This movie is extremely dark, disturbing & terrifying; it nearly deserves an R rating. The monsters are not just innocent fantasy characters, but the effects of serious mental illness suffered by the main character. The boy is bi-polar & violent toward his family. In one scene, the main monster (Gandofini’s character) tries to kill the kid, so he repels inside of the maternal monster… literally INSIDE. Ugh. It looks like a beloved children’s book has been adapted into a very adult movie, much to the delight of a very deranged & fatalistic Hollywood industry. Don’t trust the critics: screen it first before taking little kids.

It is to this end that Westminster Theological Seminary has sponsored a website outlining the claims made in the movie. The website is a fantastic tool and we encourage you to use it to equip your family and engage people in your sphere of influence. What a tremendous tool to use in witnessing to the people you interact with everyday! Not sure you could remember all the details and facts? Just send them this link so that they can explore for themselves.

5.26.09 Update:

The question has been asked, “Why should we even consider supporting movies like this? I would cite what the New York Times Op-Ed Column said of Dan Brown’s work:

It isn’t just that he knows how to keep the pages turning. That’s what it takes to sell a million novels. But if you want to sell a 100 million, you need to preach as well as entertain — to present a fiction that can be read as fact, and that promises to unlock the secrets of history, the universe and God along the way.

Therefore, I desire to stand alongside of people like Dan Brown and use their medium to communicate the truth of the Gospel. I choose to not abandon people to silly notions and toxic theology. The case could be made that our Areopagus is the movie theater.

Get started by getting to know the movie:

It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.

Agree or disagree? How does this question relate to the Gospel?

But I confess that I had an agenda:

1. I wanted show the value of asking questions to make people think and start (and sustain) a conversation.

2. I wanted to stimulate Gospel-centered thinking about something that will come up in conversation (the latest Hollywood blockbuster) so that we can steer it toward something that won’t (the Gospel).

Note that “steering conversation toward the Gospel” doesn’t have to be artificial. For example, here’s what I’m not proposing:

Evangelist: Hey, did you see The Dark Knight?

Quarry: Yeah, that was awesome!

Evangelist: Yeah, it was! In fact, it got me thinking about this great tract I just read that talks about the darkness in our hearts.

Quarry: Excuse me, I need to be anyplace else.

Instead, do you think it would be hard to throw these out for discussion? With a little patience and careful thinking, they all land within striking distance of the Gospel…

• In the movie, Batman is optimistic about human nature, but the Joker is pessimistic. In the real world, which of the two do you think has a more accurate picture of the way we really are?
• Batman’s optimistic view about human nature is certainly what we hope for in the real world, and sometimes we get it. The Joker’s pessimistic view is definitely what we fight off, but usually that’s what we get in the real world. How do you make sense of the fact that real people can really be so noble and so awful?
• Is there anyone in the movie who is completely pure and completely good? In the real world, do you think that it’s possible for anyone to be completely pure and good? Assuming it’s possible, do you think that people should be completely pure and good?
• Wasn’t the scene with the two boats just complete fiction? Do you think people would act that way in the real world? What could possibly motivate people to be altruistic like that? Why is it easy to believe that people wouldn’t be altruistic in that situation?
• (Minor spoiler warning) The movie ends with Batman taking blame that he didn’t deserve, and Harvey Dent getting credit that he didn’t deserve. Is that just? What possible greater good could justify calling an innocent man “guilty” so that a guilty man gets rewards he doesn’t deserve?
• (Minor spoiler warning) The movie ends with the people completely misled about both Harvey Dent and Batman; they believe one thing, but the truth is completely different, and it’s all done in the name of giving the people hope. What’s preferable: an easy hope that everybody can understand (but is false), or a difficult hope that’s hard to swallow (but is built on the way things really are)?
• Was the Joker’s “no rules” way of looking at the world wrong? In the real world, do you think there are real rules about what we should and shouldn’t do? If so, where do you think they come from?
• Was Harvey Dent’s attitude about chance mostly right or mostly wrong? In the real world, do you think life is all about luck and chance, or is there a real purpose behind it all? If it’s all about chance, is there even such a thing as right or wrong or purpose?

(Note the frequent references to “in the real world” and “real life”. One obstacle to reception of the Gospel is that people think it’s just a fairy tale; we need to help them bolt it to reality.)

We would do well to take a cue from Paul:

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Paul jumps right into their myths, and rather than indict them for believing lies and wasting their lives, he engages their ideas with his Gospel-saturated mind and calls attention to the echoes of the Gospel that were there to be found.

But bear in mind that they are only echoes: the Gospel itself turns on the real life and real death and real resurrection of a real man who is really God and really will return to the real world with a real judgment on real people.

Well-done films (like The Dark Knight) that offer sharp contrasts about transcendent themes are great conversation starters, but they’re just fiction. We do well as followers of Christ to see people’s strong attachments to fiction (especially when it seems more real than the real world) and help break those deceptions in favor of strong attachments to the real world (even though it seems more fantastic than a comic book).

