A Die Hard Recanting - 3 Reasons Die Hard is Not a Christmas Movie (Pastor's Podcast)

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

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One year ago, we did a podcast on Christmas movies and our host argued that Die Hard qualified as a Christmas movie. Well, after much thought and investigation, there has been a recantation! You won't want to miss this...

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I've changed my position on a very serious topic and you need to stay tuned to find out what it is.
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Welcome back to Conversation with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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I'm coming to you today from the inside of Richard Roden's truck because this was the only place we could go where it would be quiet because our children are playing together in the house.
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You can tell this is a very professional podcast.
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Richard, thank you for being with us.
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You know the one thing we do have today? What's that? Multiple cameras.
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Yes.
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This is actually going to look kind of cool if it works out right.
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We're going to be all tech-savvy and everything, but we are today talking about a very important subject.
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The subject is when positions change.
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Last year on this podcast, we had our friend with us, Sam Brown, and we did a movie countdown where we chose the greatest Christmas movie.
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If you didn't get a chance to watch that, it's still available online.
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You can go back and watch it.
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It wasn't intended to be overly serious.
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Today is not either.
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Today is not a serious podcast just like we did the chicken sandwiches during the month of December.
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I like to have a good time, have some fun.
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I do have some notes though because today, even though it's not serious, we are talking about something that we will roll into somewhat of a serious topic because we're going to address the subject of what do we do when our positions change on things.
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If you want to know what it is, my position has changed about Die Hard being a Christmas movie.
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Last year during our debate over the movies, I fought tooth and nail.
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I was certain that Die Hard was in fact a Christmas movie.
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However, due to a recent revelation, best word I could say, maybe an illumination, I have changed my position.
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I want to provide today three reasons that convinced me that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.
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First, I want to say something about this whole thing about changing positions.
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My wife and I were actually talking about this before the podcast because this is a fun topic and it's meant to be taken lightly because this is Christmas week, but it does bring up a serious issue.
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Changing our minds on certain things is what happens when we grow and mature as believers.
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Obviously, I know Die Hard is not an issue, a matter of faith, but my point is if you bring this into the subject of actual Christian faith and you start thinking about the idea of positions that we hold on certain things, as we grow and mature, our positions can and often do change.
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One of the most dangerous things we can be is unteachable.
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One of the most dangerous things we can be is people who are unwilling to ever listen to a counter position, ever to deal with cognitive dissonance, which is that strange feeling in your brain that you get when someone tells you something that you don't agree with and it is striking at the synapses of your brain and you don't really know how to respond.
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You ever get that, where somebody says something and you're like, I don't agree with you, but it's challenging what I'm saying.
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We have to be able to deal with that as believers.
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We have to be able to grow.
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Now, that doesn't mean that we're willing to be blown about by every wind of doctrine.
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The Bible says we have to be careful not to be blown about by every wind of doctrine, but we also have to be honest and say that we have not arrived theologically.
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If my theology was the same as it was when I first got saved, I got saved at 19, if my theology was still the same as it was 21 years ago, then that means I didn't grow at all, and that means I had perfect theology when I got saved, and neither one of those is true.
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Before we get into this very serious topic of Die Hard, I want to ask you, Richard, to share with the viewing and listening audience of any time that you ever had a theological position that changed.
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Do you remember? Well, the largest one would be my coming to understand and accept Reformed theology or Calvinism.
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Prior to, I think, 2011, I think it was, I was born again in 2001, so 10 years, you know, I was basically against Calvinism, and more so around 2008 to 2011, because before then I really wasn't introduced to it.
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But when I was introduced to it, and by a certain person who nameless.
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It wasn't me? No, no, no.
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Okay, because I don't have to remain nameless.
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I'm here.
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No, this person was what, this was the type of Calvinist that would give Calvinism a bad name.
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Oh, okay, okay.
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So, I was very much against it.
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Gotcha.
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Because, one, this person was like in your face with it, rude, nasty, you know, if you don't believe this, you ain't saved, kind of.
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You're still sure it's not me? It ain't you.
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But, I'm not that way.
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I was very much against it until Andy came to our church.
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Andy Smith, this is a pastor now of? Christ Reformed Community Church, I believe.
