I chose the show, Friends, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with. Friends is about six friends that go through life together and just like the theme song, I’ll Be There For You,” Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Ross, Phoebe, and Joey are all there for one another through thick and thin, through all their ups and downs. God gives us friends to get each other through life, to share our good times and our bad times; that’s part of our human purpose. “A friend loves at all times.”- Proverbs 17:17. Like the last few episodes that I watched, we find out that Rachel is pregnant. Her friends are there for her 100%. Ross (the father of the baby) is stunned when he finds out, but wants to be there for her and the baby. He helps Rachel find an apartment and goes through much trouble to get it for her. Joey puts his own habits and way of life aside and tells Rachel that she can continue living with him with the baby and shows her his commitment by setting up a little baby corner in his apartment. Monica and Phoebe were there for Rachel since she took the pregnancy test, rooting for whatever Rachel wanted- positive or negative. This is only one of many instances of all their support for one another. However, with friendship comes evil and redemption. Friends also have bad times, where there is anger, jealousy, gossip, etc., but then there is most often times redemption; they make up, forgive one another, and forget about the past. Like in the empire, friends can also be more focused on their “self,” there can be sameness, a distortion of values, control, and it is always in the present. Like the Kingdom of God, friendship is chaotic and merciful.
Questions:
1)In what ways can we as friends promote the Kingdom of God to our friends?
2)Think about your own friendships. How might the empire play a part in them?
I agree that in the show Friends they display a lot of support and care for each other; however, I think that the show also has a lot of content of the nature/origins of sin. For example, all the premarital sex that is in the show is something that would not exist in the Kingdom of God. On the other hand, I agree about the ups and downs of friendship and its similarity to empire/kingdom. In order for us to promote the Kingdom of God to our friends, we need to be light and salt of the world, we need to shine and be living testimonies, in other words, we need discernment.
ReplyDeleteFriends are given by God to get through some of life's hardest times. He wants us to have friends. And of course, in everything God gives us, its not bad in itself but we must be careful not to let it get out of control and evil.
ReplyDeleteFriends be evil? I am not talking necessarily of junior high, when kids can be mean. We all know that. But I am talking about making friends are most important thing in our life. We would rather hang out with friends instead of spending time with God, going to church, instead of helping others. Friends could also be a wolf in sheep skin because friends are thought to be good, but what good are friends if they are terrible people? Friends should be a good influence.One mentor of mine said, a person should make you a better person and you should make them a better person. That being said, we should hold our friends accountable for their actions, be honest and most importantly, do it all out of love. Its in vain if its for our pleasure to condemn someone's actions. The kingdom of God calls us to be friends to people, even our enemies.
I love the show friends, and I believe it does show many good and bad qualities of friendship. The six do stick together and support each other, which is a great way to show friendship. Part of our human purpose as human beings is to make relationships and honor God through them. Even though friends shows many good relationships, I believe they don't always do a good job of honoring God through some of their relationships. There isn't any spiritual connection between the friends in the show, and I believe a friendship can be much stronger when God is also present in the relationship. Also, there is a lot of premarital sex between the friends, which can harm relationships. So this show does demonstrate good friendships, but not always friendships that honor God.
ReplyDeleteGood observations, everyone. I especially appreciate the angle that while friends are good and essential and the show demonstrates commitment even through difficult times, friends can also become an idol, taking the central place in our lives away from God.
ReplyDeleteI think there are some additional questions worth considering about the show:
-How are gender stereotypes reinforced? How are they challenged?
-How do the types of actors and actresses they cast influence the way viewers think they need to look? (I remember a frenzy to get Jennifer Anniston's haircut when the show first came out!)
-What do the flashbacks to Monica's "fat" years say about beauty?
-What do the friends do for work? How do they find purpose (or lack of) in their jobs? What does this say about vocation?
I'd say all of them, except probably Chandler, are very passionate about what they do from day to day at work. Rachel is into fashion and enjoys her job at Ralph Lauren, Monica loves food and cooking at her restaurant, Pheobe is passionate about being a masseuse, Ross is into his work as a paleontologist, and Joey loves to act even if he often goes without work for periods of time. The five of them enjoy telling one another about their careers and don't really look down on their jobs at all. Now, I know that they probably wouldn't consider these jobs their "vocation," mainly because they don't really have the Kingdom of God in mind when they are working, but they ARE using their gifts to help others. I wouldn't say that they are inhibiting the Kingdom of God in anyway. Do you think God uses non-believers to further His Kingdom as well? I really liked the quote in chapter 5 of EGW by Frederick Buechner that says, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's hunger meet." And with these 5 people, they felt led to go in these particular directions and are "feeding the world's hunger in one way or another."
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