Recently, a listener to our C.S. Lewis podcast reached out to us. She had just begun RCIA with her family and they were quite taken aback when the priest described Purgatory in the following way:
“Purgatory is a place of fire and burning. However, there will be hope there because you will know you’re getting out someday.”
RCIA Class
It seemed to her that this would make the work of Christ incomplete. After the class, her daughter exclaimed:
“How do they expect anyone to convert if you’re still going to Hell? Because that’s exactly what Purgatory sounds like!”
When they got home, they did some googling and found several other sources that said Purgatory would be the same fire of hell, but with the hope of one day escaping.
Since my co-host and I had spoken about Purgatory on the podcast, she sent us a message expressing her consternation. I too once balked at the fire imagery I saw in some artistic depictions of Purgatory (such as in the altarpiece above), so I thought it would be a good idea to turn my answer into a blog post…
So you heard it was paedophilic, but you watched it “Just to make sure”? Good grief…
What surprised me were the number of people out defending the movie. For example:
So we shouldn’t learn about horrible things that happen because they are horrible? Do you need to watch a movie about war to know it’s bad? No, but it helps humanize what is happening. I don’t think young women should be sexualized, and I believe that across the board.
Facebook User, Victoria
The “logic” here is horrendous. Victoria argued that sexualising child actresses helps humanise sexualising of children and it thereby makes it okay? I’m not sure how that logic works!
Would this mean that it would be moral to watch a graphic porno, as long as the moral of the story is that porno is bad? That’d be crazy, right?
Does she need to watch a movie with a graphic rape scene to know that rape is wrong? I hope not!
I also found it strange that she would say that she doesn’t think young women should be sexualized and she believes that “across the board”…but then doesn’t seem to remember the children acting in this movie who are being sexualized, or the countless other who would have auditioned for these roles…
Whatever happened to the Biblical concept of custody of the eyes? Can you imagine St. Mother Theresa or St. John-Paul II watching this movie? If not, that probably tells you that you shouldn’t be polluting your mind with it either….
Other responses were equally incredible:
If you’re sexualizing these girls that’s on you. You can watch it without doing that…
btw there’s only about 1-2 mins of the “sexualized” dancing in the entire film, and nothing is really that bad. Maybe the breast shown in one frame is too much for us audiences but as someone who goes to nude beaches often and has been in coed changing rooms sexualizing nudity isn’t something that happens by default for me, and it’s not a problem at all
Theres much worse content on Instagram and tiktok and we should be more concerned about those than a film that actually makes talking about these things easier for parents/children
Facebook User, Seth
Another person even tried to compare the twerking in the movie to what might happen on a gymnastics team.
I suggested that they all cancel their Netflix accounts and send the money instead to Children of the Immaculate Heart who will help children who have been sexualised and trapped into sexual trafficking.
The Upside
My friend Maggie pointed out that there was an upside to seeing people defend this movie:
Thank you for sharing and speaking truth on this matter. It blows my mind that people are ok with this. I actually welcome their comments because it makes it easier to pinpoint who I should keep my children away from. If that’s any consolation to you… now you know who has normalized child sexual abuse and welcome this kind of content. Red flags!!! Keep your future children away and warn your loved ones
My wife and I are trying to finish reading through the Bible in a year. At the moment, our Old Testament reading is coming from Isaiah and it put me in mind of this song from my youth by Daniel Bedingfield:
Can you see The honest questions in my heart this hour? I’m opening like a flower to the rain And do you know The silent sorrows of a Never ending journey through the pain
Do you see a brighter day for me? Another day? A day? Do you wonder what’s in store for me? The cure for me? The way?
Oh look down and see the tears I’ve cried The lives I’ve lived The deaths I’ve died But you died them too And all for me And you say:
“I will pour my water down Upon a thirsty barren land And streams will flow from the dust of Your bruised and broken soul You will grow like the grass Upon the the fertile plains of Asia By the streams of living water You will grow You will grow”
Do you know My story from the start? And do you know me Like you’ve always told me?
Do you see The whispers in my heart against your kindness My eternal blindness Do you see?
My faith came alive around the time this song came out and I remember that, as I listened to the album, when I came to this song, something seemed very familiar:
I will pour my water down
Upon a thirsty barren land
And streams will flow from the dust of
Your bruised and broken soul
You will grow like the grass
Upon the the fertile plains of Asia
By the streams of living water
You will grow
You will grow”
Daniel Bedingfield, Honest Questions (Chorus)
…and it finally clicked:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. They shall spring up like grass amid waters, like willows by flowing streams
Isaiah 44:3-4
…which is itself alluded to by Jesus in John’s Gospel:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. 38 He who believes in me, as[a] the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
I’ve you’re reading articles about Lewis, you’ll quite often see this picture of Lewis and a number of other men sitting on a short wall:
I recently saw this article from the Sydney Morning Herald which included a cropped version of this picture, identifying the men, from left-to-right as J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis. However, this is incorrect!
The men in the above picture are Commander James Dundas-Grant, Colin Hardie, Dr. Robert E. Havard, C.S. Lewis, and Peter Havard. They are sitting on the Thames River embankment parapet wall at The Trout pub. Behind them (out of shot) is the old Chinese style wooden bridge, leading over to the island which had a stone lion statue on it.
