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2 H he CI ac I< amas P rint Wednesday, April 28, 1999 Heart's intent source of evil It is said that one of the Fathers of the Protestant Reformation prayed, “God, bless us; yea, even curse us, but please be not silent.” His words carry with them the recognition of a be in danger of the judgment. He wenton: “You havefttand.. .‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say unto you, that whoever looks on-a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” tar an In other words, thinking is doing. The intent of the n heart is what produces the actions that harm and kill, JOEL P. SHEMPERT and so the heart must be healed for evil to be Copy Editor stopped. To not kill is basic human need, one good, but to not intend to kill that has been neglected is even better. Likewise, it is and denied in the world admirable to refrain from of today. sexual promiscuity, but this This neglect is more does little good for the soul if than a theological nui one mentally rapes any sance or theoretical co woman in view. nundrum. The casualties in this war Whence originates this noble stan are our very hearts, minds, and dard of conduct with which we can lives—at the risk of sounding overly truly live in harmony. I’m afraid it finds theological one might even say our its meaning only as a direct communi souls. cation from tiie mind of an infinite and It is redundant at mis point to men loving God. tion that nearly a score ofhigh school Francis Schaeffer devoted much of students were gunned down by two his life to arguing that without this young men in Littleton, Colorado. “absolute reference point,” life does Throughout our nation, thinkers and not make sense, and moral behavior journalists alike are weighing in with has no basis. The gods of the Ro analyses of the tragedy, and wres mans and Greeks were not big enough. tling with the dilemma of evil in our The reason of man is not big enough. world. Science and “progress” are not big We should indeed ponder the enough. Only God is. Only God fills causes that brought two boys to the vacuum in our lives. such a catastrophic course of action, Philosophers who excluded God and by all means mourn the ______ from their ideologies have dead, examining the inci often come to realize the fu dent is somewhat like bail tility of life without Him. ing water withoutplugging Neitzche, for instance, in his the leak. As long as famous “God is dead” pas The “Trenchcoat Ma a singled" sage, lamented: “Whither is fia” who shot their class God?.. .1 shall tell you. We mates and took their own student is have killed him —you and i. lives do not comprise the mur- All of us are his murderers.. entirety of the face of evil, .Is there any up or down left? nor even does Hitler on dered... Are we not straying as whose birthday the there exists through an infinite noth slaughter fell. They are ing?” a condi only that iceberg tip of evil Nietzche’s warning is, if we which happened to make tion in the kill God, what do we replace headlines. Evil is every one human Him with? Whatisleft. Ifwe of us. Before we rush to kill God, do we not kill our lament the atrocities of rap heart that selves? ists and killers, we would can only A worthy question. And do well to examine the one that cannot be ignored be called thoughts and motives of in these dark days. This is our individual hearts. evil not to say necessarily that For it is there that evil “evil is on the rise,” or that begins. In our society of the “good old days” were legality and liability, we better. But as C.S. Lewis tend to think of evil as pointed out, suffering is not merely that which is outwardly ex increased by mere arithmetic. As long pressed—the cutting word said, die as a single student is murdered; as harm done, die murder committed. But long as a single Serb or Albanian or two millennia ago, a peasant Nazarene American loses their life in Yugosla in the Mediterranean Basin put forth via, there exists a condition in the hu a different standard. man heart called evil. “ You have heard that it was said by This evil is in you. It is in me. It is a them of old time, ‘You shall not kill, Mr. Hyde to the Dr. Jeckyl of the no and whoever shall kill shall be in dan blest individual. It finds its cure in ger of the judgment,’” said he, “but I one source—the Way, the Truth, and say unto you, that whoever is angry the Life. I showyou a more excellent with his brother without cause shall way. The AI of U I< nown Cod is • • • ••••••••••••••• • •••••••••••••••• Dr. Spew and Adam Corona Present... Are movie ratings what they seem? It was a calm, quiet night at the movie theater. I was reading a book and enjoying the down time be tween shows. Suddenly, the thick doors of the auditorium swung A V iew F rom t M e SoApbox SHELBI WESCOTT StaffWriter open and a woman, drag ging her two children behind her, stormed out into the lobby. “Can I help you?” I asked. She raised her eyebrows and