Shared by a friend: Even bad movies are great opportunities… if we stop having hissy fits. God has a way of redeeming even the worst of things for life-giving good. So let me suggest a strategy for engaging movies that inaccurately portray Scripture and Christian theology: conversation. The world doesn’t want to be preached to about how bad its movies are, but people do enjoy an engaging conversation. When The Da Vinci Code was released, the star of the film, Tom Hanks, purportedly had this to say about churches, ”If they put up a sign saying: This Wednesday we’re discussing the gospel, 12 people show up. But if a sign says: This Wednesday we’re discussing The Da Vinci Code, 800 people show up.” And that’s precisely what many wise churches did. Instead of howling heresy at the movie’s treatment of Jesus, they took the opportunity to reach out and include people in a conversation about the film which included sharing accurate Christian history and biblical theology. What if we took this same approach to Noah. Everyone knows the story, but most take for granted why the story was told and what it truly reveals about God, humanity, creation, and covenant. Imagine that… Movies don’t change lives; relationships do. Movies, good ones or bad ones, don’t bring droves of people to the faith, and neither do they lead them away. Relationships make the difference, either in a positive, life-giving way, or a negative, life-diminishing way. I came to faith in Christ, not through a movie, a book, a religious tract, or a sermon. I came to faith through my positive interactions with Christians. And yes, great sermons, good books, including the Bible, and other Christian media helped. But when it came down to it, seeing and sampling Christ in other people is what led me to faith.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:09:18 +0000
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