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Down in St.
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Augustine.
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Down in St.
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Augustine, yes.
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And he came in as our pastor, and his first sermon after he came in was on John 3.
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And he made the comment in the sermon that God doesn't love everybody the same.
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Well, my anti-Calvinist ears popped up when he said that, because that's something that a Calvinist would say.
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So, the next Sunday.
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Which would be something anybody should be able to say.
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Right.
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Even the most staunch Arminian, anyway.
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Should be able to say that.
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Not what we're talking about today, but the Bible, you know, because this is one I always get when it says, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.
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And people say, well, that means he loved him less.
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Okay, well, if that's what it means, then he didn't love him the same.
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The idea that he loves everybody the same is right there, and they admit it.
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But anyway, go ahead.
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So, I went to his office the next Sunday morning, because our Sunday school class was in the same building as his office.
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And before Sunday school, and I just walked in his office straight up asking, are you a Calvinist? And he literally pointed to the picture of John Calvin on the wall.
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Nice.
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So, we had a little bit of a discussion back and forth, and he said, how about we go to lunch, we'll talk about it.
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And through the providence of God, before I had lunch with him, Adam Page actually recommended the two books by Olson and Horton, For Calvinism, Against Calvinism.
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And so, I actually read Against Calvinism first, because that was the position I agreed with.
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And then I was beginning For Calvinism about the time we had lunch.
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And so, I was already in the beginning stages of it.
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But in the conversations happening with him and going over all of the elements of it, and one of the things Andy said to me that kind of got my wheels turning was concerning total depravity.
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Was Adam and Eve being the only two people ever created that could actually obey God from the outset, because they were sinless.
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You see what I'm saying? And that got my wheels turning.
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Once they sinned, that ability was lost.
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Yeah, gotcha.
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And so, him saying that, then me reading what Horton said on total depravity, that was as far as I had to go.
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And then I was like, I just read the rest of it, and it made so much more sense than the previous position.
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And so, I had to really go back on what I said.
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It was hard to go to other people who were Calvinists that I knew at the time and say, well, I've now become, I agree with you now.
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I've become one of you.
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And they were really and gave me a hard time.
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But anyway, and that leads to other things, because when you start understanding the sovereignty of God and everything, not just salvation, but in everything.
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Like when I was prior to understanding, a fuller understanding of the sovereignty of God, when difficult things happen, people would say, well, don't worry about it.
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God's in control.
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And in my mind, I thought of it like in the same way that I'd be in control of situations.
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Somebody said, you need any help? No, I got it under control.
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Well, I got it under control, but I've only got it under control to an extent.
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And I kind of looked at it as God's got it under control.
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He's not going to think that really bad happened, but some things may happen, but he's going to work it all out.
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But when you really understand the sovereignty of God, and as my current pastor Cody says, those difficult providences, it's not just that he has it under control.
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Every event that's happening is through his sovereign control.
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And so if you're in it, he purposed it for a reason.
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So anything that happens to you is happened because God has decreed it to happen.
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You see what I'm saying? So he's in that much control.
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And so that's comforting, but it's also difficult to understand.
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But the point being is going from one position to another changes, not only my theology on salvation, but everything else too.
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So that would be where I had to make a very big shift.
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And that's a huge shift compared to some people and some of the things they may have changed.
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But anyway, that would be my answer to that question.
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No, that's a great answer.
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And what you just said just struck me because it has been decreed before eternity that I would change my position on Die hart.
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Getting back to the topic at hand.
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But before I do that, I do want to say I've changed my position.
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Obviously, when I went to seminary, I didn't even know what Calvinism was.
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I became a Calvinist while in seminary, but not because of the seminary, but actually in sort of opposed to what the seminary was teaching because I learned about reformed theology and adopted it.
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And you and I were doing bread truck together back at Flowers Bakery, and you shared with me eternal security.
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So I had gotten saved in 99.
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A year or so later, I spent some time with you in a bread truck, and we talked about the Bible all day long.
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And you convinced me that day, and I remember it very specifically, of eternal security.
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So we have had a, not always super close, but we've always had a relationship since our adulthood that's been centered around the word.
