Finding Christ In Cinema

In JUSTICE LEAGUE, the world is afraid because Superman is dead, but Batman fears the worst is yet to come. He doesn’t let fear stop him from reaching out for help and encouraging other heroes like Wonder Woman and the Flash along the way. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience, you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap 00:01:45 – Movie Discussion 00:28:40 – Christian Themes in JUSTICE LEAGUE 00:55:30 – More Christian Themes in JUSTICE LEAGUE [Podcast Only] 01:27:00 – Listener Feedback and Well-Mannered Frivolity [Podcast Only] Whenever you have about ten minutes to spare, click here for personal video update from Brenden: It’s hard to tell whether or not, after some time has passed, Justice League will still be perceived as a lukewarm experience like it is now by some critics. They argue that when Zack Snyder left the film (under the most dreadful of circumstances, no less), an irreconcilable rift stunted the film’s growth into what could have been one of the best superhero movies ever made. Again, that’s only what some critics say. Michael and I, however, as well as several others (and the number is steadily growing), see it differently. We think Justice League is a great film even if it does contain a few hiccups. We further expound on this notion in the podcast, so please listen to it for those opinions and discussions if you haven’t already done so. What I can tell you now, though, is that we have found some deeply enriching Christian themes in Justice League that will encourage you like it has encouraged us. To better understand those Christian themes, let us first consider Justice League through a framework of fear and hope. If one were to rewatch the film and keep a tally of how many times they heard either of those words, they wouldn’t even get through the first few scenes without realizing that those terms are woven into every piece of the Justice League tapestry. It’s important to remember, though, that fear is not a bad thing. Speaking from my own experience, I (Brenden) was raised to believe that being afraid was a sin. If I had fear, I thought, then I didn’t have faith. What was really meant by fear in this context was timidity – the outward expression of fear that remains stagnant, unprocessed, and ultimately isolating. This is a skewed understanding of one of God’s greatest gifts that, unfortunately, scares more people away from Him than endears them closer to Him, You heard me right: fear is a gift from God that lets us know we are in danger and that we need help. Fear isn’t the opposite of hope; it’s the predecessor. Fear leads to hope because fear, when processed correctly, turns into faith and wisdom. Solomon even says it himself: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This only happens when we respond to fear with the right process of action. Yes, there is a process for handling fear properly, and we see it in Bruce Wayne. He is no stranger to fear; it’s what led him to become Batman in the first place. The first step of the process is reaching out for help, and Bruce Wayne is familiar with this first step as well. The character of Batman is built around the idea of reaching out for help when in danger. Consider Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. As Gotham’s great watchman, Bruce sees the dangers coming in every situation, and he reaches out to everyone he knows that can help. His butler Alfred Pennyworth, his lifelong friend Rachel Dawes, Lieutenant-turned-Commissioner Jim Gordon, public defendant Harvey Dent, cat-burglar Selina Kyle, and the rookie police officer John Blake all rush to Bruce’s side when he calls. This is no different for Justice League. Bruce’s primary mission is to build the team he believes can defeat Steppenwolf. He doesn’t even fully comprehend Steppenwolf and his plans, but he knows enough to fear for his life and the lives of everyone in the world. In his fear, Bruce does what he is wont to do and reaches out to those who can help. He cries out for “Wonder Woman” Diana Prince, “Aquaman” Arthur Curry, “The Flash” Barry Allan, and “Cyborg” Victor Stone, and they all gather ‘round (even if reluctantly at first) and lend a hand. (In the Podcast-Only segment “More Christian Themes in Justice League, Michael and I have a discussion about how he also reaches out to Superman and the risky repercussions of that action. It kinda opens up a new pocket of conversation, but I’ll save it for the segment.) One of the surprisingly hesitant members of the League is Wonder Woman herself, Diana Prince. At first, Diana wants nothing to do with being a popular hero. She takes a small job in a museum where she can restore works of art from ages past (there’s your dramatic irony) and mainly keeps to herself. When Bruce Wayne reaches out to her, he encourages her to take up her mantle once again as the hero we know and love who’s also a leader, a servant, and a motherly protector. In the episode, Michael connects Diana to Gideon, Esther, Deborah, and Phoebe. So, the next time you watch Justice League, keep track of these things. Note the fear the Bruce Wayne experiences and how he responds, and compare his response to that of the rest of the world. And keep an eye on Diana’s transformation. Both characters are heroes for a reason, and when viewed through a Christian lens, they both can be very inspiring. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed The post JUSTICE LEAGUE: Reaching Out for Restoration | FCC 163 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In the Marvel film BLACK PANTHER, Wakanda would be a light to the world if it weren’t for one dark secret. Erik Killmonger has come home to roost, but the merciful King T’Challa stands in his way. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more in this episode of the Finding Christ in Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap 00:02:57 – Movie Review and Discussion 00:27:57 – Christian Themes in BLACK PANTHER 00:55:30 – More Christian Themes in BLACK PANTHER (podcast only) 01:18:30 – Listener Feedback and Well-Mannered Frivolity (podcast only) To say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s production of Black Panther is a successful one would be a gross understatement. What started with an estimated budget of $200 million opened to box office earnings equal to that and then some. In the four months since then, it has earned over $1.3 billion worldwide. Critics and fans are in love with King T’Challa and his home of Wakanda. The film’s premise is simple yet powerful: a new king has to defend his kingdom against people who want to destroy it. The acting is superb (Michael and I dote on the actors and their performances in the podcast, so I’ll bypass it here). The spectacle actually works with the story to great effect. At times, the flow is as suspenseful as a Shakespearean tragedy, and at others, it is light-hearted and comedic. Through all of these accolades, however, shine Christian themes so brightly that you may need your own Panther Habit to protect yourself. Wakanda, at first blush, can be compared to the “city on a hill” to which Jesus alludes in his Sermon on the Mount. Unadulterated by the outside world, Wakanda thrives as a country unlike any other. Technological advancements beyond our wildest imaginations exist there. The people are happy and wealthy, and those in power wish to keep it that way. To T’Challa, this is home, and he loves it and wants to honor and protect it. His family and friends all live here. There are some, however, that hunger for something more. Shuri, T’Challa’s kid sister and technological genius, reminds her brother that “just because something works doesn’t mean that it cannot be improved.” His former love interest Nakia even sneaks out on her own, independent mission to help outsiders. As for the rest of Wakanda, isolation from the outside world is a good thing. T’Challa’s father T’Chaka and all the kings before him believed that ignoring the rest of the world and all of its ills was the only way to keep Wakanda safe. At first, T’Challa wants to carry on the tradition of isolationism, but he is unable to do so because of Erik Killmonger. Killmonger, to borrow a phrase from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, is a long-neglected “bird” that has come home to “roost.” In Miller’s opinion, all good and compelling drama is concerned with the birds coming home to roost. He expounds this idea in an interview with the Boston Review: “It’s about challenges that were not met when they came up and so those challenges return and haunt people.” Killmonger is certainly that ghost from Wakanda’s past. T’Chaka killed Erik’s father N’Jobu for betraying the secrecy of Wakanda by helping the black market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue steal vibranium. Instead of cleaning up the mess and taking the little Erik back to Wakanda, T’Chaka simply abandoned the little boy and let him find his father’s dead body with panther claws in his chest. Once Erik learns the truth about T’Chaka and his own father’s murder, he makes it his mission to avenge his father. The unique factor about Killmonger, though, is that he isn’t just fighting for his own family’s honor but also for that of everyone on the planet of African descent. More than that, Killmonger is such a complex and tragic villain because he wants the same thing the T’Challa wants: peace for his people. While T’Challa wants to remain isolated in order to keep his home safe, Erik wants to give his people – everyone who has hurt by Wakanda’s negligence – the power to kill their oppressors. This is where our merciful King T’Challa gets to shine his light the brightest. Throughout the film, we’ve seen glimpses of T’Challa being merciful even when he himself is in danger. After M’Baku has impaled him with a spear, T’Challa doesn’t retaliate because he has compassion for M’Baku and knows that the latter’s people need their ruler. Even when he catches Klaue after a chase through urban South Korea, T’Challa does not kill him on the spot but agrees to take him in for questioning. In the final fight, T’Challa and Killmonger both wear a Panther Habit and espouse the Power of the Black Panther. T’Challa delivers the final blow of the fight, making Killmonger concede the match. T’Challa mercifully offers to heal Killmonger, but Killmonger refuses, removes the spearhead, and dies. Again, even when his attackers almost kill him, T’Challa remains merciful. There is one wound from which T’Challa cannot so easily heal: the spiritual wound from his father. Until the moment that T’Challa learned the truth about what his father had done, T’Challa looked up to his father with the greatest admiration. But when T’Challa saw that his father had abandoned the young Erik after killing his father and thus created their present threat, T’Challa’s heart broke. Dr. Chip Dodd of Sage Hill Counseling and the Center of Professional Excellence puts it like this in his personal blog: “Children naturally expect integrity and are deeply wounded when they find that the appearance doesn’t match reality.” T’Challa naturally expected his father to have integrity, but when he discovered the truth, it sucked the life out of T’Challa. For a moment, he was genuinely broken. Thankfully, he chooses to deal with his brokenness in a different way. We never really know if T’Challa heals completely from his father wound; maybe that’s a discussion for another time. What we do know, however, is that he responds to his father’s wound by breaking Wakanda’s chain of isolationism. He doesn’t want anyone else to be wounded like himself or abandoned like Erik. Instead, he opens the Wakanda International Outreach Center with the hope that Wakanda can finally become the light of the world it should have always been. Black Panther is wonderful film wonderfully made with a wonderful story wonderfully told. As is one of our core beliefs here at Finding Christ In Cinema, all great stories have elements of the Greatest Story. As you watch Black Panther with friends and family, dwell on the things mentioned here – Wakanda as the city on the hill, Killmonger as the bird coming home to roost, and T’Challa as the merciful king. Use them to point people to our own merciful King so that we all may no longer create monsters of our own misgivings but be the light of the world that we are called to be. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post Christian Themes in BLACK PANTHER | FCC 162 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

