Posted on 01/24/2006 7:51:17 AM PST by No Fool
I got spammed this morning by Jason Janz with some heroic epic about his own personal crusade to save the Christian world from the terrible threat of The End of the Spear - a movie on the redemption of the native tribe who killed the five missionaries including Jim Elliott and Nate Saint.
The movie had gotten a lot of good Christian press and seemed poised to do well at the box office.
Now Janz is demanding a boycott by us and an apology from the film's producers because of the terrible sin they committed of hiring a homosexual actor to play the part of Nate Saint.
I was rushing out the door this morning but sent this hasty email to the heretofore-unknown-to-me Mr. Jantz:
Jason -
Please consider that the best place for a gay activist to spend time would be surrounded by Christians. Who knows what long-term impact that may have on him, what seeds were being planted, what God will do with it?
I am all for building bridges. It's hard to make a monster of a group of people when there is open communication.
And among those Christians were probably at least a couple adulterers, porn addicts, and so on.
Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors. I think he would want us to not be afraid of associating with sinners. I think he would like it.
Just a few thoughts as I am dashing out to the Blogs4Life conference and the Right to Life March.
Barbara Curtis www.mommylife.net author of Reaching the Left from the Right (out 8/1/06 - my 7th book, but first one on politics)
When I got home there was no email from Mr. Jantz waiting for me. I checked out his website and found that he has made quite a name for himself with his crusade. Then checked around the blogosphere to find tons of Christians who'd jumped on his bandwagon - with hundreds of words, words, and more words.
This is so sad. I disagree with most everything I read, except my friend Molly's analysis. And not wanting to add to the avalanche of words already, I'll just leave it at what I said to Mr. Jantz, plus a few thoughts:
I can picture God saying to those who cast a homosexual in a Christian film: "Well done, my good and faithful servants." I think he would be very pleased. Honestly. I really, truly do.
I don't think he is pleased at the ranting and raving and gnashing of teeth of the sinners he has so graciously saved who find it so incredibly difficult to relate in a meaningful way with anyone not meeting up to their standards. I agree with those who've asked if we should boycott all products and stores owned by sinners. Should we quit our jobs if our bosses are sinners? We live in a fallen world. Get over it. Be kind and be grateful if you ever have an opportunity like the producers of End of the Spear had to live the Golden Rule and be a true witness to the God they are obviously serving, in the face of all this unwarranted condemnation by those who love to call themselves "Brothers and Sisters in Christ."
I'm sorry, but as someone who wasn't saved until the age of 38 - precisely because of the ridiculous mess Christians have made of Christianity, I do get a little riled up when I see this kind of stuff.
As to whether the content was overtly Christian "enough" for all the very talented and creative bloggers sitting back in judgment, I would beg to point out that the book of Esther never mentions God.
And finally, my memory verse this week:
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! James 2:12-13.
Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint, the martyred missionary Chad Allen plays in End of the Spear, thought long and hard about keeping Allen in the role when he found out he is gay. Steve Saint was closely involved with the making of the movie,
The story of how Allen was hired & how he came to be retained on the film is told in Christianity Today, at http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/news/chadallen.html
All you folks who are so hot to trot in condemning the movie maybe ought to read the article.
Steve Saint believes that God Himself, in a dream, told him to keep Allen in the movie:
<<[Steve] said he had been praying about it, and that God clearly revealed the answer in a dream.
In the dream, Saint says he was "being chased by a mob of Christians who were angry with me for having desecrated 'their story.' The answer to their hostility was easy: Just ask Chad to remove himself. But as quickly as this thought came to me, I found myself standing before God. His look was not as compassionate as I had expected. God said, 'Steve, you of all people should know that I love all of my children. With regard to Chad Allen, I went to great lengths to orchestrate an opportunity for him to see what it would be like for him to walk the trail that I marked for him. Why did you mess with my plans for him?'
