The Christian Commerce Clause

Michael Spencer is worried that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe may be another Passion of the Christ.

Specifically he is worried that the Evangelical church is being lead astray by the increasing commercialization of both ministry and Christian material. Most Contemporary Christian Music labels are now imprints of larger secular corporations and it shows in their message. Christian literature is following similar lines. In many was Evangelical culture has been sold out.

That said, I think many of his Passion-based criticisms are poor. Evangelicals were hoping that the Passion could be used as a major outreach tool. It didn't work. It was a just a poor film for that and ministers should have realized this after they had seen the movies themselves. The problem is that most ministers didn't do their homework. Instead of organizing showings of the film, organizing discussions seemed to work much better.

The Passion is a brutal, gut-wrenching film. It is violence and harsh and it is intended to be that way. It isn't a poor film. It does what it does. It gave me a whole new appreciation for who Jesus was and also who he wasn't. But even with those caveats, it is still isn't a movie I want to see twice. Maybe some day I will wish to put myself through that again, but then I'll just reread my old posts on the subject and call it a day.