Be-Engaging :: The Last Supper

What if you were posed with a question and situation that could change the world? What if you invited someone round for dinner and found out that they had thoughts and ideas that were very wrong and evil? What if you could rid the world of one evil person in order to save hundreds... what if Hitler came to dinner at a time when he was a young man, many years before he did all those horrible things - what would you do knowing the truth of his actions many years later?

Big Questions.

This film, "The last supper" is about the problem of evil. Its also an exposure of justice and how we think of Evil. 

The scene is around a dinner table where good food is served and good wine is poured. But there is a twist. The wine doesn't taste so good and the company doesn't seem so much fun anymore. A group of university graduates invite controversial people round for dinner, knowing that their ideas and thoughts are quite radical and perhaps very wrong. These students took the liberty to kill off these guests in order to save man kind.

But then it gets out of hand. Suddenly they were killing people that they simply disagreed with. The table turns - who is evil here? There conscience plays against them and they cant shake off the feeling that perhaps what they are doing is wrong... 

This film is brilliant and one of my favorites because it has many twists and turns and delves into some extreme ideas. It gets you thinking about the big questions in life. 

And the questions I would ask are:

1. Who is evil? 

2. What is evil and where did it come from?

3. Do we, like the students, think that we should take justice in our own hands and kill off people we disagree with?

4. Is there any room for persuasion and conversation?

5. What does the Gospel say?

Well I want to tie in what the Gospel says about who is evil, because I think thats the most important question and Jesus answers it:

      And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
(Mark 7:20-23 ESV)

This list from Jesus doesn't excuse anyone. Which means that the problem of evil is the human heart and everyone has a human heart like this and therefore we come to a conclusion that the answer to the question "Who is evil?" is me and you. Suddenly I sit at that table and I know I am not pure and cannot judge other people - for my heart is evil. And I think thats what these students suddenly come to realise in the film, they saw that they themselves have an evil heart with wrong thoughts - they were no better then those they were killing. 

But there is hope and the Gospel offers hope. On the one hand Jesus says the problem is our hearts, but on the other hand he offers us a renewed heart and salvation. 

 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [Ezekiel 36:26]

How amazing is that?

For more resources on the problem of Evil, do look at the bethinking website.

Be-Engaging :: Angel-A

Set on the noir streets of Paris we are introduced to a self loathed small time criminal that can't pay his debts back. What does he need? A helping hand! So an Angel falls from the sky and helps him out. But there is a twist, this Angel and man called Andre fall in love and we are taken on an adventure of self discovery and the complex emotions of love. 

The biggest theme I picked up on was that of Andre and his idea of love. Angela (the Angel) confronts him and places him in front of a mirror and tells Andre to say "I love you" to himself. The idea behind this is that he cannot love others unless he is first loved and she points the finger back to him and suggests that he needs to start loving himself before he can love others. This caught my attention and made me ask two questions:

1. How much truth is there behind the idea of self love and loving others?

2. What does the Gospel say to this?

Some of my thoughts about self love were a mixture of understanding where they were coming from and not being quite satisfied with that. But perhaps it is indeed true that if we hate ourselves and see ourselves completely unworthy of love, then loving others will perhaps prove difficult. It is also very true that we cannot love others unless we ourselves are loved. But I want to move the picture further on and say that self love will never satisfy nor complete us, that the story can never end at self love or we will swing between the emotional roller coaster of love and loathing ourselves, between pride and pity. 

This idea of love must come under Gods love in order to be fully satisfying and complete. We are wonderfully told in scripture the truth that we can indeed love because we were first loved:

      "We love because he first loved us. "
(1 John 4:19 ESV)

Here is where the pin drops. The true colours of love are displayed here with the richness of this verse. Yes we cannot love if we are not ourselves loved first. But for ourselves to be loved it cannot be about looking within ourselves and lavishing ourselves with our own love. No, it must come from outside ourselves - from the perfect creator that is Love, that lavishes his love on us that is pure and selfless, our God who enables us to love because he loved us first. This is what Andre needed to hear, he didn't need to shout at his reflection that he loves himself - in fact he loves himself too much. But he needed to hear that he is loved and its not from within but it is from our Heavenly Father. 

