When Being Saved
by Tina Mojica
Being Saved! isn’t enough.
After many trials and tribulations about whether or not to see this “controversial” movie, I decided that it couldn’t hurt. Knowing that I myself had complaints about the Christian subculture, I was curious to see someone else’s take on it. I don’t in any way recommend this movie to everyone. It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s not for people who aren’t willing to see why this movie was made. As far as I can tell this movie is not about making fun of God or Jesus (which is a reason most people give for boycotting it); it is about making fun of those who say they follow Christ, but have become slaves to legalism and the desire to fit Christ into what the world loves; making Christ nothing more than an adjective to be placed before the latest trend and forgetting that Christ in and of himself is all that matters.
Lately in Cru we have been talking about the core of the gospel: Creation. Fall. Redemption. In these talks the focus has always been our relationship to Christ. No matter how much we like to think we are the center of the universe, if we say we are Christians we are to live our lives based on the truth that it’s all about Christ. Christian community finds itself stagnant when Christ is pushed aside and human desires are placed on the throne. Stagnation leads to apathy, which can lead to bitterness.
In Saved! we see this happen at American Eagle Christian High School, where Christianity is brought to a ridiculous extreme of pop culture references, false piety, and complacency. Those who claim to be “filled with Christ’s love” are the first to turn their back on a friend when she becomes pregnant outside of marriage. Instead of showing God’s love they use spiritual laws as a way to shun her out of good society and never once mention grace. They never venture to think of their own need for grace. Instead the main character finds love and compassion in the two people the school has deemed outcasts. Neither of these characters believes in Christ, but this does not keep them from showing love and compassion as Christ does.
Going into this movie I was expecting to be offended, but really I was just sad. The Christians in Saved! are not figments of the director's imagination, they exist in our everyday lives, and if we’re not careful we will become them. When we lose sight of Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith, when we forget that we were saved by grace and called to love one another as God loves us, when we forget that it’s not about my “success in the Lord” but about God’s glorifying Himself in our weakness, we set ourselves up to experience the fall all over again. When we decide to go through life on our own strength, and only use God as a magic talisman against the “heathens” of the world or as a get out of hell free card, we are no better off than Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden after they betrayed Him. We try to use our good works and reputations to clothe ourselves, but really we’re still naked. We are in need of communion with a God who loves us and pursues us even when we run from Him.
Although the pitfalls seen in the Christian community of Saved! may seem farfetched, the snares are all around us and not so difficult to fall into. How do we avoid falling in? We invite God into every venture. We escape the bitterness and the feeling of being burdened by spiritual laws by praising and worshiping God for being faithful, patient, slow to anger and abounding in love. We don’t let ourselves become so comfortable with the idea of salvation that it is nothing more than fire insurance. Instead we live every day remembering Christ’s sacrifice on the cross because of His great love for us. We die to ourselves daily and treat others as better than ourselves, loving them as God loves us. And we always remember that it is we, that God called us to be a community and that it is as a body that we can stand up against the temptations of the world, living in the light as one in Christ.
Being Saved! isn’t enough.
After many trials and tribulations about whether or not to see this “controversial” movie, I decided that it couldn’t hurt. Knowing that I myself had complaints about the Christian subculture, I was curious to see someone else’s take on it. I don’t in any way recommend this movie to everyone. It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s not for people who aren’t willing to see why this movie was made. As far as I can tell this movie is not about making fun of God or Jesus (which is a reason most people give for boycotting it); it is about making fun of those who say they follow Christ, but have become slaves to legalism and the desire to fit Christ into what the world loves; making Christ nothing more than an adjective to be placed before the latest trend and forgetting that Christ in and of himself is all that matters.
Lately in Cru we have been talking about the core of the gospel: Creation. Fall. Redemption. In these talks the focus has always been our relationship to Christ. No matter how much we like to think we are the center of the universe, if we say we are Christians we are to live our lives based on the truth that it’s all about Christ. Christian community finds itself stagnant when Christ is pushed aside and human desires are placed on the throne. Stagnation leads to apathy, which can lead to bitterness.
In Saved! we see this happen at American Eagle Christian High School, where Christianity is brought to a ridiculous extreme of pop culture references, false piety, and complacency. Those who claim to be “filled with Christ’s love” are the first to turn their back on a friend when she becomes pregnant outside of marriage. Instead of showing God’s love they use spiritual laws as a way to shun her out of good society and never once mention grace. They never venture to think of their own need for grace. Instead the main character finds love and compassion in the two people the school has deemed outcasts. Neither of these characters believes in Christ, but this does not keep them from showing love and compassion as Christ does.
Going into this movie I was expecting to be offended, but really I was just sad. The Christians in Saved! are not figments of the director's imagination, they exist in our everyday lives, and if we’re not careful we will become them. When we lose sight of Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith, when we forget that we were saved by grace and called to love one another as God loves us, when we forget that it’s not about my “success in the Lord” but about God’s glorifying Himself in our weakness, we set ourselves up to experience the fall all over again. When we decide to go through life on our own strength, and only use God as a magic talisman against the “heathens” of the world or as a get out of hell free card, we are no better off than Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden after they betrayed Him. We try to use our good works and reputations to clothe ourselves, but really we’re still naked. We are in need of communion with a God who loves us and pursues us even when we run from Him.
Although the pitfalls seen in the Christian community of Saved! may seem farfetched, the snares are all around us and not so difficult to fall into. How do we avoid falling in? We invite God into every venture. We escape the bitterness and the feeling of being burdened by spiritual laws by praising and worshiping God for being faithful, patient, slow to anger and abounding in love. We don’t let ourselves become so comfortable with the idea of salvation that it is nothing more than fire insurance. Instead we live every day remembering Christ’s sacrifice on the cross because of His great love for us. We die to ourselves daily and treat others as better than ourselves, loving them as God loves us. And we always remember that it is we, that God called us to be a community and that it is as a body that we can stand up against the temptations of the world, living in the light as one in Christ.
posted at 11:52 PM
1 Comments:
"We try to use our good works and reputations to clothe ourselves, but really we’re still naked" It all hits so close to home. Thanks Tina for your words.
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