CAUTION: SPOILER AS TO "KUNG FU HUSTLE" AND "SIGNS."
True Christianity is the most radical compendium of concepts that exists. It is incredible. It is radical. It is counter-cultural. It attacks our human self-sufficiency. It attacks our view of the world. It attacks our view of God. This is why most Christian writers and other artists don't correctly express Christianity--they know that, if they do, no one will read them. Instead, it is non-Christians, or non-traditional Christians, who correctly express Christianity.
Last nite, I watched one of my favorite movies--"Kung Fu Hustle," by Stephen Chow. It is outrageously violent, comedic, and beautiful. The petty criminal becomes the hero--"strength from weakness." He is essentially resurrected. The hero exhibits grace, after the application of the law, to the "Beast" (the world's No. 1 killer), and the Beast calls him master. Finally, all of the events lead to the reuniting of the hero with a girl from his childhood--sovereignty. These are fundamental concepts of Christianity. Perhaps the Chinese get "it," because they have one of the oldest cultures in the world, and they understand how things work.
Although he doesn't consider himself a Christian, M. Night Shyamalan gets Christianity. He wrote the movie "Signs," which is overtly Christian. In the movie, he captures the Christian themes of "sovereignty," "grace versus law," and "strength in weakness" in all of their profundity. These themes are expressed in peculiar, even dreadful, events which work to save lives from the alien onslaught. "Signs" is filled with humor, grief, suspense, and joy.
One of my favorite scenes from the movie involves Mel and Joaquin sitting on the couch and discussing God. Mel says that there are two types of people in the world: a)those who think that there is someone out there who cares about us and intervenes for us; and b)those who think that, if there is a God, he is at best ambivalent towards us. Joaquin says he is Type A. He recalls a high school party where he was getting ready to kiss a pretty girl. Before he does, he turns away to take his gum out. In that moment, she vomits everywhere. So, yes, he believes in a good God who intervenes on our behalf. "Why, if I had kissed her when she got sick, I might never have kissed a girl again." The rest of the movie deals with situations in which it is much more difficult to find that God is good--such as the death of a spouse.
How do most Christian authors or movie-writers express Christianity? Well, they are antithetical to the themes of "sovereignty," "strength in weakness," and "grace, not law." Most Christian writers don't place God in charge of suffering and difficulties. Shymalan did--he uses the death of Mel's wife for salvific purposes. He has done this in other movies as well. Most Christian writers don't embrace weakness as being the place that God works. Most purport to show how God works through man's strengths. They praise God for health and prosperity, which we should. But, God's glory, His intervention in our world, is most powerfully expressed in the weak parts of our lives, not our strengths. Shyamalan get this. Just note the failings of each of the family members in "Signs" and how these are used to bring salvation and healing. Finally, most Christian writers believe in "tit for tat"--if you are good, God will bless you. Instead, God blesses us even when we are not good, even when our efforts are flawed--this is how we know that it is God at work, and not ourselves. "Signs" is shot through with mercy upon mercy revealed in man's weakness.
The fact that non-Christian artists comprehend Christianity speaks to its universality. The fact that Christian artists don't reflects the abysmal job being done by the church to express Christianity truly. However, if we believe God is sovereign, we can trust that He is at work drawing people to Him. It's just that the people being drawn to Him aren't the "usual suspects."
Isaiah 45:7 "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things."
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