I just watched the Super Bowl—and the commercial for 50 Shades of Grey. I was dismayed. What a rip-off of the beautiful, mutually-fulfilling relationship God intends. When the end of the ad announced it was being released on Valentine’s Day (articles say February 13), I went from dismayed to sick.
We believe Christian marriage is, first, a picture of the relationship God wants with us. Second, it is the meeting of two hearts and two souls. After that, the sexual union becomes God’s emotional cement–and icing on the cake. Reversing the order makes it very difficult to back up and find emotional intimacy.
Of great concern to us, the R-rating means that a 17-year-old boy can bring his 15-year-old girlfriend to the movie and they will be told that sex before marriage is good and if it hurts, it is really good. There is no biblical precedent for this line of thinking.
Ephesians 5:32 explicitly tells us that marriage is God’s picture of the relationship He wants with His bride. What does that relationship look like? God calling us. God inviting (not forcing) us into relationship. God sacrificing for us. And how is the Bride described? Pure. Unwrinkled. Unblemished.
This is the relationship God calls us to—not the one depicted in 50 Shades of Grey.
