Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in You, my God! Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord Point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You. Remember O Lord your unfailing love and compassion which you have shown from long ages past. Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth…Archive for Christianity
Fireproof, a “porn version of Christianity”?
This is a followup to my marriage, viewpoint from 6 years post specifically the part about the Fireproof movie. I got a comment back from one person over why he objects to the movie so I thought it would be good to go out around online and find some reviews.
I wrote this post wondering what you my online community think about this movie regardless if you’ve seen it or not.
My thoughts? Here you go for some reviews I found:
But in making evangelism—and acceptability to the most insular Christian audiences—a priority, Christianese films all but guarantee artistic failure. Art demands an honesty that the evangelical bubble would find intolerable. Committed to promoting an unambiguous message that God solves all problems, Fireproof never portrays Christians doing anything untoward, or even experiencing any sorrow. Caleb’s parents’ marital struggles pre-dated their Christianity. When Caleb’s best friend reveals that he divorced his first wife, he not only says it was before he found the Lord, but adds that after he did, he would have gotten back together with his ex had she not already remarried. In the perfect world of Fireproof, good Christians do not have bad marriages, any more than they drink, gamble or swear.
Indeed, it’s possible Fireproof is so obsessed with stamping out pornography because it recognizes the competition. Fireproof is a porn version of Christianity—a ludicrously contorted, heavily airbrushed fantasy of the real thing, and ultimately every bit as unsatisfying.
I kind-of agree about “light-infused settings when you pray”, but contorted and heavily-airbrushed fantasy of the real thing? And ultimately unsatisfying? Of course it isn’t going to be the same as real life – it’s media, it’s a movie. With that said, it does play into certain stereotypes that after you become a Christian, life is perfect – which isn’t the case. We do experience “sorrow”, have bad marriages, etc., etc. I personally can vouch for some of those situations in the movie in my marriage both before and after my salvation. But the point I took out of it isn’t that but that if there is something greater than you and your spouse in your view of life, then ultimately you will become disappointed with your spouse and I expect would want to give up. Look they will fail, we will fail. It WILL happen. But what will you do is the question.
“Fireproof” may not be the most profound movie ever made, but it does have its commendable elements, including that rarest of creatures on the big (or small) screen: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don’t sound crazy.
Only at the end do the filmmakers get heavy-handed, and they seem not to know when to wrap up, letting the movie run on for several smarmy scenes beyond its natural endpoint. Until then, though, this is a decent attempt to combine faith and storytelling that will certainly register with its target audience.
And maybe with other folks as well: among those caring-for-marriage tips are some that anyone could use to improve any type of relationship, with or without the God part.
I pretty much agree with this review, especially the ending – some of those scenes really play into the stereotype that life is perfect when a significant amount of people that do or do not believe in Jesus Christ or God struggle with in searching for happiness. We are all not shiny happy people. Seriously.
What makes this movie great is, hands down,… the story. Yes it could get very preachy at times but can you blame it?! It’s a Christian based movie, for pete’s sake. If you don’t wanna watch it then go watch something else but you sure as hell are missing out.
A great movie for couples and also great lesson for singles. Both the husband and the wife are so caught up in their own separate world of work and other hobby that they forget how to treat one another with the utmost affirmation, respect, and love. It’s not about feeling, it’s about willing to do just about anything for the one we love even when we get rejected over and over again. It’s persistence, knowing that it will pay off in the end. If there’s one chick flick you’re going to see this year, let it be FIREPROOF.
This was the basic concept I had going into the movie and still agree with.
But they’re working where there’s a need, engaging essential issues and connecting with audiences at a deeply personal level. Any critic that camps out on the film’s flaws, without appreciating the value of taking on these important themes, will miss the point.
For a generation scarred by divorce, but hopeful they can make their own marriages work, Fireproof provides much needed modeling of what it takes. Many 20-somethings readily admit that without seeing commitment honored in their own homes, they’re not sure what to do differently — especially when things get difficult. If you’re wondering how you can make your marriage (or future marriage) work, seeing Fireproof is a good place to start.
I am a 20-something (but barely at 29) and do readily admit that I have come into my marriage with barely a clue at all. Scarred by divorce is an understatement; the default IS divorce but who shows the alternative? We’ve been in a marriage group for this reason and one reason why I dig Peace in the Home. Yes I know there are books out there, but visually seeing this stuff is a good thing, especially when your wife digs movies over books.
These are temptations faced by Christian and non-Christian couples alike, but the filmmakers hedge their bets by making the young marrieds agnostic at the start of the movie, in order to turn Fireproof into a manual for eternal as well as marital salvation. (”I’m in!” Cameron announces to a spiritually mentoring firefighter pal.) You probably can’t blame pastors moonlighting as moviemakers for wanting to pack their film with multiple messages, but the conversion subplot feels shoehorned into the more crucial marital doings, as if coming to Jesus might be just one of a long checklist of steps to restore sizzle to your marriage, right between buying roses and preparing a candlelit dinner.
I see what they mean about feeling shoehorned and I really don’t like that people can easily see salvation as a “checkbox” on a list for fixing your marriage (especially since I’m a guy and all about lists) like this. It HAS to be about the relationship and not the things you do, but this is one of those concepts I really struggle in illustrating much less explaining…
Fireproof is better than its devout, intrusive, overly-religious plot might first indicate. Kirk Cameron comes off as a realistic and grounded firefighter. His wife has more depth and more of a storyline than your average throwaway female character, and the cinematography is on par with the majority of Hollywood dramas. There’s even a pleasant little recurring gag with Caleb’s neighbors, but by and large, Fireproof fails because of its own obtrusive agenda. What Michael Moore is to leftist chicanery, this film is to conservative cockamamie. And, sadly, it doesn’t even care how awkward it comes off or how much it must manipulate its own plot to achieve its eternal salvation.