Is this not a message we all need to hear? A message that students need to hear on university campus as they struggle with loneliness in their halls or trying to fit in on sports socials? Is this not a message for staff workers who may be struggling with approval, or stay at home mums who may feel disconnected with the world or the teenage girl who is struggling with image... there are many situations where we need to not look in the mirror and say "I love you", but where we need to hear our heavenly Father say "I loved you first"...

Be-Engaging

As we walk with Paul through Athens in Acts 17, we see him observe idols. We see him contemplate and discuss and reason from looking at the culture around him. What a model of doing evangelism and apologetics!!

So after much thought I have decided to re-launch my Be-Engaging series where for the next couple of weeks I will be focusing on films and not just mainstream ones, but different ones and will be writing about the themes and ideas behind them and how they relate to the Gospel. This will hopefully get you thinking and challenge you and spur you on to watch these films and question the themes and ideas behind them. Do join me by walking through Athens and observing the idols and the culture and comment on the films I write about.

9 questions to engage a film with

Engaging with film is a seminar by Andrew Fellows, which you can find on the bethinking website.

Andrew Fellows explores how Christians can engage with film and the culture that we are in. I am just going to outline Nine questions that we should ask to uncover the films worldview. This is a good framework to have when watching anything and hopefully this will change the way we watch, read or listen to any forms of media.

1. How does the story reflect what it means to be human? - the glorification or the depravity of humanity? Evil and goodness?

2. What kind of universe exists? - Is it naturalist? Is it legoland? Is it super-naturalist (The Matrix etc)..

3. How does the story reflect history? - Is it tragic? Do our choices determine the outcome?

4. How is evil portrayed in the story? - Are we entertained by the evil in the film? Does it take evil seriously?

5. Does existence have meaning? - Do we have to create the meaning or is it bestowed upon us?

6. How does the story deal with the issue of justice? - We long for justice, does the story reflect this longing?

7. How does the story reflect relationships? - Does it show that we are relational people? What happens when its perverted?

8. How is redemption reflected in the story? - Who needs saving? Who is the Messiah?

9. Does the story have hope when it looks to the future? - is there a future we can look forward to?

These are all deeply embedded in the christian worldview. We need to learn to evaluate film from this perspective.

I hope you have found this helpful!

BE-Engaging :: Chocolate and Sin

The film Chocolat starring Johnny Depp as well as Judi Dench, is set in a French village, where the storyteller reminds us that this is a season of lent and "If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you"

Now what images come to mind when I say the word - "Chocolate?" Is it - Sweet drops of sugar goodness that delicately melt on your tongue or a sinful intake of gluttony that will send you straight to hell? The portrayal of this film would suggest that the latter is true, that chocolate is a sin. I appreciate that it is the time of lent where abstinence is endorsed. However the image of chocolate being a sin is interesting. It takes the christian word "sin" and says that all good things are sinful because we enjoy them. Is that not what the world thinks sin is?

From this attitude then, The world thinks that Christians believe that all these things are sin:
Sex
Music(esp rock!)
Chocolate and Sweets
Having fun of any kind
Drinking
Dancing
etc...

Well! Lets uncover the good news then. The world has it wrong. None of them are sins because God created all of them. (Phew!) Sure some are in context (such as sex within marriage between a man and woman), but the word sin doesn't mean God hates all the things of this world that we enjoy. Sin is rejecting God and disobeying Him.

As my dad(non Christian) said when watching this film... "How is chocolate a sin?!".... my reply was... "Its not!"...

This is a great film to uncover what sin really is. You can explore this theme with your friends and show them what sin is and why God hates sin. Remember what Jesus said about sin and material things in Mark 7?

"There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (Mark 7:15)

What is the state of our heart right now? Is it about what we eat or drink, or is it about our heart and our relationship with God?

These are great questions to ask. Why not grab a few of your friends, buy lots of chocolate and hot chocolate and sit and watch this film. Then bring up the question of what they think sin is and what the bible says sin is...! I think you will find it interesting.

Be-Engaging - "If I were a boy"

"If I were a boy" - by Beyonce. I found these lyrics really interesting because they paint a picture of what it means to be a man and a woman. I think society has a gender complex - women want to be men and men are confused with what they want to be!

Beyonce says that:

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I'd be a better man

I can't help but get this feeling that she is proclaiming that if a woman had the role of a man - she would be much better at it. At points of frustration I am sure that this can sometimes feel true. You go through your head of all the ways you would act if you were a guy and how you would be more sensative, attentive and loving.

