It was January of 2004. I was sitting in the "old" auditorium at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, IL blessed with the opportunity to go to a pastor's advance screening of The Passion of the Christ. I was excited to see the highly touted Mel Gibson film, but was leery of all the "hype" around it - especially when I saw the words "The Greatest Evangelistic Opportunity in 2000 years" attached to flyers and an intro to the film produced by Outreach Marketing.A couple weeks later I tag-teamed with another pastor at our church who also saw the preview showing with me to do a message about the Passion of the Christ. I told people the movie was well-done, but very intense, yet could be a great opportunity to share about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Not once did I say that Mel's flick was "the greatest evangelistic opportunity in 2000 years..." and that people MUST see it.
Then Narnia came. I was super excited about the film because I just finished reading the entire Narnia series to my oldest daughter. But when the church was approached about promoting the film, I was leery once again. I don't feel like the church should be Hollywood's promotion machine to get into Christian's wallets.
Apparently I'm not the only who feels this way. One filmmaker is so disgusted with churches telling their congregations which movies it is their "duty" to see, that he responded to this issue... in film.
I showed this 4 minute satire to one guy and we laughed hysterically together. However, it appears not everyone is laughing.
What are your thoughts?
3 comments:
Oh my!! That was too much. I'm right with ya Erin on the role of the church. We are to be the salt and light, pointing people to Jesus. We are truth tells, not truth sellers. Any perceived agenda takes our simple message and commercializes it. Thanks for this link.
I thought that was a funny movie and I understood the point he was making. A question I've always had, though, is where the line is in Christian satire? When are we defaming God (and ourselves), and when are we making a good point? I don't know if making a point can be our endgoal. Should the end justify the means or not?
Thanks for posting about that satire. It was cute, but unsettling. Even though it may be interpreted as mocking the trend of marketing to Christians, I agree with KS that it seems as though, or at least feels as though it is partway mocking God.
Sometimes I wonder if the trend of marketing entertainment media to Christians started with the current President's first presidential campaign. When at the debates in Iowa, each Republican canidate was asked, "who was the greatest philosopher of all time?" and Mr. Bush responded, "Jesus." The results of his affirming his faith in God's wisdom showed that to win one must win the Christians.
Perhaps someone should create a short online film about the document Bush Jr. read that was created for Bush Sr. that explained by using specific "Christianese" terms in a campaign, one increased one's chances of being elected.
Post a Comment