will receive with a smile; but which I most affectionately entreat those who have named the name of Christ to ponder in their hearts.

That about does it. (Miller's sermon quoted).

Apply that to the Game of Thrones thread.

 

[Alan D. Strange]

That is all correct, Chris, including the disapprobation of Reformed Churches. Here is an extended quote from the CRC website on the matter:

The CRC made its first official declaration on the topic of "worldly amusements" in 1928. Synod said that these doctrinal and ethical principles should guide believers in their relation to the world and its amusements: the honor of God, the welfare of humanity, spiritual separation from the world, and the exercise of Christian liberty. It also urgently warned members against the amusements of theater attendance, dancing, and card playing. In 1949 synod decided to study the issue again, and in 1951 it clarified previous declarations.

Synod 1966 adopted a report titled "The Church and the Film Arts," which states the official position of the CRC: The art of film is considered a legitimate cultural medium to be used with discernment by Christians. In the late 1970s Calvin College decided to allow social dancing by students on its campus. Its request for synod's support and/or response led to the study "Dance and the Christian Life," which was commissioned in 1978, recommended to the churches for study in 1980, and brought to Synod 1982. That year synod reaffirmed the position of 1966 on the relationship of the Christian to the world and on the exercise of Christian liberty.

Peace,
Alan

 

[JimmyH]

While I think it was tongue in cheek, I heard an old tape by Donald Gray Barnhouse where he said, "I don't drink, smoke or chew, or kiss girls that do !"

 

[Alan D. Strange]

Well, Jimmy, I can assure you that the Reformed (our good Dutch brethren), as well as Old School Presbyterians, whatever problems they had with theater-going, card-playing and dancing, had no problem with the moderate use of alcohol and tobacco. If Dr. Barnhouse meant that (I've used it as a caricature of a certain sort of fundamentalism), then he was not reflecting Reformed and Presbyterian sensibilities but American fundamentalist ones.

Peace,
Alan

 

[JimmyH]

Well, Jimmy, I can assure you that the Reformed (our good Dutch brethren), as well as Old School Presbyterians, whatever problems they had with theater-going, card-playing and dancing, had no problem with the moderate use of alcohol and tobacco. If Dr. Barnhouse meant that (I've used it as a caricature of a certain sort of fundamentalism), then he was not reflecting Reformed and Presbyterian sensibilities but American fundamentalist ones.

Peace,
Alan

Very definitely Dr.Strange. One of the things I am grateful for is the tolerance of my tobacco pipe smoking amongst my Presbyterian brethren. Hawthorne Gospel Church library in N.J. had 3 cassette tapes of Dr Barnhouse's sermons that he had preached there. I last heard them in the 1970s so my memory may be a bit dim on them. I'll never forget his sermon on David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and Dr Barnhouse thundering, "Thou art the man !"

The quote in the post above was definitely tongue in cheek in some sort of illustration that I don't recall the context of. It occurred to me shortly after I awoke this morning, if I remember correctly, that the quote should have read, "I don't dance, drink, smoke or chew, or kiss girls that do." Whether "drink" was included in that list of 'transgressions' I don't recall, but I think it may have been. I do recall, listening to the tapes, that he had a very impressive pulpit presence.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Personally, I am a long way from the position that all drama or movie-going is wrong. I am conversant with the arguments, but cannot find sufficient support for them in the Bible. Still, I do not dismiss these views out-of-hand as they were held by many of the godly in the past. Moreover, the laxity among Reformed believers on the issue of viewing is not a good sign. The fact that we even have to debate the propriety of watching Game of Thrones is indicative of this general trend.

 

[JimmyH]

I have been quite a fan of classic older films and have an extensive collection of DVDs from the silent era up through the '30s into the '70s. I stopped watching any films or television about 5 years ago. At 68 years old I don't know how much time I have left, and I'd rather read my Bible, sermons, or theological works than waste whatever time I have remaining in this mortal coil on frivolous entertainments. If I were a younger man perhaps I'd feel differently, but at this stage of the game I have to take the advice of the Apostle Peter; 1 Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

 

[Wayne]

I've done a small bit of research into the Richmond theatre fire of 1812. There were maybe a half dozen Presbyterian sermons or discourses that were published on the matter. Samuel Miller was mentioned above. Another was by Archibald Alexander.

