General Comments or Discussion Questions

1. This is what I liked about the movie (e.g., relevancy, transcendence, honesty, etc.).
2. These characters seemed true to life (or didn’t seem true to life).
3. If I could change anything about this movie, the plot or whatever, it would be this.
4. I think the filmmaker is trying to send this message (or the moral of his/her story).
5. In my life, this is how I approach these concepts or see them playing out.
6. This is what I believe to be the position of Christianity on these issues (perhaps comparing orthodox and progressive standpoints).
7. If I were to write a sequel to this movie or doctor the script, this would happen.

Current Series Discussions

Specific to Bruce Almighty

This quirky movie metaphorically depicts the contrast between the depravity of humankind and the pure goodness of God.

This story tracks the progress of a transitional character, following Bruce as he changes from living as a self-centered, vengeful man who curses God to one who humbly begins to recognize God’s supreme authority and to accept His divine will.

1. Have you ever wished you had God’s power for one day? Imagine what you could accomplish. Or what might you mess up?
2. Often, people’s conception of God is like a genie in a bottle, kept corked up until summoned to grant wishes. What is missing in this characterization?
3. Literally or figuratively, have you ever shaken your fist at God for not making things go your way in your life? What happened next?
4. God pursues Bruce by means of an incessant, indestructible pager. Firguatively, what relentless pagers has God used with you or your loved ones?
5. How true is the depiction of God as a janitor who mops floors? What do the janitor’s coveralls symbolize?
6. With all his powers, why can’t Bruce change Grace’s mind? (Consider the irony of naming her Grace.)
7. Consider the last time a leading character in a popular Hollywood movie was depicted actively practicing a prayer life. If this film were remade today, imagine how the postmodern filmmakers might rewrite the story.

“[God asks] ‘Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” Then Job answered the Lord and said, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.” (Job 40:1-4)

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,: says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV).

[Jesus] said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” (John 21:17 NKJV)

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray. . .’ (Luke 11:1a)

 

Specific to The Lion King (2019)

This movie is a fine exploration of the cycle of sin, guilt, and shame. Guilty of simple disobedience that grows uncontrollably to become a profound tragedy, Young Simba finds himself caught in a downward spiral.

Adding cowardice to his burden, he runs away from the pride to escape the suffocating consequences of his actions. How can the spiral be broken?

The word pride has traditionally represented a sin to avoid. As it does in this movie, the word can also denote a healthy family of lions. Ironically, the culture today suggests that pride is something to embrace. Now it is often intended as a reversal of the family structure and used to disrupt the natural order.

1. Mufasa allows Scar to remain in the pride lands after defeating his challenge to the throne. Compare this consideration to the Israelites, who stopped short of completely driving the Canaanites from the promised land. Are there parallels today?
2. What do the hyenas in this movie remind you of in a spiritual sense?
3. Mufasa tells Simba of the great kings of the past who watch over them from the night sky. How might the Christian appropriate this concept to point people to Jesus?
4. Scar is able to place the blame for Mufasa’s death squarely on Simba. Are there parallels to how the believer is often confronted by guilt and shame? Whose voice do they often listen to?
5. How is Simba’s life at the oasis symbolic of the culture of many young men today? How can young women play a role in re-awakening the lion in young men?
6. What metaphors for leadership can we take away from Scar’s demise?
7. Rain returns to the pride lands when the natural order is restored. What might a spiritual restoration look like in our culture today?

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15 NKJV)

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5: 20-21 NKJV)

But wild beasts of the desert will lie there. . . . The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. [Babylon’s] time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged. (Isiah 13:21a-22 NKJV)

Specific to The Matrix

Twentieth-century philosopher Jean Baudrillard defined the simulacrum as not just something that conceals reality, but as reality itself. Only the simulacrum itself is real. (paraphrased).

In A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel, the citizenry willingly pacify themselves with a manufactured substance called Soma to cope with the strange new societal order that has overtaken them. Just 67 years later, The Matrix continues the theme, confining human existence in a vast machine that provides an endless opiate-like pacification.

Twenty-seven years after The Matrix, the tales are no longer just cautionary; they are becoming our new reality. We are trying to coexist with a sovereign-like artificial intelligence. Hypnotized by our smartphones, we trust our lives to our smart cars. Not unlike Huckly’s Soma, we are numbly entertained by smart algorithms and comforted by smart medicines and infusions.

