Saved!

I watched, for the first time, the movie Saved! starring Mandy Moore. I've heard a lot about this movie, mostly from Christians, saying that the movie is offensive, and inappropriate. Which is esentially why I decided to watch it. I know, that may come as a shock to you, but when people tell me that somethin is offensive or heretical, I feel the need to see it for myself. It's for that reason that I began reading books lik Davinci Code, watching the Harry Potter Movies and reading Love Wins (all of the above by the way I loved!). Anyway, this movie, while being a parody of Christianity, actually has a lot of really good things to say to Christians (whether it means to or not is beside the point). I wasn't initially going to blog about the movie, as I don't generally do movie reviews, but when I finished watching the movie I checked out the Focus on the Family review of it, and te review just made me so mad that I felt the need that I needed to write a blog about the movie.
One of the main points of the movie is that Christians can get so caught up in whats right and wrong, that they forget to actually love and accept others. In the movie, one of the main plots is the attempted conversion of the lone non-Christian at the Christian school. Everyone is so eager to convert her, so eager to tell her that she is doomed to Hell without the love of Christ, that they end up shunning her, pushing her away, ridiculing her and embarrasing her. Throughout the movie as previously good Christians falter, the other Christians throw them under the bus, pray over them (forcibly), and literally throw the Bible at them. They get so caught up in making sure everyone is doing what is right, that they forget that Jesus loved everyone, especially the sinners.
Throughout the movie, it is clear that the most truly Christ-like people are those who aren't even 'Christians'. The non-Christian that everyone is trying to convert is the person who accepts, and loves, the other people who 'lose their way', and are ridiculed for sins that they commit. Unfortunately, I wish I could say that this is an area where the movie is clearly wrong, but the truth is, the movie is very accurate in this regard. Many of the most Christ-like individuals aren't even Christian (or at least, we wouldn't classify them as Christian). Sadly, many Christians are so centred on ASKING what Jesus would do that they forget to just live it out.
Hypocrisy and being a 'Pharisee' is another key part of the movie, as one of the main characters goes out of her way to make sure that everyone sees how Christian she is. She sings a worsip song before an assembly starts, she paints a statue of Jesus, she acts in the School plays, oranizes prayr circles, hands out tracts and pins, and is first in line to picket outside of the abortion clinics. She does all the 'right stuff', but for all the wrong reasons. She wants people to see how Christian she is. She wants to get noticed. She wants te attention. Like the Pharisees, she is a white washed tomb. Looks good on he outside, but inside is full of hate, full of sin, and just a gross mess. In the end, the one who needs saving the most is the one who thought she was saved all along. Sometimes, we are like her. We try to make everyone notice how good we are, we try to do all the right things, but we have no substance. We do it all for show.
Doing God's will is another thing that is poked at in the movie. On 2 occasions throughout the film, 2 different characters do things that are wrong because they think Jesus is telling them to do it. As much as the movie is trying to be funny, the truth is, we all have a "vision" or hear the voice of God every now and then tellins us to do something that is bad. What I mean is...we try to tell oureselves that God is blessing out action. We say things like, "Oh, I know it's usually wrong, but God wants me to do this so I can know what its like and so I can further witness to someone who has been through this". We make ourselves think that God is blessing our actions, just so we can do something that is otherwise wrong, or frowned upon. It's the ol', "God is giving me permission to do this" trick.
The movie also takes a stance on homosexuality, premarital sex and pro-life. I won't mention where they fall on these issues, but the movies does talk about grey areas. One character sees the Bible as black and white, while another argues that its all a grey area, and that everyone falls short in some area somewhere along the line. No one is perfect. The quote is, "why would God make us all so different, if he wants us to all be the same".
Overall, this movie, in a humorous satirical way, raises some good points. It should challenge Christians to realize how they are living, how hypocritical their lives are, and focus more on loving, accepting and being truly Christ-like. It's too bad that a lot of Christians will decide that the movie is too offensive to be worthwhile. I'm not saying that everyone should watch this movie, but I do think that sometimes, Christians are too afraid of what is controversial. Too scared of what is offensive. And refuse to learn from or be challenge by, someone who has different beliefs. In my opinion, the movie Saved! is more of an accurate Christian movie than most of the other literal christian movies. What do you guys think? Is the movie Saved! a satirical look at Christians, and something that we can actually learn from, or is FOTF right and the movie is offensive, heretical and has nothing (or very little) redeeming about it?