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So I want to tell you, on this Christmas, I'm blessed to have you as a friend, and I'm thankful.
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And from the bottom of my heart, so you've helped me.
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I hope that I've helped you.
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And over the years, we've grown together.
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And that's what we do as brothers in Christ, is we try to, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another, and we grow together.
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And that's what change is.
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Or growth is.
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Growth is change, and change is growth.
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So we're going to get to the silly topic now.
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We're going to talk about diehard, but please apply this in other areas.
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We shouldn't be willing to change everything, because obviously the gospel never changes, but there are things that God opens our eyes to, and makes clearer to us.
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And so we need to be malleable in His hands, that He would be able to lead us and direct us.
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And so that's, having said that, all right, back to the topic at hand.
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Three reasons why diehard is not a Christmas movie.
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Now I'm going to lose some fans over this, because there are so many people, this is to them, this is a gospel issue.
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And if you're unfamiliar with diehard, God bless you, that means you're probably very sanctified.
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But diehard is a 30-year-old action movie.
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Is it 30 years old? It is 30 years old.
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It's a 30-year-old action film starring Bruce Willis.
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It had a little bit of trivia.
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It was actually offered to Frank Sinatra.
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Oh yeah.
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The role of Bruce Willis? Well, the role of John McClane was offered to Frank.
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Because it's based on a book, in a series of books, in which Frank Sinatra had previously played that character.
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And because he was contracted to play that character in any upcoming movies, they had to offer it to him first.
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And of course, he turned it down because he was old and it wouldn't have made sense.
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But I want everybody for a moment, I'm going to pause.
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I want you just to imagine Frank Sinatra as John McClane.
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Hold on.
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That was it.
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Okay.
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We needed to pause for a moment of thanking the sovereignty of God.
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That didn't happen.
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Okay.
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Wow.
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Three reasons diehard is not a Christmas movie.
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If you want to argue with me, argue with me in the comments.
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And as long as you keep it playful, I'll keep it playful.
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Don't get ugly.
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This is all for fun.
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All right.
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Number one.
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And this was the most convincing.
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This was the enlightenment period.
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Because all three of these matter, but this was the one that changed everything for me.
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As I was thinking this week about Christmas movies, because every year we watch a Christmas movie around Christmas time, usually Christmas Eve.
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In fact, we have this year, we have Christmas Eve t-shirts I made.
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They all have sayings from Christmas Vacation.
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We're going to put them on and watch Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve while drinking eggnog.
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My wife will drink coffee because she doesn't like eggnog.
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But that's what we're going to do on Christmas Eve.
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So as I was thinking about what makes a Christmas movie, number one, diehard isn't about Christmas.
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Now stay with me because I know you go, lose your mind.
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Those of you who are arguing, this was the most convincing to me because as I was thinking about diehard as a Christmas movie, diehard is not about Christmas in the same way that other Christmas movies are.
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And I'll give you a few examples.
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So for instance, Christmas Vacation not only has Christmas in the title, but it's about leading up to and preparing for the day of Christmas.
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Families arriving, gifts are being purchased.
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They even show Clark in the mall dealing with a woman trying to buy something for his wife.
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So there's all of these.
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I was going to say they even got a little thing where you open the doors, leading all the way up.
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Yeah, the advent calendar.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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All of those things.
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So it's about Christmas, even though there are so many things else that happen in the movie, such as the neighbors and all that stuff.
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It all sort of points to Christmas and Christmas is the focus.
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It's not the background.
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It is the theme of the movie.
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It's about Christmas.
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And we could say that about your favorite movie, Elf.
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Richard hates Elf.
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And that's why I said that.
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Miracle on 34th Street, The Santa Claus.
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These are Christmas movies because they're about Christmas.
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Diehard is not about Christmas.
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Therefore, it's not a Christmas movie.
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Christmas is a theme in the movie, but that is not the theme of the movie.
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And therefore it is not about Christmas.
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And when I say it's a theme in the movie, more so it's a backdrop in the movie.
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All right.
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So it isn't about Christmas.
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My number one argument.
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Argue with it.
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Do what you want.
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Number two.
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And this was your argument from last year.
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Now I'm repenting because I challenged him and now I'm OK.
