I actually think you're being too kind Jared. My wife saw this film (I didn't) and she described it basically as you have. I hate this kind of stuff, especially if its as deistic (God helpful from a non-relational distance) as you describe. I think that highlighting true life stories in movies in this way actually pushes the true gospel further from the reach of those who watch it.

At the end of the movie, the real Bethany appears and says that it's all because of Jesus Christ. Your point is well-taken, though. The movie was "salt-watered down" faith.

Unfortunately, you could make the same point about most music by Christians (e.g., U2).

Hopefully girls will be inspired to read the book (as U2 has planted seeds of faith with its music), which is direct and clear.

Do you think that it would have obtained the same level of success if it had offered a clear plan of salvation

I don't know, but probably not.

or talked about penal substitutionary atonement or some other theological concept

Who said it should've done that? I'm just talking about the thing that makes people Christian -- the gospel -- and maybe mentioning, you know, Jesus.

Perhaps, perhaps--she is using her circumstances to proclaim the name of the Lord.

I am sure she is.

I believe the movie did mention Jesus--certainly the documentary on the blu-ray did. My hope for movies like this is that they lead people to explore Christianity further. I think the arts have great potential to do this. Paul mentioned U2 above, but we can think of a lot of examples of music, movies, and books that get people asking questions. We who are Christians rely upon guys like you, Jared, who clearly explain what Christianity truly is to help us in turn to clearly explain the faith to others so that when they walk out of Soul Surfer and come and ask us questions, we have clear answers to give them (sorry for that painfully awkward sentence).

The world around us is full of theological error and distortions of the gospel. As you know, you can go to any Christian bookstore and realize how painfully true this is. Yet, these distortions often lead to conversations where we can boldly proclaim the true gospel.

Thanks for the thought provoking post.

There is a scene where Bethany is talking with her father, and the full Philippians 4:13 verse is spoken; however, the word "him" is substituted for Christ. Not good.

The Book of Esther doesn't utter the name of God...not once. And it was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Good stories, redeeming stories, stories that point to the Savior, Jesus Christ, can be told without explicit statements that fit nicely into our theological categories.

JR, you're missing my point. I said in the post that a work of art doesn't have to use the word "Jesus" to be a Christian work.

I'm saying that if you're going to be didactic with "God talk," you oughtta have the courage to go "all in." A biopic that aims to explain how a Christian girl persevered because of her faith ought to represent that faith accurately. That's not the same thing as a work of artistic fiction or a U2 song.

Jared,

you posit the question in your post - Is it a Christian movie?

I don't think it is. It is a movie about Christians, and from watching the bonus features I don't think the filmmakers were even Christians...so you are asking for a lot from what most consider to be a non-Christian film.

I appreciated the fact that the Christians in movie were framed honorably, and even mission work done was treated with a certain level of appreciation. This probably explains its traction with the Christian bookstore crowd.

Is it soft and mainstream in its appeal? Yes. Is that necessarily bad? If it were an explicitly Christian movie..then yes. But is it an explicitly Xian movie? I don't think so.

I watched it with my daughters and loved filling in the gaps of the story, and talking about the gospel that story points to. I also enjoyed Hamilton's testimony here: http://bit.ly/nAtLE3

As for a further comment on your take on the movie, would you prefer the movie to contain no "spirituality" versus incomplete gospel? Is the requirement of a movie to contain the complete gospel? What is the complete gospel? How do you share that in a narrative way in a movie where it doesn't feel out of place and forced?
For instance, in the second Left Behind movie they forced the Way of the Master presentation into it. It felt really awkward. And those movies are even more "blatantly" Christian.
What if people pursue her story more? What if people look up World Vision because of their involvement? What if people never ask Carrie Underwood to act again? These would all be great results of this movie, which was clean and you could actually enjoy, unlike most garbage these days.

