Feeling Better.......

But not 100% yet. Makes it hard to concentrate. We've watched a lot of things letely. Before getting to movies, here's what's going on in my world. My oldest child has an ear infection :s. Not that it's got her down or anything. She won her schools spelling bee a couple weeks ago, and will be competing in the area bee February 7. I've finally finished a quilt I've been working on for around 7 months - YAY! Been playing a bit of Guild Wars (which is REALLY aggravating my son, because he wants me to play Age of Empires III so he can watch). And what I've been reading is a group of romance novels (yeah, I know, don't go there :P) revolving around a Navy Seals team. And my Bible, of course. Currently reading Jeremiah and Acts. And my house? Well, it is no where NEAR even approaching clean :P. Now, on to the movies!

Watching the entire Firefly series one disk at a time. Curently waiting for disk number 3 to get to us. I am REALLY loving this series. It's really just too bad that it didn't fare better :(. Watched the Fighting Temptations a couple days ago. I liked it. It was pretty clean, and did a good job IMO of portraying a church full of sinners - those that are forgiving, those that are self-righteous, etc. Basically, real people. And it was nice to see T-Bone. He's a great guy.

Todays review is going to be of the movie Saved!. Wow, what to say. It probably goes without saying that this film most likely offends almost every Christian out there. But I have to say that, over all, it didn't offend me. One reason might be that I had certain expectations before viewing that prepared me for much of the content (which is NOT child-safe, I should mention). Starring Mandy Moore, Jenna Malone, Macauley Culkin, Patrick Fugit and Eva Amurri, it takes place at a Baptist High School. Being Baptist myself, I did have issues with many of the portrayals, but at the same time, I feel it's important to be able to laugh at oneself. So, while the portrayals were over-the-top, they definitely represented some of the worst behaviors that many of us Christians are, unfortunatley, capable of.

The main character, played by Jenna Malone, begins as one of the seemingly most spiritually secure students. But it quickly comes to light that in a moment of crisis, her faith is put to the test, and continues in that vein throughout the movie, leading to confusion and insecurity. Christians are portrayed as people who act as if they are sinless, heartless and on a crusade to simply save everyone in their path. But, in private, these people behave little to no differently than those who do not claim Christ. Significant spiritual leaders having affairs, mothers so caught up in their own lives they can be unaware of their own daughters pregnancy even with a 6-month baby bulge, and psuedo-spiritual teens who use prayer requests as a vehicle for gossiping about their peers and grabbing attention for themselves. This sounds horrible, and it is. Problem is that in today's society, we actually see our fellow Christians behaving this way. I believe that the lesson to be learned from this film is about love. Out of all of the scenes and points that the filmmakers were likely trying to make, what stands out to me the most is this:

In one scene, close to the beginning, Mandy Moore's character targets a "heathen" student who is vocally crude, dresses inapropriately, etc. She preaches at her about how she should accept Christ and enjoy eternal rewards etc (which is, of course, true). But she does so in an almost rude manner. And she makes little or no attempt to befriend this student. Christ made relationships. He loved every person He spoke with. This method of openly despising the very same people we *think* we're witnessing to is horrible, and not at all Christ-like. We can show people love, build relationships, and care for people while not condoning their behavior. Not only CAN - but SHOULD. We are called to love these people. And it is impossible to truly love them, and especially impossible to influence them in any way, when we openly mock them. Mandy Moore's character openly mocks the same people she is supposedly trying to "save".

In all, yes, the movie is a bit offensive to Christians. But I suppose the question should be is it offensive because it's blatantly untrue - or because we can see ourselves in these characters and we don't like what we see? I think the second, because to be honest, for the unchurched to see us the way that they portray us has to mean that we are behaving that way. We should begin watching own behavior, and make sure that we leave nothing for them to mock, other than those things for which Christ warns us we will be mocked - the message of His Name.

*edit* As I finish this, Firefly disk 3 arrives in my mail slot - guess what I'm about to do ;)