Something I couldn’t hold back…
I have now seen the Lifehouse ‘Everything’ - Skit being discussed online in a couple of different places. It is a production by a group of what I believe are real and well meaning Christians, but I think it misses the mark. I refrained from posting a reply in either of the places I saw it discussed because in both places it was receiving very positive feedback and I felt my comments would be taken as divisive and obtuse, though they are certainly not meant to be either. But having watched the video a few times and read the reactions, I felt I just had to respond somewhere. Then I remembered I have my very own soapbox here at auldridges.com. 
I am going to come off as an elitist and such a ‘negative-Nancy’. That is not intended. I just think we continue to miss the mark in the church today and believe we need to continually set the bar higher. So here is my own dogmatic and purposely limited response:
1) God does not have to fight for us, nor is he held helplessly at bay by the evils of the world as they work against us. Having already won the fight for His people, He actively grants and revokes capability to the evils of the world to act against us all the while maintaining sovereignty over the entire situation.
2) The real power that unites us to God is missing in this portrayal. It is the life and death of Jesus Christ, and faith alone in His deity and redeeming work which unites us to God. While that may be implied given the context of this production, its further display throughout the world removes that context and creates, what looks to me like, a fairly nonexclusive and unitarian feeling message. Christ’s message–The Gospel–is exclusive in its means and modes and I believe it is important to portray that.
3) The modern evangelical church, especially in America, resorts to emotional manipulation rather than solid theology and doctrine through the exposition of the Word. Proper teaching and discipling should reveal the Word and character of God, which itself will then fuel emotion. Christ told us to go into the world and make disciples. Emotional manipulation may create “converts” but will fail in creating disciples.
So there you go. My take on it. As I said, I do not believe I am ‘more Christian’ than those who put that production together, and I really believe it was put together with the most honest and pure of intentions. I really believe, however, that we have to be very particular in our accurate representation of God and His work for us.
Thanks for reading.
6 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
September 11th, 2007 @ 11:00 am
I agree with much of what you say, yet it is undeniable that this is a very powerful video. I work with a Creative Ministry Team at my church, and plan next Sunday to show them the video and begin working to include it in our repetoire. However, we will make a couple of changes that will hopefully result in a more scripturally accurate and effective portrayal. I’ll detail those changes shortly.
It seem to me that there are a couple of ways of viewing the skit. First, it could be seen as a portrayal of the creation, fall, and redemption of man. The skit starts with God breathing life into the character. He then fellowships with her and shows her His creation. But then she is tempted, and falls. Sin keeps here from God. As she sinks further, God continues to call to her, imploring her to come back to Him. When at last she comes to her senses, she tries to get back to God, but sin in holding her captive. She is unable to get to God.
So God takes on sin (as Jesus). Note that as He is holding back sin, He does so with His arms held out as if on the cross. Finally, He conquers sin with His death on the cross. The girl is cleansed, and fellowship restored.
It could also be viewed as the spiritual journey of one individual. In truth, this is probably what the creator of the skit intended, given the sins with which the girl is dealing. At the beginning, the girl is dead in her sins. Jesus breathes His Spirit into her, represening salvation, and she is in intimate fellowship with Him. She walks with Him, talks with Him, and marvels at His wondrous creation.
Then temptation comes, and she falls. Jesus pleads with her to come back as she falls deeper and deeper. Jesus begins to pray and make intercession for her before the Father. She then comes to her senses and tries to get back to Jesus, but she is unable to do so in her own strength. It is only as she falls to her knees and begins to pray that Jesus steps in. He breaks the hold her sins have on her, cleanses her, and restores fellowship.
There are several changes I would make. First and foremost, the first sin character pushes Jesus away. That is not scriptural. Sin has no power or authority over Jesus. I would change it so that it is obvious that the girl has to choose between Jesus and sin, and that she chooses sin. Sin can stand between Jesus and the girl, and keep the girl from Jesus, but cannot keep Jesus from the girl.
