The film industry has seen it's fair share of faith-based movies especially in the last ten years. Some of them became big successes while others may have failed some ratings and box office targets. It seems that more and more we're seeing a growth in production and release of faith-based films. At the onset, that should be a great thing right? Of course it is, but only if we avoid some pitfalls.
It's great that there is demand for films that share Christian values. The world does indeed need more faith-based movies, but the reason why we cry out for it should be very clear. When we start desiring faith-based movies for the sake of having great Christian films, we're at the danger of desiring it for the wrong reason.
In the Bible, we're told of the story of a symbol of a bronze snake called the Nehushtan, which God had used in Numbers 21 as a means of healing for Israelites who had been bitten by poisonous serpents. It wasn't the bronze statue that healed the people, but the power of God working through it. However, in ignorance, the Israelites turned the bronze image into an idol that they would worship.
Fast forward to the time of David, 2 Kings 18:4 tells us this: "He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan)."
The "Nehushtan" symptom attacking Christian films today
Christian films are wonderful, but when it becomes too much about the medium and less about the message, we have the same problems the Israelites had with he Nehushtan. I once had a young man come up to me and tell me about how much better His devotionals were now because He had substituted Bible reading for faith-based movie watching. That's not in any way a good sign.
And the problem doesn't just apply to faith-based films. We do the same with so many other things - relationships, ministry, church, ideologies and doctrines. In all we do, Christ must be the beginning, centre and end-goal.
Don't let it be about the movie
Does the world need more faith-based movies? Absolutely! It works and people get blessed by it. But it's never about the movie. It's always about the God who hung on a tree at Golgotha for sinners like you and me. Let's always remember to point back to that. Yes, let's honour ministries, directors, producers and companies that make wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) faith-based films, but let's never forget to draw people back to Christ.
As Paul said in Philippians 1:18, "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice." We as a people of God and the heavens rejoice when Jesus is preached to all people.