I remember before the movie was released reading about how the girl and her family fought hard with the director and others involved in making the movie, tring to make the movie as explicitly Christian as they could. They lost some/many of the battles but to the extent there is anything recognizably and distinctively Christian in the movie (like the quoting of the entire Phil. 4:13 verse rather than just a part) it is the result of their battling. The girl and her family wanted an explicitly Christian movie that made her faith in Jesus crystal clear. The Hollywood types didn't. For the most part Hollywood won but there were at least a few compromises made grudgingly along the way as a result of the family's efforts.

Oh, and Jay, please re-read the 10th paragraph, the one that begins "I don't think . . ."

Paul

1,000 apologies. you can't! Not yet - that feature's coming out soon. In the meantime, you need to be cleared, I can do it manually, so let me know.

Jared - well, in my defense, I did say I agreed with you.

Secondly - I didn't say the film *would* be cheesy if more explicit. I said that people would *say* it was cheesy. I don't care how good it was. I think, deep down, many Christians are just embarrassed about Jesus.

I know opinion will differ here: I thought Fireproof was actually a pretty good movie, albeit low-budget. It had the usual non-professional actors in it, but K. Cameron did a good job, and the movie was explicit, redemptive, etc. I really liked it.

There were people on the comment thread here who actually had never seen it that said it was obviously cheesy, "paint-by-numbers", etc. By definition, because it was explicit (though they didn't all admit that last part).

Like I said, you cannot win.

What we appear to agree on is that the cross is offensive and "foolish." What we disagree on is whether that means we ought to hide it.

Why in the world can't Christians trust that the gospel is beautiful and powerful and that it doesn't help in the long run to court public opinion by obscuring it?

I'm not in an argument with you. You and I agree. What I think we disagree on, perhaps, is that I'm more cynical that a lost population will see the beauty and power in even the most well-made movie that has the gospel explicitly in it. Because Christians don't even see that.

Please remove me from the email list. Thanks!

Other than the movies that use the NT text verbatim, can anyone think of a movie that overtly mentions Jesus and the Gospel, that is not cheesy?

I can't......in fact, the most gospel-centric movies I can think of are not Christian produced....but I might be missing some.

Bill - I thought Fireproof was cheesy mainly because the guy playing Kirk Cameron's dad cheesed it up mercilessly......a better actor in that role would raise the gravitas in that film for me quite a bit. I'm sure that's probably an unfair commment......its really my bias against southern culture coming out.

I did not have time to read through all the comments, however, am I the only guy who noticed that there was a lot of flesh displayed because of the bikinis that were worn by the girls in the movie? It concerns me that this is being marketed in "christian" bookstores and on "christian" radio stations. In addition to "quote-unquote "God"" I am also disappointed by the visual message portrayed and being promoted. From a husband of one woman, and father of three daughters and one son.

"To be clear, I'm not saying a girl wearing a bikini is wrong."

What are you saying then - let someone else cast the first stone? Are you a guy? What color is the blood that runs through your veins?

Dave, wow.

I am a guy, yes. The blood is red. Or purple until it hits oxygen, I guess.

Fun fact: All this morning, I have been writing a chapter on lust for a Bible study coming out next year while checking in on this comments thread.

Another fun fact: I didn't lust once while watching *Soul Surfer.* Again, I am a guy with red blood.

How you frustrate me...

You know, when I sat down to write this review, I was thinking to myself, "Self: How can you make sure you absolutely frustrate Jonathan?"

Love a man with clear goals, who successfully accomplishes them. You da man! :)

I think C.S. Lewis has some thoughts that bear on the "they show girls in bikinis in a movie about surfing and that's bad" portion of this discussion, from "Mere Christianity" and the chapter on Sexual Morality:

"The Christian rule of chastity must not be confused with the social rule of 'modesty' (in one sense of that word); i.e. propriety, or decency. The social rule of propriety lays down how much of the human body should be displayed and what subjects can be referred to, and in what words, according to the customs of a given social circle. Thus, while the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians at all times, the rule of propriety changes. A girl in the Pacific islands wearing hardly any clothes and a Victorian lady completely covered in clothes might both be equally 'modest', proper, or decent, according to the standards of their own societies: and both, for all we could tell by their dress, might be equally chaste (or equally unchaste). Some of the language which chaste women used in Shakespeare's time would have been used in the nineteenth century only by a woman completely abandoned."

