Tonight Jenni and I watched No Greater Love. We expected it to be another semi-cheesy Christian film, but it’s actually well done. It’s a surprisingly gripping story. Jenni almost never cries when watching movies, but this was different.

I learned about it in mid-January when I received this update from The Master’s Seminary. Jay Underwood, one of their graduates, co-stars in the film.

More info:

• about
• trailer
• cast
• pics
• videos

Update: Justin Taylor recommends No Greater Love.

My pastor just starting preaching on the parables in Matthew 13, so I’ve been thinking about parables this week.

If you haven’t watched the six fifteen-to-twenty-minute “Modern Parables,” that would be time well spent. You can watch them all for free online.

Here is an abridged version of my thoughts on these parable-films after I watched them in September 2008.

1. General Comments on the Modern Parables

Strengths

1. Thought-provoking. They encourage a consuming preoccupation with God’s word (i.e., meditation).
2. Parallel. They are based on common, everyday situations (i.e., typical people and events), which parallels Jesus’ parables.
3. Quality. They are professionally done. They are simple and executed well.
4. Variety. They are shot in different genres.
5. Endorsed by scholars. For example, Craig Blomberg, a parable-scholar, highly recommends them.

Qualifications

1. Unclear. Most of the application videos are surprisingly weak and unclear. Not recommended. (They don’t appear to be available for free online.)
2. Limitations. Turning parable-texts into these parable-films has some limitations and potential pitfalls. (1) It changes the genre in a way that does not adequately capture the text’s context. For example, not one of the parable-films adequately captures the immediate context of the parable, let alone the broader context of the section and book in which it occurs. (2) It could be abused as a crutch for exegesis and exposition or as something that is more exciting than the God-breathed text.
3. Missing the gospel. This is definitely not a stand-alone means of evangelism because the gospel is virtually absent in the films. Those who are biblically illiterate could radically misinterpret the films and completely miss the gospel. The videos are only supplementary illustrations to the text. (But they could be extraordinarily useful when used in the right context.)

2. Specific Comments on Each Parable

1. Hidden Treasure. Substituting oil for hidden treasure communicates more clearly in our culture. The acting is slapstick.
2. Samaritan. Sobering and convicting. It leaves some gaps in parallels with the biblical parable.
3. The Shrewd Manager. The biblical parable probably does not connect well with most people in our culture, but this video does.
4. The Widow and Judge. Slower pace and more artistic license than the previous ones.
5. The Sower. This isn’t exactly a story. This film is nowhere near as engaging as the others. Probably the least effective.
6. Prodigal Sons. By far the best film. Moving.

This two-minute clip from The Princess Bride is my favorite light-hearted illustration of the Arminian view of human depravity (an issue integrally related to prevenient grace):

This is the notable part of the exchange:

“Well it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. . . . Now mostly dead is slightly alive. All dead—well, with all dead, there’s only usually one thing that you can do.”

“What’s that?”

“Go through his clothes and look for loose change.”

Recommended resources:

1. William W. Combs, “Does the Bible Teach Prevenient Grace?” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 10 (2005): 3–18.
2. John Piper, “Total Depravity,” in “TULIP” (a nine-part seminar available in audio and video), 2008.
3. Thomas R. Schreiner, “Does Scripture Teach Prevenient Grace in the Wesleyan Sense?” in Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace (ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 229–46.

Last night Jenni and I watched the film Fireproof, which came out on DVD this week. I was intrigued for at least two reasons: nearly every review I’ve read has been positive, and a wholesome movie with a $500,000 budget has already grossed about $33.5 million!

We weren’t disappointed. Rather, we were surprised how well done and edifying the movie is. Highly recommended, especially for married couples.

One of the best lines illustrates how counter-cultural this film is: “Don’t just follow your heart. You gotta lead your heart.” That’s one reason I think that this film is great for singles to watch, too. So many other films (starting with Disney “classics”!) promote exactly the wrong message (i.e., a self-serving, follow-your-heart, do-whatever-you-think-will-gratify-you approach).

About

1. official site (includes more videos, pics, resources)
2. Wikipedia
3. Kirk Cameron: “I’ll only kiss my wife”
4. trailer:

Reviews

1. Phil Johnson (read this one first)
2. Baptist Press
3. Tim Challies
4. Alex Chediak
5. Christian Spotlight
6. Christianity Today
7. Joy McCarnan
8. Plugged In
9. James White
   

This weekend my wife and I watched parts of DVDs dramatizing the Gospel According to Matthew and Acts word-for-word from the NIV. Our hopes were high because we enjoy “The Gospel of John” film so much. If on a scale of 1 to 10 the “The Gospel of John” film is an 8 or 9, then the Matthew and Acts films are a 1 or 2—and that’s being generous. (That’s why we “watched parts” of them!)

Related: See this previous post on “The Gospel of John” film for an overview, evaluation, and links to other reviews.

Last summer I published a blog post entitled “Planet Earth: A Theological Documentary.”

Yesterday morning during a painfully freezing (!) early morning run, I was listening to an MP3 from John Piper’s 2007 regional conference on “The Pleasures of God.” In part 2 (MP3 | video), Piper describes the pleasure of God in His creation, and he enthusiastically endorses the above “Planet Earth” DVDs.

In the MP3, start at 38:08 to get the context (“God loves the world that He made”) and listen until 42:43. Here are a few highlights:

• 39:30: “There are many aspects of nature that no human ever sees.” And then some BBC cameraman comes by and captures it!
• 40:54: This is where the “Blue Planet” and “Planet Earth” endorsement begins.
• “My wife and I and little girl have worshipped for eight hours watching these unbelievable works of God! There are all these pagans producing this worship DVD!”
• While they were watching the DVDs, Piper kept saying to his daughter, “That can’t be happening! That can’t be happening!”
• “I hate evolution. It is so worship destroying! I mean that. Secular, atheistic evolution is worship destroying.”
• “I get so much pleasure talking about what God has done in creation. It’s way better than talking about movies, but that’s another story.”