Would Jesus Digg It?- 5- Fireproof and Christian Movies

I probably shouldn’t post on something I haven’t seen yet, but with it coming out this Friday, I thought I’d take advantage of the moment.  Fireproof is the latest offering by the makers of Facing the Giants, and also the latest in a trend I’ve noticed- high quality Christian media and movies.

Again, I haven’t seen Fireproof yet, but I viewed the trailer and what I’ve heard so far sounds pretty good.  I’ll try to check it out and actually tell you what I thought of the movie itself, but what I can say is that I like the trend within Christians circles where we are doing a better job of communicating in our world through media.  Just look at how much time people spend watching tv, going to movies, checking out clips on Youtube, etc.  For a long time, the Christian world didn’t produce much of quality. While some of the movies I’ve seen still aren’t completely up to par in terms of acting, script, etc, it’s getting much better.  Just watching movies like Facing the Giants, you can see a new professionalism. In fact, some are really good.  Have you seen The End of the Spear?  I thought tha was a great movie all around.  Of course, most of us have seen The Passion of the Christ, and that’s a movie that was truly moving, with excellence in all areas- acting, cinematography, scripting, innovation. (It’s almost amazing that despite the huge crowds it drews, the innovation and incredible acting involved that it didn’t get any Oscar buzz- sad, huh)

And it goes beyond just the big movies.  In churches, we’re seeing more media getting used, and a lot of it is increasingly high quality clips being produced by companies that bring faith and excellence to the table.  Even the rise of Godtube and Christian clips on Youtube is giving us a presence out there.

So what would Jesus think?  Well, he certainly knew how to communicate in the metaphors of his age, in teaching and in parables.  I’m positive he would want to leverage media and cinema today.  These are the things that help people today remember the message (even if it’s silly clips like this, the Christian message is made much more memorable).  And that’s a real key.  If we want to help people make changes in their daily lives, we need to communicate in ways that they remember during the rest of the week.  We need to speak in words and images that will impact them as they make decisions, have conversations with friends, etc.

Are there any concerns associated with this movement?  Well, there’s always some risk involved that as we move to keep up we’ll always be a step behind.  There’s also the risk that we’ll focus so much on this means of communication that we’ll leave behind some of the traditions of the past that still have value, even if they’re harder for people today to absorb (memory work, catechesis, actually reading the Bible, etc). Any other reactions?

Tags: Christian media, End of the Spear, Fireproof, Passion of the Christ