Moralistic Gospel Is a Dead End

Yesterday, I watched a portion of a movie called the Seventh Sign, starring Demi Moore. I wanted to see this end of the world movie again, this time with my Christian glasses on. You see, I saw it many years ago while a lost pagan. With it being on TV this week, I thought it might be interesting to see from a Christian perspective how the pagans that made the movie think. It was completely blasphemous.

The Jesus character in the movie was just a guy who died to make the world better but failed. He died to give people hope. Demi Moore's character comes to see this Jesus in the midst of the tribulations coming upon the earth. She can't believe that God is a God of wrath. She appeals to her free will to change the events of the end. Jesus tells her there is just one chance. She has to make the changes.

She does say to Jesus, "I thought God was a God of love." Jesus corrects her. He explains that God is tired of all of man's sins. He tried to save sinners the "first time" when He died. But that didn't work. So God is going to destroy the world.

In the end, Demi's character offers the world hope by breaking the last link in the chain of apocalyptic events. Jesus accepts this and tells a Jewish boy to "write it down" and tell the world.

Why am I writing this silly post (bad movie review)? Tom Ascol gave a link to this article of how a Sunday School curriculum did not want to tell the story of Easter to young children because it is too violent. The link also says,

"We're using these formative preschool years to build a foundation for that eventual decision by focusing on God's love and telling preschoolers that 'Jesus wants to be my friend forever.'"

So there you have it. Demi Moore's character must have grown up with this kind of Sunday School material. God is just lovey dovey and Jesus wants to be your friend. If you would by your own autonomous free-will just obey Christ, the world could get better.

In conclusion, I have come to see that Evangelicalism has absolutely nothing to offer. Simply saying that Jesus can make your life better is offensive, even if we use terms like the cross as a means of doing so. The world doesn't understand why they need Jesus when there are many systems that make the same claim Christians do. Moral renewal is not the Gospel and is a dead end.