later he says:

"When people break the rule of propriety current in their own time and place, if they do so in order to excite lust in themselves or others, then they are offending against chastity. But if they break it through ignorance or carelessness they are guilty only of bad manners. When, as often happens, they break it defiantly in order to shock or embarrass others, they are not necessarily being unchaste, but they are being uncharitable: for it is uncharitable to take pleasure in making other people uncomfortable"

and later:

"I do not think that a very strict or fussy standard of propriety is any proof of chastity or any help to it, and I therefore regard the great relaxation and simplifying of the rule which has taken place in my own lifetime as a good thing. At its present stage, however, it has this inconvenience, that people of different ages and different types do not all acknowledge the same standard, and we hardly know where we are. While this confusion lasts I think that old, old-fashioned, people should be very careful not to assume that young or 'emancipated' people are corrupt whenever they are (by the old standard) improper; and, in return, that young people should not call their elders prudes or puritans because they do not easily adopt the new standard. A real desire to believe all the good you can of others and to make others as comfortable as you can will solve most of the problems."

Also, Paul - I will do that tonight, so you're going to suffer through some more emails until then. Sorry for that. Working on a fix

Jared - this post has the mojo.

All - I was on a Barcelona beach with a bunch of 13 and 15 year old soccer players last week. A girl in a *full* bikini would have been refreshingly modest - Ay Carumba!

I just finished reading "Raising a Soul Surfer" by Bethany's mom Cheri and I couldn't have read a clearer message of salvation and Jesus Christ being glorified. She talks about how she and her husband came to Christ and how they are raising their family for Him.
This conversation about the movie will save no one, but this family's love for God and willingness to share through their books and this movie have brought many to Christ. I'm so thankful for this beautiful family. God is clearly using them for His Kingdom.

Jared,

I'm with you on this one. I was tolerating it until the high point of the move, which could have been THE moment... where Bethany asks her youth pastor "Why me? Why did this happen to me?"... was answered along the lines of "I don't know why bad things happen".

Face plant. I think I actually groaned out loud in the theatre.

I'm sure the generic God-talk and "I can do all things" message will resound well with the seeker-sensitive squishy mega-crowd.... the movie is heartwarming and inspiring... and it's even a movie about Christians.. but it's certainly not a Christian movie.

Can you manually remove me from the list?

Bill, "gospel-centric" movies was the wrong phrase.......I really meant that most of the movies I like for promoting gospel-centered discussion are not overtly Christian movies......there are plenty of those.

I'll ask again - is there a Christian produced movie out there that isn't cheesy?

Agree with comment 34 by Jonathan. A lot of people think that The Blind Side is a Christian movie, and it wasn't even close to this movie in terms of Christian content, at least to my recollection.

PS Bethany Hamilton recently spoke before 30,000-plus people at Harvest Crusade in Anaheim.

nhe,

Bill, "gospel-centric" movies was the wrong phrase.......I really meant that most of the movies I like for promoting gospel-centered discussion are not overtly Christian movies......there are plenty of those.

OK. I thought you were referring to movies that met Jared's standard of gospel-centric - where the gospel is shown in all its glory and power. I can't think of any. My guess is you were thinking of Shawshank and stuff like that.

That being said - the Narnia movies came as close as most (not perfect and please don't beat me over the head anyone - I know there were problems there), and they were quality. And someone above questioned whether the Passion of the Christ was Christian, and I would say that it was explicitely Christian, so that reaction was confusing.

I'll ask again - is there a Christian produced movie out there that isn't cheesy?

Define cheesy. I already mentioned Fireproof. :-)

Let me ask you this. What makes it cheesy? If the dad in Fireproof had been a better, professional actor, and if they had lowered the southern culture aspect, would it make the cut? Or is it the explicit Christian content that produces that cheesy feeling?

I don't know why it is, and I'm not judging anyone, trust me, but I think that for a lot of Christians, explicit Christian content in music and movies is uncomfortable.

