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| Adelaide Clemens, "Valentine Wannop" |
My eyes fell upon one of my dear, departed wife's Blu-ray Discs and I was prompted to watch it. I had never seen the program before.
The five[5]-part BBC mini-series Parade's End is a love triangle between a man named Christopher, his wife Sylvia Satterthwaite, and a young nymph called Valentine Wannop.
Christopher Tietjens is very intelligent and always does what is right, but he is unhappy. He marries Sylvia knowing she is carrying a child that may not be his, but he treats it as his own. When she runs off with another man he eventually takes her back, but then goes off to war.
Sylvia is Catholic and promiscuous, but becomes infatuated with her husband and remains chaste for years waiting for him to love her.
Christopher knows Valentine, who is much younger than him, and they maintain a respectable relationship, but rumors spread about them. They are seen together in a horse-drawn carriage on a foggy morning and the worst is assumed. They do have feelings for each other, but his sense of doing what is right prevents things from going anywhere.
Christopher describes his duty to maintain traditional values as a "parade," as in what military troops do on a "parade ground." He does not like it, but does it because it is required.
"Mr. Tietjens" and "Miss Wannop" keep each other at arms length as the series progresses, but the sexual tension between them intensifies and people notice. One man observes she is, "twenty three and fresh as paint," which subliminally reinforces the notion of her arousal. [Also: 23, 2 + 3 = 5, 5.] The name "Valentine" is obviously erotic and "Wannop" eventually begins to cognitively morph into "wanna 'pop'" in my mind, meaning "have sex." It's subliminal.
The young woman takes a job in a school for girls and she begins to look like a schoolgirl herself, although it has already been established she is old enough to consent. She eventually finds a book about married sex the girls had been reading and she reads it herself. After a contentious discussion with the schoolmarms, it is agreed the book is a good thing and she puts it back. I agree with that conclusion.
It has been two years since I lost my bride, and I miss her. The romance of this story drew me in as I desire romance myself. And that's okay. God wired men and women to long for relationship. But the Darkness uses those good things to get us to sin.
But who really runs the BBC and PBS? Who controls what is produced and the content? We must be discerning.
Parade's End uses a kaleidoscope as a visual metaphor throughout the series. Kaleidoscopes are made of mirrors, and those mirrors make it difficult to tell what is actually real.
I enjoyed the romance and sexual undertones of the series but was troubled by what was actually being promoted. Sex between an older man and a young woman was the "shiny object," but that was not the problem. The Bible says nothing negative about that. Adultery was the issue.
The Law of Moses is very clear about adultery. Jesus is, too, and David Pawson did a very loving and thorough analysis about it at this link1.
Many, many, many people in our modern, western culture have married, divorced, and remarried again. I am not judging anyone about that, but I do look at what Jesus said and what he did about it...
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:2-11, NIV)
Men had set a trap for Jesus, and I will not fall into that same trap. It is not my job to judge what people do, but it is my job to tell people what is right and what is not right. Jesus did that here. He confirmed what she had done was sin, but he encouraged her to not do it anymore.
This is what the Bible does for us. By reading it, studying it, and taking it seriously we can learn what is sin and what is not sin, and with the help of the Holy Spirit we can stop sinning and live a holy life. Jesus will counsel each of us about our own situations, if we ask him.
Television programs like Parade's End are creations made by sinful men and they send us in the wrong direction. They are propaganda from the Darkness. They mislead us into sin, and sin leads to death.
Christopher did what was right, and the program portrayed him as an unhappy man. Righteousness was his duty. As his character changed he gave up his "parade" and became happy. The program discredits righteousness and encourages pursuing the flesh.
In reality, righteousness is joyful when we are forgiven and living in the Spirit. I know this from experience. Living in my monogamous relationship with my wife was absolutely wonderful and I would love to enjoy it again if the LORD graces me with the opportunity. My parade will not end; I will rejoice in it.
All glory to God.
UPDATE, December 3, 2023...
1 The David Pawson website has been changed and this link no longer goes to the analysis I heard. You can access similar resources through links in the November 20, 2023 update of my Lessons Learned post.