Christians and Theater

Should Christians go to theater? There are a lot of theater productions out there that explore Christianity and do not explore it in a positive light for sure, almost anti-christian. But what about ones that are on the border? should we go and see these theaters? Some of them pose interesting questions about christianity and give a glimpse into how the world around us view christians. But is this something we should sponsor? Something we should pay money to go see?

I am pondering this because I am planning to go see Altar Boyz. a satire on the Christian boy band phenomenon, I am challenged with whether or not it will be offensive and is something a christian should go see. I have no problem going to theater, I enjoy theater immensely. But as I am exposed to more theater, I am confronted more with worldly viewpoints on life. This in itself is good, but I wonder if ultimately it is not beneficial for Christians to go and repeatedly put themselves in situations that are hostile to Christianity.

So what does this mean in term of integrating with the world? does this mean we stay separate and only be thinking about Christian viewpoints? You can use the verse Philippians 4:8 to make the case that we need to be separate with the world

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

so maybe there is merit in not seeing a production like Altar Boyz, even though it seems that while it pokes fun, that from everything that I have seen, it seems ok.

On the other hand, how is this missional? So what does it mean to go out into the world and see the altar boyz and other productions that may not be quite anti-christian, but aren't pro-christian either. This brings into mind 1 Corinthians 10:23

"All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but ot all things build up.

So is this building up? No, I don't think so. So does this mean that I should never see any theater productions that aren't Christian? this is a good point. I probably should talk to my Christian actor friends who I trust to see what they think about it, as I am sure they have gone through and thought through a lot of this.