“Film and Theology” was a monthly staple of Mars Hill Church for more than five years, and a groundbreaking endeavor for ministries like Cinemagogue and other culturally engaging church activity. After the shift of Mars Hill Church to a multi-campus setting, Film and Theology had to reinvent itself for the next season, appearing sporadically at multiple campuses. Taking the role of Wedgwood Campus Pastor, Film and Theology has now found a home at this campus and local aficianados of Cinemagogue can join us monthly to watch a film and explore it’s narrative themes practically and spiritually.

To inaugurate the space, all are welcome to join us in November for the free inaugural Film and Theology event at the Wedgwood Campus. Served up first will be the movie that reminded us of one of the few reasons we endured the 80s. Watch Transformers, and stay to explore why giant robots from outer space have now captivated multiple generations, with a story about being awakened to a larger world and a cosmic conflict so much larger than our daily lives. The film is PG-13.

Why Film and Theology, you ask? Borrowing an archived interview I did with the Vox Pop, here’s a quick guide to the ministry for those who may be checkin it out for the first time.

VP: How did you get involved with Film & Theology?
PJH: Before I was a Christian, movies were my idols.well, movies, television, comic books, all of it. I was a media whore. I actually had that nickname in college. I loved story, I loved heroes, and I was immersed. Each grand narrative was like a little baptism, each film was like two hours of salvation from this meaningless existence under the sun.

When I met Jesus, I realized that he was the very real hero of a very true story, and that he embodied all the good qualities in the heroes and stories I was immersed in. I got baptized and started worshipping Jesus because he was not fantasy he was reality, and the one I wanted to be immersed in and live for.

VP: Wait.it sounds like you’re painting movies and media as sinful pursuits, yet you’re the one hosting them for Mars Hill Church.
PJH: What I’m saying is that turning to this stuff as your comfort (or escape), apart from relationship with Christ, is idolatrous. That’s the intent and condition of one’s heart. The form of media or even its content is not inherently sinful. Entertainment is not evil. Even Webster’s definition defines two postures toward entertainment: one is “diversion” and the other is “engagement”. At Mars Hill Church, we believe that Christians should engage life with discernment, and this means both the people they talk to as well as the media they consume. To allow movies and video games and other things to serve as diversion seems at odds with what we profess about joy and hope and satisfaction in this life though Jesus Christ.

VP: So what place do fiction novels, television, movies, video games and media have in the Christian life?
PJH: They can certainly entertain us, given a godly perspective. God is the Creator, and part of being made in His image and likeness bears itself out in our creativity. Even people who don’t love Jesus can craft an engaging tale that captures love and life and art and passion and depicts aspects of the depraved and heroic. A talented film director may not know Jesus, but can still communicate a message that is powerful and has kernels of truth and wisdom.

VP: So Christians are free to enjoy “secular” art and music and film without it being just a “guilty pleasure”?
PJH: Depending on the motives of their heart, absolutely. Sadly, I think on the average day most Christians who consume popular culture either feel it’s something sneaky they do apart from their faith, or they see no connection at all between the plasma screen and their walk with Jesus. At Mars Hill Church, we call Christians to mature in their faith and engage their culture biblically. We take seriously the apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthian church when he tells them that “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” With the right heart, you can watch Office Space to the glory of God.

VP: So you’re drinking that coffee to the glory of God?
PJH: (raising his mermaid-stamped paper cup) Amen. And by the grace of God I’m not a zombie the rest of the day.

VP: Speaking of Office Space, I bet a lot of evangelical Christianity would declare it unfit for viewing, due to the R rating.
PJH: Now we’re getting to the real questions. Again, it comes down to intent. If a Christian is watching it for selfish indulgence, disconnected from what should be a lifelong walk with Jesus, something is indeed amiss. However, most of the language in Office Space mirrors the language of most peoples’ co-workers, neighbors, and likely friends and acquaintances they have that don’t share the faith that Christians hold as central to our lives.

What usually happens in evangelical circles is that the Christians shun the popular media because of its content, and concurrently cut themselves off from co-workers and neighbors as a result. Not only do they disconnect from water cooler conversations because they don’t know the culture or have any conversational connection, it even becomes “logical” that, if you don’t want to be surrounded by fictional characters that are rude and vulgar and blasphemous, you don’t want to engage them in real life. Suddenly evangelical Christianity has ceased evangelism because of logic, instead of being biblical and missional like the apostle Paul, not to mention Jesus. The dysfunctional characters in Office Space are the type of people Jesus went and had dinner with.

VP: So what about horror movies?
PJH: First of all, I’m hard pressed to find any story as violent and gory as our Bible. Not only did Jesus’ crucifixion earn an R-rating, you look at stories of murder, disembowelment, decapitation in the Old Testament scriptures and it’s NC-17. We’ve become pretty disaffected by the written word in American culture, but in the olden days, before big screen televisions, people would swoon and hurl at the reading of such grotesquerie.

That said, we can’t dismiss horror as a genre any more than we can dismiss comedy. There might be a wealth of garbage in the horror realm, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any nuggets. Being scared isn’t inherently sinful. A movie that depicts violent and scary things can be a good reminder that such things exist in the world.

Horror is also one of the few genres that consistently wrestles with life after death, demons, and even God a conversation Hollywood almost entirely avoids in other genres. A movie like Final Destination can prompt a discussion about mortality and fate. A movie like The Exorcist can shake the atheist who, despite a vociferous outcry that God doesn’t exist, knows deep down in a rebellious heart that not only does God exist, but that there are demons afoot as well that he or she is susceptible to. The more recent horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose was actually written by Christian writer/director Scott Derrickson with this in mind.