This present matrix has significantly reduced humans’ free will, autonomy, and freedom. It is well past time for Christian’s to speak God’s truth in this brave new world.

1. Morpheus asks Neo to choose between the blue pill of compacency and surrender, and the red pill that will lead to dissociation with anything comfortable or stabilizing about life. What pill choices do Christians face today?
2. Of what does Neo’s dramatic flush from the matrix remind the Christian? Is this action parallel to being born again?
3. Martin Luther wrote about the paradox of living in two kingdoms simultaneously. How might that experience be compared to the stark contrasts between the worlds inside and outside the matrix?
4. The Christian knows that Satan still has agency in this world to separate God from his people. What do the agents we encounter today look or sound like? What is our defense?
5. The matrix is a simulacrum of a tolerable human existence. Consider if our world today is a faded simulacrum of the Garden of Eden.
6. Agent Smith claims that humans define reality through misery and suffering. So consider why Cypher seeks to return to the matrix. Are there parallels to that desire today?
7. What is the parallel to the matrix in Christian theology? Once free from it, is the Christian able to figuratively dodge bullets? Likewise, how closely does Neo resemble The One prophesied in the Bible? (Take note of the last shot in the movie.)

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NKJV)

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 NKJV)

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NKJV)

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2 NKJV)

Specific to The Family Man

The definition of a movie’s conceit is a rather implausible assumption that is used to drive the story. In The Family Man, the wild idea is that the protagonist could be transported to another dimension to see what life would be like if he had chosen a different path.

What difference would a different decision have made for the protagonist as well as for the community around them? The Christian can ask a similar question: What if Jesus had stayed dead in the tomb? Imagine your world today existing without the truth of the resurrection.

Note the similarities and differences between The Family Man and the definitive Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.

1. Jack has become a very successful Wall Street executive. Consider what substitutes for family in his life. What might Christmas represent to him?
2. Note the irony in the character named Cash. What does Cash want Jack to figure out? What does Jack bring on himself?
3. In golf, it is called a mulligan. The Family Man is about having a rare second chance for a do-over. What past event in life would you most like to use a mulligan for if God granted it? Or is our fate sealed? Do our past choices imprison us for life?
4. In theatrical terms, a character’s moment of peripeteia represents a profound change of mind or direction. Examine the moment of peripeteia Jack experiences and compare or contrast it to that of George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life.
5. When thinking back on an important life choice made, can you see God’s hand in your decision? What helped made up your mind?
6. In the real world, some children find themselves teaching their parents how to parent well. Little Annie, upon recognizing that Jack is not her real dad, asks him not to hurt the family. Consider this scene as one of the most profound and symbolic moments in the movie.
7. In the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the protagonist (Joel) undertakes a process to completely erase the memories of a painful relationship. Consider: Could God answer one’s desperate prayer in the midst of a crisis and wake them up to a completely new reality? By His grace, and by prayer, might He make our wretched parallel lives nothing but fleeting shadows?

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3a NKJV)

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:9-10a NKJV)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17 NKJV)

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. . . . You will show me the path of life. (Psalm 16: 5-7a, 11a NKJV)

Previous Discussions

Specific to Parasite

Parasite is not a gory or scary movie. Instead, it is a surprisingly accurate metaphor for current events. It is especially symbolic of the slow creep of sin that threatens to overcome the Christian. It is the first foreign film in our series, and it will stretch the viewer not accustom to following subtitles.

1. Consider the definition of a parasite, and how this metaphor works (or does not work) do describe the evolving deterioration of the emotional health and wellbeing of the Park family.
2. Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in another bird’s nest, leaving the unsuspecting host to raise her chicks. The young cuckoo chicks often push out the other hatched chicks out of the nest. How is a similar behavior manifest in humans from time to time? 
3. Compare and contrast the two families in the movie (The Kims and the Parks). Beyond the differences of class, are there other significant differences in values and beliefs that can explain their behavior?
4. In this film, an applied solution to a simple problem leads to a cascade of increasingly worsening situations for the Park family. Peter Senge once quipped, “Today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions.” Think of a significant difficulty today that likewise started as a simple solution to a simple problem.
5. Metaphorically speaking, what parasites are attaching themselves to the morally-minded in society today? Or to the institutional church?
6. How might Christian discipleship be compared to a cancer treatment, where something inside must be killed, before the patient can fully live again? Are the less extreme solutions effective – can one just learn to live with the invaders?

