I don't know about the rest of you, but even though it's only been two weeks, this class has already made me look at things a lot differently than I have in the past, and also made me think and question things I never have.
Today's lesson really highlighted that I've been looking at a lot of things wrong. I've been looking and thinking about things too literally in a lot of aspects of my life. I've always wanted to be a storyteller, and thought I've done a good job of looking deeply into meanings behind artwork; I mean that's all I was doing in my high school English classes. But I guess one thing they don't really emphasize in a public high school is seeing the spiritual side of artwork and literature. And in my church, we definitely don't really look at the Bible as a story, but as a historical representation of God's work. That's one of the big problems of today's Christians I feel; we're too worried about proving the historical significance of Scripture. We're completely missing the point! I loved the example of the Christmas story - yes, it probably didn't happen in the dead of winter, but the significance and what God wanted us to get out of it is that there was birth and new life in the midst of death!! It's quite beautiful.
Well thank God now I can see it as a story.
After watching snippets from Pleasantville in class today, I'll probably make it a priority to watch the whole thing; I was fairly intrigued by those clips. I also love that Leeper said that all films are spiritual, we just have to dig deep enough into them to find that out. And it's true. No matter what the filmmaker may believe, whether they think they are making a secular film, it still has spiritual value. And something I have come to learn is that spiritual does not just mean it's about Jesus, but about mystery and truths of the world. And those insights are just as spiritual as learning about Jesus, because God made it all for us to discover and live through.
In conclusion, I now see the storytelling and image sides to Scripture and will be looking for the spiritual value in all film. And to me, that's just pretty amazing.
"...And in my church, we definitely don't really look at the Bible as a story, but as a historical representation of God's work. That's one of the big problems of today's Christians I feel; we're too worried about proving the historical significance of Scripture."
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, especially on the point that the majority of Christians look upon the Bible as a history book, a document concluded long ago. Looking at it as a constantly unravelling story makes the Bible so much more wondrous and fascinating. I believe I was taught this once before in a Bible class, but without knowing the core aspects of the "mono myth," as we learned today, the lesson was shallow and didn't resonate with me. It does now, though.
Today's class made me look at things differently as well. I had never thought of all films being spiritual before. I like how you point out in your blog that the film's purpose is for us to "discover and live through". When we are acquainted with a different worldview, there is an opportunity to consider how the filmmaker's view relates to our own views and even if we don't agree with it, we can become stronger in our faith because of it. So it's important to see what others believe about the world.
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