I love the movies. The love affair started with the big screen debut of The Sound of Music when I was eight and was life changing when I saw Camelot at eighteen and decided to become a screen writer. (Still working on that one!) Since then, I have viewed many movies, some that have touched me deeply and others that have left me wondering why anyone would have invested money to produce them.
Recently, my mother and I went to see War Room, she for a second time, and I for the first. My main reason for going was to see how good Priscilla Shirer was as an actress. (She is a well known bible study writer and leader whom I admire.) I am extremely glad I left with so much more than a favorable critique of a novice actress. What a powerful, powerful movie. I left moved, uplifted, encouraged, and challenged. Those feelings took me back to a short letter to the editor written many years ago by a local man who was praising Cal State Chico for rejecting an art exhibit which was morally degrading. I quote part of that letter below.
“If Art is a vehicle through which man becomes more human and less barbarian, more sensitive and less unfeeling, more understanding and less ignorant--more alive and less dead--then we should have the moral backbone to stand up for what is actually art and refuse to tolerate that which calls itself art but actually degrades, demoralizes, and dehumanizes man in the name of ‘realism,’ ‘expressionism,’ ‘naturalism--’ whatever the guise under which it hides.” -- Greg Pate
Though written almost thirty years ago, Pate’s words are still valid because much of what hits the theaters today is indeed degrading, demoralizing, and dehumanizing and seeks to show the worst of human nature in the name of “realism,” “expressionism,” or “naturalism.” I am thankful and would like to applaud and support those film makers (both Christian and secular) who strive to create a product that encourages us to be more sensitive and understanding and human, but even more importantly, more Christlike.
Once again, God in all His wisdom, knows that what we feed our minds will be what nourishes our soul, and so through Paul’s letter to the Philippians reminds us that -- “. . . whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
Satan would love us to ingest his daily diet of hatred and fear, of self-justification, self-gratification, and self-glorification. He would love us to lick our lips around unsavory language as we claim these words appropriately convey our feelings. He would love us to indulge in off color jokes and debase topics as they excite our most base desires. But that food does not satisfy our soul. That food leaves us still hungry and feeling worse about ourselves, not better.
So I congratulate the Kendrick brothers, Affirm Films, FaithStep Films, Red Sky Studios, and TriStar Pictures for producing War Room, a quality film that not only addresses issues of the heart but provides the answers as well. I look forward to other movies that do the same.
Recently, my mother and I went to see War Room, she for a second time, and I for the first. My main reason for going was to see how good Priscilla Shirer was as an actress. (She is a well known bible study writer and leader whom I admire.) I am extremely glad I left with so much more than a favorable critique of a novice actress. What a powerful, powerful movie. I left moved, uplifted, encouraged, and challenged. Those feelings took me back to a short letter to the editor written many years ago by a local man who was praising Cal State Chico for rejecting an art exhibit which was morally degrading. I quote part of that letter below.
“If Art is a vehicle through which man becomes more human and less barbarian, more sensitive and less unfeeling, more understanding and less ignorant--more alive and less dead--then we should have the moral backbone to stand up for what is actually art and refuse to tolerate that which calls itself art but actually degrades, demoralizes, and dehumanizes man in the name of ‘realism,’ ‘expressionism,’ ‘naturalism--’ whatever the guise under which it hides.” -- Greg Pate
Though written almost thirty years ago, Pate’s words are still valid because much of what hits the theaters today is indeed degrading, demoralizing, and dehumanizing and seeks to show the worst of human nature in the name of “realism,” “expressionism,” or “naturalism.” I am thankful and would like to applaud and support those film makers (both Christian and secular) who strive to create a product that encourages us to be more sensitive and understanding and human, but even more importantly, more Christlike.
Once again, God in all His wisdom, knows that what we feed our minds will be what nourishes our soul, and so through Paul’s letter to the Philippians reminds us that -- “. . . whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
Satan would love us to ingest his daily diet of hatred and fear, of self-justification, self-gratification, and self-glorification. He would love us to lick our lips around unsavory language as we claim these words appropriately convey our feelings. He would love us to indulge in off color jokes and debase topics as they excite our most base desires. But that food does not satisfy our soul. That food leaves us still hungry and feeling worse about ourselves, not better.
So I congratulate the Kendrick brothers, Affirm Films, FaithStep Films, Red Sky Studios, and TriStar Pictures for producing War Room, a quality film that not only addresses issues of the heart but provides the answers as well. I look forward to other movies that do the same.
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