Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Christ and the Movies
All the new "Christian" movies that have come out recently make a pastor stop and think (Passion of the Christ [not new], One Night with the King, The Nativity Story, Facing the Giants, etc.). Why do Christians make these usually bad movies? Are we attempting to reach out to unbelievers? Are we attempting to tell a story that has already been masterfully and divinely told? The argument could be made that these movies are reaching people that Christians would not normally reach. Possibly, but unlikely; the people who are attending these movies are Christians already. Furthermore, I have found that these type of movies stunt conversations with non-Christians, not aid them. Even if we are reaching unbelievers, what are we reaching them with? Are these movies acurate portrayals of true Christianity? Some might be; most are not. If we simply want to make people think, there are better movies available (Lord of War, Thank You for Smoking, Dr. Strangelove, etc.). Are we declining into mere entertainment? Who knows, maybe it is okay to make movies like this as entertainment.
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2 comments:
I agree it seems like movies made in the name of Christianity have become entertainment. We had a man in our church say "One Night with the King" followed the scripture until we challenged him with the fact that Esther's real purpose was only lightly touched upon and that the movie seemed to us to be a love story. That is NOT what the book of Esther says--Hollywood took her liberties again and the true story was lost. It is too bad. J Hampsher
I agree - "One Night with the King" was particularly bad. Besides being totally off-base when it came to the historical Xerxes, it was unbiblical. You are totally correct when you say the movie missed the point of the book of Esther: it is not a love story, but a story of God's providential direction of history. I could rant and rave endlessly on this topic, so I better shut up.
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