In its exposition of the meaning of the 7th commandment the Westminster Larger Catechism says, “The sins forbidden in the Seventh Commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, adultery, fornication, rape, inces3, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; … lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays; and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others.” Does this mean that it is sinful to act in a play?
Well, it certainly means that the Westminster Divines who gave us this catechism thought it was a sin. Were they right? It is a scary thing for me to disagree with the Westminster Standards, something I want to do only with great caution and care. But yeah, they were wrong. Understandably wrong. Less wrong than we tend to be on the same issue, but wrong nonetheless.
Note that this condemnation is given in the context of unpacking the sins of adultery. As Jesus did on the Sermon on the Mount our fathers here are rightly seeking to explore the fullness of the command. It goes well beyond a married person sleeping with someone other than his or her spouse. It certainly would include participating in pornography, whether producing it or partaking of it. And that may be where they made their mistake.
It is not just possible but likely that stage plays of that era were given to the bawdy, the suggestive. But such is not of the essence of stage plays. Stage plays can be none of those things. When my church put on a production of It’s Cool in the Furnace, a retelling of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, it wasn’t presenting anything in the least bit bawdy. It was, however, a stage play.
Perhaps though the issue our forefathers had with stage plays was the dishonesty inherent in them. Actors pretend, and one could argue, pretending is a species of lying. If, however, such were their concern, surely this prohibition would have appeared under the heading of the 9th Commandment rather than the 7th. More important still, no one watching a stage play is under the impression that what they are witnessing was “true.” Before you declare “Gotcha” keep in mind that in the same way the stage play is untrue, so is the parable. If one is a sinful lie, so is the other.
Should Christians be more thoughtful about what they take in, and in what they put forth? Of course. Are we likely benumbed by the low standards of the broader culture? Almost certainly so. But there are options. I thought it a wonderful thing indeed when I learned that the closing kiss between Kirk Cameron’s character and his wife in Fireproof was actually a kiss between Kirk Cameron and Kirk Cameron’s wife. Good on my friends at Sherwood Productions I say. It is true also that we are given to study ways to slip out from under God’s law. On the other hand, this prohibition is, in the end, clumsy and actually deleterious to a true love of God’s law.
Right is right and wrong wrong. It is right to expose that which the Bible condemns that the world affirms. It is wrong, however, to condemn what the Bible does not condemn. Our fathers to their credit pushed back against cultural norms. Sadly, here they gave us counter-cultural norms rather than Biblical norms.
