I read a movie review yesterday of Noah, and to my absolute amazement, the reviewer said the problem with the movie was it was too fundamentalist. I saw it Saturday night, and I can tell you without question it is far from a fundamentalist perspective. The problem with it is it is bad, boring and quite frankly stupid.
Other than that, if you like a movie that takes the source material and starts over, basically, leaving the core question of belief in a creator (God) and a belief in the power of man alone as the basis of a Lord of the Rings type movie, so be it. Noah is for you.
We never finished it, Mary and I.
It got me to think about Hollywood and God. Why is it so hard to make a good "Christian" movie. I've always thought that the story of the Apostle Paul would be a great movie. It has all the right moves, the transformation of a killer of persons for their beliefs into one of the leading persons of those same beliefs. Why wouldn't that be a winner?
The easy answer is because it is a Christian movie it won't be made. But that's not the case in Hollywood today. Next in the pipeline is Exodus, and how they treat the source material will be interesting. They are making a new Left Behind movie, and my first look at footage from the movie that will star Nicholas Cage was far less than good. I have read they are making a continuation of the Bible series that was on television last year, and the Son of God movie that came from it. That would focus on the early church, and Paul would have to be a major player there. But I didn't like the Bible series and I didn't care much for the Son of God.
It's interesting that you can get God from the strangest sources. Noted atheist Joss Whedon wrote the Captain America line in the Avengers that I treasure. Cap is going after Thor who has stolen his brother Loki from the Quinjet they had Loki on. The Black Widow says something to the affect that Cap should sit this one out because those two were "demo-gods."
Cap says, "There's only one God and I don't think he dresses like that."
God in the strangest places.
Which leaves me with God's Not Dead, which I haven't seen yet, and the movie I really wanted to talk about.
I came reluctantly to Heaven is Real. I am always strangely hesitant to watch or read these books about the afterlife. I'm not at all certain why, but that's just the way it is.
But this movie's premise, from a purported true story, is that a child of four almost dies but he goes to heaven when he is near death and he sees Jesus, and his grandfather or great-grandfather. He tells his dad, a pastor, details about the pastor's father who apparently died before he boy could meet him.
The movie, in my mind, is not that good and I don't particularly like the performance of the youngster, but I do love the point under the premise. The movie isn't about the boy, I think. No, it's about the father, who struggles with it all.
It asks the question, "What happens if what I say I believe in is true?"
It is a fascinating question. What if this resurrection business happens to be real? What if healing really happens? What if the Holy Spirit is really living in those who believe?
What if ....
How we answer those questions might just change the way we live. If we truly, truly see those things as real events, real possibilities, wouldn't we live differently that if we believe them only with our head as some sort of intellectual event?
I believe, I hope, that we would.
The converse is important, as well. The way we live says what we believe, too. A sinner who can't stop a particular sin is to me showing real wear and tear on the believe that God is real and Jesus died for those sins. Unless one things long and hard about the concept of grace. If God's grace is real, then as we struggle with that particular sin, with that particular lifestyle (whatever it might be), then it covers the failure we face.
Paul asked for a thorn in the flesh to be removed three times and it wasn't. He learned to live with it. I suspect he really, really believed these things to be true.
The point of the movie made the movie for me. Most of these things don't go beyond God is real, and you better believe it type of evangelism.
I love one when it makes you ask the question, "What if this was as we are presenting it?"
Well, what if?
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