Will Zeitgeist, the movie, decrease belief in Christian Churches?

No

1 of 5

by Sharnise Streaty

Write now Print Invite a writer™ Add to Favorites RSS Feed Contact this writer

The error of assuming that a person's belief is only head knowledge is ignorance. Knowledge is thinking that smoking cigarettes is good for your health because that's what everyone teaches as was thought in the 1950s, for instance. Was that true? Now we know through research and time that smoking cigarettes can lead to lung and heart disease, throat and mouth cancers, and an untimely death. Thus, the knowledge changed from one end of the spectrum to the other.

But knowledge is not the same as belief. Knowledge rules the realm of the mind, belief rules the realm of the heart. We change our minds everyday, but the heart is steady. Why does a man loves a woman that he knows would never make the cover of Vogue no matter how dolled up she was, can't cook well, doesn't clean like his mother, and is always late whereever she goes? Because it's not what she does or how she appears on the outside that ultimately matters to him. If they've been married for 20 years, then there are a lot of things he knows about her. What if he only focused on 20 years of every bad thing she ever did? He would probably come to the logical conclusion that she was a horrible wife and divorce her. But that's not very fair to her, is it? After all, if we looked back over the past 20 years of my life (or anyone's for that matter) and only focused on my mistakes, stupidities, and down right wrong actions and thoughts, I'd be a terrible, horrible person too. So why would the man stay with the woman for 20 years? What would make him continue their relationship for the next 20 years? His knowledge of her? No. Mere knowledge is not enough to make 40 years of matrimony. It is his belief, his heart, his faith in her and all the wonderful things she does. He believes in her. She believes in him. They believe in their relationship and that belief causes them to work together to become better for themselves and their community.

What does marriage have to do with Zeitgeist and Christians? Everything. What people who are anti-religious fail realize is that a true Christian (I'm not talking about pew warmers or church climbers) does not merely know in their heads, they believe in their hearts. Just like telling a dedicated man that his wife can't cook as a way to get him to leave her won't work, neither will telling a Christian that there is fault in their church make them turn from God.

Before I go further, let me clarify what I will mean by a Christian and the church. A Christian is a person who believes with their heart that Jesus is the son of God and has decided to follow God by making Him Lord in their life by inviting Him into their heart. That is the definition in the Bible and that's what I'll mean by Christian. A Christian is not obligated to attend church, but it is encouraged.

The church, as I will use it, represents the systems, organizations, and traditions that Christians have placed over the course of 2,000 years.

There are four reasons why anti-religion/anti-C hristian movies and books don't work to convert believers. Christians do not see church and God as being the same. Christians already know there is fault and evil within the church. Christians don't focus solely on the horrible things the church has done. Christian have as much faith that God exists and loves them as atheists have faith that there is not a god.

First, Christians do not see the church and God as being one and the same. The church is supposed to represent God, but it is not God. Just because a preacher says something, that doesn't mean God agrees with it. When Christians are rude, cruel, and uncompassionate, they are operating outside of God. They are mis-representing the one they say they believe in and follow. But people like order; we just do. So, the church gives order to the religion. While the church has periods where it follows the doctrines of God, it also falls into periods where it only follows the traditions and doctrines of itself. That usually leads to my next point.

Second, Christians already know there is fault and evil within the church. The church is made up of human beings. I don't care what you believe, humans have bad habit of making mistakes, saying stupid things, and doing horrible things to each other. Anything that involves humans is going to be imperfect and faulty. The key is knowing that has, does, and will continue to happen in the church. There is no way around it. Christianity does not teach that a person becomes perfect after receiving salvation. However, it does say that once one does receive salvation through Christ (and thus becomes a Christ-Follower), they are held more accountable to what they think, say, and do than a non-believer. There is no excuse for a Christian to do evil and believe that they are right or have no remorse. Remember, Jesus was especially hard and angry with hipocrates, those who say one thing and do the opposite.

Those Christians who use the church as a means for power, to advance their own agendas, to attempt to justify their own hatred, or to abuse others are guilty. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The Crusades, the Inquistion, the witch trials were evil. While the church likes to talk about the judgement on non-believers, it can be mighty silent on the judgement of believers that is also in the Bible. Don't believe that God doesn't hold Christians accountable for the wrong that we do (whether with action or inaction), because He does. A Christian or church who doesn't believe this is more likely to do some very nasty things.

Third, Christians don't focus solely on the bad things the church has done. As above with the husband and wife, if you focus only on the bad anything looks terrible. Eugenics, communism, the fact that Hitler based his Holocust on Darwinist theory, would give anyone considering atheism a long pause. Yet there is something good in atheism that makes people put their faith in it (and it is faith as there is not any solid scientific indisputable proof that God does or does not exist. People have evidence for both sides. Therefore, to believe or not to believe is a matter of your own faith.)

I mentioned several historical examples of evil that has come out of the church like the Crusades which the church used to advance their own agenda murdering not only Muslims and Jews, but also many Middle Eastern Christians (so that it was as much about race, culture, and power as it was about religion). Yet, it was also Christians who made sure that the church stopped the Crusades as they learned what was actually happening.

Because Christianity teaches that every person is equal to the other in the sight of God, our movements for equality have all started in the church with Christians. In Britain and America slavery was abolished because of this Christian doctrine. Women fought for their rights because the Bible says, "there is no male or female, all are one in Christ". America owes its very existence to the fact that her founders believed that God gave them rights and equality that could not be questioned or taken away. Today, when there is a natural disaster, it is the churches, the Christians of the world who are the first to respond with aid, the first to give money, supplies, and volunteers, they are turned to for shelter of the needy, and they are the last to leave the devastation. This doesn't get much press time, but it is what happens. For as many churches who use the tithes and offerings of their parishoners n themselves, there are more who actually do a lot for their communities. (But if you are member of church, ask for a copy of the churches budget and finicial report. If they refuse you might need to look into it. An honest church will give a copy or show it to a giving member who asks. A person has the right to see how their money is being used.)

Finally, Christians have as much faith as an atheist has. Would an atheist be easily swayed by watching, say, The Passion of the Christ? Or The Omega Code? Or Jesus (the movie)? They might watch any of these movies for their history or for entertainment. But the reality is if an atheist decided to go see The Passion, they'd only be looking to see how they can use it to strengthen their own beliefs and arguments. When a Christian based movie comes out no one sits around thinking, "this movie will convert all the atheists into Christians!" Or "this movie is a big blow to atheism". But for some reason if a movie is anti-Christian people think it will convert Christians. Just as anti-atheist movies do not attract nor convert atheists, anti-Christian movies do not attract or convert Christians. Both groups truly believe what they believe and you're not going to change their minds by merely saying "you're wrong" and "you guys did some bad things before". Zeitgeist is no different from The Da Vinci Code or The Golden Compass. As excited as many non-Christians were about these movies, they barely dented the church and were glossed over by Christians. Actually, because of Christians, The Golden Compass didn't do as well as hoped.

Some in the church may be swayed, but they are going to be those pew warmers and church climbers who don't really believe in the first place, who go from fad to fad, or are looking for anything that they think they can use to their own advantage. The arguments in Zeitgeist are not new. You can find the apostles responding to some of them in the Bible as they dealt with the same issues 2,000 years ago. People didn't change their minds then and they are not going to now.

Movies have a hard time converting because they are geared for your head (knowledge), but belief, and to change it, must be penetrated at the heart level. A movie or philosophy relying soley on logic, head knowledge, won't dent the steady heart.

Learn more about this author, Sharnise Streaty.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.