God is Not in Your Movie

So earlier this weak I posted this article to my Facebook page. Though I have said things about Christian movies before I did not quite expect the response I got. For the most part it was divisive. There were many who liked it, but I could tell that I had many people who were offended or at least confused that I would agree with such writing. Thus, I feel I need to do some more explanation. 

So I could jump right in and talk about all the faults I see in many "Christian" movies. but I don't know how much good that would do. The article I linked above does basically that. I figured I would start with a story.

Interview with Bob the Tomato

While I was an undergrad I had the privilege of sitting in on an interview with non other than Veggie Tales creator Phil Vischer. This was part of the christian college's annual film festival. One thing from this interview has stuck with me ever since. 

Many of the people in attendance were in the visual communications program. At least some of these students had desires to be film makers. This was back in the early 2000s and Facing the Giants had been out for a few years. One of the students stood up and talked about how he liked the idea of the movie, but felt that the production value was low and the acting was sub-par. (Now before you rush to the comments section, I know that this was a movie with inexperienced actors.) The question was then posed. How does one create a Christian movie?

Great question! I was thinking the same thing. Yet Phil Vischer's response surprised me. He didn't say, pray hard and let God lead the script. He didn't say find all your Christian friends and hire them as actors. He didn't say make sure you have an obvious message. No he said one simple thing:

Make Good Movies.

That was it. That was his answer. Well not his complete answer. He said that you don't need to push an agenda in a movie. He said that if you are a Christian your Christian values will come out in your movie. 

Now we all know this to be true. Often we watch movies and can tell the particular political or religious bias of the person making the film. We don't need them to come out and tell us. It is evident in the characters, the language, even the content that gets included in the film.

So why tell you this story? Well if you are anything like me you grew up on Veggie Tales. You watched them in church and at home and every chance you got. You found them engaging and funny. And as you got older you began to realize that Phil Vischer was a fan of Monty Python just like you were. This means that to you Phil Vischer is a role model. He is someone that you would take advice from. I am not necessarily that person to you. I wanted you to hear from someone you respect the truth that so many of us who love movies know. What is that truth?

Christian movies are hurting evangelism. 

Look I love movies. I love everything about them. But I also am not afraid to call a bad movie a bad movie. Now don't think this means I hate every Christian movie ever made. I don't. In fact i have actually commended recent movies for doing a decent job. But note that I said decent.

See the problem with the modern influx of "Christian" movies is they throw good film making out the window. At first it included production value and the caliber of actor. But that has changed. Now we allow horrible stereotypes, bad writing, and boring static characters with little to no development. We allow this to occur simply because these movies fall under the title "faith-based." These movies are anything but subtle. And the truth is that a scalpel does better work than a chain saw.

Stories with Intent

When I think about movies and television and books I think about Jesus. I think about how he told stories. I think about why he told stories. Jesus understood that a story is one of the best ways to get past all the preconceptions and barriers that people put up against our message of the gospel. 

When a lawyer (someone who likes to find loopholes) asks Jesus who his neighbor is Jesus tells a story. He doesn't tell him to his face that he needs to be kind to Samaritans (read Democrats if you are Republican or vise versa). Jesus doesn't tell him a story and in that story say a thousand times "you need to show love to the person you hate the most." Jesus doesn't say "if you don't show love to that person you are going to hell." No Jesus tells a story about a Samaritan who has compassion on another human being. Why? Because people deserve grace. 

See if Jesus had done the above. If he had been in the lawyers face, if he had beat him over the head with the message, the lawyer would have just blown him off. The story would not have gotten to his heart. But what Jesus' story did was speak to his heart. In fact it effected the lawyer so much that he couldn't even say the word Samaritan. 

This is what our Christian movies should do. They should challenge us. Yes I said us. These should not just be movies that we take our atheist friends to so that we can back them into a corner. We need to leave professional level apologetic to the people that actually do that. Peter says we are to have an answer to questions not shout answers when people don't ask. 

In fact if we read that verse in context it tells us that those questions will come because we have hope. What hope? Hope in the Resurrection. And it also tells us that we should be of good conscience so that when people say bad things about us they will look like fools. I hate to tell you, but all the things that critics say against these movies are true. They are certainly not made with "gentleness and reverence." 