Luke Skywalker is the focus of our Christian themes in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. Join us as we discuss how he is like the prophet Elijah and how the destruction of the Jedi Order will free him from the toxic guilt he carries from losing Ben Solo. For your convenience, you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap 00:02:57 – Movie Discussion 00:22:11 – Christian Themes in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback and Well-Mannered Frivolity 00:59:52 – More Christian Themes in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Our first impression of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a darkly comedic one. Rey, who has traveled long and far to find the lost Jedi Master, hands him his very own lightsaber. As we expect Luke to take it and resume his noble position as the classic good guy, he thwarts our expectations by exhaling a quip and tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder. This subversive gesture shows us a different Luke. While we may be accustomed to Luke being the proactive hero who’s ready to jump the proverbial blaster, we see instead an aging warrior who wants nothing more to do with war. More than that, we see a brooding vagabond roosting in what he has chosen as his final resting place. Too many similarities can be drawn between Luke in The Last Jedi and the Old Testament prophet Elijah in the early part of 1 Kings 19. Like the Jedi Master, Elijah has seen a lot of wonderful and terrible things and has even participated in many of those wonderful and terrible things. Luke is on the run from the First Order, and Elijah is on the run from King Ahab and Jezebel. They both fear for their lives, and they both would rather lay down and die alone rather face their captors. It’s a thlipsis to be sure, and not one that can be taken lightly. Like a fatally wounded animal who wanders off to be alone, Luke has isolated himself on Temple Island on the watery planet of Ahch-To to die. Luke’s wound, however, is not physical but spiritual. He has been spiritually broken with guilt for “creating” Kylo Ren. Luke hurts because he believes his lack of trust in Ben Solo is what turned him into Kylo Ren. Something deeper is impeding Luke from healing from his guilt. If I (Brenden) were to assign any theological interpretation to Luke overbearing guilt, I would say that it has its foundation in the Jedi Order in the same way that the Law came so that sin may increase. As I’ve discussed before, I believe that the Jedi Order is a flawed system in that it promotes “order” and “peace” while claiming to be “morally neutral.” It sounds good for a while, but we’ve seen throughout the whole saga how it always comes back to bite the Jedi. This time is no exception. Once Luke perceives that he has lost Rey in the same way that he lost Ben, he sets out to burn the Great. But when he hesitates to set it ablaze, Yoda appears and strikes it down with a bolt of lightning. Yoda, too, recognizes the need for the Jedi Order to end. In that climactic moment, Yoda saves Luke and restores him from his guilt in the same way that Jesus came to seek and save the lost sheep of Israel. As Luke’ guilt is healed by the destruction of the Jedi Order, so was God’s peoples’ collective sin assuaged by Jesus. Listen to the show and join the conversation by sharing your favorite parts in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and tell us about any Christian themes you may have found in the film. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed The post STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI | FCC 161 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Disney/Pixar’s 2001 animated feature MONSTERS INC., Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) works on his “I” problem, and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) saves the girl with compassion. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ in Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:04:45 – Movie Discussion 00:15:54 – Christian Themes in MONSTERS, INC. 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:48:02 – More Christian Themes in MONSTERS, INC. Christian Themes in Monsters Inc. In the hustle-and-bustle-bossa-nova city of Monstropolis, everything is powered by the screams of human children. Those screams are harvested by the hard-working, blue-collar employees of Monsters, Inc. James P. Sullivan and his friend Mike Wazowski are on their way to becoming a record-breaking team of professional scarers. It’s not until a human child, believed to be fatally toxic, accidentally enters the world through a neglected door and sets everything off balance. Sulley and Mike take in toddler but not without going through a bit of change for themselves. Through his relationship with Boo, Sulley realizes that he cannot be a good monster and love Boo at the same time, and this recognition is what leads him to give up everything he has to save Boo. Mike, then, being the loyal follower of his friend, helps Boo find the door and her way home. Mike and Sulley’s Motivation It’s easy to understand that Mike and Sulley are best friends. They live together, work together, and go through life together; this is their world at rest and their ordered system – their kosmos. These two chums function well together, too; they wouldn’t be the team that they are if they didn’t. In fact, should someone ever ask them what, in their opinion, makes a good monster, they would both respond with similar answers. They both train ridiculously hard in order to be good at what they do, and the fruits of their labors are evident. Sulley (and Mike…kinda) has even been selected as the Monsters, Inc. Employee of the Month for several months in a row Where Mike and Sulley differ, however, is in their motivation to be a good monster, and it’s this difference in motivation that gets tested in the film’s climax. On one hand, Mike only works to make himself look good. He unashamedly boasts about being on TV and on magazine covers. He wants the prettiest girl and the coolest stuff. To put it succinctly, he has an “I” problem. On the other hand, Sulley works because he wants others’ lives to be easier. The motto of Monsters, Inc. is “We Scare Because We Care,” and Sulley is about the only employee there who genuinely embodies that sentiment. He looks out for others and is quick to help someone else (even Mike). He is a selfless and caring creature. These differences, though, don’t have much impact while the world is at rest. As is the unfortunate case with most “friendships,” the relationship is good when living is easy. It isn’t until Boo enters the scene when these differences are exposed by a more truthful light. Shake ‘Em Up, Boo! When Boo enters this kosmos, Mike and Sulley have to decide how to handle the situation. To put it in formal storytelling terms, Boo entering is the crisis, and how Mike and Sulley respond to that crisis makes up the climax. (I’m really trying not to burden you all with technical jargon, but it’s helped me better understand stories, so maybe it can help you, too). Mike’s response is as selfish as you can imagine.  Like the rest of Monstropolis, he freaks out in an animated fashion (heh). In this world, human children are fatally toxic. Mike, of course, does not want to die at the hands of a child; after all, he has his great life to protect and a future to safeguard. He wants the child thrown back into the human world. Sulley’s response, however, shines a light on those aforementioned differences. While there is still the initial freak-out, Sulley discovers that little babies aren’t toxic. On the contrary, they can actually be quite fun. Sulley takes the child under his wing and even gives her the name Boo. He is adopting Boo, and, in a way, he is creating Boo anew. Sulley’s Recognition Even as divided as they are with Boo in their midst, Mike and Sulley remain friends. Mike doesn’t want anything to do with Boo, but he still hangs around for Sulley. Sulley doesn’t really care for Mike’s sour and selfish attitude, but Sulley still loves his friend. It isn’t until the stakes are at their highest when Mike and Sulley’s friendship is in jeopardy. Something more crucial, though, happens before that. As Mike and Sulley discover Randall’s evil plot, they rush to tell Mr. Waternoose. Unfortunately, Mr. Waternoose thinks Sulley has arrived to show some inadequate new recruits how to scare a child properly. Little does Sulley know that he actually scares Boo during the shoehorned demonstration. As Boo whimpers away in terror, Sulley tries to comfort her, but he can’t. Thus, in a very finely crafted example of Aristotelian recognition, Sulley realizes that he himself is his own problem. He wants to help Boo, but he can’t do that and be a “good monster” at the same. This is a personal crisis for Sulley, and his response determines the course of the rest of the film. The Pearl of Great Price Of course, only a moment after Sulley’s recognition is another secret revealed: Mr. Waternoose is in charge of the evil plot. The boss then banishes Mike and Sulley to the Himalayas with the Abominable Snowman. It’s here, in a life-or-death situation, that the difference between Mike Sulley come out. While Mike wants to get back to the way things were, Sulley believes that none of that matters now. The only thing that’s important to Sulley now is saving Boo. Mike takes personal offense to this newfound objective because he feels like he’s being pushed off to the side, but Sulley is determined to save Boo no matter what. Boo has thus become Sulley’s “pearl of great price.” This causes a rift in the relationship. Mike, as selfish as he is on the outside, is actually codependent on Sulley for affirmation. Once Sulley makes his choice to place Boo over everything and everyone else, Mike at first shuns his friend. Thankfully, Mike soon realizes that his friendship with Sulley is more important than his pride, and he becomes willing to help Sulley save Boo. Key Texts for Monsters, Inc. Let these passages be your guide as you watch Monsters, Inc. with friends and loved ones. John 10:9 (NASB) “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” Matthew 13:45-46 (NASB) “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post MONSTERS INC. | FCC 160 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Disney/Pixar epic, underwater tale FINDING NEMO, the young clownfish Nemo meets the wisened Moorish idol Gil. Gil persuades Nemo to help the aquarium fish escape, but Gil experiences a godly sorrow when Nemo almost dies. Struck by fear and despair, Nemo doesn’t believe his father will save him until Nigel the Pelican reminds Nemo of his father’s love. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:02:09 – Movie Discussion 00:18:18 – Christian Themes in FINDING NEMO 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback 00:37:20 – More Christian Themes in FINDING NEMO Gil, Godly Sorrow, and Repentance  (2 Corinthians 7:10) Good subplots enrich the storytelling by showing the controlling theme from another angle. Furthermore, there’s usually also some good character building along the way. As is most often the case in the best stories, the main plot would not have its full effect on the audience without the subplot. Imagine Hamlet without Fortinbras or The Lord of the Rings without Gollum; it just doesn’t work. Likewise, Nemo’s subplot in the aquarium is crucial to our (Michael and Brenden’s) understanding the whole of Finding Nemo. Not only does it reaffirm the relationship between Nemo and Marlin from Nemo’s perspective, but it also espouses two of the several Christian themes in this film. The aquarium belongs to the dentist that caught Nemo, and it is full of other fish that have been stripped away from their natural home. A pufferfish named Bloat, a starfish named Peach, and a Moorish idol named Gil, amongst several others, inhabit this new home. None of them want to be there, but they all make an effort to deal with it in the best way they can. Gil, however, has a plan to escape the aquarium. He believes his plan will work so much that he once risked his own life in an attempt to carry it out. He bears the scars from that failed mission as constant reminders of his desire to be free. To Gil, the escape plan is perfect; he just can’t execute it himself. He needs someone smaller, quicker, and more nimble. He needs Nemo. Eventually, Gil coaxes Nemo into giving the escape plan a try. It seems simple in concept, but it turns out to be far more dangerous in reality. Nemo has to swim into the filter and jam the fan motor with a rock. Once the fan is still, he can swim up the pipe and back into the aquarium proper. Unconfident in his own strength, Nemo lodges the rock incompetently. As he swims through the pipe, the rock loses its place, and the motor spins again, sucking Nemo closer and closer to certain death. Thankfully, Gil and the others pull Nemo out with some decorative seaweed, but the traumatic damage to Nemo has already been done. Gil is then convicted of his sin. He was so focused on his plan to escape that he didn’t take Nemo into his consideration. Nemo was just a kid, and Gil expected Nemo to do what even Gil couldn’t do as an adult. This produces within Gil a godly sorrow that resolves itself into Gil turning away from his prideful plan. Nemo Remembers His Father’s Love (Psalm 94:16-19) When Nemo comes to the aquarium, the other fish notice how frightened and worried he is. They try to comfort him however they can, but nothing seems to work. The fact of the matter is that Nemo wants to return to his father and doesn’t have a means to do so. This is the pressure point that Gil presses in order to coax Nemo into trying out his escape plan, as mentioned under the previous heading. If Nemo can help the other fish escape, he can escape, too, and rejoin his father. Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work, and Nemo starts to lose hope. Then Nigel the Pelican enters with the best news Nemo has ever heard: his father Marlin is on his way to Nemo. Nigel then begins listing everything that Marlin has already overcome – sharks, anglerfish, jellyfish, etc. – and as Nemo listens, his hope is renewed. With Nemo’s flame fanned into strength once again, he tries out Gil’s plan one more time, and it works. It reminds me (Brenden) of a scene in John Bunyan’s opus Pilgrim’s Progress – a story that I’ve revisited since the new year began. There’s a subplot (heh) that takes place at a location called Doubting Castle. Christian, the protagonist, and Hopeful, his companion, find themselves imprisoned in the dungeon at Doubting Castle, where they are beaten regularly by the Giant Despair. There comes a point when Christian, out of his own hopelessness, contemplates taking his own life. I go into more details in my personal blog post concerning this scene, but I’ll be brief here: Hopeful reminds Christian of everything the Lord of the Celestial City (aka God) has already saved them from – the monster Apollyon, Vanity Fair, even the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The Lord has already saved us then, Hopeful surmises, and He will do it again. Once Christian’s hope is restored, he remembers the Key of Promise that was given to him at the beginning of the journey – the Key that will unlock any lock and shackle in Doubting Castle. Christian uses it to free himself and his friend, and they escape just in the nick of time. Maybe this is the secret to freeing ourselves from doubt: remember the love that our heavenly Father has for us, remembering everything that He has already done for us, and then being confident that He will act again. It worked for Christian and it worked for Nemo. I’m willing to bet it will work for us, too. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post FINDING NEMO | FCC 159 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

