Faces on Faith: Why is Hollywood Preaching?
Has anyone noticed what is happening at theaters this Spring?
I have never seen such a surge of films dealing with spiritual questions as we are witnessing right now. And they are taking on hard questions and while we may not agree with the conclusions they are drawing, they are least willing to talk about the questions.
We have Son of God, God’s Not Dead, Heaven is For Real and Noah flooding the theaters. Seems like each year around Easter time, there are a couple of Christian films that make their way to the theaters, but this year is unprecedented? So what is going on?
Well, it could be marketing. Folks are turning out for these films and all of them are making lots of money. But I think there is much more to it than that.
I believe there is a spiritual stirring. People are asking questions. My greatest concern is that people would believe that Hollywood has the answers. But I am grateful people are asking.
C.S. Lewis made it clear that what we believe about God, about the Bible, and especially about Jesus Christ, are the most important questions in life. He wrote in his book, Mere Christianity, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” People are asking difficult and important questions that have eternal ramifications.
I believe that deep down most people have this sense that there is more to this existence than some huge purposeless cosmic accident that will eventually fizzle out. Former agnostic, Josh McDowell concluded in his book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, that there is too much evidence that there is a Creator behind the creation who is purposeful in both design and destiny.
So my question is: are you asking the questions. And if so, who are you asking? And how are you asking? I’ve often asked questions with my answer running already. And too many times I’ve gone to the wrong source. The Bible has stood the test of intense scrutiny for centuries; how about starting there? And hey, Easter Sunday is just around the corner. How about checking out if there is anything to this talk about a resurrected Messiah? The worst question is the one that did not get asked.