She then goes on to say:

I'd put myself first
And make the rules as I go
'Cause I know that she'd be faithful
Waiting for me to come home, to come home

I am not sure whether she is alluding to the idea that men are selfish? It is interesting though, there is a theme of believing that men are the selfish, tyrant, domineering, controlling people. Women of course come out shiny clean with perfection stamped on their foreheads. Perhaps the reason why women want to be men is because they think they can do a better job. However where does that leave the men? This song is an interesting reflection of where society is and how far it is from Gods purpose for man and woman.

I love the fact that God has made man and woman different and that women were never meant to be men and men were not meant to be women. We both have different roles which scream against society right now. Yet trailing back to Genesis 1 and 2 before the fall, we see man as the leader and head while the woman is the helper and yet this is far from domineering and controlling attitudes, but much closer to a loving relationship that submits, loves and respects. Then sin enters and everything is undone and backwards...

Lets fast forward to the Cross where Jesus restored relationships, where He dies for our sins and brings us back into relationship with the Father. How is that reflected in our relationships now? Well.. Ephesians 5 says that women should submit to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the church. What did Christ do for the church? He died for her... that has amazing implications. In Jesus we have a renewed relationship with each other, men in their rightful roles as leaders, protectors and servants and wives as helpers, submitting, loving and servants. Both serving and loving each other. Wow....

It is good for us as Christians to challenge the role of men and women. What society paints isnt satisfying, it isn't what God designed at all. We can look at this song and unwrap it to its core and find a longing for more then just women wanting to be men. There is a longing for men to take the role they are meant to and yet women sometimes take that away for them or men advocate their responsibility leaving no choice but for someone else to take over the role. Lets not do the blaim game, but lets point back to the Gospel and see how God designed the roles of man and woman.

BE-Engaging :: Paper Planes

~ Paper Planes by M.I.A ~
This is a catchy tune! In fact if you get in your head you can't get it out... this is a tune from Slum dog Millionaire (worth seeing!)...

I am really interested in the lyrics of this song, it says a lot about our desires, the western mindset and "third world democracy". The heartbeat of this song is about money and any possible way of getting it from hustling, making visas and taking your money!

The Chorus is very catchy:
"All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!) And take your money"

Does the world revolve around money? It appears so. But was this what we were made for? Were we made to take as much money as possible - To get rich and die. Is that satisfying? I think it might burn a hole in our insides.

Jesus makes remarkable statements about money and our possessions. To one man he says -
"Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”" (Mark 10:21)

What would we do if Jesus directly said that to us today? I find it interesting how we dismiss this verse and say that Jesus isn't saying that to us now. But I wonder if thats because the crutch of this statement is so brutal to our pride in our material possessions that giving up everything is impossible. But look at what Jesus offers in return for giving up his money - treasure in heaven. Treasure in Heaven!! If all we want to do is "take your money" then we are missing the joy of treasure in heaven. Jesus is saying that there is something greater then money, something far more satisfying that is worth giving up everything for.

My favourite parable is the parable of the hidden treasure, where the man sells everything to buy a field to have the treasure in it. That is what the Kingdom of heaven is like!! Can we offer this to the secular world? When the obsession of money is hitting a peek, yet recession is upon us, can we offering something that will not fade or rot? Imagine having an eternal treasure that is worth more then anything in this world put together...

I was thinking of questions that I could ask, for instance - why is the world obsessed with money? Is it so they can get more stuff... and then what? What do you do after you get stuff - more stuff? Until stuff collects dust and we get bored...
Does having money truly satisfy? How do we see examples of it not in our culture - particulary looking at those in the media spotlight?

When do you have enough to be satisfied?

What do you think it would be like to have a treasure that will be truly satisfying and never fade nor corrupt?

Jesus says some amazing things about money, that you cannot serve Money and God. What do you think would be better to serve?

What I love about the Gospel is that it says that money will fade and wither and that there is no certainty in money and that when we become christians we no longer have to be enslaved with money, because our Father provides for all our needs and therefore we do not need to worry. It is essential to realise that money is important in our society, but it should not be an idol nor something we should strive to get more and more of to make ourselves happy. No, we have an amazing God that will provide abundantly when we need things and He is our source of delight!

What a fantastic message to bring to the world... will they listen? Imagine if they did? No longer would there be need to search for happiness in money.

