Story-telling and Christ
I was recently grieved in my spirit to learn that the Western church was going to use the latest Superman Movie as a form of outreach and as a foundation to teach their congregations. Of course this is not new; the following is just a sample list of movies that resulted in ensuing Bible studies:
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Evan Almighty
- Prince Caspian
- The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
- Bruce Almighty
- Harry Potter
It has always worried me that many professing western churches seem to have the need to compare Christ to something or someone that He is not, and the way of salvation to something that it is not. All this would appear to be done to try and make the message of salvation more appealing, acceptable or cool.
Comparing Christ to anyone other than Himself does one of two things; either it elevates the person being compared to that of God or brings God down to the level of him with whom He is being compared. Furthermore any comparison will be extremely weak at its very best. Take the superman comparison for example. While Christ was, and is, our redeemer and the Saviour of the world, He was not vested with any superpowers when He did this, infact he "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:7-9); while God, as Christ He was fully man, " in all points tempted like as we are" (Hebrews 4:15).
If we need more examples than Christ, then the Scripture is full of many God Inspired accounts of Godly Heroes of the faith, and if these seem disconnected from our current experiences then a simple read of current and historical Christian events will produce more. Surely if we want to build our faith we need to tap into the true source for this i.e. the True Root, and allow the Holy Ghost to do His work.
As far as reaching the lost goes, there is only one name by which we can be saved, and His name is Jesus (Acts 4:12) and there is only one person who can convict of sin, righteousness and judgement to come, the Holy Ghost (John 16:8). As Paul puts it, it is only through the foolishness of preaching that man is saved (1 Corinthians 1:21). To put things very succinctly, the issue for mankind is sin and because of our sin we (without Christ) have no access to a Holy God. If the initial message addressing this issue is wrong then there will be no acknowledged need or search for salvation. In short man will not call on the Lord and be saved (Romans 10:!3).
Back to story-telling. When Christ told stories they were either true, real stories or parables. As for the parables, they related to events that reflected real, every day life. Stories like superman are not only impossible they take our eyes of our True Saviour and Redeemer. Christ is not my Hero (a man, who is admired for courage or noble qualities) but rather He's my Saviour (deliverer; preserver) and Redeemer (one who liberates; releases a captive) i.e. He is a lot more precious and amazing than a fictitious character in fact I would go as far as saying comparing Him to such is not only offensive but blasphemous.
I am not saying that one should not watch the film (although based on what I have heard, I am not going to), but what I am certain about is that when it comes to instructing people in the things of the Lord, let's stick with the power and truth of His word; and this is even more true when it comes to reaching the lost.