SCIENCE, CINEMA AND THE BIBLE

An upsurge of evangelically-themed movies is challenging the near-monopoly of secular agenda in the film industry.

More Christian producers are emerging to take back the power of the air, using trending digital tools and television to “tell the vision.”

Creative concepts are being set to the template of pushing the gospel on the back of quality entertainment.

“Many years ago, if we wanted to send a missionary overseas, the only option available was to put him and his family aboard a ship, and it would take weeks for them to arrive at their destination,” documovie evangelist Ray Comfort explains.

“It wasn’t uncommon for family members to die of malaria or other tropical diseases. Taking the gospel to the world came with great hardship and much sacrifice.

“While hardship and sacrifice are still necessary for the sake of the gospel, nowadays we can also click the ‘send’ button to reach people all around the world,” says Comfort.

Comfort’s pro-life documentary “180” has amassed 4.3 million views on YouTube, with rave testimonials from people who changed their views on abortion after watching the film.

The development is a leap in the right direction considering that the Great Commission will not make much headway should Christians stick to rowing boats, setting up tents and writing epistles to preach the gospel in the web-captive 21st century.

There is need to exploit every possible medium for the furtherance of the message and film, complemented by tag and share buttons on social networks go a long way to this end.

While Christian themes have recurred in secular movies, the impact is negligible because the films are often flawed by inconsistency with the Bible and lewd scenes.

The gospel value in such movies is like “a needle in a haystack—you look for it all day, and when you find it you realize it wasn’t worth the trouble” as Shakespeare says.

To right this wrong, wholly Christian film-makers’ guilds have are emerging to package the wholesome message for the largest audience possible.

Others, as in the case of Kirk Cameron, were Hollywood heartthrobs who crossed the floor to use their acting talents for Christ. Cameron has since appeared in successful Christian films such as the “Left Behind” series, “Fireproof,” “Monumental” and “Unstoppable.”

One area of interest in the sprawling industry is creationism. High concept movies and documentaries are being produced to counter atheists and evolutionists who have the controlling stake in art's global public square.

Since the Vatican retracted from its condemnation of Renaissance astronomer and physicist Galileo for proving that the earth moves around the sun, there has been a wide-scale concession that the Bible and science are complementary rather than contradictory.

More avenues of inquiry have been opened up, chief of which have been dedicated to the position the science affirms instead of refuting creation. And now more movies are being dispatched as companions in the search for the truth.

I find the films remarkable not least because they refute the erroneous but popular impression that to be a Christian one has to demobilise the mind and play the jumping-jack to the pull of irrational claims.

This week we take a look at "The Genesis Code.” Ray Comfort’s “Evolution vs. God: Shaking the Foundations of Faith” and Lee Strobel’s “The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points toward God” are also interesting reference points.

Despite being entirely produced by Christians all three movies refuse Christian arguments the benefit of doubt and places the faith on the faith of arguments.

As you have probably guessed, Christianity rises from the arguments unscathed, predictably so because it Christ-like like to destroy a temple and build it in three days – stronger and unassailable.

“The Genesis Code” is as much of a riveting love story as it is an affirmation of the Christian fundamentals of creation and prayer.

A college journalist, Kerry Wells (Kelsey Sanders), is assigned to do a story on a new hockey sensation, Blake Truman (Logan Bartholomew). The story develops into a relationship, badly fitted because Kerry is a pastor’s daughter and committed Christian while Blake is sceptic.

Behind his popular college image, Blake is privately suffering as his mother is on life support. He rejects Kerry’s suggestion that prayer will get things right, absolutely convinced that science disproves the Bible especially the creation narrative in Genesis.

Ultimately Kerry with the help of her nerdish brother and his classmates invite Blake and other students and lecturers to a ground-breaking presentation called “The Genesis Code” where they prove that the Big Bang actually feeds into “the world according to Moses.”

The movie also deals with the discrimination or rather underestimation, serious Christians face at colleges and universities. Kerry is warned away from her faith by her academic supervisor but her own inquiry affirms rather than shake her conviction in the existence of God.

To nail the evidence, Blake’s simple but honest and urgent prayer for his mother after his conversion is answered and she “returns to the land of the living.”

“Science and faith should not be enemies. Christians should remember that science is merely the discipline of coming to a better understanding of the world God created,” “Genesis Code director Dr. Jerry Zandstra said in the run-up to the screening of the film.

“Scientists should remember that people of faith have much to add to the conversation about the origins, purpose, and ultimate end of the universe and life on this planet.

“It is time to put aside this false argument and encourage both sides to seek mutual understanding and appreciation in the context of some healthy modesty,” Zandstra said.