There's also a book that was published in 2012 about the fire, authored by Meredith Henne Baker :

http://www.theaterfirebook.com

 

[Stephen L Smith]

I've done a small bit of research into the Richmond theatre fire of 1812. There were maybe a half dozen Presbyterian sermons or discourses that were published on the matter

Did the Presbyterian discourses state that "sprinkling" water on a fire is not an effective way to put out a fire? I could not resist

 

[Parmenas]

The Christian and the Theater is a very edifying American Tract Society publication, save the poor diction that has been emphasized in the following excerpt.

Perhaps some will consider this as taking an unnecessarily strict, and even puritanical view of the theater, as an amusement. This is so far from being the case, that the sentiments which have been expressed, are those in which the wise and the virtuous, in all ages, have been entirely unanimous, even from the origin of the practice. As was intimated at the beginning, all the sober Pagans pronounced the theater a school of vice. Plato tells us, that "plays raise the passions, and pervert the use of them; and, of consequence, are dangerous to morality." Aristotle lays it down as rule, "that the seeing of comedies ought to be forbidden to young people; such indulgences not being safe, until age and discipline have confirmed them in sobriety, fortified their virtue, and made them proof against debauchery." And even Ovid, in his most licentious poems, speaks of the theater as conducing to dissoluteness of principle and manners. And afterwards, advises the suppression of this amusement, as being a grand source of corruption.

In the primitive Church, too, as has been already hinted, both the actors and those who attended the theater were debarred from the Christian sacraments. All the early writers who speak on the subject, with one voice attest that this was the case. And some of them, as well as some of the early synods and councils, employ language, in reference to this amusement and the class of people who conduct it, expressive of the strongest abhorrence. Not only actors were excluded from the privileges of the Church, but also all who intermarried with them, or in any ways openly encouraged them; thereby declaring that they considered the whole institution, in all its connections and influences, as altogether pernicious, and to be detested.

And almost all the reformed churches have, at different times, spoken the same language, and enacted regulations of a similar kind. They have declared it to be "unlawful to go to comedies, tragedies, interludes, farces, or other stage-plays, acted in public or private; because, in all ages, these have been forbidden among Christians, as bringing in a corruption of good manners." Surely, this remarkable concurrence of opinion, in different ages and countries, ought to command the most serious attention of those who wish to know what is their duty.

 

[bookslover]

Well, Jimmy, I can assure you that the Reformed (our good Dutch brethren), as well as Old School Presbyterians, whatever problems they had with theater-going, card-playing and dancing, had no problem with the moderate use of alcohol and tobacco. If Dr. Barnhouse meant that (I've used it as a caricature of a certain sort of fundamentalism), then he was not reflecting Reformed and Presbyterian sensibilities but American fundamentalist ones.

Peace,
Alan

I think Barnhouse at least played footsie with dispensationalism as, in his time, dispensationalism had made certain inroads into the Reformed world. Also, I definitely remember reading in his massive Romans series his statement that creeds and confessions are sort of a pain in the neck (that's when I stopped reading that series). So, those two things being true, I guess you can count him as a sort-of fundamentalist.

 

[Held Fast]

"If the church is now supposed to raise the tone of the world by imitating it, things have strangely altered since the day when our Lord said, "Come out from among them...and touch not the unclean thing." Is Heaven to descend to the infernal lake to raise its tone? Such has been the moral condition of the theatre for many a year that it has become too bad for mending. And even if it were mended it would soon become corrupt again. Pass by it with averted gaze, for the house of the strange woman is there.

It has not been my lot ever to enter a theatre during the performance of a play, but I have seen enough when I have come home from journeys at night, while riding past the theatres, to make me pray that our sons and daughters may never go within their doors. It must be a strange school for virtue which attracts the harlot and the debauchee. It is no place for a Christian if it is best appreciated by the irreligious and worldly." - C.H. Spurgeon