You might think I'm just being thin-skinned, knowing full well that I am a Christian of the born-again variety, a man who tries to love his wife, train his children, labor at work, and cast his vote in accord with the word of God. I understand that there are Christians who do evil and that there are those who profess to be Christians who do evil in the name of God.
But.
Is this the exception or is this the rule? Dinesh D'Souza in his sterling work, "What's So Great About Christianity," details the rise of western civilization (is there really any other?) upon the foundation of Christianity, a history rapidly being amputated from our schools.
How, too, does such Hollywood's Christian villainy jive with the cover-to-cover word of God? The Bible reveals that those who are Christ-followers will be known by their love (John 13:34-35), that they are to love their neighbor as their very self (Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:9), and that their character will reveal love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, and more (Galatians 5:22-23). The Son of God declared that you will know a tree by it's fruit, therefore if these things are obvious by their absence in someone's life, their relationship with Jesus Christ is questionable at best (1 John 3:6-10).
Will a Christian be perfect and without sin? That is without a doubt the standard because God himself is the standard (Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter1:15-16), but at the same time, as we struggle in our skin (Romans 7:13-24), we will still sin (1 John 1:8).
If that is what we would expect to see of Joe "The Average" Christian, why do we not find such characters in television or in film? Ever. If you find a practicing Christian in film, it's a C-grade "religious" movie with a production quality of a junior high school play (yes, there are exceptions), and therefore, few see it. The entertainment's vision of a practicing Christian falls into one of these categories:
- Ignorant. The person has no education and, in the Hollywood mind, believes the Bible literally. That said, I believe the Bible literally where a plain reading demands a literal reading. But Hollywood has no understanding of context or of the different types of literature in Scripture. To their mind, anyone who believes it is an eyes-aflame ignoramous.
- Evil. Hollywood believes the Bible to be a dangerous book unless you cut parts out of it. Any who choose to live by it are therefore by default evil.
- Intolerant. Because a Christian has the audacity to declare something sin, they get portrayed as out-of-touch isolationists.
- Hypocritical. To the movie-making mind, not one Christian practices what he preaches. All decry the perversity of the culture only to return home and bed the baby sitter.
Yes, many Christ-followers do not know their Scripture and many are not on top of current events, but many more are.
Yes, many Christ-followers misapply the very word of God they profess to follow, but many more honor the name of Christ with their lives. The lives of many who profess to be Christ-followers and carry out evil in the name of Christ look nothing like God's word says a Christ-follower will look.
Yes, many Christians exhibit little tolerance, but many more live great care and compassion for their fellow man without condoning their sin.
Yes, many fall short of the holiness of God's character, but that is why Christ shed his blood in the first place. Man cannot attain to the holiness demanded by a holy God.
Here's my beef. In the past thirty years, how many noble Christian characters have made it into film or television, not pseudo-religion like "Touched by an Angel" but those who hold to and live out a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ? The idea of the Christian villain would not even be an issue if any semblance of balance was shown by those who produce our entertainment.
Despite the success of films like The Blind Side, Soul Surfer and the works of Sherwood Pictures, an arm of Sherwood Baptist Church (Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Courageous), we get fed film after film like the upcoming film, "The Ledge."
"Those quiet religious types are always hiding a bit of crazy, aren’t they? Anyway, at least in “The Ledge” they are, as it centers (on) a Bible thumper who gets off-the-crucifix crazy when he finds out his wife is taking advantage of the pleasures of the secular flesh."That crazy Bible thumper takes Leviticus into his own hands and demands that the adulterous atheist commit suicide before he murders his adulterous wife. Charming.
Not to be outdone in bashing believers, "Salvation Boulevard" will also pitch in to tar and feather the pious.
"Set in the world of mega-churches in which a former Deadhead-turned-born again-Christian finds himself on the run from fundamentalist members of his mega-church who will do anything to protect their larger-than-life pastor."Yeah, it breaks my heart, but yet again, it does not surprise me. A few millenia back, as the incarnate God walked the earth, he said, "You will be hated by all for my name's sake" (Mark 13:13). And It gets better. On the night before he would be nearly beaten to death and then hung upon a Roman cross to die, he told his disciples,
"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name,because they do not know him who sent me...But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled:'They hated me without a cause.' (John 15:18-21, 25)So Christian villains will continue to fill the cineplex. Perhaps our conduct as Bible-believing Christ-followers will help others to see that such films are truly works of fiction.
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