The movie (based on the book by the same title) Fifty Shades of Grey comes out this weekend, just in time for Valentines’ Day.  Ironic since it has nothing to do with romantic love.  Truthfully, neither does the reason for Valentines’ day, but that’s beside the point. 

There have already been several articles and posts about why Fifty Shades of Grey is not worth seeing and why it does not show a healthy relationship between a man and a woman.  It is sad that there are so many relationships between lovers that are demonstrations of abusiveness—physical and emotional.  A book about it such a relationship is one thing, but a movie is entirely too much.  Children can watch movies at a much younger age than they can read.

I won’t add anything to the social or psychological arguments against the movie since it is already well stated.  Instead, I will add my theological perspective. 

We live in a fallen world, a very messed up world. More specifically, within the human heart there is a very messed up mess.  And there are variations of this mess.  It clearly is a continuum from very dark to less dark, but the shades remain even for those we might consider saintly.  There are shadows that exist within us, places where secrets reside, places where we wrestle with the brokenness that is a result of our separation from our Creator and the One Who loves us—loves us in a redemptive, liberating, life-affirming, validating way (the love that is the basis of Valentines’ day), not in a way that causes us to grovel or be abused in order to receive affection.  Some people have darker places than others, but we all have some shade of shadows. 

The Apostle Paul wrote that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

But the Gospel of John declares that “the light came into the world and the darkness did not overcome it”.  There is no darkness in the One who brings the light, who is the light. 

We live in a fallen, broken world where we are often faced with a choice between the lesser of two evils, rather than the greater of two goods.  There are grays that we must choose between and sometimes that’s the best we can do. Ethics is a challenging practice that sometimes leaves us with difficult choices.  That doesn’t mean, however, that there is no purity or absolute light.  Remember, the light came into the world and the darkness does not overcome it.  We rely on this truth and the absolute light that we receive, even as we continue to exist in the shadows.

C. S. Lewis was known to use the idea of shadows as a description of life before eternity.  He spoke of “this is the land of shadows, real life has not yet begun.”  Shadowlands is a description of life in the here and now. 

As such we should remember that the shade might be a place we enjoy on a hot summer day, but the shade of spiritual depravity is not where any of us should reside.  We need the light that abolishes all shadows, all grays, all darkness. 

Jesus said to his followers “You are the light of the world.” In other words, we are to bring the light we have received into the darkness others are lost within.  Stepping into other’s darkness can be scary and very powerful, but we have been given the light that darkness does not overcome.  May we be confident in this light, for people are in desperate need of it.  May we bask in the power of the love we know and show it, for people are desperate for it. 

© Stephen Carl