Plugged In at the Movies

I love movies. I love going to the movies or watching them at home. (In either instance, popcorn is a must.) Since we have two young children, we make it to the movie theater maybe twice a year, but we have a Netflix subscription and usually watch a movie on the weekend.

When I found out about my husband's pornography addiction, it changed a lot of things. One of the things that changed is our movie-watching habit. My eyes have truly been opened as to how difficult it is for men to remain sexually pure in their thoughts and actions, as our culture promotes sexuality virtually everywhere you look. I'm constantly on guard to sexual content in movies. I've realized that you can't merely play defense by checking a movie's rating, as today's PG-13 rating still allows a lot of nudity and sexual images.

Instead, I play offense by reading movie plots online, watching trailers and using a wonderful tool, www.pluggedin.com. A ministry of Focus on the Family, Plugged In gives ratings for family friendliness; lists all sexual, spiritual and violent content; crude or profane language; and drug and alcohol content. This site has been such a tremendous help to us, as we strive for righteousness in our home.

In fact, we attempted to go to dinner and a movie with another couple last year. I looked up all of the movies that they suggested on www.pluggedin.com, but couldn't say yes to any of them because of the sexual content. It was an opportunity for us to share how we are trying to guard our eyes and protect our purity by being careful about what we watch.

Plugged In provides information on movies at the theater, movies on video, video games and music. I hope you'll find it a blessing as you also strive to protect purity in your marriage and family.