Faith on Film

There has been a lot of media attention on some recent faith-based films recently. “Noah”, “Son of God”, “Heaven is for Real” and “God is Not Dead” have all had a measure of success at the box office. Some like “Heaven is for Real” are surprisingly big hits considering their low budgets and B-list cast. I confess that I haven’t seen any of the four although I have an interest in each.

                If economics are any indication of our nation’s faith pulse than there is a surprising percentage of our population that is not only interested in but hungry for movies that point to a greater reality. We all know that the Science Fiction genre has sold billions of movie tickets over the years. Why are we so interested (seemingly all of the sudden) in faith-based films?

                I propose that the more our government, schools, and secular culture try to rid us of any ties to a Holy God that our hunger for spiritual food increases. We have long thought and even complained of the power of the media. God is not afraid of the media and even utilizes it to communicate stories of redemption and love that will point wayward hearts to His ultimate love and glory. (not just in “Christian” media – see Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, Les Miserables, The Chronicles of Narnia, Glory, and on  & on.)

God is not new to the movie scene

                Whether implicit or explicit “faith” has been on film since the onset of moving pictures. The script is the same for many a blockbuster:  “a story of love that conquers any obstacle in order to redeem one who is lost”. This is the core of the Gospel. It has been repackaged for generations but the author of the Greatest Story Ever Told is also the producer of the Greatest Movies Ever Seen. God is even overseeing a global drama that is unfolding in our midst called “the Kingdom of God”. Let’s let Him direct the part we play in it.