Pollyanna Christianity

I just found Barbara Nicolosi's review of the movie "Facing the Giants" (HT - Phil Cooke)   To say that Barbara didn't like the movie would be a gross understatement.   She's a bit over the top in her condemnation of it. My mom saw the movie and liked it so I've got to go easy here. I don't want this to be just a rant, but I do want to say that I think that, in her over the top way, Barbara makes a good point here.

Facing the Giants from any serious perspective is a fantasy film. Its message is very dangerous for Christians, and scandalous for pagans. Adult Evangelical Christians watching Facing the Giants is like sex addicts watching the Spice Channel. (Nope.  Not going to take it back.) . . . . .

The film tells the story of a poverty-stricken, generally disdained, losing football coach who drives a broken down truck and goes home at night to a devastatedly infertile wife. Incited by no particular plot point, the coach reads the Bible one day and then kneels down in a field (Why the hell is it always a field? Is that like in Zecharaiah somewhere?) and gives his life to Jesus. In short order after he utters the Evangelical commitment formula aloud, he wins back the esteem of his fellow townspeople, he turns around his terrible team so that they win the championship, somebody gives him a brand new shiny red truck, AND his infertile wife becomes pregnant!

WOW!  Give me some of THAT Jesus-stuff!

Absolute fantasy stuff. The kind of thing that makes Christians puff out their chests proud to be on the winning team! This film fumbles deep, deep in the prosperity Gospel end zone. It is icky to tell people that they should be Christian because of the career and health benefits. We have the problem on the team of that embarrassingly unsuccessful crucified coach of ours.

If we want to charge Barbara with being over the top here I think we ought to concede that she accurately describes a Pollyanna-ish approach that many take to the Christian faith.   We see this in Christian fiction and movies with their neat and tidy happy-ever-after endings, in our church websites populated with pics of bright and shiny people, in our preference for idyllic countrysides over messy over-populated cities, and in our health and wealth gospels.

On the one hand we could argue with the statement about "that embarrassingly unsuccessful crucified coach of ours."  What Barbara forgets to mention is that the crucifixion wasn't the end of the story, the resurrection was - a very happy ending.  Yet, the point she wants to make still stands - things don't always end well in this world for christians.  That's where pollyanna Christianity goes wrong. Christ promises us a cross in this life, not a trophy.

Update: 11-21-06 - My Monkish friend has also written some excellent comments on this.  Here's a few excerpts:

Facing the Giants angers an advocate of serious films of faith like Barbara Nicolosi, but those of us who live in the Bible belt can easily see why eight weeks out it is still on almost 300 screens, will probably pass $9 million in the theaters and make huge DVD sales. Facing the Giants is the kind of story the average evangelical Christian in the largest evangelical areas wants to see; it’s the kind of story that fills Christian bookstore shelves and pastors’ sermons. It’s a story that says “God is real; we’re right; it works.” It’s reassuring . . .

I happen to agree with Nicolosi’s desire to see real quality films and serious art coming from Christians, but let me be blunt: the more the films she imagines reflects what she would like to see, the more likely such a film will be almost completely ignored by average evangelicals . . .

Is there an audience for a film where the lead character experiences a lot more pain, turmoil and failure AFTER praying the prayer? Where’s the Bonhoeffer story? Where are the stories of non-evangelical Christians? . . .

Interestingly, Hollywood has made some of these movies, such as Tender Mercies and To End All Wars. But evangelical Christians showed almost no interest in presentations of faith with depth. Stories of faith and real life won’t be successful among the audiences that went to see Facing the Giants. Never mind that a story where the coach wins, the baby arrives and the truck really is red misrepresent and pervert the entire nature of the Gospel as a call to take up a cross and become the scum of the earth. Evangelicals aren’t ready to tell themselves or anyone else the truth on the big screen. They see the media’s power in simple terms: it should tell them they are right, and make all the questions, problems and failures go away in a fantasy of certainty . . .

