And......action!

Time to be Johnny Kill-Joy again.

The cover story in the Life section of USA Today deals with the burgeoning Christian film-making industry, Churches making mainstream films to attract souls. There are lots of groups putting out Christian movies and competing for the same backing, expertise and funding. While certainly not up to par with Hollywood in terms of technology and acting, and even more so not up to par in terms of money made, this new generation of Christian filmmakers are putting out decent films with acting that is not embarrassing. Many people see this as a way to reach the lost by giving them a message in a medium they understand that hopefully will spark conversations and thereby Gospel witnessing.

Here is one of my big concerns about the Christian movie industry. In these movies, by and large, everything works out in the end or as the article points out:

All Sherwood films draw on challenges in contemporary life: An unethical used-car salesman faces business reversals in 2003's Flywheel. A hapless high school coach, whose wife is infertile, fears he'll be fired in 2005's Facing the Giants. A firefighter's marriage is collapsing in Fireproof.

And every ending is on an up note: Once characters start to peacefully, prayerfully trust God in adversity as well as success, all their prayers are answered. They win the big game, pay off the bank, have the long-wanted baby, reconcile with loved ones.

That makes for good cinema but that is not how real life works. Sometimes in real life even when you are a faithful Christian, praying and studying your Bible and going to church, you still don’t have a baby. Your house is foreclosed on. You lose the big game. The people you are trying to reach with the Gospel kill you. Your neighbors murder your family because you are a believer. Our message cannot be: trust God and everything will work out. Our message is: trust God even when things don’t work out. After we pass from this life into life eternal, all will be perfect in communion with Christ. Until that happens, in this life we will have trouble and being faithful to God doesn’t mean He is going to fix everything for us. I think it is dangerous to try to get people “on board with Jesus” as a solution to the problems in their lives because when things don’t work out the way they do in the movies, will they still find Christ appealing?

I also worry about Christian film making as being yet another entry into the culture wars. The article reinforces this with comments like this one from Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church:

"Every movie has an agenda," says Catt, citing James Cameron's Avatar, widely noted for its vague eco-spirituality theme. "Clearly, (he) had a spiritual agenda there, and he's out to reach his audience. So are we. We have lost this culture, and we have to fight back. Our way is to show the living Gospel in a secular environment. People will see it and see themselves."

The Gospel is not competing with Avatar for the culture. The Gospel is not seeking to win the culture period. The Gospel calls people to repentance regardless of the culture that they live in. Movies like Fireproof and Facing the Giants are nice little movies, they tug at the heart strings and are wholesome entertainment. Don’t get me wrong. I just wonder if movies that combat the prevailing culture are our highest and best use of our time and resources. Rather than making films, maybe we could just live Gospel worthy lives that witness to the world around us. I worry that we are getting sucked into a war fought on the world’s terms and that is a war we are bound to lose.

If you are a Christian and filmmaking is your vocation, that is one thing but if you are thinking that filmmaking is the way to engage in the culture war and win back the culture for Christ, you are mistaken. If Christ wanted the culture, be sure He would have it without our help and He probably wouldn’t use movies to win it. The Gospel sees people saved in spite of the culture, not because of it.