Whose Side Are We On?

Courtesy unboxedwriters.com

Do Christians unintentionally do the devil's dirty work in promoting movies that tell lies about the character of God?

Have you ever had one of those moments in which it seems as though a topic you've been pondering for some time suddenly becomes clear? In case you're wondering what to call that moment, it's called an epiphany, and I had one recently in regards to Christianity's relationship to movies. Let me share with you the thought processes that led up it.

Negative Publicity

Many Christians made a big deal about the recently shown movie "Noah" and its apparent disregard for the biblical story of the same name. Not surprisingly, it ended up being the top movie by a large margin in terms of money generated for that weekend.  That last bit of news got me thinking as to if all the negative talk about that movie actually increased ticket sales somewhat as people wanted to see the source of all this controversy for themselves. I have heard that in Hollywood there is no such thing as negative publicity, and while we may never know for certain if that was true in this case, it did give me food for thought. However God can also be misrepresented in a different way, so to help round out the picture lets look at a movie which Christians viewed quite differently.

Son of a Different God

The movie "Son of God" based off of "The Bible" miniseries shown on the History Channel, depicts the story of Jesus Christ, and its creators apparently planned to have many people watch this because in some of it trailers display a number to call and purchase group tickets. This movie generated no negative publicity that I am aware of, and although it brought in much less money in its opening weekend ($25.6 million vs. $43.7 million) than "Noah" is still doing quite well for itself. The problem with "Son of God" comes from its creators going to the opposite extreme than those who put "Noah" together. One reviewer put it this way.

"If the producers only wished to film a good story, that would have been okay. After all, the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ really make a wonderful narrative, made all the more wonderful because it is true. But the producers have declared their wish that the movie and the miniseries would reach many people with the Word of God. Films can do that, and—while I hope this one does—I fear that biblically illiterate viewers will see nothing in the movie to help them understand how Jesus’s death should benefit them. Though grossing well at the box office, it remains nothing more than a fairly incomplete depiction of Christ as a happy smiling wandering miracle worker that made some downtrodden people feel good about themselves."

Smear Campaign

By emphasizing such extreme views of God and His teachings, many "biblically based" films lead many to adopt distorted views about God. It becomes so difficult to reconcile the extremes that many people simply choose the extreme that suits them best. God either becomes so vindictive that one cannot reason with Him, or so passive that one need not worry to disobey what He tells us to do. The devil is happy for us to believe either one of these lies because both fall under his smear campaign against God, and is even happier when God's professed followers do their best to spread these lies to all their friends and family.

The Christian's Response

So how should Christians deal with such movies? We cannot simply bury our heads in the sand and pretend biblically incorrect movies don't exist (and they do generate some witnessing opportunities), but at the same time we shouldn't spend so much of our time and energy on these films that we don't have the time or energy to devote to worthier causes. So next time a professedly Christian film starts generating some buzz, be careful that the cause you promote is of heavenly, and not diabolical, origins.

What do you think of this viewpoint? Be sure to share your views in the comment section.