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Comments

[Arnold]

- great writing, creative review. About the film - This is the future of the Gospel in America sans a great revival - some are even calling for a new reformation. It saddens my heart where we are at.

[Ken]

Incited by no particular plot point, the coach reads the Bible one day and then kneels down in a field (Why the hell is it always a field? Is that like in Zecharaiah somewhere?) and gives his life to Jesus. In short order after he utters the Evangelical commitment formula aloud...

Ah, yes. "The Sinner's Prayer", a direct knockoff of the Catholic Act of Contrition. Not only has to be "always in a field", but kneeling, with your head in both hands in total anguish. (Just like in the Jack Chick tracts.) Like some sort of magick spell that has to be done just-so, or it won't work at all.

...he wins back the esteem of his fellow townspeople, he turns around his terrible team so that they win the championship, somebody gives him a brand new shiny red truck, AND his infertile wife becomes pregnant!

And once the spell is cast, your life becomes perfect and filled with goodies, everything breaking your way. Always. (Including getting to be beamed up at the end of the world -- tomorrow at the latest -- so you never ever have to suffer or die!)

And if not...
IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! You didn't "pray the Sinner's Prayer" just right or have some "secret sin in your life" that others are all too willing to point out.

Been there. Done that. Got the scars to prove it.

[Michelle]

Man, the "sinner's prayer" annoys me. I can't even begin in one comment to list the misconceptions bottled up in that one paragraph.

When Jesus was asked, "What must I do to be saved?" He didn't respond by saying, "Kneel down and repeat after me..."

[Ken]

When Jesus was asked, "What must I do to be saved?" He didn't respond by saying, "Kneel down and repeat after me..."

Yeah. I think it was different for every individual.

A couple weeks ago on another blog I read something about the Rich Young Ruler who asked that question. And how Christ's answer -- "Sell all you have and give the money to the poor" -- also implied "You're asking the wrong question. It's not all about you. It's about you and others." With additional shock effect by answering the one thing that would be hardest for RYR to do.

But the Sinner's Prayer approach to Being Saved (TM) IS all about you. Your personal salvation, in isolation. Christ as MY PERSONAL LORD and Savior, in isolation. All vertical (Me & Christ), no horizontal (me & community/church).

[Jan McKenzie]

Good thoughts, Wayne, though my own experience has been full of both, the suffering and the miracles of grace. I find that in the early experience of faith, God also does special things to confirm us in our commitment to him. As we mature and face the test of that faith, many lose their first love and I think, many of the blessings they could have. The Old Testament is replete with stories of both types of experience. But there is no question that a relation with God is very personal and not just about "victories" or whatever else my small heart demands before I will trust Him.

I didn't see the movie and given the review, won't. (I'm trying to give them up altogether).

[Brother Bob]

I did see the movie, and I think that this criticism of "Facing the Giants" is over the top.
I will agree that the movie would have been better if it had shown some things not working out for them, but I still think that the reviewer (and commenters above) misjudged the message of the movie.
All of the criticism above about "the sinner's prayer" sounds like you people didn't even see the movie. In the movie, the coach is already a Christian, and he does NOT pray the sinner's prayer; he prays for God to help him find purpose. If you think its cheesy to turn to the Bible for strength and pray when you are in trouble, you probably are not a Christian. And as for going in a field to pray, Jesus often went outdoors alone to pray. It is apparent this reviewer was so blind to the message of the movie as to not even correctly notice what the movie said.
The coach is clear in saying that his new team philosophy will be to glorify God. He says, "If we win, we praise Him, and if we lose, we praise Him." In the movie, there are two major scenes where they get bad news and praise God anyway. One is when they lose a playoff game, and the other is when the coach's wife finds out once again that she is not pregnant. I both instances they later received good news (the playoff loss turned into a win because the other team had to forfeit for cheating, and the doctor's office read the wrong records and the coach's wife was pregnant after all), and I think that the story would have been more realistic if at least one of those instances they had to live with the bad news and later found that God worked through their trouble to bring His glory.
So yes, the movie was a bit over the top in its portrayal of how things work out, but in all fairness, these reviews of the movie are over the top in their criticism as well.
After all, people who say that God doesn't turn things around in surprising ways and give Christians victory have to delete Job and Esther and the story of David and Goliath from their Bibles and ignore the story of this very movie, which was made for only $100,000 on the contributions of church members, and has already grossed over $7 million and brought many people to faith in Christ.

