My disagreement is simply that if we continued this line of thought to its logical end we would end up with a church completely separate from our culture and this, I believe, is a bad thing.

Upon separation from a culture the Church has a tendency to create its own subculture. Case and point > Christian film. The Christian film industry has been making films by Christians, for Christians and in the process have left Hollywood to do its own thing. There is so much creativity there. So much God given talent. Imagine if Christians used this to influence the culture at large in a positive direction? Christian media is divorced and therefore is not competitive, not applicable, and not realistic to a secular audience. Every time a person falls on their knees and a God ray from heaven falls on them Hollywood cringes and screams “HALLMARK SPECIAL!” and goes about its business ignoring Christian film’s feeble attempts at creative storytelling.

I believe this concepts is being taken slightly out of context. Friendship with the world is hatred toward God but within the context of “being in the world” AS WELL AS “of it”.

Jesus really focused upon the morally destitute in his ministry. He was and is a friend of the world. I thinks that’s why he came to save it. The difference is when the adulterous was laying at Jesus’ feet he said “Go and sin no more”. He loved her, he was being a friend of sorts but he was not letting her remain the same. He was calling her to a higher standard.

Christian film is not calling Hollywood to a higher standard.

How can we influence them if our films… to put it quite bluntly and pardon my French… SUCK??? I do not vote separation between church and hollywood because we cannot change what we do not acknowledge. If we are called to be “in the world” and not “of it” how can we divorce ourselves from the world?

I suppose we can’t forget Hollywood is not some monster. It has human beings within that God loves just as much as Billy Graham and if we aren’t there to love them who will be?

But isn’t a state of divorce between Christianity and Hollywood exactly the way it should be? In James 4:4 it says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?” If Hollywood doesn’t like Christians that is a good sign because Jesus said,”The world will hate you because of me.” (Matt. 10:22)

It’s a popular idea that Christians are called to “influence” the world, but this is biblically incorrect. Believers are called to be witnesses and to preach the gospel, it’s not quite the same thing at all. Influencing is a slippery slope towards compromise, and it misses the mark. I vote for separation of church and Hollywood!

Interesting you bring up Left Behind, because my Dad wrote the books the movie was based on! We actually formed our own movie company because we could tell the movies weren’t going to be very good.

I agree with most of the comments here–the whole notion of “Christian” entertainment has gotten pretty screwy. In and of itself, it’s not all bad, but it’s become so.

That said, I need to make a living, so I’m currently in post production on a Christian film. I’m going to write an article soon on Big Hollywood that will talk about it. The theme of the piece will basically be, “I’ve said they’re bad, now let me try making one and put money where my mouth is.” Stay tuned…

It is an interesting subject, I worked six months in Christian TV, can’t stand Christian radio and have seen one Christian movie.
His final point hit me – these kids are being raised not to develop their God given talents, being discouraged from doing so.

I’d rather have a root canal than watch Left Behind.:^)

The problem isn’t the Christian inspired content, it’s the insularity of the group of people that produces that content and insist on it being the driving force behind their product. Even when the Hayes Code was in place and Hollywood was making what the author considers more Christian friendly fare (“Ben Hur” and “The Ten Commandments” come to mind as does “The Sound of Music” and “What a Wonderful Life”), audiences including devout Christians were not spending time figuring out whether actors and directors had publicly acknowledged Jesus as their lord and saviour.

The creators “Christian” credentials seem of critical importance in the Christian entertainment industry. The Jesus credential is the driving force, more than talent or quality content. The bottom line is that that industry was not developed to provide artistic expression that would jive with their beliefs but to expand methods for getting God/Jesus’ message out to the masses.

You only have to read the testimonies of people who have left extreme fundamentalist Christian sects to see how much impact the Christian entertainment industry had on their lives. They only listened to Christian radio, looking for guidance and re-affirmation in Christian songs, and read Christian bookstore selections of reading material to further their relationship with God and Jesus.

The bottom line is that when such entertainment products are driven by such a definitive goal, it borders on propaganda.

At the time I was managing a small movie theatre and it was what was called a ‘four wall deal’. The Graham organization rented the theatre and collected the admission. I kept the popcorn receipts.

I wonder what the implications of these comments are for the potential of religious movies being produced by the mainstream companies. I remember a couple years ago that some of the big companies were considering putting in faith-related divisions. Don’t know whether anything came out of that.

Incidentally, if you’re looking for bad Christian movies, I’ve watched the Left Behind series (three so far). There’s six hours you’ll never forget.