What's Wrong with Christian Movies

Before anyone accuses me of being an atheist, let me declare that I am a Christian. I have asked Jesus to be my Savior, and I have tried to live and make choices that I believe God would want me to make. That's the reason why I feel the need to share my thoughts about these religious movies that most Christians have been praising in the past few years. So without further ado, I give you Five Things Wrong with Christian Movies.

1. No Wonder Christians Are Scared of Atheists

Most of the atheists (or people of different beliefs) represented in Christian movies are some of the rudest, grumpiest, annoying jerks I've ever seen in films. They pick on anyone who disagrees with them. They are horrible bullies in the business world.

In God's Not Dead, we meet a girl named Amy who discovers that she will soon die. She and her boyfriend are not Christians. Soon after Amy found out she only had a short time to live, she told her boyfriend the news at dinner. He said he could not believe that she was so selfish to tell him this news at dinner, that she had spoiled their night, and broke up with her shortly after.

I do not care who you are. Anyone knows that that is disrespectful and rude. Who in the world do you know, who would do that to somebody? Even the biggest jerk you could think of would probably not do that to his girlfriend. It is simply in-humane. I will say it is possible, but unlikely.

As a result, many Christians are afraid that this is what they will have to deal with if they discuss their beliefs with someone of a different background. But this is rarely true. While I have heard of a few circumstances where someone was rude to a Christian in reality I have received much kindness from those who believed differently than myself. They are kind to me because I respect them as human beings. Remember Christians, Jesus hung out with hookers and thieves and it was the religious leaders that gave him a hard time.

Often in Christian films, the character(s) is presented with a problem. He may lose his house, girlfriend, everything. But then some elderly person, cute guy, or cute girl teaches him about God and suddenly good things start happening to that person. In these films, I have seen people been given free things all because they followed God. This often makes the message be that if you do good things, read your Bible, and follow God then great things will happen to you.

In one of the most popular Christian movies, War Room, it features a woman, named Elizabeth Jordan, who has a difficult marriage. The character is incredibly selfish. But an elderly stranger tells Elizabeth to pray in her closet and her husband will be good to her. There is a point in the film where a friend of Elizabeth's texts her to say that her husband is out with another woman. So Elizabeth prays in her closet and her husband ends up not sleeping with the other woman.

But that usually does not happen in real life. Yes, we face trials and good things happen to it. But the good things are usually what we have learned due to a difficult circumstance. When I watched the film there was a part of me that really wanted to see the husband cheat on his wife. It was not because I thought it was a good thing to do. It was because I wanted to see her still have faith in God when that happened. I wanted to see her still having faith and being a strong woman, than just to see everything come together for her with a small trip to her closet. The truth is that troubles make us as stronger, as human beings.

So I have already discussed the writing being guilty of sending the wrong message. I believe that even in cheesy films the writing can still be pretty good and that is what draws an audience.

However, I have seen many Christian movies that steal ideas from each others. War Room and Fireproof both had marriages that were close to being over. The Christmas Choir and Unconditional both had people who had not talked to anyone for a long time and then finally spoke at a special moment in the film. The Christmas Shoes 2 and Letters to God both featured children passing away due to an illness. Coach (which nobody will remember because it is out of print) and Facing the Giants were about under-dog sports teams winning when they trusted God.

I realize that we have seen many movies and share similar plots. However, Hollywood writers, producers, and directors are still getting paid the big bucks to come up with original twists that draw in crowds.

4. What Is the Point of These Movies?

I believe that every film has a message. I often hear Christians say that they buy Christian DVDs so that they can share them with friends who are unbelievers so that they might want to become Christians. But I tend to question this one.

First of all, I usually hear Christians say about Christian films, "This is the best movie I've ever seen... This challenged me in my thinking... This makes me want to be a better person!" These are all good things. But if the point of these films is supposed to used for evangelism then why is it that I rarely hear a person of a different religion say that they thought a Christian film was great? If it's such a good film then why aren't they looking forward to seeing it?

The few people non-Christians I know who have watched any religious films have said things like, "It was hard for me to take the scene with the couple yelling seriously, because they weren't cussing at each other like in the real world." "I can't believe they showed the atheist as being such an idiot and so grumpy. I'm an atheist and I love to laugh." If they are made to an encourage Christians, then great. But if the messages are simply to make following God look like all your wishes will come true, then Disney has already done that with fairies and stars and it is simply putting God on the same level as make-believe, mythical creatures.

5. What Would God Want?

I realize that I have written some of my harshest opinions about these films. I am not asking anyone to agree with me. If anything I want to challenge Christian film-makers about their goals for their films.

If the Bible is true, then would God look at atheists as annoying jerks or would he treat them with kindness? Remember when He was dying on the cross in agony, He was not rude to those who believed to Him to be a fake. If the Bible is true, then does everything always turn out great for those who trust God? The Apostle Paul was stoned, imprisoned, bitten by a snake, dealt with disease. Yet, he still found joy in God. If the Bible is true, then God wants Christians to show love to those who do not believe in Him as well as respect.

I realize that I will probably offend many with this article. However, my goal is to encourage Christian writers, directors, and producers to not just create the films depicting what they may desire for the Christian walk to be like, but for them to produce how the Christian life really is.