I've only watched the 14-minute film Fear God once, and probably should give it a second showing before reviewing it. But I'm short on time and have an itch to quickly blog about it. So here goes...
The film feels VERY Nooma-ish. It's as if they merely replaced Rob with Francis. Frankly, as a creative-type person, I found this disappointing. Don't get me wrong - the quality of the film is top notch (the "behind the scenes" section confirms that). If I had never seen a Nooma, I think I would be blown away with the creativity, the art, the vision, and the whole package. But having seen every Nooma produced, I felt like this should just be called "NOOMA Fear | 025 Francis Chan," not labelled a new series.
Also, I was surprised during the Behind the Scenes section that the executive producer said that the purpose of the series was to help people understand what the church is and how to BE the church. I like hearing that, but I don't see after one viewing how that was accomplished through this first film. This just seemed like another Nooma devotional designed to get me to think about God and fearing Him, not something to spur me on to be the church on mission for this feared God.
I like that the producers and visionaries to this project want to get "back to basics" (thus the series name). And starting with God is a logical place to begin. But I felt Francis' teaching didn't help me capture the awesomeness of God and explain why I should fear Him. In our Americanized church culture, we hear so much about the love and mercy of God that we don't truly fear him (Francis makes this point). But all I got from Francis was that he doesn't get that idea from reading the Scripture.
To explain what he means, Franics says he doesn't think fear should just mean "honor or respect" (I would agree), but rather fear means fear. However, rather than give me a great understanding of who this incredible God is and why I should fear him, he gives examples of people in the Scriptures who fear God. The film assumes you already know God and are familiar with him. But if we truly knew God, we would naturally fear him in a healthy way.
I think a reading of the C.S. Lewis' classic book "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" would give you a far better understanding of what fearing God looks like. Aslan, the Christ-figure of the books, is a powerful lion. You can sense the fear the four Pevensie children have of him. And yet they are drawn to him. Despite the fear, despite the knowledge that Aslan is powerful, despite the things they witness and sense about Aslan, they can't help but to be drawn to this lion, to look into his all-seeing eyes, to touch his mane, to hear his voice, and to be in his presence.
Perhaps that part of Francis' teaching ended up on the cutting room floor. Or maybe I was momentarily distracted and missed it. But to me, our response to God should be like Job at the end of his self-titled book - fearful of the power, wisdom, and majesty God possesses, and yet drawn to worship Him for who He is.
Again, the quality of Fear God is as good as a person could ever hope for. And I really like Francis, especially his books, as you can see on other parts of my blog. I truly believe Francis lives with a healthy fear of this all-powerful God we both worship, adore, and serve. I just feel that this film doesn't achieve what the video snippets in the "Behind the Scenes" section claim as a goal - to inspire people to be the church. Perhaps the next film, Follow Jesus, will get closer to that goal.
In summary: if you like the Nooma series, you'll like the BASIC series. This first film won't blow you away. It will work well to get discussion started among a small group. But if you want something fresh and new, this isn't it. BASIC Fear God pretty much sticks to the Nooma/Flannel formula, so don't expect the same unexpected twists, turns and thought-provoking quotes or images to rattle your thinking and faith.
Rating: 2.5 waterbeds out of 5
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