QUESTION: I am 13 years old and my parents don't let me see PG-13 movies. I think that's unfair! What do you think?

ANSWER: I don't know for sure what is going on in the hearts and minds of your parents, but I bet I can make a pretty good guess. Let me warn you, you probably won't like my answer. My prayer for you is that you are grown up enough in your walk with Jesus to at least read and think about what I write below.

Because parents have seen far more of the garbage of life than you, and because they know how that garbage can effect a person's relationship with Jesus, they want to spare you as much of it as they can. By setting this limit, they are loving you! They know that they cannot stop all the garbage, but their job is to try to stop as much as they can. Please don't tell me: "I can handle seeing those things and hearing that language", or "It doesn't effect me." Those statements tell me how immature and naive a person is. Of course the attitudes, scenes, and language effect you....they effect people of any age. Those scenes, that language, the attitudes are designed to make lasting impressions, to suck you into the movie, to make you want to see and hear just a little bit more garbage the next time. The more you see, the less it looks and sounds like garbage. That's the danger your folks want to keep you from.

I bet your parents have seen or heard enough about many (not all) PG-13 movies to know that most of them are garbage. These movies often have violence, language, and sex scenes that they don't want you exposed to. Once your eyes take in those pictures, and your ears take in those words, it is impossible to get them out of your brain. Just because you are "old enough" doesn't mean you should go. I'm old enough to legally go to R-rated movies, strip clubs, adult movie and book stores, but I know that such actions are not pleasing to God. I don't want that kind of garbage to enter my mind. Enough of the world's garbage comes into my life as it is. I don't want to actively seek more. ! Corinthias 10:23 says: "Many things are lawful--but not everything is helpful. Many things are lawful--but not everything builds a person up." (That's a 13-year-old paraphrase.) Do those movies "build you up" in your faith? Do they help make you into a better person for Jesus?

I think it is awesome that your parents have the courage to take such a stand. Too many parents are unaware, lazy, or simply don't care what their 13-year-olds watch. They watch worse themselves. They rent worse from the video stores and bring it into their homes. Once in a while, a movie comes along that is worth seeing. With your parents' permission and blessing, go to those movies and trust they are loving you well by setting godly limits for you.

What is truly unfair is 13-year-olds who have parents that abdicate (look it up) their responsibility to be moral guides for their children.....now, some 13-year-olds AND their parents won't like what I've said.