But that is not how life really works nor is it guaranteed by God in his word. Jesus often even showed quite the opposite when he talked about being hated and being chased from town to town on account of him. While I appreciate people trying to reach a dying world, the problem is that almost 100% of the people who see these films are already saved and therefore don't achieve their goal.
Another reason I don't support Holy-wood is because I am sick and tired of seeing Christians cloister themselves off like a bunch of monks so they don't have to touch the world they walk in. We have christian music, schools, movies, radio stations,TV stations, bookstores, gyms, coffee shops, dating sites, businesses, and even cruises! How can you relate to your neighbor if you have NOTHING IN COMMON WITH THEM!! Here is how your conversation will go with them if you cloister yourself off and only see Holy-wood movies
Jim: Hey Bob have you seen that new movie The Matrix?
Bob: No. I only see Christian movies. Did you see Fireproof?
Jim: No. Too religious (alternative: "Never heard of it")
(End of discussion)
This is not how Jesus intended for us to live. Instead he said exactly opposite when he told us to:
"Be in the world but not of the world".How can you be "in it" if you don't participate "in it"? Granted that doesn't mean I am free to go to strip clubs and the like, but it doesn't mean I sit at home and watch re-runs of "The Walton's" every night on DVD either. We have to find a happy medium here and for my Holy-wood is not where the line should be drawn. To me, it's like saying that you can only discuss your faith if you are inside a church building and since your neighbors never want to go to church with you then ....oh well...guess you never will have that chance to share your faith then. Of course we see that as an absurd path of logic but often that is exactly what we do.
St. Paul exhorts his readers to "Always have an answer for the hope you have inside you"
Translation: Find answers to questions as they arise as we live in this world
Let's take the conversation earlier and see how it "might" play out differently
Jim: Hey Bob have you seen that new movie The Matrix movies?
Bob: Yes I did. I saw all three.Pretty intense movie I must say. I wouldn't take my kids to it but I found it interesting
Jim: Yeah. me too. I liked the story line
Bob: Yeah I did too. I found it very biblical in nature
Jim: How?
Bob: Well the names for example. Trinity is the name of our Christian God. Father,Son and Holy Spirit. Then their is Neo, which is Greek for NEW so he is kind of like Jesus. He has the amazing powers no one else has. Smith is sort of like the Devil that he has to fight. In the end, when he is connected to the matrix and laid out in a cross formation and is fighting Smith its just like Jesus. The Bible says of Jesus, "He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that the power of sin could be destroyed once and for all". That is just like Neo turning into Smith at the end and then destroying Smith from the inside. Then their is Zion, which is also a biblical name for Jerusalem, and they cry out at the end "The war is over!". We as Christians believe too that the war with God is over. We are no longer enemies but his children now.
Jim: Wow! I missed all of that. Do you think the writer intended that?
Bob: I don't know. Maybe. It just seems all to coincidental to be an accident. I think he is trying to get across a deeper message of salvation possibly.
And the conversation goes on from here....
I am not saying that every movie we go to has a direct application of the Gospel, but we should try to look and find ways of using our culture to reach out to a dying world. Take for example St. Paul when he visited Athens. Did he only go to the synagogues? Apparently not. When he visited Mars Hill to talk to the philosophers of his day, he mentioned their temples and even gave them credit for being very religious. He also quoted one of their poets which means he either read their writings or attended their plays. He uses this as a spring-board to the Gospel. A way to connect to them. In other writings Paul talks about athletes running with no clothes on which could mean he attended these competitions personally (something most Christians today would avoid like the plague).
We, like Paul, might not agree with all of our world's "poets" but we must take want God gives us and use it wherever and whenever we can. Who knows maybe a rap-artist might even have some social commentary that we can use to talk up our faith. We must be more like Paul who even though he doesn't agree with all the greek poets writings, takes what he can and even gives credit to them. We miss these chances when all we have to say is bad things about our culture and nothing good. How do you think these Greek philosophers would feel if Paul approached them like this instead
Paul: Hey I have been here for a week but could only hack walking around your city for a day because its covered with these shameless nude statutes of these "so-called" gods which really aren't gods at all but are stupid idols you guys think are so great. I was also invited to go to a poetry reading but because I heard the poet was a heathen who has no religious background I told my friends that it would not be good for me to ingest that tripe. But hey! While I am here let me tell you about this man I follow named Jesus of Nazareth who is the Son of God and was crucified by you gentiles and was raised to life 3 days later.
How many do you think would have stayed around to hear? None.
Yet that is how we sound too.