I suspect most people who will see this movie also already have their afterlife planned out. Regrettably for them, Fireproof is unlikely to convert many heathens. As much as it tries to make Christianity look like the bees’ knees, I’m confident in saying the majority of atheists won’t rethink their lives after seeing Kirk Cameron take a baseball bat to his filthy, porn-loving computer. Then again, before 1990, I wouldn’t have predicted Mike Seaver would spend his life jerking off to an invisible superhero. I guess not everything is Fireproof.
The reviewer really came across as having a bone to pick here (especially when I looked further at the reviewer) – but you’ll have to read the entire thing. It seemed to me that he really didn’t see any value whatsoever to this topic, and just totally missed the point.
the age of less
[via Daniel's Pilgrimage]. I like this… really like this –> the Age of Less (part 1, part 2, and part 3) from Organic Jesus. Concept is something like this – the age of prosperity will decline and soon and our cultural habits will have to change. The consumer culture I really feel we can live without – let’s truly enjoy the things we have and share what we don’t really have such a big need to hold onto (and I think that we have a lot of that). So what will that mean? Less of everything – I think that the concept is that costs will rise for everything – and due to that, we all just won’t be able to buy as much. Furniture. Cars. Food. Clothing. you name it – they really tie a lot of it to the cost of oil continuing to rise and that so many industries are so dependent on it and will have to bear the costs which means we will bear the costs as well. (Side note – I think back to when I started programming – and I recall printing my code and scrutinizing it that way and wonder if we would ever have to regulate computer usage and do stuff like that ever again… ).
What Organic Jesus specifically digs into is how will Christianity adapt to this ‘age of less’.
Imagine us not being able to afford as much as we do – and let’s say can’t drive nearly as much as we can, much less afford food as much. What will that mean? It’s kind-of like thinking the whole world goes third-world (in today’s standards). Seems a little bit apocalyptic a bit and I’m not sure if it really is worth all the time and effort to dwell on it that much, but it makes at least for me some pretty interesting thinking.
Currently we have all kinds of options given we can really drive anywhere fairly closely – including finding a church where everyone is completely like us. But what if couldn’t? I’d tend to believe that house churches would flourish big time and possibly the church as we usually consider it might act in some sort of facilitative way. I was just turned on to this concept at my church – that they want to grow big (those attending on Sunday – no surprise) as well as small (adding small groups and having everyone be part of them as well). The celebration being the Sunday thing and the caring being the small group thing. That would be interesting. What if there were no denominations (or maybe there still would be, but we’d have less choice to choose them unless they were very close).
Take a read – really interesting thoughts there.
their hearts are far from me…
“The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
Isaiah 29:13
I think this really fits into the recent post about what I like about my church; except this would be something that I don’t like about church sometimes… Apparently this audio isn’t available from the church’s site anywhere – only Kamen has it! So go there and listen to it here (or directly at NewSpring Church’s resources page here). “We can fake it until we make it as Christians… but if the condition of our heart is not right it can prove fatal for our spirituality.”
He goes and strips out of the extra stuff of religion to just Jesus. Let’s not forget what really bothered Jesus – the Pharisees – the guys who had scripture memorized among many other things, but I believe the main thing – was their heart. They followed the innumerable rules, but didn’t follow God with their heart. Great stuff. Perry also has a blog here…
UPDATE: Via Church for Men Florida – check this out about Why I Hate Religion… it completely relates.
RELEVANT articles about the poor and the homeless
Another post I wrote linked to a RELEVANT Magazine article, which got me subscribed to their feed. A lot of great stuff. I wanted to specifically link to two:
What if the Church decided to take back the responsibility of social relief from the government? What if entire congregations of able-bodied men and women took the place of organizations and government programming and actually “became” the hands and feet of Jesus? What if we began learning the holistic ministry of Christ, reaching people through the tangible and the spiritual? What if we were the first group to arrive and the last group to leave any area where there is pain, destruction and brokenness? What if the need for various programs and outreaches become non-existent because ministering to the poor and broken around us became as much a part of our daily life as eating, sleeping and breathing?
Some of what was written in this article was exactly why I went down to Monroe Park… noticing that there are clothes and jackets and shoes that I seriously haven’t used in over a year!
The Homeless Evangelist
I have no idea what I’m going to do from day to day. Some nights I’m sleeping on the streets with the homeless simply because I don’t want to leave, and other nights I’m sleeping on the floor inside a million dollar mansion trying to convey the compassion of Christ to a confused businessman I may have met on the streets. I just wake up and go wherever He leads me. Its like Mary told the servants at that party in Cana, “Whatever He tells you to do, DO IT”.
My best suggestion is just go. It’s the last command we got from Jesus. He will make very clear the path that you should take. Talk to a homeless person. Sleep in the cold one night you find yourself complaining. Do something impractical, uncomfortable. By all means, if your church has a community outreach, get involved, but don’t limit the compassion of Christ to a once a month paper bag feed. Stick around long enough to find out names, stories and needs.
I don’t know what to say – but wow. Really listening to God and doing it. I don’t see how I can do exactly what he is doing (in particular since I have a family), but given whatever our situation is, I just love his suggest to “just go”. Open your eyes to God and follow what God is telling you to do. I’m not sure at all where He may be leading me but I’m going to try to just go and follow where He leads me. And next time, I’m bringing some friends from church and some stuff that others have (well, I should say hopefully still are making available since I haven’t picked it up yet!home) donated 
Compassion
That may not bring you tears if you’re a guy like me, but it sure should shake your heart/soul. If you’re like me now after watching it, consider going to Compassion International and sponsoring a child. I really never have thought about it that much, until now.
(Hat Tip: Kat)