Thanks nhe,

Agree on Narnia VOTDT - definitely the best one.

What's FOTR?

Specifically, Fellowship of the Ring, yes?

Cheri - wow, thanks so much for commenting! And thank you for your story.

Mark5Solas: You wrote:

I'm with you on this one. I was tolerating it until the high point of the move, which could have been THE moment... where Bethany asks her youth pastor "Why me? Why did this happen to me?"... was answered along the lines of "I don't know why bad things happen".

Face plant. I think I actually groaned out loud in the theatre.

Mark,

This confused me. What would you have said? What answer did Job get?

We know a dear, sweet Godly couple that just lost their five month old baby. I don't have a ready answer as to "why".

This confused me. What would you have said? What answer did Job get?

We know a dear, sweet Godly couple that just lost their five month old baby. I don't have a ready answer as to "why".

Bill, I know your question was to Mark but I'll take a stab at it, b/c I didn't appreciate that part of the movie either.

It's not that I thought we ought to have an answer to the "why" question. Underwood's character started out right -- "I don't know" -- but didn't go far enough. It could've been good to talk about any number of things thereafter:

a) about how God gets the glory in our weakness

b) some answer like Job did get -- ie. "Who are you, o Bethany, to question God...?" :-)

c) or best of all, an arrow to the cross. "I don't know why this happened to you. Terrible things happen all the time, and we may never know why God allows them. But we can draw some comfort knowing God identifies with us in our suffering. The cross is the perfect example of this." Or some better-written thing along those lines.

The Bible says lots of things about how purposes suffering for our sanctification and Christlikeness. Any number of those would've been great.

I agree - the girl was asking for an answer, it wasn't a rhetorical question.....and the youth minister came up pretty empty-headed.

This whole post and thread just makes me sad. Make sure to say "Who are you to question God?" to a girl who gets her arm bitten off by a shark?? Maybe some love and care before the doctrinal zinger might be nice. And can we just celebrate the fact that a decent movie was made about Christians instead of "Saved" or "Jesus Camp?"

I have been sitting this thread out, because I haven't seen the movie, though I've been interested in reading it. However, I'm going to jump in because the conversation has finally come into an area where I can relate.

There are very few things quite as non-comforting as "O, who are you to ask why you're suffering?" Let me assure you that that is exactly the WRONG thing to say to the parents who just lost their 5-month-old baby.

It's one thing for God to answer that to a man. He's God, after all. He's also speaking directly. The truth is, the fact that Job was getting his answers straight from God has got to have had some kind of comforting angle to it.

My past includes a 9-year abusive marriage, and then a painful divorce proceeding that focused on my mental illness (which was triggered by the abuse, but I was deemed the inferior parent because of major depression, regardless of the cause). The people who tried to be encouraging by telling me that God gets glory in my suffering were not very helpful. Theologically sound, maybe, but not helpful. My pastor and I were talking about that at one point, and he remarked that the Army of God is the only army in the world that shoots its own wounded.

Maybe the movie should have gone in a different direction with the encouragement, but let me echo Eric Wakeling (#65) here.

Maybe it's watered down. But at least it didn't turn itno "Believe in yourself and you can do anything."

"I can do anything because of my Christian faith" isn't that far from "I can do all things in Christ," which sounds pretty good to me, for a message coming out of Hollywood.


I reserve the right to change my opinion completely after I've seen the movie, though.

Right. I mainly listed God's answer to Job b/c that is what was brought up in terms of a resource for possible answer.

Maybe we could chastise God for his poor timing too, though. ;-)

Seriously, though, there can be appropriate times to discuss God's glory in relation to our suffering, which is the point of God's response to Job (who had put "God in the dock"), and in the movie, that sort of approach would've worked in the scene with Carrie Underwood.

But again, I would not say to a grieving parent asking "why?" "Who are you to ask?" But I have preached on that concept in relation to suffering. We shouldn't cordon off any area of the Bible to protect our sensitivities, even though we ought to be sensitive about timing and context for such counsel.

