God on film?
It is always intriguing to read what the unbelieving world thinks of Christians, particularly when it comes to our interactions with the media. In an article in the August 16 issue of Time (a periodical I don’t read all that often), there is a story about how Christian ministers are using movies to inspire their sermons and make the gospel message “relevant” to their congregations. While the story cites a smattering of pop evangelical ministers who seem to derive a smattering of pop evangelical messages (e.g., “Peter Parker [the hero of the Spider-Man movies] gives us all a chance to be heroic”) from a smattering of popular movies (including such raunchy fare as Catwoman and Anchorman), it inadvertently (and unintentionally, I might add) makes some very insightful points.
One minister/critic sets forth the rationale some modern pop evangelical ministers have for using film as a medium for communicating their message: “[The culture has] moved from wanting to understand truth rationally to understanding truth as it’s embedded in story.” The conclusion here is excellent, but the road to it is a little muddled, in my opinion. Faithful Christians have long understood the gospel as a part of the story—the Lord gave us a book of stories, not a systematic theology text. In other words, this is not some new discovery postmodernism has given to us. J.R.R. Tolkien, famous for authoring the Lord of the Rings trilogy, felt very strongly that not only was the Gospel a story, but all stories that resonate with us because of their “truth” are true because they contain at least a sliver of the Gospel in them. Thus, when we see Peter Parker’s desire to give up the exciting life of Spider-Man for the sake of those he loves, we see a hint of the self-sacrificial love of the Lord Jesus. For more on the idea of the Gospel as story, see this issue of Credenda/Agenda.
The problem, however, with the Time piece, or at least with the theology and worldview represented therein, is that the pop ministers are not trying to find the Gospel in the films, but instead are trying to find good messages that they see as “relevant” to their congregants (e.g., “Discovering my true identity” from Catwoman). They even cite Paul’s argument before the Areopagus as an example of this kind of “cultural relevance” argument. This is a dangerous first step down a very slick slope; Paul was calling those unbelievers to faith in the God Jehovah, not some touchy-feely sense of togetherness and wellness that one gets from many of the pop evangelicals quoted. The sermons of Paul were exegetical almost across the board—and that accusation could never be leveled at a pastor preaching a sermon series on “God on Film.”
God has revealed much to the world by his common grace—so much so, in fact, that all men are without excuse when they don’t turn to him (Romans 1). Lets all pray fervently that the pastors and shepherds of our land don’t turn away from the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” when presenting the Gospel to their congregations.
One minister/critic sets forth the rationale some modern pop evangelical ministers have for using film as a medium for communicating their message: “[The culture has] moved from wanting to understand truth rationally to understanding truth as it’s embedded in story.” The conclusion here is excellent, but the road to it is a little muddled, in my opinion. Faithful Christians have long understood the gospel as a part of the story—the Lord gave us a book of stories, not a systematic theology text. In other words, this is not some new discovery postmodernism has given to us. J.R.R. Tolkien, famous for authoring the Lord of the Rings trilogy, felt very strongly that not only was the Gospel a story, but all stories that resonate with us because of their “truth” are true because they contain at least a sliver of the Gospel in them. Thus, when we see Peter Parker’s desire to give up the exciting life of Spider-Man for the sake of those he loves, we see a hint of the self-sacrificial love of the Lord Jesus. For more on the idea of the Gospel as story, see this issue of Credenda/Agenda.
The problem, however, with the Time piece, or at least with the theology and worldview represented therein, is that the pop ministers are not trying to find the Gospel in the films, but instead are trying to find good messages that they see as “relevant” to their congregants (e.g., “Discovering my true identity” from Catwoman). They even cite Paul’s argument before the Areopagus as an example of this kind of “cultural relevance” argument. This is a dangerous first step down a very slick slope; Paul was calling those unbelievers to faith in the God Jehovah, not some touchy-feely sense of togetherness and wellness that one gets from many of the pop evangelicals quoted. The sermons of Paul were exegetical almost across the board—and that accusation could never be leveled at a pastor preaching a sermon series on “God on Film.”
God has revealed much to the world by his common grace—so much so, in fact, that all men are without excuse when they don’t turn to him (Romans 1). Lets all pray fervently that the pastors and shepherds of our land don’t turn away from the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” when presenting the Gospel to their congregations.
posted by Baumbach at 8:19 PM
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