Family Friendly vs. Faith Friendly

I read an article in Relevant about the difference between something being family friendly and being faith friendly.  I've never thought about that so directly, but it cleared up a lot of random feelings I've been having, now that I listen to WCIC in the mornings and just, you know, living life.

Because I definitely think there's a difference.  The Bible is so not family friendly, what with the incest and the chopping up of women into twelve pieces.  On a less dramatic note, the Psalms cover all kinds of emotion--rage, doubt, joy, betrayal, peace.  A lot of stuff that isn't comfortable to talk about is laid out for us in the Bible.

And since when should faith be comfortable?  I mean, I get that WCIC is trying to appeal to a broad audience, but I hope people don't go there for their only spiritual nourishment.  Faith goes far deeper than what is appropriate for five-year-old ears.

One thing the article asked was: is it ever okay for curse words to support faith issues?  I'm probably biased because I don't think cussing is sinful (I hate cursing that comes from anger, but similarly, I hate any words that are meant to be hurtful).  But this is a whole different ball game than "sure, it's not evil."  Can cursing be good?  And I would say yes.  Curse words, at their simplest, are meant to emphasize.  And some spiritual topics need emphasis.

This reminds me of one of David Platt's sermons at Union.  He said 16,000 children die every day from hunger, and we had damn well better do something about it.  Then he paused and continued, "And you know the sad thing?  More of you are sitting there thinking about how I said 'damn' than about those 16,000 children who are dying right now."

That's why cursing can be appropriate.  It draws your attention, and it sticks with you (or at least it does if you're not used to hearing Baptist preachers curse at the pulpit).  No way would I remember that moment if he hadn't said damn.

And that's just cussing!  What about violence and sex?  Can they ever be faith friendly?  Again, I say yes.  For a sociology class, a bunch of students watched a movie called Trade.  It was about sex traffickers who kidnapped and sold women and children here in American suburbia.  There was graphic sex and violence.  It was painful to watch.

Which is what is so valuable.  Never before had the issue of sex trafficking seemed so dire or so horrendous.  Quoting statistics or vaguely describing the situation would not have inspired the disgust that seeing the act did.  God tells us over and over again in the Bible to take care of the poor and the broken.  I am much more likely to do so after watching Trade than after hearing a lecture.  Visual trumps auditory a lot of the time.

Should we watch porn and encourage bloodlust and lace our sentences with f-bombs?  No.  But I do not believe the answer is to shut out parts of this life that we deem "unsavory."  Keep your kids from it, sure, I guess.  But I think we're doing ourselves a disservice (and we're definitely doing the world a disservice if we stay in our comfy middle-class homes because we're scared of, or ignorant of, the horrific everyday struggles of so many people on our planet) if we block out everything.

Family friendly is fine.  But it's not everything, and it's not enough.