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So he was right.
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Oh, my goodness.
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It does.
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It's even me saying Richard was right.
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There's something in my soul that just like flutters.
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Yeah, it's I got it's right here.
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It's not quite all the way up.
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But it isn't dependent upon Christmas.
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Now, I argued last year that it is.
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And you sort of you sort of acquiesced with me a little bit that it is.
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But looking back, I think you were right.
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And as I said, it isn't depending on Christmas because had it occurred at any other time in the year where there was a party happening at Holly Gennaro's work, whether it be an Easter party or a, you know, Arbor Day party, a birthday party for Mr.
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Tanaki.
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Good one.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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The only thing that would have changed is I wouldn't have been playing Christmas music in the background.
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There wouldn't be the Christmas lights up, but it would not have changed the overall feel of the movie.
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And so is it dependent upon Christmas? No, it's not.
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So that's number two.
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It's not a Christmas movie.
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Number three.
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And this is another one that really just reinforces my point.
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You have to tell people it's a Christmas movie.
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And if you have to convince people, not just tell them, but convince them that it's a Christmas movie, that it ain't a Christmas movie.
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It's like it's like being a lady or being important.
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If you have to tell people you are, then you ain't.
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You know, if you have to say, well, I'm a lady, we're not acting like one or I'm important.
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Well, you don't seem important to me.
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If I have to convince people that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, I, you know what I don't have to do.
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I don't have to convince anybody that Christmas Vacation is a Christmas movie.
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I don't have to, I don't have to convince anybody that Christmas Story is a Christmas movie.
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I don't have to convince anybody that, um, that, that Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas movie.
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Right.
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You ain't gotta convince anybody that A Christmas Carol is a Christmas movie.
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But we do have to convince people.
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Therefore, it's not because we have to convince people that it is, which proves the opposite, proves that it's not.
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So that's my three points.
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I'll go through them again.
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It isn't about Christmas.
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It isn't dependent upon Christmas and you have to tell and convince people that it is a Christmas movie.
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Therefore, it is not.
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That is the, the argument from brother Keith in regard to Die Hard.
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Do you agree with my assessment? Yes.
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Um, especially the third one.
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And I, and I'll say not because you know, you agreed with my comment from last year, which I think was like a five minute monologue.
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It was.
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And feel free to go back and watch it.
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But, um, the third one you had to tell people when I would act, when people would like in surveys or something, what's your favorite Christmas movie? And you'd see Christmas Vacation, Christmas Story, this, that, and then people put Die Hard down.
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I'm like, when my first thought was always, why is Die Hard even on this list? Because I didn't see it as a Christmas movie.
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Never have.
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Yeah.
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Never have.
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And so that's why same way with like Lethal Weapon and all those other ones.
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So you're going to, you're going to lose listeners.
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You're going to lose followers today.
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You're going to be disfellowshipped by members of your church.
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But perhaps, perhaps I have brought an enlightenment to the people.
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And that's what the podcast is all about.
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It's about education.
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So I've made some notes.
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I want to read out this, this last portion.
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I'm not saying that because Die Hard is an action film, that that keeps it from being a Christmas movie, because there are action movies and even horror movies that qualify as Christmas movies because they meet the three qualifications.
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They're about Christmas.
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They're dependent upon Christmas.
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And they, you don't have to tell people they're Christmas movies.
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Black Christmas, I've never seen it, but it's a, it's a horror movie.
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I'm sure it's a Christmas movie.
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It's awful.
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I'm sure there's one with, and this might be the one, Bill Goldberg plays a rogue Santa.
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Yeah.
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I've, I've saw Ben Spies in one like this.
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Yeah.
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I don't want to see it and I don't recommend you seeing it, but that is, that's a Christmas movie.
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It's a bad Christmas movie, but it is a Christmas movie.
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It meets the three qualifications.
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It's about Christmas.
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It's dependent upon Christmas and you don't have to tell people it's a Christmas movie.
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Right.
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All right.
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So, so I'm not saying that because a movie is an action movie or even a horror movie that it doesn't qualify as a Christmas movie.
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What I'm saying is Die Hard doesn't meet these three things.