[PamBG]

One of the Polyanna beliefs that plagues almost every church I personally have been a part of is: "Your loved one is not being healed of their incurable disease because he/she/you don't have enough faith".

This can be devastating for the person who is ill unless he or she is mature in his/her faith. It can also be a devastating belief for the person who sincerely believes it and then has a loved one die. I've seen both things happen.

It seems like the instant success of the main character in the film just plays into this sort of "God is magic" belief.

[Don Costello]

When I got saved 30 years ago, I prayed the sinners prayer. Are you telling me that that prayer, that was the start of a 30 year walk with Christ was no different than the gazillion times I said the Act of Contrition as a Catholic? Let me ask you something else. If I asked you as the jailer asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16, "...Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" How would you respond?
Thanks,
Don Costello

[David Wayne]

Don - I'd probably say something along the lines of "believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your family." And if you were that jailer there would be no record of your praying a sinners prayer, there would be a record of you baptism and your belief, but not of your prayer. There is no record here that the deal was sealed with anything like a "sinners prayer."

[ScurvyOaks]

I haven't seen the movie and thus fully caveat the following with the recognition that, in my ignorance, I am completely off base. But it sounds like a lot of stuff I have seen and heard -- the Thomas Kinkeade style of sentimental schlock that reflects the continuing pull of docetism on our hearts -- afflicting the American church. I don't mind a film that shows a new Christian being showered in blessings, because I think that happens not infrequently. But it's important to save some running time to show how the coach's faith in the risen Christ sustains him through the suffering that will surely follow (e.g., two years later when his team is lousy, he wrecks the truck, and his wife has a fling with the English teacher).

[Lisa]

I've been thinking a lot about this review and these comments. I watched the movie again tonight with my kids, and looked for any promise that praying a prayer or turning to God automatically guarantees some sort of blessing. While the main characters did happen to get all they had asked for in the end of the movie, there was no promise of that through the film. Instead the message was strong: "We praise God when we win. We praise God when we lose."

I have thought about scripture.

Joseph
Jabez
Job
Joshua
Rahab
Hannah
Ruth
Naomi
Esther

God tells some wonderful stories with unbelievable happy endings. (Yes, we know that their real life afterward was hard, but the story in the Bible has a happy ending!) They are not guaranteed, but they are there.

I am a single mom who has lost both my parents. I have chosen to stay home and homeschool my children on very little income. The greatest desire of my heart is that God allow me to remarry again. There is no guarantee of that. But every year for the last five years . . . EVERY year . . . he has provided for me to stay home and to continue doing what He has called me to do. And part of what keeps me going is the hope I have that God will bless the desire of my heart. What I know is that He will draw me closer to Him whether He gives me what I want or not.

Malachi 3:10 says "'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Now, I understand that this verse is part of prophecy, but has our God changed so much that He won't supply abundance to His people when it pleases Him? Is His blessing only spiritual? I live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and compared to the world's standards I am rich, even on my limited income. So maybe God does sometimes bless in abundance.

And as for the presentation of the Gospel in this film, do I really need to tell people that they should come to trust God because He will bring them hardship and suffering and only maybe will He give them the desires of their hearts? NO! I do serve a God who does amazing and unexpected things! He does give us the desires of our hearts, and sometimes He changes the desires of our hearts to do it. Sometimes it takes a very long time. And sometimes it doesn't happen until we step across the threshold of heaven. I won't give the world false promises, but I won't deny God's desire to bless us in many ways either.

One other thing, I think the simple fact that this movie was actually made, got into theaters and had the attendance it did is a miracle. Amazing what God will use to get the message of Jesus love for foolish and flawed men, isn't it?