I tell you something, when I was in Peru I saw some of the poorest christians I have ever known - yet they were in fact the most rejoicing Christians because there depedancy for everything was on the Lord... what an amazing witness to us and what an Amazing God we serve...!

BE - Engaging :: Love Actually

At the very start Hugh Grant opens with a statement about Love...

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends “

LOVE... that fuzzy feeling inside, the warmth felt in your fingers and toes...love is all around apparently. We have 8 different lives, all entwined and all showing expressions of love. Love that was never meant to be, love that is in marriage, outside of marriage, adultery, love that is painful, a love found in a different country, first love, forever love, forgotten love, lost love. The theme of Love rings out for sure.

Everyone wants to be LOVED. As humans we crave Love from each other and feel lonely when we don't feel loved.

If you could pick a story line that most expressed the type of love that you desired what would it be?

Would it be the Love of an old couple, yet one being tempted into adultery?

Would it be the Love of the woman longing for a relationship and yet when its in her grips, she loses it because her brother is more important.

Would it be Love that is lost because your partner dies?

Would it be the Love of a man seeking his destiny as a writer and then stumbling across Love accidentally.

Would it be the innocence of First love of a small boy, who runs around an airport in eager expectation of telling the young girl that he loves her...

Or perhaps it would be the Love of a man running to every house to find his soul mate.

None of them seem perfect or seem to satisfy. Yet the world is talking about Love in the middle of suffering, pain and war. Because we can Cling to Love. Yet Love as shown in this film is not perfect. In fact there are lots of imperfections here, lots of hurt and pain and miscommunication which adds to the humor. There is emotional ties in Love, which get attached and crossed over with people. It is bound to get messy.

However the great news of the Gospel is that we are made for relationship...we can see that in this film. All the scenes are about relationships and how we yearn for perfect relationships. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could have a relationship with someone and there not be any hurt, any Gossip, any harmful acts...but it be pure, loving, patient, kind and fulfilling. Is that not what people want?

What if you could offer people this love from God? As we look at that list above, I don't think I would want to be any of them. But I would want a Love that is fulfilling, one that I didn't have to prove myself for or run around to get. A love that is always there, always faithful, always forgiving and goes that one step further and presents us as perfect - seeking to serve us and love us. I am amazed at how we go searching for love and yet have it right here in front of us - the Love of Christ resounds in the Gospel and this is a love we can offer to the broken hearted. The Cross is a place of great love and sacrifice, one that we can continue to cling to and know that it will never fail us.

So as we watch this film, let us think what Love truly is and how each scenario paints a picture of 1) a world craving for love and 2) Perfect Love is found in Christ alone...

If Christ is out of the picture then we can see the foundation of Love crumble...but with Christ in the picture then the picture is complete. We no longer have to go searching for Love, for it is right there in front of us!!

Lets think - How would you express this to your not yet Christian friends? What love are they craving for? How is that satisfied in Jesus?

BE - Engaging :: The Culture around us

This is where we are right here right now. Emmersed in our culture, filtered into our mindsets and standpoints. It is useless to think that our culture doesn't effect us, it does. It effects how we think, learn and act in many different ways.

In many ways our culture presents a world view that contradicts our christian mindset, but where does that leave the Christian? On the outskirts of postmodern living, tongue tied in relativity and losing faith in a multifaith society...

Christians need to wake up and start engaging with the culture around them. Learning to discover what is society portraying in their media and art, what are the cries of desperation that society to is longing for, what are the morals, what is the crutch and framework of their ideology?

With those questions in mind, I want to ask:

And how does this fit in with the Gospel?
How can the Gospel relate to what society craves and the image that they are displaying?

I want to be like Paul as he looks around in Acts 17 "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship" Paul is observing the culture, observing the idols and then from there he can begin to relate to them, to preach the Gospel in a way that is relevant and captures them so that they realise that the idols they were after are worthless compared to God.

We can do this now. We can pass along and observe the books, films, magazines, adverts, conversations, art, music and fashion and see the objects of worship. Learn to observe and not to hide away from culture.

So what I have decided to do is a series in BE-Engaging and look at various books, music and films and see what they portray and the messages that have been given out through them and the see what the Gospel says. How can we preach the Gospel to the world when a thousand other messages are coming to their ears??