VP: That makes sense, but can’t people just use this as an excuse to watch garbage?
PJH: Of course. Some Christians will wave a few verses about their freedom in Christ and that “everything is permissible” so they can watch junk to their wicked heart’s content. Others will go even further, declaring themselves missionaries like the apostle Paul in Athens, examining the idols and art of the culture in order to contextualize the gospel message (Acts 17). It’s the modus operandi of Mars Hill Church, but some will abuse this idea to justify watching every chainsaw massacre or a film like Showgirls.

VP: Showgirls. Good point. So what about sex in film and television?
PJH: That’s something we always approach with more caution than language and violence, particularly in film. To depict a character particularly a villain cursing God or joking coarsely is exactly that a depiction. Al Pacino’s vile rage against God in The Devil’s Advocate is particularly poignant. He’s playing Satan, and it’s exactly what I’d expect Satan to say. The carnage we see in Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart is fake blood and special effects; it’s the depiction of violence, not reality.

However, when a woman gets naked in a film and reveals things to which only her husband should be privy, she’s really nude. That demands extreme caution. Still, some sexually provocative shows evince some telling narrative about our culture. FX’s line-up is scandalous, yet shows like Nip/Tuck present some fascinating conversation about morality and hedonism. One doctor is a secular moralist, yet always finds himself compromised as a hypocrite and secretly craving the uninhibited freedom of his hedonistic partner, who enjoys most earthly pleasures but finds no lasting satisfaction. Ironically enough, the latter actually covets the wife and family of the former. Both philosophies fail, as they orbit each other with no spiritual foundation in an inevitable downward spiral.

VP: So. where is the line? How do we know what’s acceptable to watch and what isn’t? What is safe for Christians to watch?
PJH: That’s the real difficulty. It would be easy to say “no R movies” or “no nudity”; it’s always easier to create blanket rules instead of relationships. The reality is that not all Christians are equally mature and strong in the same areas. What media and culture Christians should engage (or avoid) depends where their strength and maturity, which is often indicated by how they have sinned in the past, how they have been violated in the past, and how God has now called them to be light and salt in the community.

For example, someone recently delivered from sexual addiction probably should steer clear of anything even remotely steamy for a good long while. They probably shouldn’t even read “The Song of Songs” in their Bible. Likewise, someone who has truly experienced demonic oppression may have no need to view The Exorcist because they can speak from experience.

The point of Film and Theology, and other Mars Hill teachings, is not to force people into places they’re not prepared for. We want people to challenge themselves and question some of the assumptions of mainstream Christian culture, but not to step onto a battlefield they are ill-equipped for. We also want people to be in solid Christian community so that while they’re engaging culture they have spiritual brothers and sisters to help them filter and discern their boundaries.

As for what is “safe” to watch? Nothing is safe to watch. It disturbs me when Christians follow FCC and MPAA guidelines and just assume and consume without discernment. Disney films have terrible philosophy and theology. Some of the “family” films out there contain the most subversive content because they are 95 percent wholesome with a subtle twist. This has always been Satan’s most popular tactic.

As a Christian, everything I watch makes me uncomfortable on some level, and it should; something’s wrong if it doesn’t. Even my Bible makes me uncomfortable in places, because I read about sinners who hurt each other and murderers and rapists and people who rebel against God and don’t love Jesus or their neighbor. Many times it makes me uncomfortable because it surfaces similar sinful attitudes in me that I need to repent from. For the Christian, engaging film and media should be much the same way, only with even more discernment because it’s not perfect, like Scripture.

Sometimes movies evoke warm feelings around something sinful, and conversely paint a godly precept as wrong or hurtful. On the flipside, there are comforting moments in film and other narrative mediums where people grasp hold of a godly principle or simply recognize the imago Dei in their fellow man by depicting acts of kindness and mercy.

And most times storytellers are aping true stories from the Bible, consciously or unconsciously. There are a lot of modern fairy tales that rip off Ruth, for instance, and a lot of underdog hero stories patterned after David and Goliath.

VP: Heh. A lot of critics complain Hollywood is out of new ideas.
PJH: Solomon pegged it in Ecclesiastes when he said there was “nothing new under the sun.” In fact, most stories fall into one of two major categories, simply with different window dressing: life under the sun or life beyond the sun. Movies like Citizen Kane, American Beauty, Crash, and Syriana depict how cyclical and lamentable and hopeless life seems. There is no escape, no ascent, and no transcendence. We face the daily grind, accumulating pain, regret, and eventually death.

Then there are heroic films like Batman Begins, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, etc. that depict a protagonist, hero, savior someone inspiring who rises up and challenges the story’s antagonist(s) and either sacrifices himself for others, or at least demonstrates the willingness to do so.

The first type of film typifies the hopelessness of the human condition, while the second mimics or gropes at a distorted view of the world’s real savior in Jesus Christ. One depicts our hopelessness without a savior, the other grasps at the hope for that redeemer; either of these can preach pretty easily.

VP: That makes doing Film and Theology sound pretty simple.
PJH: I’m not a genius; it does get more complicated than that. But with a firm foundation in Scripture, spiritual discipline, and godly maturity, every Christian can engage film and media in this way. Paul wrote in his letter to Titus, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” I just thank God that He saved me from idols that didn’t satisfy, and then equipped me to turn and use those same things to train Christians and preach the gospel. I’m a big fan of sarcasm and irony, and that’s pretty ironic.