"I was fully awake by the end of this sleepy mind play. I knew that there would be a price to pay for any position I would take on this issue, regardless of the fact that I had not wanted to be involved. I knew one thing for sure: I would rather face the anger and even hatred of people who feel I have let them down, than to take any chance of having to stand before my Savior and have to answer for messing up his plans for Chad." >>
It was interesting to me to discover, from the Christianity Today article, that Chad Allen is himself a Christian. He attends All Saints in Pasadena CA so all you really GOOD Christians in that area will of course want to go over there & picket the church to show your disapproval of their welcoming a gay man as a parishioner.
This movie, like most, has nothing to do with propagating the eternal truths of the Scriptures. So it is therefor a waste of time for anyone who is a Servant of the Lord. The movie is intended as entertainment for the worldly and faux Christians with nothing better to do.
A Christian's time and money would better be spent on spreading the Truths and Love of Christ, rather than being entertained by homosexuals and faux Christians.
For what it cost to go to one Hollywood movie a month, one can feed, clothe and educate a child in a third world country. That's the business of real Christians.
If you want entertainment you go to the heretic Rick Warren and his Saddleback church.
If you want Salvation you go to a Bible believing church who fears God and become a Servant of the Lord.
Just becasue someone calls themself a Chrstian does not make it so.
Love is not an emotion. It is not broadmindedness. It is not non-judgmentalism. It is not tolerance and non-critical acceptance. Biblical love is cautious and strict. It is based on knowledge and judgment from God's Word. It proves all things, and it approves only those things that are the will of God.
That is a common man-centered ecumenical view of Christ and His love. It makes a god out of human emotions. That is the sin of idolatry - God's second Commandment. And is the source of much of the apostasy present in the modern Evangelical church.
Was the Lord Jesus Christ unloving when He called Peter a devil (Matt. 16:23) or when he publicly condemned the Pharisees (Matthew 23)? Was Paul unloving when he rebuked Peter publicly for his compromise (Galatians 1)? Or when he named the name of false teachers and compromisers such as Hymenaeus and Alexander ten different times in the Pastoral Epistles? Or when he forbade women to preach or to usurp authority over men (1 Timothy 2)?
Love is crucial. The Bible says that without love "I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." The Bible tells us that God is love, and those who know God will reflect His love. And what is love? The ecumenical world is confused about love's definition. It must be defined biblically. "Love," to human thinking, is a warm emotion or a sensual romantic thought. "Love," to this ecumenical generation, is broadmindedness and non-judgmental acceptance of anyone who claims to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not what the Bible says about love. Consider the following Scriptures:
"Jesus answered and said unto him, IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23).
"And this I pray, that your LOVE MAY ABOUND YET MORE AND MORE IN KNOWLEDGE AND IN ALL JUDGMENT; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:9-10).
"For THIS IS THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3).
"And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us" (2 Thess. 3:4-6).
Biblical love is obedience to God and His Word. In the last passage cited above we see the love of God sandwiched between verses that emphasize obedience to God's commandments, including separation from disobedient brethren! Love is not a feeling. It is not blissful romanticism. For a woman to love her husband means she submits to and serves him according to the Bible. For a man to love his wife means he treats her in the way the Bible commands. For children to love their parents means they honor and obey their parents as the Bible commands. Emotions come and go and are exceedingly undependable; but love is obedience to God's Word.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
James Henley Thornwell, a staunch Old School Presbyterian preacher who fought against theological modernism in the 19th century. He was the sixth president of South Carolina College (today the University of South Carolina). He was weary with the compromised evangelicals of his day, who said they loved the truth but were soft in their stance and refused to withstand heresy boldly. Note his powerful words and his understanding of true biblical love:
"To employ soft words and honeyed phrases in discussing questions of everlasting importance; to deal with errors that strike at the foundations of all human hope as if they were harmless and venial mistakes; to bless where God disapproves, and to make apologies where He calls us to stand up like men and assert, though it may be the aptest method of securing popular applause in a sophistical age, is cruelty to man and treachery to Heaven. Those who on such subjects attach more importance to the rules of courtesy than they do to the measures of truth do not defend the citadel, but betray it into the hands of its enemies. Love for Christ, and for the souls for whom He died, will be the exact measure of our zeal in exposing the dangers by which men's souls are ensnared" (quoted in a sermon by George Sayles Bishop, author of The Doctrines of Grace and Kindred Themes, 1910).
"Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).
