Christians Adept at Choosing the Wrong Battles (part 2)
Friday you heard part 1 of this commentary regarding criticisms of the new movie, End of the Spear. The movie is based on the story of the 5 missionaries who were killed by the Auca Indians—the people to whom they hoped to bring the good news of Christ.
I received some e-mails from Christians who were distressed over the casting of Chad Allen as missionary Nate Saint. Their issue you see, is that Allen is Gay.
Okay, I understand the consternation, and even sympathize with it to a point. How Allen’s sexual orientation even became public information is curious but what if we were privy to other sins of actors? Would we have the same heartburn if we found out for instance, that the lead actor in our favorite movie beat his wife, or was the father of a “love child” or walked out on his wife and kids for a “newer model”?
I don’t remember any flap at all when Ian Charleson, wonderfully portrayed Christian Olympian and missionary Eric Liddel in the Oscar winning movie “Chariots of Fire.” Or maybe you didn’t know. Charleson, who was Gay, died at age 40 from HIV.
Christian—get a grip! We’re to be “in” the world, not “of” the world! See another perspective about using Gay actors is that landing a role as a solid follower of Jesus could be used by God to bring someone into saving faith.
In preparation for his role as Olympian Eric Liddel, Charleson read the Bible cover to cover. I’d like to believe that someone like Charleson could not read the entire Bible and study to portray the life of an admirable Christian like Eric Liddel and not be moved.
Maybe we need to get down off a couple of our inconsistent and hypocritical high horses, and rather than boycotting what could be a very good movie, hope and pray that Chad Allen is so moved by his portrayal of a Christian martyr that he would turn his life over to Christ. Imagine; evangelism through the tool of cinematography.
Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot fearing that if we are not railing against sin, we are condoning it. There is a time for speaking out—(don’t I know that) and there is a time to shut up and pray! Guess what time I think it is?
I received some e-mails from Christians who were distressed over the casting of Chad Allen as missionary Nate Saint. Their issue you see, is that Allen is Gay.
Okay, I understand the consternation, and even sympathize with it to a point. How Allen’s sexual orientation even became public information is curious but what if we were privy to other sins of actors? Would we have the same heartburn if we found out for instance, that the lead actor in our favorite movie beat his wife, or was the father of a “love child” or walked out on his wife and kids for a “newer model”?
I don’t remember any flap at all when Ian Charleson, wonderfully portrayed Christian Olympian and missionary Eric Liddel in the Oscar winning movie “Chariots of Fire.” Or maybe you didn’t know. Charleson, who was Gay, died at age 40 from HIV.
Christian—get a grip! We’re to be “in” the world, not “of” the world! See another perspective about using Gay actors is that landing a role as a solid follower of Jesus could be used by God to bring someone into saving faith.
In preparation for his role as Olympian Eric Liddel, Charleson read the Bible cover to cover. I’d like to believe that someone like Charleson could not read the entire Bible and study to portray the life of an admirable Christian like Eric Liddel and not be moved.
Maybe we need to get down off a couple of our inconsistent and hypocritical high horses, and rather than boycotting what could be a very good movie, hope and pray that Chad Allen is so moved by his portrayal of a Christian martyr that he would turn his life over to Christ. Imagine; evangelism through the tool of cinematography.
Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot fearing that if we are not railing against sin, we are condoning it. There is a time for speaking out—(don’t I know that) and there is a time to shut up and pray! Guess what time I think it is?
posted by PB at 4:11 PM
4 Comments:
GREAT posts on "End of the Spear" and Christians choosing the wrong battles, Bill!
''Imagine; evangelism through the tool of cinematography.''
Incredible.
I understand that there are beautiful scenes of creation found in the movie ''Brokedown Mountain''. Perhaps we should encourage folks to go in hopes that seeing these incredible views of moutains, streams and valleys they might see His ''invisible attributes..even His eternal power and Godhead..''
I mean come on...this should'nt be too far fetched as:
''Christian, God is really BIG, much bigger than tightly wound formulas like the “Steps to Peace with God” or a well orchestrated altar call to bring someone to Himself. I assure you after listening to hundreds of salvation testimonies over the years, I thank God routinely for His'' magnanimity in not saving us on the basis of our ability to articulate our journey from condemnation due to our sin to our eternal confidence of being with Him in heaven. Remember we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus not by perfect theology.''
Re: previous post--Are you for real? You would equate a movie explicitly celebrating the homosexual lifestyle with a movie about the ultimate Christian sacrifice? Please tell me you are kidding. If you're not, please don't share your "thoughts" with anyone else. Thanks.
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