Behind the Scenes of 50 Shades of Grey – Way Behind

I wasn’t at the original development meeting for the novel and film 50 Shades of Grey but I believe this is a fair representation of the discussion that likely took place:

Satan had been stewing all day, frustrated at his inability to rob God of joy, so he called a board meeting of his high-ranking officers.

“Ideas. All of you. I require ideas. What have you devised for humans that will bring me pleasure and rob the Almighty of His?”

After exchanging nervous glances, those gathered tossed out ideas:

“A new war in the Mid-East.”

Satan frowned. “Sure, but not enough. I’m bored already. Give me more.”

The others piped up: “Inspire terrorists to shoot down passenger planes.”

“Mildly interesting take on an old thought. Next.”

They babbled over one another in an attempt to please. “Kidnap. Murder. Betrayal. False teachers. Ebola. Sex-trafficking.”

“Blah-Blah-Blah. It’s like I’m reading a newspaper in ancient Rome. Can’t even one of you delight me with something new?”

That’s when the she-demon sitting beside him leaned over and whispered in Satan’s ear.

Satan smiled. “Yes. Yes. That’s perfect. Finally, I am impressed. Why don’t you share it with the room?”

She narrowed her eyes and spoke in smoky tones. “Quite simply, I have set a plan in motion that will stab at the heart of the Almighty. A simple twisting of what was intended to be good for humans into something they’ll now use against themselves for evil.”

The other demons were enrapt as she paused to inhale and then continued. “Now that we have millions of modern females rebelling at any notion of submitting to the Almighty or anyone else, I’ve created a plot to have them clamoring to submit, longing for it, declaring that submission is freedom.”

The others leaned back shaking their heads as they reacted:

“What?”

“No, way?”

“Women submitting? Not these women.”

“We’ve done our work too well for that. They rebel at a hint of the word submit. No one even remembers that the scriptures speak of mutual submission. Women have succeeded in making everyone terrified of the very word!”

The she-demon placed her palms on the conference table. “That’s the beautiful part, isn’t it? The sheer power we have over their puny minds will be clearly demonstrated when these empowered females who refuse to even hear the word submission now plead to be overpowered, restrained, and abused all in the name of modern romance.”

Everyone agreed that would be perfect but how exactly did she plan to accomplish this feat?

She crossed her arms. “We’re just going to tell them a story. A superficial, slick, façade of a story that will draw them into a world where there is no black and white, where everything is grey. In that world, they’ll be lulled into a false sense of safety, a quagmire of lust, and a game of power they believe they can play and not lose. And if the novel version doesn’t capture them, the feature film surely will.”

“Oooo. Nice touch. That just may work.”

Satan pounded the table. “Work! Of course it will work! It’s brilliant. And won’t that just churn His butter. We incite them to rebel against submitting to Him, and then entice them to develop an insatiable appetite for my version – my per-version – of submission. I love it when they line up to participate in their own destruction.”

One of the junior demons scribbled some notes. “What’s the timeline for the film?”

She sneered. “I’ve planned its release for Valentine’s Day 2015.”

The demon looked up from his notes, “A date movie where modern women flock to view their own enslavement? That is brilliant.”

“Date movie?” Satan guffawed. “More like the perfect date rape movie.”

The demons rejoiced at his joke, happy to see him in a better mood.

Satan lit up a Cuban cigar and put his feet up on the table. “As always, since you all seem to have lost your creative powers in the fall, the best evil is a twisting of His creative plans. Women who refuse to submit to their Creator now fighting for the right to submit to their own destruction. Bee-u-tee-full.”

“Interesting,” said the junior demon, his pen hovering over his notes.

“What?” said the demon beside him.

“In the Book, His Book, there is a passage that illustrates what’s about to occur, ‘The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.’ Proverbs 14:1 (NIV)”

The listening demon shushed the junior, “Don’t let him hear you quoting that!”

“Do you two have something to share with me?” Satan growled.

They shook their heads.

“Fine, then. Get on with it. Let’s watch the women who think they’ve thrown off their chains weigh themselves down with bonds from which they’ll never be free. They’ll have no hope.”

The junior demon muttered, “Well, unless they see through the deception and turn to . . .”

The demon beside him clamped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t speak that name in here, you fool! The sheer power of it will fell most of those congregated at this table.”

The junior demon shrugged. “I’m just saying. He can end their deception in a heartbeat. There’s no shade of grey about His effect on those chains if they remember who they are in Him.”

 

*Author’s note: I’m not always certain about some things but I am certain this movie is one that will cause pain and destruction in the lives of both men and women and it will be up to other women to sound the alarm. The women who buy into this book and then the film as a way to find sexual freedom are walking into a trap from which the only escape is the truth of Jesus Christ.

For those of you who argue that it’s harmless fantasy, let me just remind you how bad we are at mimicking what we see demonstrated. Just one look at 42 attempts to copy crafts and baking ideas from do-it-yourself pages will help you envision the epic fails that will occur as people attempt to recreate what they see in this movie. These failures won’t make for funny Internet posts but, instead, will result in psychological damage and relationship nightmares.

One thing the church can do to prepare is get over its discomfort with discussions of a sexual nature. We need to be prepared to counsel people who fall prey to this shades of grey deception with the love and the freedom of Jesus Christ. To do this, we need to remember that sex was God’s idea, a gift for married couples to enjoy, and an area of life that can be redeemed when it’s become distorted. The power of Christ to reclaim us and to heal and restore us is unlimited but it is best to avoid willingly walking into harm in the first place, is it not?

WOMEN, speak up to your daughters, your neighbors, your sisters, your aunts and mothers who think this movie is harmless entertainment. Refuse to join the mass delusion. Ask them, when have chains ever been the path to freedom?

If you’ve been offended by mention of this movie on this site, I have to tell you, I worried about offending you. I don’t want to cause distress to the tenderhearted or disturb people needlessly but there is a need to cause a disturbance over this movie. Its power to harm men and women is clear. It is out of love for those who might be harmed and the hope of preventing their harm that I am willing to cause some of you mild offense.

This post originally appeared in July but the movie is due to release on Valentine’s Day so we need to spread the word NOW. Share this post, email it to friends, take a stand. You just may save a woman, a man, a couple from a soul-damaging mistake.

Do you know my prayer for all my readers? I talk about it here in the Know My Heart section of the website.