In Entertainment Weekly, Tom Hanks said this about The Da Vinci Code:
"I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job. You know, if they put up a sign saying, 'This Wednesday we're discussing the gospel,' 12 people show up. But if the sign says, 'This Wednesday we're discussing The Da Vinci Code,' 800 people show up."
I have some conflicting reactions to Hanks here. First of all, I agree. This movie is not a threat to the church but an open door. To react with only fear and protest and anger is to miss the point that God can use anything. Here we have a major movie getting people to think about Jesus. That's a good thing, right? Instead of boycotting it, go with your friends. That way, when they have questions about the real Jesus and the biblical Truth, you're there. I know I'll end up seeing it.
I also agree with Hanks that using culture and media to teach the Bible is a key way to pull people in and reach them. I do this with my youth all the time. I'll use football analogies to talk about God's plan. I'll use X-Men to talk about the gifts of the church. Most of the articles I write use the movies to talk about heaven & hell, free will, happy endings and other messages. I hope churches do have open-to-the-community discussions about the film. I hope we do use this to get conversations started.
What I have a hard time with is Hanks' numbers. 12 people to talk about the Gospel? 800 to talk about the movie? A 788-person difference? I wonder if what bothers me is a) Hank's pretentiousness about his own movie's draw or b) that he's right. More would come with the second sign. How are we in a societal place where the name of a movie would pull in many more people to the church than the name of Jesus itself? And is that a bad thing? Does that mean that Hollywood and culture are more relevant to each person's life than the church? Or does it simply mean that we as a church can grow in our ability to use the culture around us to show how relevant to a daily life we really are?
"I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job. You know, if they put up a sign saying, 'This Wednesday we're discussing the gospel,' 12 people show up. But if the sign says, 'This Wednesday we're discussing The Da Vinci Code,' 800 people show up."
I have some conflicting reactions to Hanks here. First of all, I agree. This movie is not a threat to the church but an open door. To react with only fear and protest and anger is to miss the point that God can use anything. Here we have a major movie getting people to think about Jesus. That's a good thing, right? Instead of boycotting it, go with your friends. That way, when they have questions about the real Jesus and the biblical Truth, you're there. I know I'll end up seeing it.
I also agree with Hanks that using culture and media to teach the Bible is a key way to pull people in and reach them. I do this with my youth all the time. I'll use football analogies to talk about God's plan. I'll use X-Men to talk about the gifts of the church. Most of the articles I write use the movies to talk about heaven & hell, free will, happy endings and other messages. I hope churches do have open-to-the-community discussions about the film. I hope we do use this to get conversations started.
What I have a hard time with is Hanks' numbers. 12 people to talk about the Gospel? 800 to talk about the movie? A 788-person difference? I wonder if what bothers me is a) Hank's pretentiousness about his own movie's draw or b) that he's right. More would come with the second sign. How are we in a societal place where the name of a movie would pull in many more people to the church than the name of Jesus itself? And is that a bad thing? Does that mean that Hollywood and culture are more relevant to each person's life than the church? Or does it simply mean that we as a church can grow in our ability to use the culture around us to show how relevant to a daily life we really are?
2 comments:
I think Hanks was just trying to illustrate the interest in the topic with two random numbers rather than trying to "insult" the magnitude of the Gospels; I think there's little need to take him literally.
And yes, I'll probably go watch it, despite all the Christian (especially Catholic) squawk against it.
Haha. I did not mean at all to suggest that Hanks WAS insulting the magnitude of the Gospels. Or using anything but random numbers. I didn't make either of those assumptions. Nor did I in anyway take him literally. Instead, I was using the quote to think through exactly what you said: The interest in the two topics. I thought his quote provided an interesting discussion starter because I find truth in it.
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