I'd also point back to my comment #62 which came right after my comment that seems to have caused offense.

I wish people gave my comments as much leeway as they do the movie. ;-)

Who said it was a Christian movie? I never heard that. I thought it was just a movie about a girl who happened to be a Christian. Why are you getting yourself all worked up over an inspirational movie. It wasn't meant to be a gospel presentation or a Sunday School lesson. It was meant to be a feel good movie based on a true story of a girl who overcame a horrendous event in her life. Now, if you are wise enough to use it as a spring board to share the gospel and point people to Jesus, good for you. If you're the kind who use it as an opportunity to gripe... you must find something to complain about in just about everything.

I guess I could spend my time griping in the comments on people's blog posts. :-)

I appreciate your insights here. I watched it and for the most part thought it was a pleasant family film, that may cause people to consider God. If it opens doors for Bethany to really share her faith, then great. But, I agree that it lacked depth, the church scenes were awkward,... really awkward.
I'm tired of athletes using Phil. 4:13 entirely out of context. It's not about God enabling personal achievement. Paul was talking about contentment in his financial circumstances.

This movie is a movie to the wrong god. It's not to Lord, God, Jesus Christ. It's to satan. Notice the crucifix on the wall of the classroom while the teacher lady is showing close up photos of the walnut and fly. That's not cool! it's not the cross.. it's the crucifix. Catholics and or Luciferians use that to symbolically, re-crucify Christ. Notice how the the Name Jesus was only mentioned only one time. Ohhh, wow... That must make it Christian... What subtleties. Any thing to throw people off... and these people are clever in doing so.
The whole movies teaches humanism and satanism. It tells people to walk to look within themselves. Some more sublties in the movies are lines like, "she has a sixth sense." Also, it gives reference to the "full moon" "Halloween" Mis-Quoting biblical scriptures and totally perverting them to leave out Jesus Christ! What betrayal and blasphemy... The movie says, "I can do all things through him." Who is him? what god are they talking about? Well it's very obvious to me, and it sure not in reference to the Great Mighty True God and King Jesus. It's referencing and giving glory to another God...satan. There is part where the main character Bethany and her dad are sitting on the beach and she's desperately reaching out for an answer and for some help and the advice her dad gives her to to listen to what comes next and just tells her she'll know... What!? it subtley teaches people to look within themselves for the answers. That's what satan teaches. it will sure get someone lost in a real hurry.
After Bethany gives up surfing and takes is up again and her and her dad are out by the water and he is teaching her about the way energy surges through the water he tells to, "listen to her instinct, trust it, you'll know."
Christian?? to trust yourself and your instinct? The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
and Jeremiah 17:5 says,
"Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arme, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."

This movie is anything but Christian.
Notice the part in the movie where Bethany and her mother are sitting her room and her mother does an internet search of Venus De Milo, a Pagan god that has many, many other names is deeply tied into the occult. Why would a Christian movie mention a false god to inspire? hmmmm?
There is a part in the movie where Bethany says, "who would have thought that teaching a kid to surf would teach me that surfing isn't the most important thing in the world, and that something else is...love." Wow, so true. Love is the most important thing. God is love and all the law hangs on the one commandment to first love Him and second love others. One true statement doesn't make this movie Christian though. It only makes it more confusing for people.
These are just a few things of the many in this movie.
You can tell yourself they have no real significance if you want to, but how many of these subtleties does it take to start showing a trend here!?
This movie isn't even lukewarm Christian stuff. It's as bad as a Joel Olsteen sermon! It's not Christian at all... Reason being is this... God's way is ONE WAY, and that is through the cross and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Satan's way is ANY WAY to keep you off that one way. He will use ninety-nine truths to just get you to buy one lie. I praise God that He has saved me from this bondage and opened my eyes.

Luke 21:8
And he said, TAKE HEED THAT YE BE NOT DECEIVED: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Thanks for reading. Praise the Lord God Jesus forever and ever! He is my Savior, Lord and King, the great Mighty God!