As 2017 takes its final bow and 2018 gets ready to enter the stage, we reflect on our moviegoing experiences from the past year and share our favorite films. Brenden lists his Top 5 films released in 2017, and Michael lists his Top 5 films covered on the FCC podcast in 2017. Join us for the Year In Review episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:54 – Brenden’s Top 5 Films Released in 2017 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback and 5 More Top Films 00:57:52 – Michael’s Top 5 Films from Finding Christ In Cinema in 2017 Brenden’s Top 5 Films Released in 2017 My (Brenden’s) list is purely subjective. These are the films of 2017 that I happened to catch in theatre ranked in an order of personal preference and affinity. If anyone’s interested, I try to keep a list going year-round here on my Letterboxd page. Follow me there or on Twitter at @LeviTheBeliever, and we’ll have a chat. 5. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rated PG-13) Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an epic story told intimately. Yes, there are big space fights with all the lasers and pew-pews one can stand, but what really endears me to this film is its execution of the quiet scenes. Whether its Leia or Holdo trying to assuage Dameron from costing the Rebellion more casualties or Rey trying to convince Kylo to resolve himself to the light side of the Force, this film thrives on its intimate moments. Performances are top-notch, as per usual, but I just want to give a special nod to Adam Driver as Kylo Ren and Domnhall Gleeson as General Hux. These are some nasty characters, and these two actors do well to express that fallen state in every single scene. Of course, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega return with gusto as Rey and Finn. It’s the only Star Wars film that I’ve immensely enjoyed upon first viewing (and listeners of the podcast know how earth-shattering that assessment is). That’s probably because it isn’t like any other Star Wars movie out there (at least that’s what the Internet tells me). 4. IT (Rated R) My decision to watch the 2017 remake of IT was an expression of faith in Stephen King’s storytelling. The man’s a genius (or has genius, to use the term like an Ancient Greek guy), and there’s no denying that. Therefore, I reasoned correctly, there would be nothing flippant in his story. Nothing would be shown in the movie that didn’t have some sort of poetic or rhetorical effect to follow. We don’t have to watch the movie to know how tight-knit the story is, though; we can get that from the book. What makes this cinematic iteration relevant, though (and by “relevant,” I mean better than the two-part miniseries that came out in 1990), is its exclusive focus on the kids and their relationships with each other and the world around them. Where the miniseries jumps back and forth between the characters’ childhoods and adulthoods, this film stays on the kids as kids. The effect, then, is that it not only stirs nostalgia for that kind of filmmaking, but it also holds the audience in that perspective for the duration of the film. 3. Logan Lucky (Rated PG-13) Chances are you didn’t even hear about this one when it was in theatres, but Logan Lucky has definitely earned its spot as my Number 3 film of the year. It’s pretty much like a redneck version of Ocean’s Eleven (the remake, not the original); it was even directed and produced by Steven Soderbergh, who also directed the Ocean’s Eleven franchise (the remake, not the original). But it’s so much more than a family of alledgedly “cursed” hillbillies robbing a NASCAR race; it’s a fast-paced country-fried caper with a lot of comedy and a lot more heart. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver star as Jimmy and Clyde Logan, the brothers on the business end of an unshakeable family curse of not leaving the small town after high school when they had the chance. Jimmy ended up as a construction worker, and Clyde runs the local watering hole. But when Jimmy is laid off, he risks losing visiting rights for his daughter Sadie. The only way he can get the money to have a fighting chance in court is, of course, robbing NASCAR. 2. Wonder Woman (Rated PG-13) Michael and I have cannot dote on Wonder Woman enough (he’ll even do it a little more later in the episode). It’s my Number 2 pick from the year, and not without switching back and forth with what ended up in the Number 1 slot. Honestly, there isn’t much else that can be said about Wonder Woman that we haven’t already said before. The complex story, the excellent performances, the all-around epicness – you know what we mean. What makes this film for me is the character of Wonder Woman herself. She’s a true hero in that she exhibits both grace and truth. Most superheroes (especially from DC) are all about stopping the bad guy and nothing else. It’s a very toxic form of tunnel-vision, and it can lead to some desperate situations. Diana Prince, however, doesn’t shut off anyone. She helps people who need help when they need help. She doesn’t shuffle through the crowd on a mission. She makes the whole world her mission; that’s why she so good at saving it. 1. Baby Driver (Rated R) Yes, Baby Driver is my Number 1 pick for the entire year. To be honest, it was a tie between this and Wonder Woman, but in the end, Baby Driver came out on top. To put it as simply as I can, it’s a fast-paced, action-packed, finely choreographed, quasi-expressionist melodrama with the gravitational catharsis of a Greek tragedy. Baby is a getaway driver for a big-time crime boss, and it’s Baby’s job to ensure the safety of the mission. When he tried stealing a car with some loot from Doc (the crime boss), Doc forces Baby to be his driver until he can pay for the damaged goods. Once Baby gets square with Doc, however, the boss coerces him back into the game, but this time, Baby has people he loves to lose. What makes this film cook isn’t just the super-simple yet no-less-high-stakes dramatic narrative, the far-above-par performances of each and every actor and actress on screen, nor the passionately curated soundtrack. What makes this film sizzle is that it is all these things coalescing into a stunning piece of high art uncommon to the mainstream. Michael’s Top 5 Films on FCC in 2017 Michael’s Top 5 list is a little more curated than mine. He ranked his selections based on their combined watchability as a whole set – almost like a movie marathon – to illuminate how biblical compassion works within the world to effect God’s present kingdom more fully. (And let’s be honest: there was just something about 2017 that screamed “HEY! WE NEED MORE COMPASSION!”) 5. A Monster Calls (Rated PG-13) In A Monster Calls, a little boy named Conor wrestles with the idea of losing his mother to cancer. When a monster emerges from a tree in Conor’s backyard, he claims to come to help Conor get through this tough time. He does so by telling Conor stories which turn out to be more like parables that soften Conor’s heart into accepting a huge truth, thus making it easier for him to come to terms with his passing mother. One of the preliminary truths that the monster teaches is that “humans are complicated beasts.” In Conor’s world, this answers why his estranged dad, who claims to love Conor, only comes around when he’s in trouble. It also answers how Conor grandmother, a harsh and frigid woman, actually has the capacity for love and mercy. The crux of the movie, though, isn’t Conor’s mom’s healing but his own. Because of this earth-shattering tragedy, Conor is forced to find the answers to his own big questions. It’s a grueling yet beautiful process. The monster helps Conor realize that he himself is also a complicated beast, and the only way he can survive in a world with other complicated beasts is if he starts being kind and compassionate to and forgiving of himself and others. 4. Midnight Special (PG-13) In Midnight Special, a father is on the run trying to protect his young, gifted son from a doomsday cult. To say that Alton Meyer (the boy) is only “gifted,” though, would be selling the character short. We don’t really know if he’s completely human or completely alien or (most likely) some mixture of both. Thankfully, though, the story’s focus isn’t on Alton as much as it is on the people who either hunt him or help him. Keeping him safe from the cult’s mercenaries and the local law enforcement are Alton’s father Roy and Roy’s friend Lucas. Both Roy and Lucas have seen Alton’s gifts at work, and they can’t live like they haven’t. They know the truth that they’ve seen, and they have to live to tell about it. In a scene with Alton’s mother Sarah, Lucas even describes the moment that he decided to help Lucas and Roy to safety. Alton simply invited Lucas to “come and see,” and when Lucas accepted the invitation, Alton gave him a vision that would become the foundation for Lucas’s service to Roy and Alton. Essentially, Lucas’s compassion on Roy and Alton was founded on Alton’s gift. Because Lucas knew why he needed to help them, he was ready to give his life for the boy. Neither Roy nor Lucas would be content in giving their life so that Alton could be safe because Alton gave them both a vision to believe in and an example to follow. 3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Not Rated…but G) When Atticus Finch decides to defend properly the innocent Tom Robinson, he decides to empty himself of all his pride and social standing in order to serve his brother. Atticus puts his reputation on the line so that Tom Robinson may go free. Unfortunately, Tom doesn’t make it out of this whole debaucle alive, but other things were at work during this time. All while he was watching over and defending Tom, Atticus was also showing his children how to follow the Golden Rule and the Royal Law. Jesus said the Golden Rule was “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Atticus had his own spin on it: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” 2. Arrival (Rated PG-13) To further expound on this notion of sympathy and compassion for those not like us, let’s extend the conversation beyond racial differences and into something more extraterrestrial. In Arrival, Dr. Louise Banks uses her communication skills to learn the language of alien ambassadors. It’s a long, drawn-out process that almost ends up cataclysmically because her fellow human scientists keep jumping the proverbial gun (by firing a literal one). Dr. Banks, however, knows that in order for true communication – and therefore true compassion – to happen, she has to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. When talking with Abbott and Costello (the aliens), she does so on their terms, gives them the courtesy of speaking first, and responds candidly to them so that she can earn their trust. As the narrative plays out, their trust is what ends up saving her life. 1. Wonder Woman (Rated PG-13) As mentioned before, Wonder Woman (the character) is great because she doesn’t let herself become too focus on the big objective but instead tries to help out anyone and everyone she can. From villagers being ransacked by Nazi soldiers to a world fallen by people wih fell hearts, Diana makes the effort to find who needs help and give them the help they need. Even when Charlie – the sharpshooter in her group – needs a pick-me-up, Diana is there. Suffering from a crippling form of PSTD, Charlie freezes in the midst of battle. He has his target in sight, but the ghosts of his past fog his vision. Diana clears everything up for him by healing and encouraging him through grace and love. May it be so with all of us as we venture forth into the new year. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post 2017 Year In Review | FCC 158 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In the 1984 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Ebenezer Scrooge (played by George C. Scott) goes from being dead in his sins to alive with the spirit of Christmas. