Highlight: Christians and Art

Apologia Studios

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Yeah, so I was gonna say too, because I've seen some comments, we're not at all like approving of whatever theology

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Jordan Peterson has at this point in time, and we realize this was taken from a four -hour show.

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We're just simply responding to this one point and dissecting that scripturally.

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I'm glad you brought that up. It's interesting how oftentimes, and I don't want to talk down to anybody, but Christians can tend to have some pretty severe knee -jerk reactions based upon assumptions.

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Like in an instance like this, we're just saying, Jordan Peterson, pray for him.

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I hope that God opens his eyes to the truth and he comes to Christ. I'm just glad to hear him saying true things.

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Like just because somebody is an unbeliever, I don't know, maybe this is a good discussion to have for a moment here. Just because somebody is an unbeliever doesn't mean that the image of God has been erased in them.

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And it doesn't mean that they have nothing to offer. Like for example, you might have an unbeliever who doesn't believe in Jesus, doesn't trust in Christ, but they actually are an incredible artist, an incredible artist that I can admire and respect and appreciate and try to of course evangelize.

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But just because they're not a Christian doesn't mean I need to, okay, for example - You're talking about Neil Young? Yeah, right.

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So yeah, I'll say it like this. And I think this is something that is important, at least in my own mind.

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You have, say, an unbeliever, still made in the image of God, doesn't know Jesus, want to evangelize and want them to know

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Jesus, want to aggressively evangelize them so they know Christ. They may actually be a better artist and storyteller than the

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Christian artist and storyteller. I may actually want to appreciate their gifts that are given to them by God, whether they acknowledge him or not, more so than the

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Christian. This is expressed, I think, so well with Christian media and film. Have you ever seen a movie that was made by a

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Christian? I'm talking about like, we're going to make a Christian film, something that goes on Pureflex.

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Have you ever seen one that you liked, that was done well? Good cinematography, good sound, good story, good acting.

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Have you ever? I'm asking. My answer is no.

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Did Darren Doan films count? You're talking about, Darren does like documentaries and stuff, so that's just a different category.

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I'm talking like a film with a storyline and characters and acting and like, you know what

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I'm saying? Like I'm talking about a film film, like, of course, Darren does excellent. But is it made, you know what

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I'm saying, is it made? The Apostles is phenomenal. But is it, I'm talking, you guys know what I'm saying? I know what you're saying.

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There's a scene in Princess Cut, which is a Pureflex movie, where the main character is sitting in a coffee shop and for about three seconds, you can see the boom mic at the top of the frame.

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Right. Oh, I remember that. Actually, I do remember that. And I just thought that,

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I mean, that's it. Like they didn't, they were like, we don't need to refilm it. Let's just keep it.

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It'll be fine. You know, there is such a thing as CGI, guys. We're trying to blur it. Right. Now, don't get me wrong.

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That's sort of the general, that's sort of the general idea is like, does it give people the warm fuzzies?

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Right. Does it, is there some Bible verses in there? Good enough. Right. Are the actors explaining the movie well enough for you?

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Like they're always telling you things that, you know, it's the assumption that the audience is stupid and can't understand nuance and figure the story out for themselves.

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It has to be explained in the dialogue, which is done so poorly. I'm not saying that, like, for example, like Hollywood started as this, this

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Mecca of like, you know, Christian worldview, creating, you know, Christian films and things like that. Obviously a lot has changed.

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But there's a whole cool story about Hollywood and early films and everything. Of course, when you look back in the days, you look at things like It's a

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Wonderful Life and you look at things like Ben -Hur, there's a difference between then and now.

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And the difference is back then, not very long ago, the Christian worldview was still the riding assumption, like roundabout society, like the

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Bible, the biblical worldview was still the accepted, this is above all of our heads. So as you're making films like It's a

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Wonderful Life, it's still above the head, right? And now as Hollywood takes a nosedive and they start like throwing off the fetters of the

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Christian worldview and all that stuff, you know, you start getting to a place today where like, you've just got garbage. It's a hot mess.

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It's always, Joy and I were just talking about like shows that it's like, this is done so well, the cinematography, the direction, the production, the acting, the storyline.

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And they feel like today, it's like, well, you know, we've done seven episodes so far and we've got no bare breast scene.

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So can we get like, can we get a 10 seconds like girl walking by with her bare breasts, you know? Well, what's that got to do anything in the film?

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Nothing. But we just, well, don't we have to do that? Like don't we have to put that in there? Homosexual. Exactly. And so, but I'm talking about today, when you look at like, you know,

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I'm a Christian director, Christian filmmaker, and they come out with this stuff. It's like, it's done so poorly and it's embarrassing at times.

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I don't have to say because I'm Christian and they're Christian, oh, you're really great. That's good art. No, it sucks.

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Like it's really done poorly. Like we should do what we do to the glory of God. Christians used to own art. We used to own architecture and medicine and science and all the rest.

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We were the innovators and the ones that were the movers and shakers. And now it's almost like people have this thing like, well, as long as you're a

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Christian, then I can accept what you do, love what you do. You're the artist. I'm going to love your stuff.

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And the unbeliever, I'm not going to appreciate your art or your stories or anything else because you're an unbeliever.

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And that goes to even like this thing with Jordan Peterson. Jordan Peterson says something that actually is true. It's really good.

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And then our reaction is, well, he's not actually saved yet, so I need to just reject and not appreciate anything that he says.

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It's like, no, let's pray for him. He's getting closer. And I really appreciate the insight. That was actually a very good insight.

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I loved it. Yeah. We still believe that a heart change is necessary to be a

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Christian. So you can say a lot of true things. I mean, there may be people you sit in church with that say a lot of true things that we've been doing this for how long now?

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And I say we, I guess you guys have been pastors for a long time. You've seen people come and go that said all the right things.

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So we certainly don't, we haven't changed our position on that, but he is saying some pretty, he has always been saying some fairly impressive things for someone who does not claim to be a

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Christian. And he continues to do so. Wouldn't it be great if we got him on the show? We could talk to him and just have the really meaningful, deep discussion and even offer some solid challenges to him and give him the gospel.