What does saved look like?

Now I know some of you might have gotten to this point and had several reservations. You may be saying things like "Christian's aren't portrayed in a good light by atheists in movies and television." You would be right. You might say "But if we don't directly point people to God then how will they know the gospel?" Well first I would ask if it is you that converts someone or the Holy Spirit. Then I would ask if you are friends with someone because you are friends or because they are a project. If it is the latter you need to take a serious reality check. Let me help you.

So the year before I graduated high school a movie called Saved! came out. It starred Mandy Moore. In the opening sequence we find out that Mandy's character thinks that being a good Christian means having a large bible, going to Christian, concerts, wearing Christian T-shirts, and praying at school (so the heathens would see them. Not really how Jesus thought it should be.)

I HATED this movie when it came out. Why? because I knew that is not what being Christian was. This was just typical Hollywood stereotyping. It was just more proof that atheists were corrupting our society with their subtle messages in movies. I knew that the creator couldn't be christian. This was just another way that the Satan was trying to destroy good Christian America. Problem was I had never even watched the movie. 

I pre-judged the movie without even giving it a fair chance. (Something we claim critics do with Christian movies.) Well at the time I had a girlfriend who was not afraid of these things and she told me that I would like the movie. So I watched it. Guess what? I love that movie. Maybe not for the reasons you think. 

See Mandy Moore's character learns that being a Christian involves compassion. She learns that just because someone ends up getting pregnant doesn't mean that God doesn't care for them. She learns that the world doesn't always function in black and white. (Don't think I'm right. Abraham had a mistress. Noah was a drunk. David was an adulterer and a murder. Paul was no better than Isis.) The truth of Saved! is that Christians are fallen just like the rest of the world. The difference is that Christians know we need Jesus. To this day I don't know if the writer / director was Christian, but that doesn't really matter.

God is not in your movie.

So now we get to the part where I offend people. (As if I haven't done that already.) I am going to say something that many of you will probably hate. If a movie stereotypes people simply because they are not Christian, then that movie is not of God. Jesus never -- I will say that again -- Jesus NEVER condemned people who did not claim to follow God. The truth is the worst condemnation was for the religious people. People who knew the word of God. People who had heard their whole lives to care for widows and orphans. People who had been shown grace and did not give that to others.

When we make movies that portray atheists and the like as nothing but evil we defame the name of God. God is not in those movies. The purpose of God has always been to make His name great. From Genesis to Revelation we read that in the Bible. But what I think we overlook is that the way He made His name great was to bless people. That is the command to Abram. 

I want you to notice something. It is God who curses people not Abram. See I think we feel that it is our Job to defend God. As if He isn't powerful enough to do it Himself. Reality check. God doesn't need you. If you don't text 10 people that God is not dead, God will still get His name out. We are called to live a life that blesses people. We are called to care for widows and orphans, over and over and over again. 

Life in the Kingdom

You want to know why America hates Christians? It is because of movies like God is Not Dead. We think that we are being insightful, but all we are doing is widening the divide and forcing them to shut their eyes. These movies are like the bullhorn guy on the corner. All he does is make Christians look hateful, misinformed, and bigoted. You want to know what really gets people to listen to you? They listen when they know you care for them. This is why Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, because in the Kingdom of God all are cared for.

Look I really want good Christian movies. I want movies that I can recommend to someone and know they will hear the gospel. The problem with that is it just isn't in these movies. There may be truth about grace and compassion and care, but they will never hear them because we drown that out with close minded ideas of the people who we are trying to reach. 

Greater America thinks that Christians are people who picket funerals of veterans with sings that say God Hates Fags. They think that Christians send homosexuals to transformation camps where they are hit on and even tortured. I am not saying that all Christians do this or even that it is Christian, but this is the image that America has of Christians. So when we make movies that do not do justice to the complexity of atheists all it does is add to the negative noise. We become the bullhorn guy and we don't want to be that guy.

May you come to realize that a message you agree with does not make a good movie. May you understand that all humans are flawed. May you see that care for the needy is a declaration of the goodness of God. And may you put down the bullhorn and open your arms in love.

Amen!