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:05:38 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:39:17 – Christian Themes in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) Key Texts for A Christmas Carol (1984) Let these passages be your guide as you watch A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984) with your friends and loved ones. Matthew 9:10-13 (NASB) Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 7:1-2 NLT Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. A Christmas Carol and Love/Discipline Sandwich Every Christmas season, Michael and I revisit Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the holiday’s most famous ghost story. We approach our annual experience with this narrative as a form of liturgy. We come to it every year to remind ourselves of the truth and grace it espouses. Show me a hat on someone who doesn’t need to be reminded of truth and grace, and I’ll show you a floating hat. As with every production of this tale that we cover, our focus is on Scrooge’s transformation. This year, however, we want to emphasize a point we believe is crucial to understanding how to correct someone who is doing something wrong and/or wrongly. That point is that correction, reproof, and godly discipline has to begin and end with grace and loving-kindness. Love is on the bottom, discipline in the middle, and more love on top: the love/discipline sandwich. Ebenezer Scrooge is a frozen man. Dickens’s original text describes him as “[a] squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.” What’s more is that “[t]he cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, and his thin lips blue.” He is a man dead in his sins, and, whether he admits it or not, he needs to be brought back to life. Scrooge has but one source of love in his current life: his nephew Fred. Every year, Fred comes by the counting-house to invite Scrooge to Christmas dinner, and Scrooge refuses him every time. Fred pours out nothing but love and grace, and Scrooge denies it every time. This has been the crux of their relationship for as long as Fred can remember, but that never stops Fred from inviting his frozen uncle to the hearth. What makes this year different, however, is that someone else visits Scrooge: his deceased business partner Jacob Marley. This tormented specter has a prophecy for Scrooge; if Scrooge doesn’t change his ways, he will end up with Marley’s same fate. Marley promises three spirits that will come to help Scrooge through his journey. Scrooge, of course, doesn’t believe anything will happen. Much to Scrooge’s chagrin, the Spirits come in their own, timely (heh) manner. The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge through his formative years at school and his early years in business with the Fezziwigs. During the holidays, Scrooge’s father left him alone at school – a severe form of abandonment that wounds Scrooge beyond measure. Thankfully, Fezziwig isn’t as harsh, and for a time, becomes a second and better father to Scrooge. These two locations are important to Scrooge because, as bleak as these times were, they were moments that in which Scrooge first knew true love. His sister Fan rescued him from desolation in school, and under Fezziwigs yoke did he meet Belle, the love of his life. Unfortunately, Scrooge is strong in the habit of repressing the truth, so he extinguishes the flame that the Ghost of Christmas Past brings, and quenches her totally. The next Spirit isn’t as easy to suppresses. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge what Christmas is like for the other people in his life. He shows Bob Cratchit and his family celebrating Christmas in their meager way. A small family meal with an even smaller goose is all they can afford. The fire isn’t big at all, but they keep themselves warm with their songs, laughter, and love. Even Bob’s crippled son Tiny Tim is lively with amorous joy. Scrooge has a brief moment of sympathy for Tiny Tim whereas he didn’t in a previous scene. He ponders Tiny Tim’s fate and asks the Spirit if the boy will live. The Spirit responds with Scrooge’s own words: “If he’s going to die, then let him die and decrease the surplus population.” Scrooge immediately recognizes that the Spirit is using his own words against him. The Spirit furthers his point by bringing a bit of disciplinary truth into Scrooge’s perspective. Scrooge feels the coals even more so when the Spirit shows him the two hideous children from underneath his robe. “Their names are Ignorance and Want,” cries the Spirit. “Beware of them, for on their brow is written the word DOOM. They spell the downfall of you and all who deny their existence.” Scrooge asks, “Have they no refuge? No resource?” The Spirit, using Scrooge’s words against him again, replies, “Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?” The Ghost of Christmas Present vanishes, and the last Spirit more forebodingly steps forward. He is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and he will show Scrooge what his future will be like if he doesn’t change: certain and final death. Scrooge, then, having his heart softened by the love and grace of his past and disciplined by the reality of the present, finds it within him to change his ways and keep Christmas in his heart all the year. It starts by buying Bob Cratchit and his family the biggest turkey available for their Christmas dinner. Next, Scrooge finds the charity collectors and donates a flabbergasting amount to their cause when he had previously, viciously denied it. He then reconciles the relationship with his nephew Fred and has Christmas dinner with him. Finally, he doubles Bob Cratchit’s salary and becomes a second father to Tiny Tim. In one fell swoop, Ebenezer Scrooge transforms from a frozen miser to a new man hearty and filled with love. It was only possible for Scrooge to change when his heart was softened by loving-kindness and then disciplined by truth. Let us remember to keep that in mind as we engage our fellow brothers and sisters this Christmas season. Be like Fred from A Christmas Carol and put loving-kindness at the forefront of all your holiday interminglings, and if called upon, be like the Ghost of Christmas Present and present (heh) the truth. To close, a tweet from Timothy Keller: Truth without love is imperious self-righteousness. Love without truth is cowardly self-indulgence. — Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) July 30, 2016 Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post A Christmas Carol (1984) | FCC 157 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Marvel’s latest web-slinging hit SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) has been merciless, and the Vulture (played by Michael Keaton) has come home to roost. Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland) starts acting like Tony, but Tony can’t let him do that, so he disciplines the young superhero. Join us as we talk about these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:05:37 – Movie Discussion 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback 00:37:13 – Christian Themes in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 01:04:23 – More Christian Themes in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Key Texts for Spider-Man: Homecoming Let these passages be your guide as you watch SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING with your friendly, neighborhood friends and family. Proverbs 21:13 NASB He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered. James 2:8 NASB If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. James 2:13 NASB For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. Proverbs 3:11-12 NLT My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Hebrews 12:7 NLT As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? Tony Stark and the Need for Mercy The thematic motif of “coming home” dominates the script. From a meta perspective, Spider-Man: Homecoming marks the first Spider-Man film produced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thus “coming home” from Sony’s previously exclusive hold on the rights. Sure, our web-slinger had his cameo in Captain America: Civil War, but this is his first solo film. In the world of the play, however, the “homecoming” motif resounds even more. Without saying too much now, I can safely say that this story leads to Peter Parker’s genuine acceptance onto the Avengers team. Where he only served as a one-time accomplice in Civil War, Peter proves himself to be indispensable to the team – even if he doesn’t fully take on those responsibilities in this particular installment. Another incidence of this motif, however, is the basis for the film’s conflict and primary antagonist. Adrian Toomes chooses to become the Vulture when Tony Stark puts him and his coworkers out of a job. Tony shows no mercy, so Adrian responds accordingly. Without Tony Stark being a merciless creature, there would be no Spider-Man: Homecoming. This sequence of events is nominally linked to playwright Arthur Miller’s definition of drama: when the chicks come home to roost. To expound the metaphor, imagine a mother hen sending her chicks out into the world only for them to come back to make their mother’s nest their home. Basically, it’s the idea of consequences of the past meeting situations in the future. It’s when things left unchecked become too glaring to ignore anymore. Tony Stark made the mistake of being merciless to Adrian Toomes and his crew. Adrian, therefore, became the Vulture in order to circumvent Tony’s influence. The Vulture, then, comes home to roost when Adrian’s weapon business opens up shop in New York. This motif highlights the importance of mercy by showing the repercussions of its absence. It’s a lesson the Tony Stark has to learn the hard way over the course of several films, but the fruits are clear and serve as a warning to us. And that warning should steer us in the right direction to make the better choice: choose mercy every time. Peter Parker and the Love of Discipline The dramatic chicks come home to roost for Peter Parker, too, and they make up the crisis for each act. Peter’s reckless behavior gets him into situations that he can’t get out of himself, and someone has to rescue him. Eventually, Peter finds the strength and power within himself, but that recognition doesn’t come until after Peter has been disciplined. In the first act, Peter crashes through neighborhoods and endangers himself and other while in pursuit of the Shocker. He stumbles through a treehouse, he demolishes a chimney, he disrupts a camp-out, and he douses party-goers in pool water, to name a few mishaps. The stakes really aren’t that high in these unfortunate events, but they are high enough to warrant a stern lecture from Tony Stark. In the second act, however, peoples’ lives are at stake, and Peter has to be held accountable. The Vulture and his team laid dormant on the Staten Island Ferry until Peter rustled their feathers (heh). Because Peter couldn’t take them all down, the ferry gets sliced in half, putting every passenger’s life in Peter’s sticky hands. Once again, Tony is able to bail Peter out, but this time, Tony has to love Peter enough to discipline him, and he does so by taking away Peter’s suit. Thankfully, in the third act, Peter finally learns the lesson that Tony was trying to teach: be better. As Peter is crushed by the falling building, he sees his reflection in a puddle. Wishing he had the advanced spider suit to help him, he chooses to (have) confidence in his own gifts and ultimately throws off the rubble. Don’t misread me: the notion that Peter could save himself when he believed in himself is *not* the Christian theme to glean here. The point, instead, is that Peter wouldn’t have even come to this recognition had it not been for Tony’s discipline. It’s the same for God whenever he disciplines His children whom He loves, and it should be the same us whenever we are disciplining our children and even making disciples of Christ. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING | FCC 156 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In DC Comics’s blockbuster hit WONDER WOMAN, Diana Prince (played by Gal Gadot) lets herself be moved by compassion and then expresses that love to others so as to help, heal, and restore her friends and, ultimately, to save the world. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:26 – Movie Discussion 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback and Well-Mannered Frivolity 00:49:11 – Christian Themes in WONDER WOMAN 01:16:42 – More Christian Themes in WONDER WOMAN Wonder Woman Key Texts Let these passages be your guide as you watch WONDER WOMAN with friends and family. Ephesians 4:25-32 NASB Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. BE angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil [accuser; adversary] an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Luke 10:30-37 NLT Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” Wonder Woman, Restoration through Compassion, and Salvation through Grace Themyscira may not seem like the kind of place that would proffer many opportunities for compassion. A paradisal island sanctified from the rest of the world by an invisible chasm, Themyscira is the home of the Amazons. Its all-female inhabitants have been endowed by Zeus with extraordinary combat skills and have been commissioned to use those skills for the protection against humanity’s adversary Ares. In order to maintain this protection, the Amazons spend all their time training, sparring, and growing into better warriors. Tracts of land are demarcated for obstacle courses and fighting rings. Older Amazons train younger Amazons every hour of every day. Even against Queen Hippolyta’s wishes, her sister Antiope trains a young Diana to be the strongest warrior from Themyscira. Antiope – being the best herself – pulls no punches, and Diana grows to be a force to be reckoned with. Why Diana decides to save Steve Trevor from drowning, then, is beyond me (Brenden) if it’s anything other than compassion. TO put it more succinctly, compassion happened to her, and she was moved (literally and figuratively) to save him. She and the other Amazons even nurse him back to health. Maybe they picked something up about compassion in their training manuals, I don’t know. Unfortunately, Steve Trevor has terrible news: the “war to end all wars” (aka World War II) has broken loose, and millions of innocent people are dying. Some of the Amazons may think otherwise, but Diana is convinced that Ares is behind everything. Diana believes that she can stop Ares herself, too, so she leaves Themyscira with Steve to find him. Much to Diana’s chagrin, however, Steve has to make a few pit stops. Before Steve takes Diana to the front lines of the war, he must assemble (heh) a team to help them. He enlists the smooth-talking Sameer, the chipper yet cloistered Chief, and a sharpshooter from Scotland named Charlie. All three of these guys are the best at what they do, but something is wrong with Charlie in particular. Maybe he’s been in too many battles, and maybe he’s seen too much carnage; whatever it is, Charlie’s been shaken by it. His traumatic experiences have impaired his ability to do what he’s best at, and there’s a lot of guilt and shame that goes along with it. If the gift of shame is humility, Charlie’s pride stops him from receiving that gift. And if the gift of guilt is freedom, Charlie’s unforgiveness of himself keeps him shackled down. Compassion breaks through, however, as Diana restores Charlie by loving him back to life. She cradles him as he screams during a nightmare, and even as he runs away from Diana at first, he’s still confounded by her compassion for him. She uses only kind, healing words with him so as to restore him to fullness. As proof of his restoration, Charlie sings again – something he hasn’t done in a while, according to Steve. Diana’s compassion doesn’t stop there, either. Even after the skirmish and the first mission is complete, Diana convinces Charlie to stay with the team. He wants to leave because he believes he isn’t the marksmen he thought was anymore, but Diana stops him from leaving. She shifts his focus on a gift he has still maintained – his singing – and encourages him to stay so that he can continue to share that gift with the company. Such is an example of Diana bringing about restoration through compassion on a small scale. Thankfully, as evidence her true heroic integrity, she is no different when the stakes are at their highest. From restoring a drunkard sniper to defeating the God of War, Diana does it all with grace and compassion. At the end of all things, as Steve Trevor has just saved the day, it’s up to Diana to save the world. During her grief over the loss of Steve, Diana snaps into a fit of rage and starts deflecting soldiers left and right. Ares tries to use that grief to break her into joining him. He even throws Doctor Poison at Diana’s feet with the hopes that Diana will serve as his own, personal judge, jury, and executioner. In the moment, however, Diana looks upon Doctor Poison and has compassion on her – just as the Samaritan looked upon the unfortunate soul in the street and had compassion on him. And instead of ignoring her like a Levite or Israelite would – and instead of killing her like Ares would – Diana lets her compassion move her to show mercy. Compassion, in a sense, is Diana’s modus operandi and her legacy. Her choices begin and end with love. With the upcoming Justice League release, many will speculate on how Diana fits within this dynamic, and I (Brenden) believe what sets her apart is her choice to let compassion move her. While the men of the team may exhibit the same kind of tunnel vision that Steve Trevor expressed during the venture to No Man’s Land, Diana will continue to believe in love and let that love move her to save the world not with her fists, her tech, or her super-warrior skills but with her compassion. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post WONDER WOMAN | FCC 155 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In John Carpenter’s classic slasher HALLOWEEN, Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) has to survive the immoveable Michael Myers, and she does so with the help of Dr. Samuel Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence) – a watchman who walks in the light. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:23 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback and More 00:42:24 – Christian Themes in HALLOWEEN (1978) Key Texts for Halloween Let these passages be your guide as you watch HALLOWEEN with your favorite ghouls and goblins (of the appropriate age, of course). Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NASB I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them. Ezekiel 33:2-5 NLT Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. 1 John 1:5-7 NLT This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. Walking in the Light in the Darkness of Halloween Haddonfield, Illinois may seem your average, run-of-the-mill Midwestern town. “Families and children,” says the Sheriff, “all lined up in rows up and down these streets.” Kids go to school, bullies smash the pumpkins, cars go just a little over the speed limit (but not too much), and teenagers get a little rowdy and a little more lusty. “Those were the good ol’ days,” some may say, “because these kinds of things have always happened gone on.” If these were all that Haddonfield was comprised, life would be swell indeed. But there’s a shadow that Haddonfield prefers to ignore – the shadow of a horrific event that took place fifteen years ago. A young boy came home on Halloween night, and he found his sister and her boyfriend becoming a little too familiar with each other. The little one snuck in the back door, took a butcher knife, and snuck up the stairs after the nameless boyfriend left. The young boy then donned a random clown mask and proceeded to murder his sister with that knife. That young boy was a six-year-old Michael Myers. That young boy was placed in a mental hospital immediately, where he lived under the careful watch of Dr. Samuel Loomis. While with Dr. Loomis, Michael was attended to and very carefully and caringly so. That being said, however, there came a time when even the long-suffering Dr. Loomis had to give up. “I spent eight years trying to reach him,” he says, “and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind those boy’s eyes was purely and simply evil. The point here is that Dr. Samuel Loomis knows the truth about Michael Myers because of his preexisting relationship with him. Because he knows the truth, he is able to walk in the light while everyone in Haddonfield feels their way around in the darkness. Because he is walking in the light, Dr. Loomis is able to guess Michael’s next move and eventually stop Michael from killing his last would-be victim Laurie Strode. Dr. Samuel Loomis, the Watchmen of Halloween Unfortunately, Michael was able to wreak a lot of bloody havoc in Haddonfield before Dr. Loomis stopped him. It started with a nondescript trucker on the outskirts of Haddonfield. When Dr. Loomis found that scene, he immediately called the Haddonfield authorities to warn them of the impending doom. Michael then slaughtered a friendly, neighborhood dog as well as Annie, Laurie’s friend who was babysitting at that house. Two more of Laurie’s friends also died at Michael’s hand before Dr. Loomis put six bullets into his chest. The tragedy of this story, then, is that Dr. Loomis failed in his objective in keeping everyone safe. This ending, however, does not discredit his performance as a watchman for the city of Haddonfield. He did his duty by speaking the truth to power and all those under it, and he didn’t stop until he believed it was safe to do so. He persisted even when it meant working against the casual pace of the cosmos around him. It’s not that easy to find Christian themes in the horror genre, and when we do, it often feels like a stretch. With Halloween, though, we can safely proffer this thought. When a brother or sister is moving closer to Christ – that is, when they are trying to leave a sinful lifestyle behind and need encouragement to come closer to Jesus – we as the hands and feet of Christ should embrace them and cover them with grace and mercy. If, however, a brother or sister is moving away from Christ – indulging in a certain sin or suppressing the truth (much like the people of Haddonfield thought they could do with the spectre of Michael Myers) – then we have the moral obligation to speak truth to them. Which, of course, is a lot easier to say than do, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing it. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post HALLOWEEN | FCC 154 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Jeff Nichols’s slow-burn, sci-fi sleeper hit MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, Roy Tomlin (played by Michael Shannon) wants to protect his supernaturally gifted son Alton (played by Jaeden Lieberher) from an unsafe world. Join us as we delve into the many Christian themes in this film on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction with special guest Scott Kelly  00:08:33 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Christian Themes in MIDNIGHT SPECIAL 00:55:30 – Even More Christian Themes in MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Special Note: Michael and I (Brenden) are pleased to welcome our brother in Christ and fellow movie lover, Scott Kelly.  He comes to us from the team at Reel World Theology, and you can follow him on Twitter. Key Texts in Midnight Special Let these passages be your guide as you watch MIDNIGHT SPECIAL with friends and loved ones…either from this world or the one on top of it. John 1:46 NASB Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” 1 John 1:1-4 NLT We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. James 4:13-14 NASB Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Alton Invites Us to “Come and See” Whenever people first meet Alton Meyer, he’s a lot to take in. That doesn’t stop him from inviting them to be a part of his journey. He believes in Lucas, so he gives Lucas his gift. He trusts Paul Sevier, so he shares his vision with him. Even when he has to convince his father Roy to let him go to a new world, Alton shows him that new world (more on that later). In all of these instances, Alton invites his friends and family to “come and see” what it is he has to offer. It reminds me (Brenden) of Jesus when he first started his ministry. After keeping tabs on John the Baptist for a while, Jesus finally steps out from the crowd. John the Baptist identifies him as the Son of God, and some of John’s followers are compelled to approach Jesus. These new guys, Simon and Andrew, ask Jesus of his lodging situation, and Jesus invites them to “come and see.” Simon and Andrew obviously liked what they saw because they ended up staying all night. They then became Jesus’s first disciples, then they went out and invited more people to Jesus. The crux of this matter is that an invitation can be a powerful thing. Sometimes, I (Brenden) – someone who was born and raised in the church and is already familiar with it – can forget how important and how crucial an invitation to someone on the outside can be. Let us (myself included) remember that not everyone believes in what we believe and that, sometimes, the only way to get them to believe the unbelievable is to invite them to “come and see” it for themselves. Roy, Lucas, and Sarah Cannot Stop Talking About It Alton’s special gift makes him extremely valuable to a lot of people, and not all of those people have the best intentions. Calvin Meyer, the leader of an apocalyptic cult and Alton’s adopted father, believes that Alton is a literal Godsend. This prompts Calvin to send out Doak and Levi, two “believers”-turned-mercenaries, to find and reclaim the Ranch’s kidnapped savior. Even Elden, a kindly man yet a former Rancher who lets Roy, Lucas, and Alton stay at his house, abuses Alton’s gift for his own selfish gain. Alton’s true family, however, cannot stop talking about what they’ve seen. As Lucas installs a police scanner into Sarah’s dashboard, he tells the story of how Alton “converted” him into a believer. Sarah, too, knows this gift because she is Alton’s mother. After Alton shows Roy the sunrise – and thus Alton’s own, true world – Roy uses his experience to fuel and encourage the others into continuing their journey – even if they all know how it will have to end. The point is that those who loved Alton can’t stop talking about it. The phenomenon reminds us of the apostles using their experience with Jesus as their own motivation while fulfilling the Great Commission. While some people (religious leaders of the time, enemies of the Way, etc.) tried to speak against Jesus, those who knew and loved him could not be quenched. They knew what they had to do, and they did it with gusto. May it be so with us. God Still Loves Us…That’s the Deal The hardest part of this film is watching a father let his son go. Roy’s super-objective for the first two acts of this film has been to protect Alton. He’s done that by keeping Alton held tightly and closely to him (figuratively and literally). Roy’s caravan only travels by night because he perceives that the sunlight will hurt Alton. He tells Alton to stay in the car, and when Alton doesn’t, he destroys a US satellite which then crashes into a gas station. It seems to Roy that the only way he can keep Alton safe is by holding onto him. Unfortunately, this tactic becomes null and void, and a new tactic ushers in the third act of the film: in order to really protect Alton, Roy has to let him go to his true home. That means, much to Roy’s brokenheartedness, that Alton will have to leave Roy behind. What’s important, though, is Roy’s decision to still love Alton. “I’ll always worry about you, Alton,” Roy assures his son. “That’s the deal.” The final act of Midnight Special serves as a reminder that our kosmos (or “preferred ordered system”) will not remain that way for long. It’s only a matter of time before something as earth-shattering as a child growing up into their own life and out of their parents care happens. As Christians, we are called to handle these moments with wisdom, grace, truth, and love. Only then can we truly accomplish our own super-objective: loving God and loving other people. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post MIDNIGHT SPECIAL | FCC 153 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, we are reminded to have the mind of Christ whenever dealing with something strange and unusual so that mercy can shine through and stave off even the fiercest monsters. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:40 – Movie Discussion 00:28:00 – Listener Feedback and More 00:44:10 – Christian Themes in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON Key Texts for Creature from the Black Lagoon Let these passages be your guide as you watch CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON with your fellow gill-men and gill-women. Proverbs 14:12 KJV There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Matthew 5:7 ESV Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Philippians 2:1-5 CEB Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus… The Mind of Christ The remains of an amphibian humanoid have been found in South America. Dr. Carl Maia has never seen anything like it before, and he needs help figuring it out. He then turns to his friends and fellow scientists Dr. David Reed and Kay Lawrence. They are a pair of ichthyologists who also happen to be romantically involved. Their consensus is to return to the Amazon and try to recover more remains. The only problem is that they need money and a lot of it. Fortunately, David knows a guy. His name is Dr. Mark Williams, and he’s Reed’s boss. Financially minded, he always proclaims to consider the cost of such expenditures. The others, however, know Williams’s pressure point: notoriety and publicity. The three scientists use potential fame and glory to lure Williams into affirming the expedition, and their scheming works. Williams agrees to fund the expedition, and the journey back to the Amazon goes off without a hitch. The world of this play is turned upside down when the crew returns to the dig site and finds the guards’ maliciously mauled bodies. As they try to figure who or what could have done such ghastly things, the question arises as to whether or not the expedition should continue. Dr. Maia and Dr. Reed are all about going home to regroup, rebuff, and appropriately arm themselves. Williams, however, stubbornly insists on staying in the wilderness and finding the monster. Since money gives him his power at this point, Williams wins, and the expedition continues. It isn’t until a few more crew members are killed by the monster that Williams considers turning back. Even then, he takes so long to make up his mind that the monster traps them in his lagoon. In this new crisis and at knifepoint, Williams finally relents and gets his priorities in check. Unfortunately, as he is helping Reed remove logs from the makeshift dam, he is viciously mauled to death by the Creature. In his own mind, Williams was doing the right thing. He didn’t see anything wrong with being the way he was. He was simply operating under his own morality. Of course, his morality did not include loving his neighbors as himself. Williams’s morality, then, was a path that seemed right at the time but, in the end, led to death. Dr. Reed and Kay, however, more aptly espouse the mind of Christ. Their focus wasn’t to hoist a dead monster on display; instead, they wanted to showcase it in its natural habitat. They valued its life when Williams wanted it dead. In their valuing of its life, David and Kay loved the creature as themselves. Such is the mind of Christ, and may we all have that mindset. Mercy Shines Through Love isn’t the only thing that David and Kay show the monster by letting him live. It’s technically a form of mercy. After the Creature has taken Kay to his underground layer, everyone else who’s still alive follow suit. They come armed and dangerous and ready to fire. David runs in first to stop the monster, but the latter gets the better of him. The Creature raises David high into the air and is about to finish the attack until the others cover the monster with a barrage of bullets. The bullets stop the Creature from killing David, and the Creature turns toward his attackers who keep firing to kill. David and Kay, however – even though the monster almost killed them – urge their friends to let the monster go. Again, they never wanted the monster dead in the first place, and even this new crisis did not make them waiver in that decision. It’s a very brief glimpse, but it is a true glimpse, nonetheless, of what true mercy is. The Creature wanted to kill them, yet they wanted him to live. They didn’t want to see him hanging in a museum but thriving in his own natural habitat. I’m positive this even leaks over into the definition of grace, but for now, let’s just stick with mercy. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON | FCC 152 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (played by Tommy Lee Jones) tries to catch psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem) before the latter catches Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) in a nihilistic game of cat-and-mouse. Join us as we discuss the Christian themes (or lack thereof) and so much more in this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:04:38 – Movie Discussion 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback and More 00:39:19 – Christian Themes in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Key Texts for No Country for Old Men Let these passages be your guide as you watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN with friends and loved ones (that is, if any of them are willing and able). Ecclesiastes 1:9 NASB That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 7:10 NASB Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 CJB Yet another thing I observed under the sun is that races aren’t won by the swift or battles by the strong, and that food doesn’t go to the wise or wealth to the intelligent or favor to the experts; rather, time and chance rule them all. For people don’t know when their time will come any more than fish taken in the fatal net or birds caught in a snare; similarly, people are snared at an unfortunate time, when suddenly it falls on them. Anton Chigurh and the Hopelessness of Nihilism As audiences of No Country for Old Men, we don’t know what to do with Anton Chigurh. In the beginning of the film, we see him calmly and coolly strangle a deputy. This shows us what kind of character he is. In the end, he limps away from a nearly fatal car crash after he pays a random boy $100 for his T-shirt. This shows us that even he is still susceptible to time and chance. His presence is, at the most, a stroke of creative genius, or, at the very least, a glaring inconsistency. When faced with such a puzzling dilemma in art, it’s always best to turn to the original creator of the mystery. In this case, we turn not to the Coen Brothers but to Cormac McCarthy himself, but even that trail turns cold. Whenever asked about Anton Chigurh, McCarthy doesn’t offer up any solution to the mystery. In fact, the only response he gives to any question of the origination of this character is that he liked his name. If the author of the story doesn’t give much consideration to Anton’s background, then neither should I. McCarthy, instead, employs Anton to carry the role of the “unstoppable evil” archetype that exists prominently throughout McCarthy’s work. It’s not so much about who Anton is but what he represents – what he symbolizes. Our only insight into interpreting this symbol is Anton’s coin. He flips it to decide whether or not he needs to kill someone. When he meets the convenience store owner in the first act, he flips the coin and urges the other to “call it.” Anton then pontificates on how the shop owner has been charged to keep this appointment with the coin. Anton has the same argument with Llewelyn’s girlfriend Carla Jean at the end of the film. In both cases, Anton detaches himself from the others by consigning his will to time and chance. If there’s anything positive about Anton, it’s that he’s always consistent with and obeys what the coin says. When the shop owner calls “heads” and the coin is revealed as such, Anton lets the other man live. Carla Jean, however, is not so lucky, as evident by Anton’s checking of his boots after leaving her house. All this to say, then, that Anton is simply an embodiment of the randomness of death. This is a stout truth for anyone, especially anyone who adheres to the Christian worldview. In fact, it’s just as true for Christians as it is for anyone else. “The race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle always to the strong,” surmises the Teacher in Ecclesiastes. Sometimes, we can thus conclude, time and chance get the better of us. While nihilists see this as the reason to not really hope for anything, Christians can find our ultimate hope here. Death may befall us at the flip of the coin, but if we’re folded into the Kingdom, it won’t sting. Ed Tom Bell and Foolishness of Nostalgia Anton’s hopelessness doesn’t stop Sheriff Ed Tom Bell from chasing him, and Ed Tom chases the lop-haired antagonist religiously. He even gets close enough to drink from the same glass of milk that Anton poured just a few minutes before. Throughout the film, Ed Tom is always only one step behind Anton, though he can never seem to catch him. In his defense, though, Ed Tom isn’t just chasing Anton; he’s chasing an ideal. He’s in pursuit of a better time, the good ol’ days, and the halcyon days of yore. Things were better in the past, and Ed Tom wants to get back to that time. It was a time when you didn’t have to carry a gun, even if you were the sheriff. His dad didn’t have to carry a gun, neither did any of the lawmen he knew while he was growing up. It was just safer; not as much evil intermingled with the world. Of course, true wisdom says that such a pursuit is only a wild, murderous, psychopathic, lop-haired goose chase. Ed Tom is really just wasting his time. Ed Tom realizes this when he approaches the aftermath of the final hotel shoot-out. He sneaks up on the door, and he just knows Anton is waiting for him on the other side. The fear that spreads across Ed Tom’s eyes shows us that he’s not ready to encounter this great and mysterious evil. Thankfully, in a mustering of courage, he takes the chance and opens the door. As Christians, we can sympathize with Ed Tom in that we, too, can acknowledge that fell state of this world. It’s foolish, however, to say that the past was better than the present. Ed Tom, unfortunately, doesn’t realize this folly and therefore chooses to affirm the other side of the coin (heh). Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN | FCC 151 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Jeff Nichols’ slow-burn, coming of age drama MUD, teenager Ellis (played by Tye Sheridan) learns what a jealous love is from Mud (played by Matthew McConaughey). Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:40 – Movie Discussion 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback 00:39:19 – Christian Themes in MUD Christian Themes in Mud Let these passages be your guide as you watch MUD with your friends and loved ones. Jeremiah 32:38 NASB They shall be My people, and I will be their God. Luke 6:31-35 NASB Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Mud’s Jealous Love Ellis is going to a tough time in his life. He’s going through puberty, his parents are going through a divorce, and he may be moving away from his friends. No kid wants to be in that spot, yet it has befallen Ellis to wade through these changes with minimal support. He has his friend Neckbone and his friend’s uncle Galen, but that’s about it. Such is this case, however, until he meets Mud. When they first meet, Ellis has compassion on Mud and takes him some food. In an effort to keep the boys around, Mud offers to help them fix an abandoned motorboat. If they keep bringing him food, he’ll help them repair the boat. Once the boys find out that Mud is a fugitive on the run, they’re a little hesitant. Neckbone is ready to leave him alone, but Ellis is willing to help only if Mud is honest with them. Mud’s confession scene in the boat is a powerful one. He reveals his backstory with a reluctant yet trustworthy gleam, and the boys can’t help but listen. Mud tells them of how, while he and Juniper were “on the outs,” she got tied in with the wrong guy. He got her pregnant but then killed the baby by pushing Juniper down a flight of stairs. Mud then killed that man, and he’s been on the run ever since. After this confession, Ellis and Neckbone sympathize with Mud’s plight and agree to help him repair the boat. Even as outsiders to Mud and Juniper’s relationship, they can witness Mud’s jealous love for Juniper. This jealous love is the kind of love that God has for His people. God says it over and over again through His prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus even talks about how He longs to gather Israel to Him like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings. It’s the kind of love that God even calls us to have today for everyone Ellis Coming of Age The wonderful thing is that Mud begins to love the boys as well. He gives them advice when other role models don’t. He helps them figure out life when other influences don’t. While Neckbone remains a little more skeptical, Ellis soaks in every word. In Mud and his love for Juniper, Ellis sees what love is supposed to be. This is why it hurts when Mud breaks it off with Juniper. He writes her a note and asks Ellis to deliver it. Juniper takes the letter and accepts Mud’s decision, but Ellis doesn’t like it. He feels betrayed. The illusion of love between Mud and Juniper has been shattered, and Ellis has been broken with it. Ellis returns to Mud with a vengeful fist to the eye and a vocal beatdown. But in the world of this play, love does exist; it is patient, kind, selfless, and it is not provoked. After Ellis punches and berates Mud, the latter doesn’t retaliate. Instead, he continues to love Ellis. When Ellis then falls in the stream of deadly snakes – suffering a lethal bite – Mud, without even a hint of hesitation, scoops the boy up and leaves the safety of the island to rush him to the emergency clinic and saves his life. Again, this is the kind of jealous love that Mud has for his loved ones. Now, however, that Ellis is the recipient of it, his life is saved, and he now knows that power. He then takes that power back to his home life and is thus able to weather the storms of his life. May it be so for us Christians, who have known God’s love because we have been saved by it, as we go and do likewise. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post MUD: Coming of Age with a Jealous Love | FCC 150 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Martin Scorsese’s family film HUGO, the eponymous character (played by Asa Butterfield) shows kindness to retired filmmaker Georges Melies (played by Ben Kingsley) which leads to his restoration. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:02:18 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:39:02 – Christian Themes in HUGO Key Texts for Hugo Let these passages be your guide as you watch HUGO with friends and loved ones. Matthew 9:13 NASB But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Romans 2:4 NASB Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Hugo’s Purpose Hugo Cabret is a homeless orphan who lives at the train station. He lives on stolen bread and milk, and he sleeps in an abandoned apartment. He’s always on the run from the Station Inspector. He never seems to catch a break. Even with all this, however, Hugo has a purpose. This sense of duty and purpose was instilled into Hugo by his father. Being a clockmaker who never went out of business, he always needed Hugo to help him fix things. When his father died, Hugo’s Uncle Claude took him in. With him, Hugo learned how to maintain the clocks at the train station. After Uncle Claude vanished, Hugo continued to fix anything he could. Fixing things became his second nature. When Hugo meets the mysterious Papa Georges, he quickly realizes that Papa Georges is a broken man. Hugo rightfully feels drawn to Papa Georges because of his sympathy for him. This sympathy and compassion create within Hugo a tugging of the heartstrings and an overflow of compassion. It’s this compassion that moves Hugo to act out of kindness. We as Christians need to be reminded of this point constantly. In a world fraught with people with whom we may or may not agree, it’s important to remember that our influence over them is only as powerful as our compassion for them. Just like Hugo couldn’t fix Papa Georges until he had compassion on him, neither can we “fix” anybody we think needs fixing until we have compassion on them first. Compassion for Papa Georges Once Hugo realizes that fixing Papa Georges is his purpose, he makes it his mission to go out of his way to do so. Of course, it’s not so easy to do when Papa Georges catches Hugo stealing from him. It’s actually Papa Georges’s mercy on Hugo that sparks this theme within the film, but Hugo carries it all the way through. It’s not until Hugo and Isabelle meet Rene Tabard, a film connoisseur and author, that they realize who Papa Georges really is: esteemed and renowned filmmaker Georges Melies. Both Rene and Hugo’s father was touched emotionally by Melies’s work, and Rene wants to return the favor. He does so by showing Melies his old film, and it’s all thanks to Hugo’s efforts. Christians can learn a lot simply by watching this interaction, but it’s really from the denouement that we believers can truly glean our understanding of how kindness transform Georges. At the screening of his films, Melies mentions that he wouldn’t even be in attendance were it not for the efforts of a brave, young boy. May we all strive to be as brave, kind, and compassionate as Hugo so that we, too, can truly save the world. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post HUGO: Purpose and Kindness | FCC 149 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In Steven Spielberg’s classic film SCHINDLER’S LIST, German industrialist Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson) uses his reputation within the Nazi party to influence Amon Goeth (played by Ralph Fiennes) for the better and save hundreds of Jewish people in the midst of the Holocaust. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more in this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema Podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:04:45 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:32:48 – Christian Themes in SCHINDLER’S LIST Key Texts for Schindler’s List Let these passages be your guide as you watch SCHINDLER’S LIST with friends and loved ones. Matthew 4:19 NASB And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Luke 6:31 NASB Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. Oskar Schindler and His Influence The Nazi Party is gaining momentum in its climb to the top of the global pecking order. Lavish parties are being thrown on a regular basis as an expression of their progress. Cigars, cocktails, and cabaret chanteuses line the halls with a certain camaraderie. And in the middle of it all is our protagonist Oskar Schindler. He isn’t there, though, as they might think. He isn’t there to celebrate with the Nazis, even though he buys them champagne. He isn’t there to glorify their cause, even though he smiles and laughs with them. He isn’t there to become one of them; he’s there so that they may become more like him. Underneath the luster of his shiny industrialist veneer, Schindler’s mission is to increase his influence. His tactic is something that has recently been called “virtue signaling.” As defined by Wikipedia, “virtue signaling” is the expression or promotion of viewpoints that are especially valued within a social group, especially when this is done primarily to enhance the social standing of the speaker. But the gravity of Schindler’s virtue signaling is far heavier than it may seem. Despite the fact that “virtue signaling” has become a derogatory term for people who put on a false front in order to be accepted, Schindler is actually doing so more virtuously. He isn’t just virtue signaling, he’s ministering to the Nazi leaders by giving them something they actually want: affirmation and gratitude. It’s a psychological phenomenon that we see in the first scene featuring Schindler and Amon “The Butcher” Göth. Schindler realizes that the Nazi officers aren’t being properly (i.e. mentally and emotionally) cared for during these dark times. The Butcher and his cohorts are not getting any sort of affirmation or gratitude from their superiors. Schindler consistently and unceasingly fulfills those needs, and the Nazi officers begin to trust him because of it. It’s because of their trust in him that he is able to save all those lives. The Bible talks about this kind of psychological ministry in several places. In Ecclesiastes, the Preachers urges the reader to “cast the bread among the waters.” It’s a reference to an old fishing technique: feed the fish first and then cast your net. The Apostle Paul uses himself as an example of this kind of ministry when he says, “I became all things to all men so that I might save some.” Most importantly for Christians, we should watch Jesus’s example. When He asked Simon and Andrew to join Him so that he can make them “fishers of men,” it’s important to remember what goes unsaid in this passage. It’s just a truth that humans won’t follow who they don’t know, and they won’t know who they don’t trust. It’s a safe assumption that Simon and Andrew knew Jesus well before He started his earthly ministry of seeking and saving the lost sheep of Israel. Whenever we feel the same pull to change someone, to heal someone, to correct someone, and to save someone, let’s consider our relationship with them. Let’s actually speak in truth and love – since truth without love is brutality – lest we sound like a clanging gong or a noisy symbol and actually push people away from God. Oskar Schindler, the Good Samaritan This film shows the hearty contrast between two worlds: the Nazi world and the Jewish world. The former terrorizes the latter via physically and mentally raping and pillaging and even murder. People are turned out of their homes and sent to concentration camps where they may or not make it out alive. They are truly held between a rock and a hard place – a persecution – and there is little hope. Oskar Schindler, however, has compassion on this group of people. Even though he’s working his way through the Nazi party, his heart is for the Jewish people. As extra-cinematic sources confirm, the man Oskar Schindler grew up with Jewish neighbors and befriended the young boy there. Since this, his affinity for the Jewish people can only grow into sympathy compassion which is shown in spades throughout this film. Schindler even teams up with a Jewish man named Itzhak Stern. Schindler would take care of how business looked to the public while Stern would manage the day-to-day operations. They become an excellent team, and the companionship between them is even more palpable. Because of their teamwork, the two of them are able to maintain the enamelware factory and then the “sub-camp” munitions factory so efficiently that they are able to save 1,200 Jewish people once condemned to die. The fruits of their labor are life-giving. It’s a reminder of the Good Samaritan in that Schindler saw the persecuted people, had compassion for them (that is, let compassion happen within him), and made his decisions based on compassion. Who cares if this has been the running theme with FCC for the past umpteen episodes? As long as events like Charlottesville keep happening, we Christians have all the more impetus for living and walking with compassion. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post SCHINDLER’S LIST: Influence by Compassion | FCC 148 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END, Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) shows compassion in his actions, and Bootstraps Bill (played by Stellan Skarsgard) becomes a bondservant to his son Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom). Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:06:40 – Movie Discussion 00:27:58 – Listener Feedback 00:34:10 – Christian Themes in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END Key Texts for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Let these passages be your guide as you watch PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END with your fellow rapscallions and beloved sea-dwellers. 1 John 3:11,18 NLT This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another. Let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. I Corinthians 9:19 NASB For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. People Aren’t Cargo, Mate: Jack Sparrow and Compassion Jack Sparrow’s history with the East India Trading Company is an extensive one. In The Curse of the Black Pearl, we see the branding on his arm. In Dead Man’s Chest, we meet Lord Cutler Beckett. In this film (and with a little digging in the Disney wiki), we see how it all connects in Jack’s backstory. Most importantly, though, we see how Jack bases his decisions on compassion. Long ago, Jack was the captain of a ship named the Wicked Wench. This vessel was a rum-runner for the East India Trading Company. Being a rum-lover himself, Jack had no problem spreading the love. When Lord Beckett became Jack’s boss, though, he wanted Jack to transport some a little more precious than rum: slaves. Jack, however, could not bring himself to do it. He liberated the slaves because he felt compassion for them. When Beckett found out, he punished Jack by burning the ship. Jack, still wanting his freedom, then made a deal with Davy Jones: thirteen more years as captain of the Wicked Wench in exchange for 100 years under the mast of the Flying Dutchman. Davy accepts the offer and brings back the ship, only it is charred black from Beckett’s burning it. With its new color in mind, Jack rechristened the ship into its more familiar moniker: the Black Pearl. Sometimes, it takes some digging in the mud to find the real treasure. Why the editors of the films let this scene (and the whole of Jack’s backstory, really) die on the cutting room floor, we’ll never know. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: knowing this apocalyptic information about Jack helps us more clearly understand his wild and witty ways. What’s most poignant for Christians, though, is that Jack makes his decisions based on compassion – something anyone who bears the name of Christ should strive to do. Aye, Captain Turner: Bootstraps Bill the Bondservant The Flying Dutchman must always have a captain. That captain has one job: ferry the souls of the deceased from the world of the living to the world of the dead. The captain must commit to his job, and as a reward, for one day every ten years, he is allowed to come ashore. Davy Jones has been that captain for the longest time, but he neglected his duties and was punished accordingly (i.e. his half-human/half-sea creature visage). The captain of the Flying Dutchman isn’t the only one who shares its curse. “Bootstraps” Bill Turner and the entirety of the crew also share in this bondage. Bill’s curse is even more ominous: he is doomed to spend eternity on the ship. His son Will Turner has other plans. With Jack’s help, Will stabs the heart of Davy Jones and becomes the captain. Jones is lost in the maelstrom, and Will is left with the Flying Dutchman. Automatically, though, things start changing for the better. Most notably, the crews’ thalassophobic features fall away, revealing the human likenesses they’ve always had hidden under the shells and barnacles. Will fulfilled his promise to his father, but now Bootstraps has another debt he owes to his son. This debt isn’t incurred via force by Will but is, instead, an offering of committed service via gratitude from Bootstraps. Bill loves his son so much that he wants to commit himself to an eternity of service. In Bible times, that’s called being a bondservant – someone who willingly commits their life to serving another – and it’s how we’re called to respond to Christ. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post AT WORLD’S END: Compassion and the Bondservant | FCC 147 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST, Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) tries to cheat Death himself in the form of Davy Jones (played by Bill Nighy), and Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom) meets his long-suffering and compassionate father Bootstraps Bill (played by Stellan Skarsgard). Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more in this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:58 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:34:10 – Christian Themes in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST Key Texts for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Let these passages be your guide as you watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest with fellow scallawags and beloved rapscallions. James 2:8 NET But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. James 2:8 YLT If, indeed, royal law ye complete, according to the Writing, `Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,’–ye do well. Davy Jones as Death Himself In theatre, there’s a technical term called the “world of the play.” When using this term, we refer to the rules to which our story and all it encompasses adhere – the rules that are at play that go without being said. In the POTC world, for example, lying and scheming and wheeling and dealing to save one’s own or someone’s life all seem to be quite normative. Jack Sparrow is one of those wheelers-and-dealers, and he has convinced Will Turner to take his place on the Flying Dutchman and in the servitude to Davy Jones. Jack owes a debt to Davy – his life – that he refuses to give up easily. He talks Will into taking his place, but Davy Jones isn’t so agreeable. The character of Davy Jones is a mystery, to be sure. In our (the audience’s) world, we know that “Davy Jones’s locker” is a seaman’s colloquialism for “death.” As we watch Dead Man’s Chest, then, we can view the physical presence of Davy Jones as an allegory for Death. In the world of Dead Man’s Chest, everyone is trying to escape Death – literally. In Curse of the Black Pearl, for example, Captain Barbosa and his crew have their eternal life (albeit a half life…a cursed life) via the Aztec gold. Even Jack Sparrow himself explicitly states that he wants to be free, and in both films – even much more so in Dead Man’s Chest – we see Jack connive his way to being free from Death. Of course, he is not successful in his quest because he is eaten by the Kraken. Davy Jones, or Death, walks away a happy man…or squid-man…thingy. Something to note, though, is that death isn’t the final destination in the POTC world. Bootstraps Bill and Compassion Another perspective on Death can be gleaned from the character of Bootstraps Bill, Will Turner’s father. Bootstraps has been condemned to serve on the Flying Dutchman, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be relieved anytime soon. And his servitude is a harsh one, as we see in the film. Once Will lands on the deck of the Dutchman, however, Bootstraps is all at once overwhelmed by compassion for his son. When Will accidentally drops a cannon through the top deck, Bootstraps steps in and offers to take the punishment. Of course, Davy won’t let that happen, so Bootstraps does, in his mind, the next best thing: punish Will himself. That way, he can at least guarantee Will’s safety through the lashings. As the film goes on, though, we see more and more of Bootstraps’s compassion toward Will, and it echoes the kind of compassion that Christians are supposed to espouse. When Will casts lots against Davy Jones with an eternity of service aboard the Dutchman at stake, Bootstraps throws his die as well so that he can give his son one more chance of a free life. It’s a model we would all do well to follow. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post DEAD MAN’S CHEST: Death and Compassion | FCC 146 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) learns what kindness is through Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (played by Keira Knightley) while Captain Barbosa (played by Geoffrey Rush) longs for redemption. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:14 – Movie Discussion 00:24:20 – Christian Themes in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL 00:52:10 – Upcoming Curse of the Black Pearl Key Texts Let these passages be your guide as you watch PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL with your fellow rapscallions and beloved swashbucklers. Isaiah 53:5 NASB But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. Romans 2:4 NLT Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? Captain Barbosa and the Longing for Redemption When Captain Hector Barbosa and his crew stole the cursed Aztec treasure, they didn’t anticipate how harsh the curse would be. Food and drink no longer filled them, and the pleasures of this life no longer satiated them. In the moonlight, they are revealed as the decaying corpses that they really are. But Captain Barbosa doesn’t want this for his crew. He wants them to feel life and to live it to the fullest. He has, therefore, set out on a mission to lift the eponymous curse. Unfortunately, they hit a snag when the last gold coin is being withheld by Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann. The bigger setback, though, is Barbosa’s decision to continue leading his crew on this forsaken mission. They only want to lift the curse so they can return to the sinful lives they’ve led this whole time. They only want to consume and be filled forever more. What separates Jack Sparrow from Hector Barbosa, then, is that Jack intentionally bears the curse of undeath – a kind of wretched immortality – so that he can properly fight Barbosa and save William and Elizabeth’s lives. Jack Sparrow and his Examples of Kindness As noble as Jack Sparrow is, though, he is still isn’t a pillar of society. He’s a playful trickster, a con man, a philanderer, and a hedonist. Despite these minor character flaws (at least the film treats them as “minor”), we can still sympathize with him. This sympathy begins when Jack saves Elizabeth from drowning. Elizabeth returns the favor by trying to protect him from being hanged in the beginning. Though he manipulates her kindness into an escape attempt, he is still affected by it. He’s further affected by Will Turner’s kindness when Will lets him out of prison. These examples of kindness work their way on Jack throughout the film. The most notable example of kindness toward Jack is Will and Elizabeth both rescuing him from the hangman’s noose. Will and Elizabeth both act as intercessors on Jack’s behalf, and he is allowed to go free – much to the comedic chagrin of Governor Swann and Commodore Norrington. In the end, Jack escapes and is still as much of a rascal as he ever was, but these examples of kindness stick with Jack throughout the film series. It’s interesting to see how it all folds out, but more on that next time. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL: Kindness and Redemption | FCC 145 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.

In KONG SKULL ISLAND, James Conrad (played by Tom Hiddleston) and Hank Marlow (played by John C. Reilly) both have enough compassion that they would sacrifice themselves to save others. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more on this episode of the Finding Christ In Cinema podcast. For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap  00:03:04 – Movie Discussion 00:27:57 – Listener Feedback 00:33:19 – Christian Themes in KONG: SKULL ISLAND 00:57:48 – Upcoming Compassion and James Conrad James Conrad is a professional tracker who suffers from a bad case of homesickness. As Bill Randa points out in a conversation at the bar in Saigon, “Men go to war in search if things, Conrad. If you had found it you’d be home now.” Randa’s words make Conrad realize of homesick he actually was, and they convince him to go along on Randa’s adventure. Conrad’s homesickness, however, speaks more deeply to his sense of compassion. He feels for others who can’t get home, so he’s made finding lost men his forte. When he meets Lieutenant Hank Marlow in the wilderness, he wants to bring him home. When Major Packard reveals that a soldier named Chapman is lost, Conrad makes it his mission to find him. This is compassion at its finest. When Kong’s own life is in danger, then, Conrad takes it upon himself and a few others to save the eponymous beast. Because James Conrad lives a life of compassion, it’s easy to make this decision; it’s practically a second nature. Christians can see a similar form of compassion in the Apostle Paul. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he deliberates his evangelistic method. Instead of solidifying his ministry with his own house rules and only helping those who would follow those rules, Paul became “all things to all people so that he might save some.” James Conrad embodies this mantra, and we can learn from both his and Paul’s example. Sacrifice and Hank Marlow Another fine example of compassion in KONG SKULL ISLAND comes in the form of Lieutenant Hank Marlow. As he is also a compassionate character, though, he can also be understood in terms of his sacrificial love. Not to say that James Conrad doesn’t have this same capacity, but the theme is more poetically displayed in Marlow’s character. Marlow is, after all, a soldier. He signed up in WWII to give his life for his friends and family. Even when hunted by his enemy Gunpei, the two of them become blood brothers once on the island. When the decision is made to leave the island, then, it pains Marlow to leave his brother behind. Once again, it’s a lifetime of sacrificial choices that comes to a head in this film. Just like Conrad, it’s nothing for Marlow to risk his life in order to save Kong’s. As Conrad comes to tell the civilians to return to the boat, Marlow takes up his sword (Gunpei’s sword, no less) and rides into battle. It’s a near-perfect image of what Christ calls “no greater love” – Marlow laying down his own life for those of his friends – and we would do well to follow in those footsteps. Key Texts for Kong Skull Island Let these passages be your guide as you watch KONG SKULL ISLAND with friends and loved ones. 1 Corinthians 9:19 NASB For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here. Use the audio player at the top of this article to listen to the podcast, or use the links below for other convenient ways to hear FCC. iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Radio | TuneIn Radio | RSS Feed   The post KONG SKULL ISLAND: Compassion and Sacrifice | FCC 144 appeared first on Finding Christ In Cinema.