Last Time I'm Talking About This Movie - I Promise!

Hee hee...!

My mind is blank. Blankety-blank-blank. Empty. And sort of achy, truth be told. I’ve been trying to come up with something to write about for a while now, but all I can think about is that dang movie, Higher Ground! So maybe my mind’s not blank - it’s more... preoccupied. I couldn’t even focus when I was trying to read about the Israelites making that golden calf in Exodus 32. It’s a pretty crucial piece of Israel’s history and all I could think about was that dang movie. STILL. And it’s been nearly a week since I saw it! So... I'm just going to say this one last thing...

There is a horrible, painful scene in the movie when the main character, Corinne, says some extremely hurtful things to her husband and he attempts to strangle her. He doesn’t kill her, thank goodness, and his remorse is deep and wide, but I just wanted to make sure that if anyone reading my blog entries about the movie and would not think I was glossing over this terrible thing.

I mean, I’ve said nothing bad about the husband character in the movie. I’ve limited my comments regarding him to vague references to his faith. But this horrible incident was wrong wrong wrong. There is nothing that justifies physical violence in a couple. And he knew it, and confessed it later.

I did an image search for "women
preachers" and got this pic...
How odd is that?

And although the church they attended was one which held to certain “gender roles” for men and women, this was not something they approved of by any stretch of the imagination. Their belief that women shouldn’t teach is firmly rooted in the actual Bible. It actually says, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (I Timothy 2) So if you’re a man, stop reading this right now... lest I should presume to teach you anything. Ha! Just kidding. I’m just saying, this is where that church was coming from. Most churches don’t really go along with this anymore, but some do.

Aquilla and his wife Priscilla, an early Christian
teacher... and a friend of Paul's, weirdly enough.

But I don’t believe for one minute that those guys in the movie church meant it as some sort of power play. I think they studied the Bible with all their hearts, and when they came to this part, they took it literally and obeyed it to the letter. One of the sort of funny scenes in the movie shows the men meeting together and listening to a tape series on how to please their wives, including a handly little anatomy lesson. You see, they loved their wives quite a bit, because they were also obeying this: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...” (Ephesians 5)

All that is to say, the part of the movie where the husband nearly strangles her to death – well, that was horrible. It wasn’t anything that was condoned by their church... I HOPE there are no churches that condone that...! It was a desperate act by a desperate man, but if I had been friends with Corinne, I would have said, “Run for your life!”