What matters? A rally cry and show of power to help those who don't have clean water, or to rise against the travisties in Africa, would be actions that would represent the Church as sincere, compassionate, strong, and a force to be reckoned with. When people ask why we are so strong-minded about these things and so adament about helping the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low, we could point to Christ and explain that this was the model that was set. This is what we must follow. I genuinely think the world would be moved by that.
Instead, the Church organizes her strongest sense of power and her strongest show of cross-denominational unity to blast the contents of a fictional thriller. Maybe this goes hand-in-hand with the previous post regarding the hidden pitfalls of misplaced unity. It is undeniably an inward focus: local Protestant Churches, Opus Dei, and The Vatican are feeling threatened, and they respond with harsh criticisms, booklets, cheap productions, and public begs for disclaimers that make them seem petty, prudish, anxious, scared, and childish at best to a world that already thinks the Church to be something unworthy of serious and thoughtful attention.
Considering that all mainstream American Christianity has done to belittle itself (cheesy t-shirts, insincere music, and watered down sermons) and skew the public representation of God, Christ, and prayer (The Prayer of Jabez, little concern for the poor and helpless, and the inward-focus of self-preservation and self-promoting), you would think that a skewed representation of Christ from a fictional book wouldn't be of that much concern to them.
While I do give credit to The Vatican and Opus Dei for treating their faith with a reverence, both organizations, as well as the Protestant Church, could do so much greater by showing such a show of strength against injustice. Maybe, just maybe, if Christians and their leaders would start carrying out the will of Christ for the people of this world, they wouldn't have to be so concerned that a simple film will give us all a bad representation of who Christ was.
Let's move forward with a faith that matters, and not spend all day talking about it while we loose time and people. Ideas? Insights?
Posted by sharoute 
