Watching movies is not the same as the book

Article in the Waseca County News...

By CARY LARSON Guest columnist | Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2014 12:00 pm

I’m not proud of the fact that in college, in pursuit of my undergraduate degree, I often looked for ways to cut corners.

Long before the advent of the Internet, college students could purchase a particular booklet of notes if they wanted to know enough about a classical work of literature in order to write a term paper without the tedious task of reading the assigned work. However, by the time I was in college, movies on video tapes were available to rent and to my delight, someone had recently made a movie about a book I needed to write about. I watched the movie intensely and upon completion of the movie, inside of 2 hours, I thought I had enough to write my term paper. “This was far easier then reading for hours,” I thought. So I handing in my term paper on time, however, my efforts were not based on the book but really based on the movie adaptation of the book. Imagine my embarrassment when I got my paper back from the professor with a less then stellar grade and the comment, “This is a fair account of the movie adaptation, now try reading the original book as assigned.” I was caught in my laziness.

This spring will offer up to five movies with supposed biblical themes. Some boast to be the retelling of the stories in the Bible and others are inspired by biblical text. While these movies offer opportunity to discuss events recorded in the Bible and the Christian faith, they are not a replacement to reading the Holy Scriptures for your self as they are artistic forms of work and often will not bind themselves to the Biblical narrative.

The Bible clearly teaches that the words within the pages of the Bible are not a creation of man (2 Peter 1: 16 & 20) but inspired by the Holy Spirit (God breathed) and that there certainly is no “artistic license” to keep the reader engaged. The Holy Scriptures is trustworthy and true and is useful in teaching, to reprimand and correction, and for training for righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). And in matters of the Christian faith it is the standard to test everything that boasts to be of the faith (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

In other words, when anyone has anything to say about events recorded in the Bible, the understanding of the Christian faith or the expectations of things to come, whether it is in film or print, we are to compare whatever it is and the message presented to what the Bible has to say. If the story is different than what the Bible records, then it isn’t true and the Bible should be trusted first and foremost. Close enough doesn’t count.

Why is this important? Because the Bible issues some pretty important promises about God’s love and mercy and how through Jesus Christ’s death on Calvary’s cross redeemed sinners are saved from eternal death and through belief in the same Jesus Christ have the hope of a glorious resurrection like His. Words that offer such comfort don’t need artistic license or a need to change things up to be relevant. They need to be read and believed.

So if you desire to go to one of the spring’s movies with a biblical theme, enjoy it as any other movie you desire to attend. But don’t be lazy, “Try reading the book as assigned.”

Book of Standards

As a Boer Goat breeder, my family and I breed, select to keep and sell Boer Goat breeding stock that meet the breed characteristics as defined by the American Boer Goat Association (ABGA).  These breed characteristics are very specific to every visible detail of both male and female goats.  They even define specifically those things that are undesirable like blue eyes (yes, goats can have blue eyes), folded or twisted ears, poor mouth structure, poor mammillary features and even too much pink skin under the tail (the darker skin the better to minimize the risk of skin cancer) to name a few.

These defined breed characteristics are published as standards provided by the breed association.  Breeders and judges of Boer Goats are required to know and follow these “rules” if they want to function within the ABGA.  They are not defined by what a breeder likes in his goats, nor what a certain judge prefers.  They are standards that are set by an association that are external to the breeder and are above the opinions of a judge.

Many American Christians seem to be confused about God’s laws as listed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament laws can be broken down to 1) Ceremonial, 2) Civil and 3) Moral. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross due to humanity’s rebellion to God’s moral laws (Romans 5:8) and have redeemed all. Nonetheless, out of thankfulness, they attempt to still observe these moral laws.  Christians of all denominations believe they are freed from the burdens of God’s Law (Romans 10:4) and yet are obligated out of gratitude and love to follow the laws of morality (John 14:15), beginning with the Ten Commandments.

So with thanks to God, I can enjoy shrimp and bacon (civil law) and yet I am obliged not to steal these (moral law) from the local market, in spite of whatever reason that seems sound to me.

In my experience, if you talk about God’s law, the old progressive argument concerning slavery seems to surface. Here is my final answer:  There is no biblical requirement to enslave others. Nor is there a biblical penalty for releasing slaves. There are no biblical tenets that are based on the preservation of slavery. There is nothing in the Bible, that says slavery was good, right or just. What Holy Scriptures describes is freedom from slavery whether from Egypt, Babylon or from sin, death and the devil.   The Apostle Paul sends the slave Onesimus back to Philemon, out of obligation to human law but encourages Philemon to receive Onesimus as a “son” of Paul’s and as a brother in Christ (Philemon 1: 14-18). Basically calling for Onesimus’ freedom from bondage. So can we put this argument to bed once and for all?

Jesus is clear that Christians are to be IN the world and not OF it (John 17:14-15). So desiring society to transform the church is a little backwards. Christ’s church is tasked to transform the world in the proclamation of repentance and the forgiveness of sins through Christ alone (Luke 24:47).

The true church has always observed that the Holy Scriptures are “God breathed” and an external word that is the standard of all matters in life (2 Timothy 3:16). Our broken sinful nature seems to want to argue with the Creator of the universe crying, “Foul! That’s not fair!”  Yet, God anticipating such an outcry of worldly perspective says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8).

The Church is the bride of Christ Jesus and looks to Her Bridegroom for direction and redemption. God provides his Holy Word for the Church for such a purpose. Remember the only one recorded in Holy Scripture that said, “Did God really say…” was Satan (Genesis 3:1).