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And I'm also not saying this because Die Hard is not family friendly because you know, and I know the Christmas vacation and Christmas story aren't always family friendly.
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I am thankful for censorship.
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I'm thankful for VidAngel, not a sponsor, but I do appreciate VidAngel.
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Uh, if you don't know what VidAngel is, it's a $9.99 monthly service that our family gladly pays for that, that allows me to go in and take out any bad words from films, uh, any, even bad scenes.
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It allows me to basically modify the film the same way I watched it when I was a kid.
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Cause I watched Die Hard Saturday afternoons on TBS with my grandmother and it was always censored.
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Remember, uh, you know, Hippie by Day, Ricky Martin.
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That was the, that was what, you know, I never knew he said a bad word because it wasn't in there.
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And so, um, same way with Christmas vacation, we censor that for our kids.
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Uh, Christmas story, even Christmas story, which is about kids.
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They say some really bad words.
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So we, we censor that out and, and all those things.
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So I'm not saying that a movie has to be family friendly to be a those other ones have some non-family friendly things, but, uh, I do recommend VidAngel if you're watching it with your family.
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And I'm also not saying that you can't enjoy Die Hard at Christmas.
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You should, if you like Die Hard and you want to watch it at Christmas, um, that's, that's fine.
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I have a friend who said it's not Christmas to me until Hans Gruber falls off of Nakatomi Tower.
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Okay.
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Whatever Hans Gruber is the greatest villain in movie history.
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As far as I'm concerned, Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman.
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Awesome.
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So, um, you know, I'm just saying it doesn't meet the three part criteria, the three part criteria.
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It's not, it's not about Christmas, not dependent upon Christmas.
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And you have to tell people that it's a Christmas movie.
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Same way with, like you mentioned Die Hard, uh, Lethal Weapon, uh, Rocky IV, First Blood, all these are movies that are set at Christmas, but are not Christmas movies anymore.
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And again, I know I'm saying something different than I said a year ago.
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This is growth people.
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You're watching change.
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You're watching genuine repentance before you.
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Sanctification being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
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There it is.
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So why does the debate rage on? I'll finish with this.
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Uh, unless Richard, would you like to say anything? No, no, you're covering it well.
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I'm just, I'm just enjoying, I'm basking in the glow.
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All right.
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Well, I don't want to leave you out here, but this is, this is my final thought.
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And then we're going to, then we're going to close out.
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Why does the debate rage on? Because it doesn't matter because it's fun to argue over things, which are silly, because it's fun to say things, which at first sound a little kooky.
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And when you say Die Hard's a Christmas movie, that does sound a little odd.
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It's in fact, you, like you said, the first time you saw it, it was strange and it made you look into it.
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People want to be on the outside of, they want to be counter-cultural and to say Die Hard's a Christmas is a counter-cultural thing.
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But one of the things that we have to remember is the debate is raging on because it doesn't matter because it's fun.
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And really it's a relatively recent phenomenon.
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I don't remember anybody talking about this 10 years ago and 20 years ago, and the movie's 30 years old.
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It's really only been recently.
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And I think that people are arguing about it, not because they really believe Die Hard's a Christmas movie, but because it's fun and it has no real consequence.
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But in regard to things that do have real consequence, we should be willing always to go back and reevaluate what it is we think and always be willing to say that we could be wrong and stand for the things that are necessary, but be willing to be challenged on the things that are not.
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And one of my professors said this in school, and I'll leave you with this.
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He says, you should believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.
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He said, but don't doubt your beliefs and don't believe your doubts.
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So that's a little thought to leave you on this Christmas week.
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And both Richard and I will say, Merry Christmas.
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And we hope you have a wonderful time with your family.
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And if you watch Die Hard, we'll be praying for you.
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Thank you for listening to and watching Conversation with a Calvinist.
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This is Richard Roden.
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I'm Keith Foskey, and we've been your Calvinists today.
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May God bless you.
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Thank you for listening to Conversations with a Calvinist.
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And if you have a question you would like us to discuss on a future program, please email us at calvinistpodcast at gmail.com.
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As you go about your day, remember this, Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
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All who come to Him in repentance and faith will find Him to be a perfect Savior.
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He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
24:30
May God be with you.