This weekend I learned there is a new installment in the 50 Shades collection. How unfortunate. Dozens of blogs have already been written about the danger of 50 Shades of Gray books and the movie. You might think Christian women are not interested in the content of this material. You might also think Christian women are not interested in any kind of sexual immorality. You are wrong. We have the same temptations as non-Christians, we are inundated with the same messages in magazines and television and other books.
Many Christian women willingly engage in immorality when they are unmarried. They know what the Bible says (1 Cor. 6:18), and yet, they justify and rationalize their actions. These are issues of the heart. Moral compromise doesn't just happen, there are desires she wants to fulfill. Perhaps she wants to please her man, or is afraid of losing him if she maintains her purity. She might genuinely desire the intimacy and closeness sex brings. What she learns is that contrary to the saying, stolen fruit is never as sweet as what you are entitled to have.
I am overwhelmingly concerned about the impact the 50 Shades franchise will continue to have on our young women. So few truly understand the devastating risks of sexual immorality on the lives of young women and men who buy into the lie that "it's just sex." Never mind the complicating realities of sexually transmitted diseases (1 in 5 young woman has an STD), or unplanned pregnancy (40-50% in the US); there are serious long-term effects of normal sexual immorality. Imagine with me what the effects of sadism, bondage, domination will be!
Women want to be protected from harm by the men they love, they want to trust them and know the man has their best interests at heart. Does a man who asks for 50 Shades activity have her best interests at heart? Is he thinking of her? Is he treating her with honor and respect? Would a man who truly loves his wife or girlfriend ask her to participate in such activities, or is he thinking of himself (Heb. 13:4)? I hope women who are in a relationship with such a man will realize that in spite of any words he utters, he really does not love and respect her as he declares (Eph. 5:28). It is my hope (and I assume it's the hope of all the other people who have written about the danger of these books and this movie) that women will ask themselves these kinds of questions. That women will realize no honorable man would ask for these activities.
If you are in such a relationship, my strong encouragement to you is to run quickly from this man. Do what it takes to get away from him. Tell someone you trust what has been going on and let them help you to get away.