My wife, Polly, and I have six children — four boys, and two girls. As children of an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preacher and his wife, they lived sheltered lives, safe from Satan and the world. Our two oldest sons attended public school for two years. Outside of that, our children either attended a private Christian school or were homeschooled. Our two oldest children attended Licking County Christian Academy for one year and our three oldest children attended Somerset Baptist Academy, a school I started, for five years. Our youngest three were homeschooled from kindergarten through grade twelve.
We didn’t have a TV for years. I detail my battle with the TV here: The Preacher and His TV. And even after we got a television, I carefully controlled what our children could watch. Our youngest children fondly remember watching programs such as Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman Continue, Five Mile Creek, Quantum Leap, and Sliders. We also let them watch G-rated/PG-rated movies. The goal was always the same: to protect them from the “world.”
In the late 1990s, our (my) view of the “world” began to change. We were still quite Fundamentalist, but we loosened the reigns, so to speak, when it came to “entertainment. Our older sons were allowed to listen to contemporary Christian music. I remember when I brought home a PETRA CD. Polly thought God was going to strike us dead and burn our house to the ground. Alas, God didn’t give a shit about what kind of music we listened to.
In the summer of 1997, I told Polly I wanted to take the children to the drive-in theater. Polly and I hadn’t been to an evil Hollywood movie since our teen years, and our children had never been to a theater of any kind. Polly, ever worried about God getting us, thought it was a bad idea to go to the drive-in. I assured her that God would be okay with us going to the movies. After all, we were going to see Air Bud and George of the Jungle. 🙂 Sure enough, we learned that God didn’t give a shit about what kind of movies we watched either. Our family and a wonderful time at the Wauseon Drive-in Theater. Our children were 18, 16, 13, 8, 6, and 4 the day the “world” won and Satan took over our family. 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I always thought it was so ridiculous when fundies said they couldn’t/shouldn’t/wouldn’t go to a movie theater because they didn’t want that to ruin their “witness”. No, what ruined their “witness” was racism, misogyny, xenophobia, hypocrisy, just to name a few things.
But you do have to wonder what happened in drive in theaters in Licking County
Growing up we were allowed to watch sports, the news, and the Brady Bunch. If a beer commercial came on, Dad turned down the volume and stood in front of the TV until it was over.
Then we got UHF and found professional wrestling. That was apparently OK–it was a sport! That’s basically how I learned about the world. 😉
What you say about movies, TV, and such reminds me of the first time I uttered the word “fuck.” I really wondered whether God would strike me, do some other terrible thing or simply wag his celestial finger at me.
Mr Gerencser,
Have you ever seen the Movie God’s not dead? (Not trying to preach to you)
No. I have no interest in viewing God is Not Dead 1,2,3, or 4. I have read enough reviews of the movies to understand their arguments. I found nothing new to see, much like when people suggest I read Lee Strobel or other Evangelical apologists. Been there, done that. People seem to forget I was raised and schooled in Evangelicalism and was a pastor for twenty-five years. I have a good handle on what Evangelicals believe.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Yea, I see where it all started now. First it was Kung Fu, full those evil Buddhist and Shaolin teachings that planted the seed to lead you astray. That one little sliver of worldly thought propped the door to your heart open just enough for evil to dribble in. Next came innocent movies – what harm could they do? And that created the small snowball that turned into the avalanche to stripper Santa. 😈😂😂🥰
God isn’t offended by a dog playing basketball? No wonder “He” picked Donald Trump to be President!