Reforming Film
When I describe my interest in film and film production to my fellow Christians, I typically get one of two very different responses. The first is a very nervous discomfort with the idea, expressed by those who believe that Christians should have no part whatsoever in the very “impure” and “shameful” business of film. The second is an untempered excitement conveyed by Christians who desire to integrate themselves into the worst of the world’s institutions so that they can finally become “relevant” to pop culture.
On the one hand, I can appreciate both of these responses: Film is a very dangerous field that should not be entered lightly, but it is also a strategic battleground that has been surrendered to the enemy and should be recaptured. On the other hand, however, these two opposing reactions are usually the product of two worldviews that do not accurately reflect our biblically-defined Christian duties.
On one extreme end of the spectrum are the retreatists who would prefer to withdraw from the battles of the culture war rather than fight for high ground that might be hard to defend. On the other end are the syncretists who are willing to integrate their faith with secular philosophies and try to build their homes on unreclaimed enemy ground that they believe is “neutral.”
One worldview limits the power of God to equip us for battle; the other denies His sovereignty over all things.
Building on the Rock
Christians must start with this foundational principle: The Lordship of Christ applies to every area of life and thought, and culture is a legitimate realm of work through which Christians are called to proclaim the glories of Christ. This being established, great discernment and biblical standards must be used when analyzing our Christian duty so that we can make the proper decisions about complex issues, including involvement in the arts.
For centuries, the dramatic arts have been considered problematic by Christians, and while many Church fathers have condemned stage plays and acting as sinful, only the improper uses of these powerful tools break the law of Scripture. There’s nothing in Scripture that speaks directly about the craft of film, but the Bible mentions several men who were supernaturally gifted in other similarly artistic crafts (Exodus 31:3, 1 Kings 7:14), and God clearly desires that His people worship him with music (Psalm 47:7, Psalm 92:1).
As I view these things through the lens of Scripture, I see music, art, architectural design, literature, and film all as valid forms of media, which are potentially helpful and Godglorifying tools. They are neutral weapons—double-edged swords—that can be used either to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, or to destroy men’s minds and souls.
However, while the tools themselves may be neutral, the methodologies that govern their use are not. Songs, books, and films that are made to conform to worldly ideals and secular worldviews will communicate pagan messages, compromising their producers and their consumers. This is why my father and I are emphatic in communicating our position that Godhonoring films must be created “outside Hollywood”; free from a corrupting culture and an industry intent on denying the power of Christ.
Film: An Accessible Medium for Storytelling
Recent advances in technology have made filmmaking tools cheaper and more accessible to those of us who aren’t Hollywood insiders. As Ken Carpenter wrote in a recent issue of Homeschooling Today magazine (“Lights, Camera, Action!”, May/June 2007), young filmmakers can now edit video, create effects and animation on any standard PC, and shoot excellent images with consumer video cameras. These simple tools may not compete with the professional gear yet, but they are ideal for learning the techniques of visual storytelling.
Like the craft of film itself, these new technologies can be used for good or evil. The same developments in digital cinema and internet distribution that could enable an independent Christian film industry are also giving traction to a secular independent film industry that is even more ethically bankrupt than the Hollywood system. Even worse, cheaper video gear has considerably expanded America’s pornography industry.
However, Christ is Lord over all that is lawful. The Bible clearly shows that communication, aesthetics, and technology are all areas that Christians must take control of in order to fulfill the Great Commission and the dominion mandate. If pornography is predominantly distributed on the internet and DVD, it doesn’t mean that the internet is completely irredeemable, or that we cannot also release films on DVD.
In fact, I believe that the enemy’s widespread use of these powerful tools should only spur us on to take greater advantage of them. Unfortunately, the modern Christian church is generally slow to adopt new technology. This has not always been the case: Christian cultures have historically been the first to adopt, adapt, and develop new technologies, even if they haven’t always been the ones who discovered or invented them.
A History of Christian Technology
There is evidence that wind and water wheels existed prior to the Roman Empire, but it wasn’t until the early church evangelized and civilized northern Europe that these tools saw widespread use—by Christian farmers taking dominion of the land. Christian farmers also harnessed animal power more efficiently by inventing the breast strap and collar, and the heavy-wheeled plow.
Misguided historians would have us believe that Christian Europe is defined by an extended period of primitive barbarism following the glorious rule of Greek science, and that while our repressed Anglo ancestors were scrabbling through the Dark Ages, Muslim and Chinese scientists were building real civilizations.
The truth is that Muslims burned the books in the Library of Alexandria and destroyed “infidel knowledge” wherever they found it. Some scientists in Arabia did make some fascinating discoveries, like Ibn al-Haytham in the field of optics, but none of these were adopted by Islamic culture, and many of their findings were destroyed by the Muslim clerics. Meanwhile, European workmen were manufacturing independently- developed eyeglasses that doubled the working life of nearly every fine craftsman in Christendom.
Asia had a rich history of technical advancement, but it had stagnated since the 9th century in the totalitarian regime of the Celestial Empire. They had inherited gunpowder, but for centuries only used it to make simple fireworks and ineffective rockets for battle, which did little besides frighten horses. Then European navigators found China (thanks to advanced navigation tools designed by their bespectacled craftsmen), and within a decade of bringing gunpowder home they were building cannon, mortars, hand guns, and using more powerful explosives for quarrying and excavating.
Cultures with a proper understanding of God’s Word are in a much better position to use technology effectively. Societies that understand the dominion mandate understand what work is for, and are better suited to adopt, invent, and define the use of tools to accomplish that work.
Under the Roman Catholic Church—when the Bible was only available in Latin and chained to the pulpit—nations suffered financially and technologically. When Church officials prohibited laymen from reading the Bible, it was a small band of independent churchmen known as “the Reformers” who took advantage of the invention of movable-type printing in 1450.
Within fifty years after Gutenberg built his first printing press, there were an estimated 20 million books circulating throughout Europe, most of which were Bible translations, commentaries, and other religious pamphlets. This is one of the fastest adoptions of technology in history, rivaled perhaps only by the internet, and driven almost entirely by Christians. By contrast, printing presses were outlawed in every Muslim nation except Turkey until 1815.
The Theology of Work and Tools
Scripture makes it clear what our goals should be, and how we are meant to achieve those goals. We must employ to the greatest possible advantage every tool that can be used to take dominion for Christ’s kingdom. However, not everything is a usable tool. Some things—like certain kinds of music—may be redeemed. Others must be replaced.
For example, books, art, music, film, and the internet can all be used to propagate pornography and other obscene content, but Christians can still use all these forms of media to effectively communicate God’s truth if they avoid the pitfalls of compromise. In the same way, Christians can make, sell, and own guns (Christian cultures were the inventors and perfecters of firearm technology) even though guns can obviously be misused.
And in some respects, the doubleedged sword of media is far more dangerous than any firearm. Any involvement in these areas must be on God’s terms and done God’s way. All production and consumption of media must be done carefully and soberly. The content of our media projects must be created independently of evil systems, without using evil techniques. The ideas we communicate and the images that we show our audiences must be presuppositionally and biblically consistent.
New Resources and New Opportunities
Providentially, this generation of homeschoolers is uniquely suited to building its own film industry from scratch. Homeschool students have watched their parents build an independent education industry from the ground up and should be unphased by establishment naysayers. They are largely free of the indoctrination that comes from constant exposure to Hollywood films and should be full of fresh ideas. Most importantly, they know how to learn, which makes them ideal candidates to adopt the very technical art of filmmaking.