Is there something wrong when a person goes to a movie to forget his troubles instead of getting spiritual inspirations?

It’s where he pays his tithe and cleanses his spirit.

No. Each to his own for spiritual inspiration.

@Blackberry Nice. And all you have to show for it is a movie stub. Lol.

I guess it means that movies touch him in some way.

Tough guy here… Movies with sad and discordant endings (like Synecdoche which I watched on DVD recently), sometimes evoke a sniffle or two in me :-p

Nope. If you can forget your troubles for a few hours, that’s the point of either the cinema or a church.

Of course not. A church is just a building like anything else. You have to give it meaning or go and find meaning by being in it. The same can be done in any building.

If it works – great – at 1/10 the cost.

One can also go Downtown and forget all your troubles…

Does he mean that he sees the unavoidable themes of life played out over and over in different scenarios with the exception being that different choices are made from movie to movie and consquences change accordingly? Classic literature did the same thing for folks before the speakies took over.

It’s his sanctuary, nothing wrong with that. I think everyone has their own way of relief from the everyday stress.

It means that people find solace, inspiration, and focus in a variety of places.

Church, nature, meditation…why not a movie theater?

Plus, churches don’t offer buttered popcorn.

Spiritual inspiration can be found anywhere, including in movies. I often find mine in literature.

@mazingerz88 “And all you have to show for it is a movie stub.” kinda ignores the exerience of the movie doesn’t it?
The same depth of analysis of going to a church will observe that all you have to show for it a bit bigger paper production, the weekly bulletin.

Real spiritual health requires getting out of oneself on a regular basis. For some folks movies provide that. For some folks it’s a church. For some folks it’s a hike in the woods or swim in a lake.

If you still have contact with him, why not ask him? Who knows what he meant. Interesting that you should still remember his saying that. Are (or were) you wrestling with questions?

People won’t bother him and he feel comfortable spending time to reflect there.

The movies theater combines some of the best parts of the Church, without the dogma, and you get to eat there. Fasting on Sunday morning was always hard for me.

When you get right down to it, what is the difference?

Not being religious myself, I understand your friend and have often gone to the movies for the same reasons.

I wouldn’t put much into that ideology. Going to the movies is simple fun escapism from reality. Nothing wrong with that at all. I think some intellectual zealots get way too analytical with thinking that such things as theater-going is religious.

It means nothing to me. I’m more interested in why you remembered it for 20 years.

That’s what I do. I was religiously schooled for the first 18 years of my life and it really did nothing for me. Now I’m in college for filmmaking (well, animation, but it’s a form of cinema right?) To each his own, I identify more with your friend than your condescending question.