[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. —1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)

knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. —Romans 6:6 (NKJV)

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” —Matt. 12:43-45 (NKJV)

Specific to What About Bob?

One may assume What About Bob? is a movie with few themes of faith and religion, but it is a strong metaphor for how our perfect worlds can be threatened by a particularly difficult “thorn in the flesh.” How should the Christian respond? This movie will stretch the view who may not easily recognize the tragic undertones present in many comedies.

1. A movie scene becomes funny when absurd reversals are made. What absurdity is the basis of this comedy?
2. Consider what phobias Bob must overcome to function. What helps loosen the restraints that inhibit him?
3. Dependencies often become unhealthy. In what ways might Marvin be actually contributing to Bob’s dysfunctions and afflictions? Is tough love possible anymore?
4. How does one free oneself from a co-dependent friend or family member without causing them harm? How can retaining such a relationship harm the care-giver or friend? 
5. Marvin’s family is more accepting of Bob. How might the Christian miss opportunities to really know the stranger who, at least at first, seems to be odd, dysfunctional, or harboring co-dependent tendencies.
6. In Ecclesiastes 3:3, the preacher delineates when it is proper to break down and when it is time to build up. What parallels to last month’s movie Parasite become evident in this story? When is it proper for the Christian to allow the dependency and when it is better to resist?

For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’ —Deut. 15:11 (NKJV)

Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. —Proverbs 5:15 (NKJV)

Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it. But the correction of fools is folly. —Proverbs 16:22 (NKJV)

Professing to be wise, they became fools… —Romans 1:22 (NKJV)

He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. — Proverbs 13:20 (NKJV)

Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard Is a proverb in the mouth of fools. —Proverbs 26:9 (NKJV)

For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. —2 Cor. 11:19-20. (NKJV)

Specific to Hoosiers

Likely the least challenging of the films in this series, the Hoosiers story contains clear themes of faith on a conventional level. However, since no one wants their favorite movie picked apart, some viewers may find it difficult to put aside the inspiration of a great sports movie for a moment to look at it again on a deeper, unconventional level. How does one experience forgiveness and restoration when it is underserved?

1. Indiana is a sanctuary for the worship of high school basketball. Could such fervor be a metaphor for the passions of the Christian disciple? What might that passion look like?
2. How easy is it for one to focus on who they are not, rather than who they are? Why is this a struggle for the Christian and non-Christian alike?
3. Many athletes pray before and after games. If you were an athlete or coach, would you pray for victory, personal success, or something else?
4. Consider what second chances you have been afforded in life. What changed? What remained the same?
5. How far or how often should one be forgiving of others? At what point is forgiveness enough rope given to hang themselves (again)? Must one deserve forgiveness before it can be granted?
6. In the game of life, “there’s more to the game than shooting. There’s fundamentals and defense.” What fundamentals need work? Where should the Christian take a defensive position?
7. Why do some churches change pastors like a team exchanges coaches? What expectations does the layman/fan have of both roles?

For they [human fathers] indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no [a]chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. —Heb. 12:10-11 (NKJV)

And [the scouts] gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”  —Numbers 12:32-33 (NKJV)

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. —I Cor. 9:24 (NKJV)

Specific to No Country for Old Men

Some would call No Country for Old Men the iconic Coen Brothers movie. One protagonist in the story tries to right a wrong with a simple act of compassion. But then, he makes a fateful decision. His choice summons a nefarious, psychopathic villain who quickly disrupts the sense of security in the broader community. The Christian recognizes that, like a cold and relentless assassin, the consequences of sin pursue the sinner and gives no quarter. What is the answer? The movie has a number of violent scenes that will stretch sensitive viewers.

1. Why do bad things happen to good people? Is it all just fate (the flip of a coin)?
2. A world not governed and limited by morality is dystopian. What disruptive replacement is found replacing orthodox morality? If ethical frameworks still exist, how might they be suddenly unfamiliar or confusing to the Christian living in this new “country.”
3. Things become “a mess” in this story. What are the root causes of the underlying problem, and what might be the only solution (or solutions) that could clean up the mess?
4. Some religions teach that humankind has or has the potential to become godlike, evolving into a perfect being that is filled with light. How does this story serve to disprove those aspirations?
5. In this film, the antagonist is relentless – untethered in his quest to satisfy his desires. What does this reality mean for the Christian in dealing with satanic impulses in life today?
6. If this world is “no country” where one can live in peace, what choice does the Christian have?

