What an inglorious waste of time it would be if in these posts I just mimicked others ....by that I mean that I would have nothing to say that hasn't already been said ad nauseum. That does not mean that I come up with new doctrines....for it is the opposite of that.....in that I am constantly trying to send people back to....as Jeremiah described them....the old paths...."Thus saith the LORD, Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV)
So this afternoon my wife and I went to see the new Tom Hanks film....A Man Named Otto. My wife had been eagerly waiting for it since she enjoyed so much the 2013....worldwide bestseller....A Man Called Ove....by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman. I have no desire to just give film reviews....and I have posted quite a few in fourteen years....but there has to be a message....and usually the message is not the one that the film gives....and such is the case this time.
I am not being critical of the film itself. It was terrific....as far as going out to see a good movie goes. It's a lump in the throat kind of film....genuinely humorous a number of times....but there is that message that a film can give....that the director and all involved in it have no idea of....nor are a conscious part of.
I think that we have all known an Otto at some time in our lives....a man who is just extraordinarily irascible. What comes to my mind is an Andy Griffith Show episode....where this mean old man tries to destroy everyone's Christmas....but then in the end he tries to get arrested by Andy so that he can be in the jail....in Andy's office....and at least be around that which he claimed to hate. I wouldn't be surprised if most light-hearted drama television series....like Little House On The Prairie...didn't have a similar episode somewhere along the line. It would be perfect for Gomer Pyle...USMC....look it up for yourself....I bet there is one there.
All of this good stuff about the film so that you don't think that I'm criticizing it....for I am not....I am though criticizing our culture and our society....and the non-response of the church. There is one scene that I guess that I have to relate....without giving up too much. Otto and a neighbor and a doctor are in the scene. It's dramatic as it relates to the plot....but the doctor tells the good neighbor that the medical problem with Otto is that his heart....his actual heart....is too big. The neighbor is super-nice....the whole film....and genuinely concerned for Otto's health....but his health problem being that his heart.....Mr. Irascible of all Mr. Irascibles' heart....is too big....is too much for her to take with a straight face. The look on her face alone was worth the price of the movie.....not the price of the popcorn....but the ticket.
I really don't have to go into any more of the film....it makes It's A Wonderful Life look like film noir....as it's a feel good movie as effective as a feel good movie can get....but the message is that....get ready....you're not going to like this....no one needs God....all they need is to be....nice. No more can be asked of a human being other than he/she be nice....and if that's not good enough for God....well that's his/her problem.
In just one movie this makes no difference....and that's all this is....one movie....here today....gone tomorrow....(although there will be Academy Award nominations)....but when you have a hundred years of movies with this man-made doctrine of salvation....and seventy years of television shows with the same gospel....and fifty years of book bestsellers....then you have....well you have America....circa oh 1870....to present....for we are as the people that Jeremiah warned....as the above verse from 6:16 ends with this.....which is our response also....."We will not walk in it."
Note: I gave this advice in a post last year....and it might apply here....the book of Jeremiah was not compiled in chronological order....you might consider this....."To get a taste of Jeremiah....spend time on chapters 4-9....and concentrate on every verse....and try to discern how the warnings might apply to us today."
Note: The theater was filled. We sat in the front row...far right seats. At first it was like walking by a drive-in movie and looking up to see what was playing....but it may have been an advantage in that it made us concentrate more.
