I want MORE R Rated Christian Films
Posted by: stuartdelony in Blogroll, Christianity, christian films, christian movies, facing the giants, films, g rated, general, life, movies, r rated, real, religion, spirituality
I watched the Christian Movie “Facing the Giants” last night and this question came to mind:
If our lives as Christians are rated R,
then why do Christian movies depict them as rated G?
I’m absolutely serious on this. It was a good wholesome movie (decently well made), but it just didn’t seem realistic. The message: if you trust in God everything will work out in you favor. I think that this is the exact message that we try to portray to the onlooking world. If you have Jesus then life is easy. From my experience, that couldn’t be more UNTRUE.
As Christians we whitewash the reality of our lives into some sort of fake sappy happiness. The non-believers see this and say that Jesus [and believing in Him] isn’t real either. That’s why Christianity seem pointless to the world. We come off looking brainwashed to be happy. Am I saying that there isn’t a joy in living for Christ? No. I’m just saying that life is hard and Jesus makes it bearable. Without Him there is no hope. But Jesus isn’t some magic pill. He’s not the new anti-depressant that we take to make our problems go away. He’s the Savior to an hurt and broken world.
I know I live in an R rated world. I work with R rated kids. I would actually like to see a movie that shows a real Christian walking out his faith in the real world in a real way.
[Note:I'm not advocating sex, violence and profanity, but look at the Bible - it's completely R rated! The first Christian movie that actually seemed real to me was The Passion. It depicted Jesus's last hours in a realistic manner that years of Sunday school had tried to whitewash out. Look at 300. Hordes of people went to go see it. It was real and raw. People connect with that because in some way their lives feel that way. Read the story of Gideon and his 300 warriors (Judges 7). It's equally violent and God was involved in it!
All I'm trying to say is that Christian movies don't need simply inject sex or violence (like Hollywood does), they just need to tell real stories in real ways - and often times that won't get you a G rating.]
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Amen! I totally agree. I was going to ask you if you ever read Mike Yaconelli, but I see that you are reading a book by Mark (is that his brother?) Yaconelli, so I assume that you probably have. I’m reading Dangerous Wonder with my lifegroup at church and this goes right along with what he has to say.
You’re right, life is R rated. And sometimes it takes the hard truth to get peoples attention. Christian movies are not realistic to the society we live in!
Truth!
Perhaps this pie-in-the-sky image of Christianity that Christians have felt the need to promote and project is why our culture has stereotyped Christians as being simple-minded and brain-washed and dim-witted. Maybe that’s a stereotype of our own indirect making.
I think so many Christians feel the need to defend God or project a certain image so He won’t look bad. You know? As if He needs us to do that for Him.
Being real and transparent and loving Him and clinging to Him when life does get R-rated and difficult . . . that sincerity and genuineness is going to go a whole lot farther in speaking to people than putting on the G-rated, simple, perfect Christian mask and faking it.
great post..very well thought out. Hey..pray for me and some others from my chruch. We are going to a conference this weekend. It’s for people who are feeling like they have been called to ministy..pray we can all get something out of it. Brent is going as well. Thanks Stuart!
-Brian
DInG DInG DInG DinG!!!
Give that man a prize! You are so on the right rack with this one…life is gritty and sometimes grimy, and most of the time we(Christians) do come off as if we live in some sort of make believe world where nobody passes gas or sings off key are does anything wrong. The stories in the Bible reveal both the good and the bad that is found in people and as Christians we shouldn’t try to hide it or make it pretty…and you are right…the stories in the Old Testament alone are definetly rated R stories about incest, murder, rape, terrorism…and the list goes on…thanks for posting this one
ha ha yes prof we christians don’t fart
and I’ll be praying for ya brian!
STUART!!! YOUR THINKING IS JUST AWESOME!
Amen!!
In my opinion, one of the reasons books (and movies) like Harry Potter have done so well is they take on complicated moral issues and let them be messy. Sometimes in living a faithful and moral life, we find there are no easy answers. Somtimes every choice we have will leave somebody hurting. And we have to deal with that. That is life. It’s messy. But what a joy to find God in the midst of the chaos.
Too bad TV shows like “Joan of Arcadia” don’t last long on TV.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Totally agreed. I jaw-dropped a few people in my church back in January when I said - at the beginning of a sermon - it’s time we Jesus-followers stop living in a candy-coated, sugar-sweet, bumper-sticker, K-Love utopia and get real with people and real with the world.
Keep up the thinking!
I recently wavered over whether or not to include an illustration in my sermon referencing the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” since I could see some folks wondering why I’m recommending a movie which is chock full of profanity and sexual discussions (It was, by the way, my favorite movie from last year). Ultimately, I decided to use it and to talk about they way it shows the reality of being a family with all of its ups and downs. Several people went right out and rented the movie and thanked me for the recommendation.
ha ha that’s awesome
I’ve long thought that “The Story of Us” is a movie every married couple or thinking-about-getting-married couple should watch and discuss. It’s definitely not G-rated, and it’s not sweet and sentimental. It’s painful. It’s real.
You’re absolutely right. There have been many movies I’d recommend to give folks a perspective or as a cautionary tale, but often times it seems to PG-13 or Rish for churchy circles.
You make an excellent point! As Christians, life is not a bed of roses and we should let people know the whole truth as there will be times of joy and times of pain and suffering; however, all of these times have a purpose in growing us. Is it a perfect life, definitely not, but I am glad to have hope in Christ while I go through it than in nothing.
Dude, you mean health, wealth and prosperity really isn’t the way? I thought our Path was a yellow brick road.
Kudo’s dude.
Sometimes life absolutely sucks. Bad, like, real bad.
But then I’d rather go through sucky life with Jesus than just by myself.
Word!
mark jr.
I agree man
Kingdom Of Heaven, The Name of the Rose?(not sure if it’s christian or just religiuos), the order (think that one is catholic though), but there are a few out there. but the point most christian movies try to make is that if you live good with faith the outcome will be good.
[...] I want more R rated Christian Films [...]
You know sometimes people like yourself come along and give us hope. People are still preaching Happy happy joy joy all the time and if you are not then something must be wrong, and for the most part living for Jesus is very difficult. I agree with your article and find release in knowing that their are Christians that are real and not feeling that they have to put on some kind of pretense to draw the unsaved. Real is better, real is best, anything else is a lie and the world sees right through it. I think people seeing you go through struggles even though you don’t have a wide mouthed smile but see your dedication of your devotion to our sweet Lord Jesus Christ, this glorifies our risen Savior. Jesus is real and He gives hope, strength and the eternal reward of His presence.
Rick
I agree sometimes to get a message out that poeple will feel, it has to be REAL!!!!!!!! so we can see it realize it and want to make changes!!!!!!Peace…