How’s that for a headline? (Update: Be sure to read on to the next post.)

Krista and I went to see The Dark Knight on Saturday. It was an impressive film; we really enjoyed it on a number of levels—the production values were exceptional, Heath Ledger’s performance was amazing, and the characterizations and plot offered plenty of food for thought. (BTW, is Batman really Bruce Wayne, or is Bruce Wayne really Batman?)

But to tell you the truth, by Sunday morning I had pretty much moved on.

Then, this morning, I read this commentary by Ray Ortlund:

Visually stimulating. Technologically impressive. Hollywood has fast-forwarded a gazillion years since my favorite films by Steve McQueen and John Wayne. But peel off the layers of glittering presentation, and what’s actually there? A ripping good yarn. I grant that. But not much else. In fact, it comes down to a lie of human idealization being passed off on the public because they’re supposed to be better off thinking the lie. That violates everything I believe. I learned nothing. I was not enriched in any way.

Immanuel Church cannot compete with Hollywood in terms of raw momentary impact. No church can. But that’s one of the great things about church. It can be real. It can be entry-level discovery, for anyone, of the Lovely One who will amaze us forever.

I’m weary with the world’s disappointing stimulants. I want more of Christ.

Ouch. But wait a second… is this hyperbole? Is this a John-Piper-Don’t-Waste-Your-Life, kick in the pants overstatement? Michael Spencer writes:

I’m not in John Piper mode here, but I want to send Rev. Ortlund the beverage of his choice at the BHT for saying something while he was saying something.

I have begun to suspect that we can’t see the entertainment idolatry in our own lives.

We’ve decided to talk about “how to relate Christ to movies” and so on, which I don’t deny is a worthwhile pursuit, and I believe the glory and truth of God shines through all kinds of cultural windows.

But there’s just a lot- a LOT- of garbage out there. A lot of lies. Distortion. A lot of very bad story telling. A lot of poorly executed entertainment. A lot of humor and excitement drummed up from the lowest common denominators: sex, violence, greed. A lot of wasted minutes, hours and days.

(As an aside, I’ll be teaching a class this fall in which I plan to use movie clips as conversation starters for the Gospel, so I’m glad he threw me a bone… but now I’ve got some more thinking to do!)

Anyway… answer for yourself: what do you make of this? Now answer again, but this time pretend you’re a radical, sold-out, dead-to-the-world follower of Christ. (Gotcha.) Is your answer any different?

[via JT]

So, what do you think of when you hear the word “adoption”? Maybe you think of someone giving hope to one who didn’t have hope, someone giving identity to one who didn’t know his identity. Perhaps you picture a place to belong for one who had no home, and a family for one who was alone. What a beautiful picture of adoption! What a beautiful picture of what God does for us! (1 Peter 2:9-10)

The concept of being adopted by God and being a part of His family has been forefront in my mind a lot, recently. As I have read the Scriptures and studied in multiple places about this concept, I’m persuaded that most believers (certainly including me) haven’t really scraped the surface of what this kind of hope, identity, belonging, and connectedness should look like in a local church. Part of the reason may be that we forget where we have come from, or perhaps that as orphans who’ve been adopted, we’ve never really known what it is to belong to a true family . . . one that has a common purpose, a common identity, a common goal, and a common love. We are a dysfunctional bunch! Thank God that He redeems us and calls us to hope in Him (1 Peter 1:3-5). We don’t start out knowing how to be a family, but He calls us to be a part of His family and to learn what that means. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

In the Treasures of Encouragement Bible study that some of the women are going through this semester, we’re seeing how the ministry of encouragement flows out of understanding who God is and then understanding who we are in Him. Living life as a community is the way God intends for His people to live. It’s been a great lesson in going back to the basics of understanding that our confidence in our great God and the identity and position we have as His children should be the driving force of our ministry to others. If we understand the foundations, the ministry of encouragement flows naturally, because we truly love each other.

This past Sunday, as we corporately read the weekly memory verse together (Matthew 22:37-39), it reminded me of how important loving others is to the Lord. Then, as one of our Sunday classes discussed the picture of adoption, it hit me again of how seldom we really think about ourselves as true brothers and sisters, whose identity and inheritance is in the Lord. How often do we really think of how we can love our brothers and sisters just because the Lord wants us to love each other? It’s not just about “what next good deed does God have on my to-do list” (which can sometimes lead us to a path of focusing on ourselves and “our” ministry). Rather, it’s about loving each other with the great love that He has loved us with. (1 John 3) What a difference that perspective could make in the Body of Christ! It’s not about you or me or our random acts of kindness; rather, it’s about His children loving each other, bearing each other’s burdens, being patient with one another for HIS glory. (John 13:34-35, Ephesians 3:10-11, Ephesians 3:16-21)

May the amazing love that the Father has lavished on us (1 John 3:1) in Christ be the driving force of all that we do, that we may bring Him glory as we love each other.