Also, at the beginning of the skit, the girl is wearing a tear-away black shirt. This shirt is torn off in her struggle with sin, presumably representing cleansing. However, this implies that sin cleaned itself, or that she cleaned herself from sin, neither of which is scripturally accurate. The only accurate would be portrayal would be to have Jesus remove the black shirt. However, since the secular viewer may see that as Jesus undressing her in a sexual manner, I would do away with the black/white shirt transition completely. Jesus brushing her off as shes rises from her knees adequately represents His cleansing of her sins.
I would also make it clearer that Jesus did not intervene and fight off sin until it was clear that she was praying to Him. She chose sin, but she cannot remove herself from sin in her own strenght. It is only when she calls on Jesus, asking for forgiveness and strength, that she can be freed from the sinful ways she chose earlier.
Finally, when Jesus fully defeats the sin characters and the fall to the floor, the Jesus character should pause for a couple of seconds with his arms out in the form of a cross. This would portray that the death of Jesus on the cross has broken the power that sin had over us.
I think that these changes would address your first two points. As far as your third point is concerned, I would never substitute this skit nor any other skit for the Word of God. But the skit could be effectively used before of after God’s Word is preached, especially if the message covers the truths portrayed in the skit: God created us; He desires fellowship with us; we chose to disobey and sin; we could not save ourselves and cannot defeat sin in our own strength; and we must call and Jesus to forgive, cleanse, and restore fellowship.
Thank you for a very honest, open, and thoughtful review of the Lifehouse Everything skit. Your thoughts helped guide me to modify the skit so that we can (hopefully and prayerfully) effectively use it with our Creative Ministry Team. God bless.
September 11th, 2007 @ 11:42 am
Darryl,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful reply, and for reading my post in the spirit in which it was intended. I believe, from what you have written, that your version of the skit will present a more accurate depiction. However, it is always hard to depict–in any medium–the duality of our existence (the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man). I hope you can do that in a way that is honest, accurate, and impacting.
Sincerely,
Jim
September 11th, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
Jim,
Thank you for your feedback. My post wound up a lot longer than I realized, and even then I left something out, so I will add it now. If you have any suggestions for additional changes to the skit, I would love to hear your ideas.
Darryl
September 26th, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
I would like to comment on some things that I saw in the video. One thing the camera failed to do is to keep tabs on God/Jesus. When she was coming to the end of herself (contemplating suicide), if you watch the one glimpse the camera gives, it is at the same time that Jesus is dying on the cross. If you don’t know to watch him, you miss that part completely - and the story loses a vital point of impact. They also missed showing him arise from the dead - but I knew because it was then she began to try to come back to Him. I think something is to be found in that. The lifeline he had I admit I didn’t fully understand. But I think if you see that she never truly chose to come back to him until he was done dying on the cross, then you see it wasn’t until then that we even had the ability to. The other thing that struck me personally is that she was redeemed (white shirt) shortly after his resurrection (I’m sure the timing was off due to the skit’s limitations). Her shirt was white (redeemed), yet still she struggled against sin. How many Christians stumble with the reality of strongholds that took root before we were saved, and have yet to be completely destroyed. When we turn it over to Christ to come to us, then we allow His strength to save us.
October 3rd, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Hi there,
It didnt look like Jesus was dying on the cross NO to me it appeared as if HE were praying and interceceeding for her life as the HIGH PRIEST that he is, the MEDIATOR between GOD and mankind, the man MESSIAH JESUS CHRIST….
This video rips those who have been saved and torn from the clutches of powers far greater than our abilitly and screams of the intervention of CHRIST, who gave himself as a sacrifice to GOD for sin.
The only thing separarting us (mankind) from GOD YAHWEH*
We identify with this RESCUE so much because we have been rescued but one thing is certain we also needed to FIGHT to get back to him and we needed to WANT to be back in HIS arms so to speak…
Just my humble two cents….
Great love & Joy,
Lisa
November 5th, 2007 @ 1:35 am
I was reading one of your old posts on a just war. Google brought me here. Have you ever thought that St. Augustine was wrong in regards to this idea. He could not read Greek and came up with some very wrong ideas about Christianity based on bad Latin translations.
JL