threw up her hands. “I am outraged at the movie industry. How dare they rate a movie like that PG! That was entirely inappropriate for my children.” I wanted to ask her why she didn’t research the movie before hand, or what exactly she found offensive. However, I knew that this concerned mother had a point. Even G movies aren’t safe for a gen eral audience anymore. Due to this experience, I began to think about our rating system. What does a rating mean if it isn’t reliable? The rating for each movie is de cided by a group of people belong ing to the MPAA. The original pur pose of the MPAA, when it was created in 1922, was to censor the material in films before their release. People were worried that the films were becoming too “rowdy” and they needed to be regulated. Decades later, filmmakers felt that the MPAA shouldn’t have the right to censor films. This was an infringement on their first amend ment rights, they said. So, the rat ing system was established. Its pur pose was to categorize films, so film makers wouldn’t have to edit their material for general audiences. This rating system was sup posed to solve problems-it was supposed to make things better. I happen to believe that it only cre ated more problems. ••••••••••••••• • • • L ove WU íne Send Letters to: spewandcorona@yahoo.com • • • •••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• As our society progresses, we become increasingly more tolerant and more lenient in what we allow ourselves to watch, and what we allow our children to watch. A movie with an R-rating in the 1960s would seem | mild in comparison to what receives an R-rat ing today. || It is interest ing to pon der how or why we have arrived at this point in _J entertainment where ev erything is sensational ized and nothing is left to the imagination. It is my opinion that society has be come so desensitized to foul language, acts of vio lence and sexual displays, we are not easily shocked anymore. Therefore, the movie industry must walk the line and push the bound aries in order to consider itself as a success. However, if someone intervenes and tries to make guidelines that the industry must follow, they are persecuted and slandered. Setting rules is an infringement of the first amendment; yet, if a movie contains a sex scene too explicit for an R- rating, the material must be re moved before the movie can be re leased. Is not this called censor ship? Are we kidding ourselves by say ing we have freedom of speech? News Editor: Another problem that plagues the rating system is its in consistency. One movie will re ceive an R-rating because a man is murdered and his body is found in a pool of blood. Another movie will receive a PG-13-rating, even though the film is littered with bla tant and inappropriate language, graphic violence and explicit sexual content. A committee decides the ratings, but the guidelines for each category are broad and easily ma nipulated. It is not easy to trust a rating system that bases its ratings on bendable rules and politics. A well-known director can request a certain rating and the MPAA will attempt to make the movie fit in the desired mold. As a film watcher, I always check the content of a movie before buy ing my ticket. Whether the rating is PG, PG-13 or R, I want to guard my life and my mind from watching junk. Movies are not real life. They por tray a skewed vision of relation ships, violence, sex, drugs...the list could go on and on. The more we subject ourselves to this false real ity, we will become blind to the truth. When the rating system was started, it gave film makers a win dow of opportunity to push the lim its. Now, 30 years later, we must suffer the consequences of open ing that window wider. Associate Editors: Robert Schoenberg (x2576) Karl Katzke Shelbi Wescott Mandi Linstrom Feature Editor: Jeremy Stallwood Cartoonists: A & E Editor: Israel Gunderson DJCole Angie Daschel Sports Editor: Staff Photographers: John Thorbum Sarah Welch Toni McMichael Melissa Leone Advertising Manager: Kristina Brooks (x2578) Copy Editor: Staff: Joel P. Shempert Photo Editor: Timothy A. Bell Design Editor: Megan Oldenstadt Secretary: JoAnne Gale Advisor: Linda Vogt (x2310) Salena De La Cruz James Khosravi Chamaine Larson Maria Raymond Leah Chapin Susan Abe StefSmith Randy Parsons Sandra Lupo The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not necessarily reflect those of the student body, college administration, its faculty, or The Clackamas Print advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not neccesarily endorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The advertising rate is $4.75 per column inch. All signed letters to the editor should be 300 words or less and will be considered for publication if submitted by 1 pm the Friday prior to publica$ion. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication and is distributed every Wednesday except during Finals week. The Clackamas Print Copyright 1999.
