In one last ironic story, Mel Gibson’s movie Hacksaw Ridge, which tells the story of Adventist Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who saved 75 lives during World War II as an unarmed medic, has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.
The story might not warrant mention if not for the deeply ingrained Adventist practice (often ignored in enclaves of “progressive” Adventism) of not attending “the theater”. In fact, Ellen White had this to say about theater attendance (which, in her day was live theater, although her advice was applied to movie theaters as they developed):
“Among the most dangerous resorts for pleasure is the theater. Instead of being a school for morality and virtue, as is so often claimed, it is the very hotbed of immorality.…The love for these scenes increases with every indulgence as the desire for intoxicating drink strengthens with its use. The only safe course is to shun the theater, the circus, and every other questionable place of amusement” (The Adventist Home, p. 516).
Furthermore, she said this about attending places of unsavory character:
“The influence of such gatherings is not good. If God has delivered us from such darkness and error, we should stand fast in the liberty wherewith He has set us free and rejoice in the truth. God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels; and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness.” (Early Writings, pp. 124, 125)
In spite of Ellen’s counsels against theater and of her warnings that God’s angels do not protect His people if they attend forbidden places, Hacksaw Ridge has attracted large numbers of Adventists to the theater. After all, one of their own is being featured on the big screen. Ellen White wouldn’t be upset by that…would she?
Sources: Ellen G. White Estate and Adventist Review Online
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