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.—Genesis 15L12-13 (NKJV)

They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation.—Deut. 32:5 (NKJV) 

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, —I Tim.8-9 (NKJV)

If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, if I say to corruption, “You are my father,” And to the worm,“You are my mother and my sister,” where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? —Job 17:13-15 (NKJV)

Specific to Mass

• Why do you think this movie is named Mass?
• This movie invites some strong emotions, including empathy in people. For those who are parents of older teens and young adults, how might this be a cautionary tale?
• What role does the church play in this drama? What deeper metaphors can be taken from that portrayal?
• How do the roles of wrongdoer and victim evolve throughout the course of the film?
• If you were one of the characters, what might you have said (or left unsaid) to help bring healing? What truth about God might be sorely missing in their encounter?
• Imagine a sequel. How successful are each set of parents in moving forward after their meeting?

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned. —Romans 5:14a (NKJV)

And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. —Isaiah 6:1-4 (NKJV)

For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. —Romans 5-16b (NKJV)

Specific to Reagan

1. Besides the Lens of Accuracy, what other lenses are useful in interpreting and enjoying this movie?
2. Many of our Faith and Film participants well remember the Reagan years. If so, did your impression of the president changed over the years?
3. One could argue that Reagan was the first celebrity President. A WWF star was once the governor of Minnesota (Jessie Ventura), and a comedian won election as a US Senator in the state (Al Franken). Like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump was a television star before entering politics. What might all this say about the evolution of politics?
4. Reagan identified as a “born again” Christian. What evidence is there of how this faith played out during his presidency? What were the flaws painted by Reagan opponents? What were the strengths painted by his supporters?
5. Recall your impression of Nancy Reagan. What was her strength? Did she have a weakness or flaw?
6. As they saying goes, “God does not call the qualified, but qualifies those He calls.” Do you see this axiom played out in Reagan’s life?

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. —2 Timothy 2:4-5 (NKJV)

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, ]sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. —2 Timothy 2: 20-21 (NKJV)

Specific to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

1. You may have heard of a midlife crisis. What late-life crises are evident in the aging characters in film? Are they common among people in our area today? How easily does cautious wisdom turn into negativity? 
2. India is a land and culture quite different from ours. What adjustments might be necessary by a person from the West for them to endure or enjoy a stay in this Asian country?
3. Movies featuring conflicts between people from different races and different shades of skin color is often an overwrought conceit in today’s movie storylines. However, far more realistic for today are story conflicts based on divisions of class, culture, sex and age. Consider the conflicts between characters in this story. What divides them? How are they overcome?
4. In the publicity, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel sounds like heaven. When have you set your hope high but then experienced disappointment when reality set in? Why do we let our expectations become so raised from time to time? What are your expectations of heaven itself?
5. Many of us can identify with Sonny, who finds himself at once trying to keep everyone happy. In an unexpectedly heroic way, he mostly succeeds. How would you describe his beliefs, values, and actions that make a difference?

Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. —Psalm 71:18 (NKJV)

Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you. —Isaiah 46:4 (NKJV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Cor. 5:17 (NKJV)

Specific to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024)

1. Some may remember the novel or the original movie. What changes in our culture or churches make this remake timely?
2. One can argue that on any given principle, that diversity and unity are polar opposites. For example, a uniform in the military represents unity. An art studio celebrates diversity of creativity. Where should a church practice unity, and where should it allow diversity?
3. The Herdman kids represent the polar opposite of the outcomes we wish for our kids as well as the kids in our community. They appear to be abandoned by their parents, the community, and even the church. If a church actually practices an open door approach, how inevitable is it that such children will ultimately challenge the status quo? (Not to mention the adults who come through the door.) How open is the door to your church? What boundaries must be preserved?
4. In the movie, the community nativity story pageant had become stale. How does that happen? What ended up refreshing the story? Did the traditional nativity story have to change to accommodate the beliefs, values, and behaviors of the diverse participants?
5. It is those transitional characters who make movie scripts interesting. Who changed the most in this story?

The [Samaritan] woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” —John 4:25-27 (NKJV)

Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? . . .  Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”—Matt. 15:1-3, 11 (NKJV)