The Bible says: "Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
What one says or how one feels is of no significance. It is in the words and feelings of men that evil finds its fertile ground. What the Bible says is the Word of God and the absolute authority for a Servant of the Lord.
In His service, S4T.
Give me one large break. You destroy your message by commercializing it. You Out yourself.
BEGIN QUOTE
"Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
What one says or how one feels is of no significance. It is in the words and feelings of men that evil finds its fertile ground. What the Bible says is the Word of God and the absolute authority for a Servant of the Lord.
END QUOTE
Amen. Please show me where I have indicated otherwise
BTW-
Since it is in the words and feelings of men that evil finds its fertile ground; I'd like to point out that the only extra-Biblical man I have quoted is you. You on the other hand have quoted men to make your argument.
Will Wallace
You have not quoted the Word of God once. You tell us only about YOUR feelings and YOUR thoughts, as if your words were Gospel and you were Christ himself. This is idolatry - an offense against God's 2nd Commandment. Intentionally misrepresenting my posts is also the sin of bearing false witness - an offense against God's 9th Commandment. Are you so steeped in sin that you don't see how you are offending God? Are you truly a repentant sinner?
I have quoted the Word of God repeatedly, and one man of God. You quote only yourself. Who do you think you are fooling with YOUR words? God?
Paul said:
1 Cor 13:
4Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
5It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
This is the Word of God.
The guy who played the Flying Scotsman in Chariots of Fire was gay, too. But he did a d#$n fine job of playing a Christian athlete.
Allen is, however, hardly known to the public. Only if the matter is played up does not become an issue. It would be sad, of course, if he were to diss the film. Gays are unbalanced enough to do things like that, but he might try to parley it into more work.
>>> To minister to them, not to affirm their lifestyle.
Yes. Precisely. The other actors made a Christ-themed movie with this guy, they didn't gushingly rave about and affirm his lifestyle.
For once, a homosexual gets nonjudgemental treatment from Christians and lands a great role, does a really good job playing the part, and now all of these other Christians are wailing as if that's the most sacreligious thing that' they've ever heard of.
The ones who selected Chris for the part, didn't do so BECAUSE he is a homosexual, nor did they NOT do so for that reason. It appears -- as confounding as this may seem to the hyper-sensitive -- that the issue was entirely off the table and he got the role because of his acting ability. IMAGINE! An actor being given a part because -- he can ACT! Will miracles never cease!
Instead, you pervert one man's grace to another and make it into a detestable thing. Oh, mercy! Heaven forbid that a Christian ought to show an kindness to someone still in their sin.
I tell you, the homosexuals, the drug-addicted, the drunkards and the thugs are entering into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.
"Taking a step back, would you, if you were lost, understand the
missionaries motivation (sharing the Good News)?"
If the film wasn't honest about the whole story of the historical event,
that's a shame.
I was afraid that would occur with the dramatization about Dietrich
Bonhoeffer that aired on PBS in 2000...but was pleasantly shocked that
they showed Bonheoffer honestly and showed what really motivated him.
Movies like "End of The Spear" don't need struggle to avoid being "preachy"...
just telling what actually happened will be one of the best sermons
anyone will ever hear/see.
PBS no longer has the website for the 2000 Bonhoeffer show, but lists
the DVD here:
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=1762634
Here's a bonus TV headsup:
And while searching for the 2000 film, I stumbled across a preview page
for a documentary on Bonhoeffer that airs this next Monday (Feb. 6):
http://www.pbs.org/previews/bonhoeffer/
Well, well, well. Fred, is that you?
>>Oh, mercy! Heaven forbid that a Christian ought to show an kindness to someone still in their sin.<<
He's not *just* still in his sin. He's openly wallowing in it, and a loud activist for it. You make it sound like he's some innocent, humble waif of a victim - exactly the "victimhood" status the sodomites seek to perpetuate.
Showing Christian kindness to another means telling the truth. In this case, that a lifestyle dedicated to unrepentant sodomy is a one-way ticket to disaster. Silence is approval.
>>I tell you, the homosexuals, the drug-addicted, the drunkards and the thugs are entering into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.<<
My goodness. How...judgemental...of you!
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