CINDERELLA ALWAYS FINDS HER FELLA III

The Christian movie follows a template, a simple pattern. From a writing standpoint, the writer's aim is to build toward an evangelistic encounter which will result in a conversion and a dramatically changed life. To get there, he follows the formula for a Christian movie:

1. The story line must be dramatic, emotional.
2. The story line, to be emotional, must contain tear-jerking scenes and a dramatic event, such as a sudden death, a life-threatening diagnosis, a disfiguring accident, a pending divorce, etc.
3. This dramatic event leads to an evangelistic encounter.
4. The evangelistic encounter leads to a conversion
5. Dramatic, wonderful results follow the conversion.
6. The person converted and those around him lead a life of happily ever after

PROBLEMS WITH THE PATTERN: CONVERSION

In a movie, how does the screen convey a conversion to Christ? Do the lights burn brighter? Does the convert burst into song? Is there a hop, skip, and a jump in his step? Does the sun come out from the clouds? Forgive my hyperbole, but, bear with me, I'm trying to make a point. How DO you portray a conversion to Christ in a Christian film or any movie?

This is an inherent problem for a Christian movie because a conversion to Christ is passive, not active, that is, trusting Christ alone through faith alone is as one receiving a gift (John 1:12). A conversion takes place on the inside when a person's faith meets the right object, Jesus Christ. The problem is that a movie, to be interesting, must have action, drama, emotion, something the audience can see and feel. But a conversion, by its very nature is a passive placing of one's trust in Christ.

Therefore, to remedy this problem, the Christian movie has to jazz up the conversion by showing dramatic, emotional, energetic sometimes tear-jerking results. This complicates things because a conversion to Christ may not produce any results from which you'd make a movie. Has the conversion of a child ever been made into a film? Why not? The results aren't dramatic. Has someone made a Christian movie about a dedicated child evangelism worker? They are some of the most modest, humble, dedicated believers I've ever met, yet who's made a movie about them?

The movie therefore creates a false impression--all conversions, to be "real," must be like Paul's on the road to Damascus. Whereas the circumstances and results of his conversion were dramatic, thousands aren't, yet all who trust Christ apart from a blinding light are just as saved as Paul.

PROBLEMS WITH THE PATTERN: 100%

The formula demands conversion. The hero must convert, thus giving the idea that if you talk to someone about Christ and he doesn't trust Him, you must not be doing it right, certainly not like the fellow in the movie did it; he does it right. The witnessing Christian in the movies never stumbles over his words, is articulate, always knows the right thing to say, and has an answer for every problem.

But the reality is that the return on our evangelistic encounters aren't100%; the truth is that we'll sometimes lose friends and people in our own churches will pick up rocks, metaphorically speaking, to stone us. Paul said that he bore the scars the grace message may bring.

PROBLEMS WITH THE PATTERN: TEARS

The template demands that the main character must be going through a crisis which will be the trigger to the conversion. This is a plot device to keep the audience interested. But the truth is that people trust Christ without being disfigured, getting a bad diagnosis, losing a loved one, or standing on the brink of divorce. This plot device re-enforces the time-worn argument against Christianity that it's a crutch for weak, emotional people. The reality is that some, after getting a bad diagnosis, don't want to hear anything about Christ and immediately change the subject. Let's not be naive.Some on the brink of divorce may be angry and don't want to hear anything from us.

The truth is that millions have trusted Christ by reading John 3 (George Whitefield), in the middle of a sermon, while talking to a friend, and one person I know trusted Christ while studying for a sermon! There was no dramatic, tearful, emotional, crisis event that led them to place their faith in Christ, their conversion was crisis-free. We could point to the woman at the well in John 4 and the Ethiopian official riding in his chariot, reading Isaiah 53, and then talking to someone he'd never met (Acts 8).

One youth pastor pointed out a problem with a-crisis-is-needed-portrayal-before-conversion-when his youth group started to pray for bad things to happen to their friends so they would "come to Christ."

In this same category of trials and tears, the writer is compelled to make the dialogue periodically dramatic. In "Fireproof," one character tells another, "You gotta beg God to teach you to be a good husband." The story line is that God wants the protagonist to become a good husband, that it's His will. But then the wiser character tells the hero, "You gotta beg God to teach you . . ."? That's dramatic.

Wait. What? Such dialogue is dramatic, but misleading and impugns the character of God. It implies, "It's God's will all right, but unless you beg Him, it's not "gonna" happen. This type of dialogue destroys grace--"If you want it, beg."

PROBLEMS WITH THE PATTERN: THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER

In the movie, "Fireproof," a Christian talking to another person about his own life conveyed the impression of a "happy-ever-after-life" by repeating "It [the problem, the difficulty] was before I gave my life to the Lord." In the conversation, he repeated the sentence three times when discussing certain difficulties he'd faced in the past. This repetition implied to the audience, "After I gave my life to the Lord," "After I gave my life to the Lord," "After I gave my life to God," I've had no more struggles.

This scripting implies that once a person "Gives their life to the Lord," they live on a Beautyrest mattress. Yet, "after he gave his life to the Lord," David lied, murdered, and committed adultery, and before him, Saul, "after he gave his life to the Lord," committed suicide. Before Jonah "gave his life to the Lord," he hated the Assyrians and "after he gave his life to the Lord," he still hated them.

In the New Testament, after Demas "gave his life to the Lord," he fell in love with the world and abandoned Paul. Hymenaeus and Philetus, after "giving their lives to the Lord," strayed from the truth. Paul tells Timothy of those believers who did not keep the faith, but rejected it. Since all epistles are addressed to believers, we learn from Peter that it's possible for a Christian to suffer as a "murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler."

By following the pattern, the Christian movie, to say it euphemistically, gives an unrealistic and unlivable picture of life.

C. S. Lewis called this unrealistic pattern, "egoistic castle-building," and by that he meant taking a person and placing him into the most admirable character in such a way that he desires the reality that the character enjoys. He so wants it to be true that he overlooks reality.

In egoistic castle building, the Christian college freshman defeats his atheist professor, God saves the hero's marriage, and televangelist is so powerful, he's framed and hunted down by the government. The movie-goer sees himself in the hero of those movies. This is nothing more than wishful thinking; he's being manipulated by the script he desperately wants to be true in his own life. He's built his "egoistic castle," as Lewis would say. Get real.

To be continued.
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