This breakpoint article by Chuck Colson underscores the practical side of philosophy and worldviews. Those of you who think that philosophy is for guys at Starbucks with goatees, guess again. Philosophy, which I use almost synonymously with the term worldview, is all around us. We breathe it in every day in the form of culture.
Colson writes,
The great Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer once wrote that philosophy—often dismissed as irrelevant—is, in reality, a powerful engine that drives cultural change. Ivory Tower ideas filter down into popular culture, including films. There, they influence millions who often have no notion of what they’re consuming along with the car chases, love scenes, and popcorn.
Stop and think about that. Not only are you breathing in your culture's philosophy, but your children are as well. You may be grounded in your knowledge of scripture and truth, but are they?
Colson adds,
That is the message we need to press home to our friends and to our impressionable kids. They need to know that everyone embraces one philosophy or another—a worldview that defines his or her conception of the world, of reality, and of human life. These beliefs are woven into movies—often in subtle ways that viewers miss. That is why it’s so important that we teach our kids how to find the worldview message in every film.
This week, especially if your kids are home because of the snow, why not teach them a little philosophy. Rent some of the better films and watch them together. Help them identify, not only the filmmaker’s philosophy, but also what makes for artistic excellence.
Schaeffer was right. Philosophy is a powerful engine that drives social change. And the time for philosophy lessons is before our kids walk into the multiplex—not when the lights go out.
Do you help your kids unpack the worldview content of what they are watching? Some of it may be obvious to you, but not so obvious to them.
I watched X-men (20th Century Fox, 2000) the other night. It is a story of good versus evil, featuring "mutants." These mutants are the products of super charged evolution. Some mutants are benevolent and some are evil. They have "way cool" powers and battle it out in a highly entertaining fashion. My kids liked the movie. I was entertained too, but there were some things that disturbed me a bit.
The next day, over dinner, we talked about some of the messages of the movie.
"What did you think of the movie?", I asked.
"It had bad teaching about evolution", one of my daughters replied.
"There was that one bad scene where the guy walks up on the beach with no clothes on", the other added.
Ok, let me pause there. There was scene with a necked man, but it did not show him in the buff. It showed his face and chest and people staring at him. The more important thing is that my kids were trying to think of all the "bad" stuff. Were there any cuss words? Any nakedidity? Anything about evolution? This is surface stuff, however. While I don't want my kids exposed to junk, I am more concerned about the underlying philosophies they are being fed. What worldview is being presented to them? How does that worldview align with scripture? That is the important stuff, in my opinion.
I turned the conversation toward bigotry, which was featured clearly in the movie. The mutants are discriminated against because of their unnatural powers. People fear them. A senator in the movie grandstands on the issue. He sponsors a bill that will require mutants to register with the government and disclose what powers they possess. The allusion to today's cultural wars was obvious to me.
"Was it wrong for the politicians to want to do that?", I asked.
"Yes", they both replied.
"Why?", I asked. Neither of them knew why. I talked about the image of God, and the dignity that is bestowed on humans as image bearers. That is why we treat people with dignity and respect them, even if they look different than us.
"There are many mutants around us today. Mutations happen all the time. They don't result in cool powers. They result in cancer, disease and deformity. How should we treat people like that?"
A good discussion followed.
"Discriminating againt a person because of how they were born is wrong. What about discriminating against wrong behavior, however? Is that the same thing?"
This led to a very interesting discussion about important debates taking place in our culture.
Did we talk about evolution? Sure. I asked them how evolution was portrayed in the movie ... besides the simple fact that the writer obviously believed it was true.
I explained to them the importance of evolution to many worldviews; not just as an explanation of where we come from, but as a source of utopian hope for the future.
You get the idea. Turn your movie watching into a worldview session with your kids. Help them unpack it. Make the most of those opportunities.