Amy Hall of Stand to Reason writes:

And so we come to the one, core argument about the real world made by Pullman through these novels: the God of the Bible is not good. …In the midst of all the sensational plot details that could easily sidetrack our objections, this is the point we need to respond to as Christians. And this won’t be accomplished by picketing movie theaters. Not remotely.

Amy Hall again, after seeing the film, notes that the movie is a sort of “seeker-sensitive” version of the book…

As I was explaining the difference between the novel and film to Derek, he said, “Ah, so they’ve decided to use the seeker model for creating the film series.” Exactly! This film was not made for the fans, it was designed to reel new people in… I guess this is good news for us because we all know how these things work out: Sure, you “just start out” seeker sensitive and promise all sorts of rewards to the faithful in the future, but somehow, you never get around to giving them what they need because you’re too busy trying to tempt others to join you by giving those people what they want.

Chris Weitz, director of The Golden Compass, admits in an interview with MTV that the first film is the “spoonful of sugar” that will “make the medicine go down” when it’s delivered in parts two and three:

The whole point, to me, of ensuring that “The Golden Compass” is a financial success is so that we have a solid foundation on which to deliver a faithful, more literal adaptation of the second and third books. This is important: whereas “The Golden Compass” had to be introduced to the public carefully, the religious themes in the second and third books can’t be minimized without destroying the spirit of these books.

Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes:

Having seen the movie at an advance viewing and having read all three books of His Dark Materials, I can assure Christians that we face a real challenge — one that will require careful thinking and intellectual engagement.

…The Christian faith is not about to be toppled by a film, nor by a series of fantasy books. Pullman has an agenda that is clear, and Christians need to inform themselves of what this agenda is and what it means. At the same time, nothing would serve his agenda better than to have Christians speaking recklessly or unintelligently about the film or the books.

Jeffrey Overstreet, film critic at Christianity Today:

…don’t behave in ways that the Magisterium in Pullman’s books would behave. You’ll just make his stories more persuasive, by confirming for the culture around us that Christians only really get excited when they’re condemning something.

David Wayne (the “JollyBlogger”) salutes Al Mohler’s review (see above) and adds that “we’ve got to do better than “nuh-uh” apologetics:”

What is good is that [Dr. Mohler] doesn’t encourage Christians to boycott the movie, but to be informed and respond appropriately, and I would even say winsomely.  This is good – I’m already hearing calls to boycott the movie and I think that is a mistake. In fact, I joined a Facebook group called “What if we didn’t boycott The Golden Compass.“  I realize that there are children who shouldn’t see the movie, but my take is that if a children’s story can rock the faith of an older teenager or adult, you didn’t have much of a faith to begin with. …we ought to have a faith that is confident and not threatened by false religions, or anti-religion — the Christian faith ought to be able to stand in the face of that kind of stuff.

David Wayne adds elsewhere that Golden Compass author Phillip Pullman understands people in a way that the Church ought to, but usually doesn’t:

[Pullman said,] “‘Thou shalt not’ might reach the head, but it takes ‘Once upon a time’ to reach the heart.” …[Pullman] is very much in line with the wisdom of that great Christian Blaise Pascal who said the heart has its reasons that reason knows not of.  Christian apologists have spent years and years attempting to show the reasonableness of Christianity, and have claimed many victories.  Yet the religious landscape around us suggests that whether or not we have persuaded many heads, we continue to lose ground in capturing hearts…

My conclusion… the church should respond with warm hearts and sharp minds. (Kind of anti-climactic, isn’t it?) At the end of the day, the Church is going to be attacked—we’ve been put on notice—and we need to respond by loving those who hate us, remembering that they hated our Lord first.

In this case, “loving them” means we must know, and be able to show, what we believe and why we believe it. But more importantly, we must walk by the Spirit so that his fruits—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—will commend our message to the hearts and minds of those we are sent to serve.

Here’s the trailer.

I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.

— John Newton, in Amazing Grace

Let me confess something: I wept when I watched the trailers for the film Amazing Grace. Visit the film’s web site to see all the trailers (the quote above is from the second trailer) — but do it someplace where you can crank up the volume and feel the bagpipes and the drums and the orchestra. You may also recognize Chris Tomlin singing the movie’s theme song.

But before you go see the film — my wife and I are eagerly looking forward to it — listen to John Piper’s biography of William Wilberforce (the main character in the film). You might also want to listen to his biography of John Newton as well.

Someone once observed that in a very real sense, Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Fame of the faith,” is incomplete. Biographies of men like Wilberforce and Newton (and the list goes on) are part of the ongoing record of God’s work among men. It would be tragically ironic if we should sing of moving from blindness to sight without recognizing the Almighty God who moved in these men to do the great deeds featured in the film.