You would think my husband being a Pastor from Louisiana would love Tyler Perry movies but it’s not really the case, his Louisiana experience is more Duck Dynasty, give him a good gun and car chase movie and he’s in. Me, on the other hand, Latina from Central California relates completely and can’t wait until the next movie comes out.

When Temptation came out in theaters, we were in Hawaii on vacation so we saw it about a week after we came back. We went to a late showing, popcorn in hand, waiting to laugh, and cry, and hear about how Jesus works whether you’re all screwed up or on the right path. I had heard it was different, more dramatic. What a shock. What followed was a movie that wasn’t all that funny. I mean, it’s Tyler Perry, so there is humor, but not really. Instead it was thoughtful and thought provoking. The characters embedded themselves in my heart as I watched the scenes unfold, and I begin to see how temptation isn’t an all at once assault. Temptation coming out of nowhere would be too easy to say no too. Instead temptation begins by taking small steps to your undoing. It’s small things like changing who you are to conform to a pattern that doesn’t quite fit but is acceptable to your moral code. At first, it’s subtle and doesn’t seem to be too bad.

Sadly, the reviews I read weren’t that good, but you have to remember that they are from critics whose life experience doesn’t conform with the characters portrayed. The type of temptation that is portrayed is common place and possibly viewed as not much temptation at all. Yet, interestingly enough the movie was in the top 10 grossing movies at the box office for the week we attended. The review that most intrigued me was that of my husband who sat in the chair quietly the whole movie. I couldn’t tell if he liked it or not. We held hands like we always do. We ate popcorn like we always do. I was freezing like I always am. He puts his arm around me like he always does. Then as the credits began to roll he looked at me and said two words, “WOW! POW-ER-FUL”. We held hands as we left the theater and he said, “We have to show this movie to all of our married couples in church.” I answered, “I am already devising the bible study that is going with this movie, it was too deep not to delve in.” We talked about the intricacies of the movie all the way to the car.

The movie comes out on DVD in August. Doug and I will hold an evening bible study where we’ll show the movie and talk about temptation in all of its forms as portrayed in the movie. For those of you who read this blog and don’t belong to our church, I urge you to see it. For those of you who are Christians, I urge you to have some frank discussions. This is meat people!