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 “What Difference Did The Passion of the Christ Make?” by John H. Armstrong

[b]“What Difference Did The Passion of the Christ Make?”[/b]
[i]by John H. Armstrong[/i]

Only eternity will measure the real difference any contribution in life and death made to the kingdom of God. But, like many of you, I wondered during the great debate about Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ, what real, or lasting, difference it would make in our culture?

Before I reflect on that question, I want to repeat what I wrote some months ago. This was a good movie. The anti-Semitic charges were more media generated than real, at least to my mind. And the film forced Christians of all persuasions to think more deeply about the suffering and sacrifice of Christ for our sins. I believed then, and still believe now, that a good deal of the reaction was the result of “the offense of the cross” itself.

But did the movie bring renewal to the Church? Did it result in multitudes coming to know Christ, as some predicted? Did it launch the greatest movement of the Spirit in our lifetime? Again, eternity will be the true test of anyone’s work but we are talking about a film here, not the investment of a life lived for Christ. We are talking about art and culture as much as we are talking about faith and religion.

I can still hear the pre-film hype saying rather boldly that “this would be perhaps the greatest outreach opportunity in 2000 years.” (Leave it to filmmakers and Evangelicals to make such claims before an event has even happened!) But the well-known pollster, George Barna, reported on July 10 that he had conducted another of his routine surveys, this time seeking to determine what difference “the Passion” made.

First, a bit of interesting good news, at least for those who, like me, believe films can have a meaningful place in popular and religious culture. Six in ten adults said that over the last two years they had seen a movie that caused them to think more seriously about their religious faith. And six in ten who responded in this manner said “The Passion” was one of those movies that impacted their lives.

Nor surprisingly, to my mind at least, the good news tends to stop there. Only 6 percent said any movie during the past two years had led them to change something they believed about the Christian faith. Eighteen percent of those who saw Gibson’s movie said it had affected their religious practice. The most common changes cited were praying more often (9 percent), attending church services more often (8 percent) and becoming move involved in church-related activities (3 percent). One-half of 1 percent said they had accepted Christ as a result of seeing the Gibson film, thus raising serious questions about the claims for vast evangelistic success through the film.

Barna further noted that the film had virtually no impact on getting people to practice evangelism. This surprises me even more, since I know scores of churches (Roman Catholic and evangelical both) that ran various campaigns to get their people to use the film as a point for personal witness to others. Less than one-half of 1 percent saw the film as having any impact at all on their becoming more active in sharing their faith.

Thousands of churches encouraged their people to see the movie. Tickets sales in churches were larger than for any movie in history. The movie earned $370 million in the United States and $609 million worldwide. (It was particularly successful in odd places, such as in the Middle East among Arabs who did see it as anti-Semitic, interestingly.) The Baptist General Convention of Texas, as one example, sought to make use of the buzz by purchasing ads at theaters. This type of advertising has become quite common in recent months, as new church start-ups and older mega-churches buy screen time to reach viewers with pre-movie ads.

The marketing phase of “The Passion” is not over. The DVD and video versions come out August 31. Another sales spark will undoubtedly be struck in coming weeks. Sam’s Club is selling the DVD’s to churches in bulk packs of 50 for $898. (Do you not see how much “marketing” and technique drives a great deal of what we do in the culture and in the Church?)

Back to Barna for a moment. He states that he is surprised that the film did not have more lasting impact. He said, almost in defeat it seemed to me, that “immediate reaction to the movie seemed to be quite intense but people’s memories are short.” The lesson for churches, according to Barna, is that spiritual transformation is unlikely to take place from exposure to a single media project. I do not wish to sound cute or overly critical but why is that a surprise? Any serious attention given to 1 Corinthians 1:13–2:5 will convince anyone who pays attention to Paul’s words that this is no surprise at all.

I know many of you will cite people who have come into your church because of seeing “The Passion.” I do not doubt it. Some will even testify to coming to faith in Christ. Again, I believe you. The point here is not to argue down the movie or to suggest it did no good at all.

Nearly one in three Americans saw the movie. Ninety percent related it as either excellent (67 percent) or good (23 percent). About half of those who saw the movie describe themselves as “born-again Christians.” (In a population that professes, by the same polls, to be 38 percent born again.) Atheists and agnostics stayed away in droves. (No surprise here at all.)

So, who saw the movie?—millions of professing Christians. Some of these were moved to go back to church and others saw the power of Christ’s sufferings in a new way that made an impact on their lives, at least for a time. What difference did the movie make in the actual way most of these professing Christians live day-to-day??apparently, very little. Did a fresh harvest of real converts sweep into the churches of America ever since February of 2004? There is no evidence whatsoever to support this contention. Did we experience the “great awakening” some told me the movie might bring about? Again, there is no evidence for such a movement of the Spirit of God at all. If anything, the “little boy that cried wolf” syndrome is still with us. We keep telling people that the next great move of God is just around the corner and that this event, or that gathering, will finally push it over the top, but the results keep saying otherwise.

What conclusions do I draw from this? First, there is a very real sense in which we need reformation more than revival, though I pray for both. The problem is not that we have no passion about faith. We have lots of passion, and even growing prayer movements. (Again, I am for both!) What we do not have is a proper sense of telos. Let me explain.

If the end (telos) of our living, and thus our actions (praxis), is not kept in view the means we employ to get response to our message (the gospel) will repeatedly get twisted. The end of medicine, said Aristotle, is health. The end of war is victory. What, then, is the end of Christian mission but to make faithful followers of Christ who have enough moral foundation and theological understanding to live for the glory of God as their telos? Evangelicals have lost sight of telos. They seek decision and immediate response and gratification, defined as enjoying Christ and finding peace in life. The reason our praxis is so bad is that we have lost the place of telos and substituted ephemeral cultural forms and ideas for the hard work of formation and transformation. Put another way, revivalism has overtaken classical Christian doctrine and life. Until this is meaningfully altered little will change in the Church in America. I do not see that happening, except among pockets of folks here and there, and especially among those younger adults who are now questioning the “baby-boom” life-style that my generation made so important. I am glad “The Passion” was made. I am glad that I saw it. It moved me personally. But I am quite aware that only a deeper and fuller grasp of our role and place in this present age will alter our praxis and this is nothing less than a new and vital reformation.


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