A Critique of Kirk Cameron’s “Unstoppable”

“Unstoppable” a Christian movie with Kirk Cameron premiered Tuesday evening, September 24^th across the United States. Theatres were sold out. I saw the show along with my wife and oldest son. According to MovieTickets.com around 700 hundred theatres showed the movie and it was the number 1 movie of the day. “Unstoppable” will show again one more time on Oct. 3^rd.

The purpose of the film is to make people think deeply about their lives and one of the big questions everyone asks about God. Cameron said, “My friend Matthew, 15 years old, died of cancer this year. And on my way to the funeral, I found myself asking this big question, which has shredded people’s faith for thousands of years. And I wanted to answer it, not only for myself, but to offer some insights—through what I discovered—to others who are asking the big question.”

The question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Kirk tried to answer the question from a biblical, Christian perspective. He was earnest, passionate, intelligent and he tried to be biblical. I applaud him for his courage to tackle such a question. And I admire him for his concern for the hurting hearts of so many people who have suffered. But his answer was wrong, truly biblically wrong. Cameron’s answers came from the paganized Christianity that has become main stream since the third century A.D. and not from the Bible.

Kirk did begin by explaining that human suffering is the result of the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve. But he never got to the real heart of the problem of why bad things happen to good people. The real biblical answer is that there are no good people! Scripture tells us “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20)” and “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12).”

Suffering happens in life because of sin. It corrupted our humanity and it has put a curse upon nature. All of us fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) no matter how many “good” things we do. Therefore we need to be saved from sin’s power, which causes us to sin and from sin’s penalty, which is death. To Kirk Cameron’s credit he did point out that our rescue from sin comes from God’s love through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23 pointedly states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).”

The question to ask is not “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but rather “Why do good things happen to bad people?” And the only answer is the grace of God. In His love God desires to rescue us from sin and He offered his Son to pay the ultimate price for our sins. The prophet Isaiah prophetically said of Jesus “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5, 6).”

But even when one is saved from sin by faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is not exempt from the sufferings that are caused by living in a fallen world. Natural disasters still happen, sickness still occurs and unless the Lord Jesus returns in our life time we all still die. The Bible says that “We must through many tribulations [troubles/trials] enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).” And as we endure in hope of our ultimate salvation when Christ returns we must remember “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).”

There are two other errors in “Unstoppable.” One is that suffering ends when a believer in Christ dies and goes to live on in heaven. The other is that Jesus Christ is a God-Man. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say that people go to heaven when they die—nowhere. Death ends life. There is no conscience life beyond the grave (Genesis 3:19; Psalm 6:5; Psalm 49:12, 14; Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10). The result of sin is death. We perish. Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:16). Everlasting life is a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:16). And this everlasting life will be experienced only when Christ returns to raise the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 50-58; John 5:28, 29).

And Jesus is not God. He is not the God-Man. He is a man, a full and genuine human being (Acts 2:22; Romans 5:18, 19; 1 Timothy 2:5). It was a real man Adam who sinned and so it had to be a real man, made like us in every way to save us from sin (Hebrews 2:14-18). It is true that God was at work in Christ (Acts 10:38). But Jesus is not God. His Father alone is God (John 17:3).

Again, let me say that I admire Kirk Cameron for his passion to present the answers to life’s tough questions. He is a man who seems to truly love God and who has a concern for people. I wish more people were bold in their faith as he is. But I have a greater wish and desire. It is stated in 1 Timothy 2:4, 5 where we are told that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” Truth matters.

If you would like to know the truth the church I pastor offers a free class titled “Powerful Christian Living.” It is available at the “Teachings” section of www.graceministryinternational.org.

 

Thus says the Lord

Richard Sennett has a sharp understanding of our contemporary culture. Sennett is a sociologist at New York University. He makes an observation that in times past society was concerned about a loss of authority. But now things have changed and we loath to have someone or something of authority over our lives. The professor states, “We have come to fear the influence of authority as a threat to our liberties, in the family and in society at large.

This new attitude not only affects society at large, it even influences the church. A number of professors of homiletics at Christian seminaries think preachers should accept this new thinking. It is suggested that preachers should send up the white flag and quit trying to proclaim an authoritative message. In others words, it is time for the preacher to stop saying, “Thus says the Lord.”

Fred Craddock, a prominent theologian commented on this suggestion of surrender. He describes today’s minister “as one without authority.” The average person in the pew does not want someone telling him or her how best to think or how to live rightly. Craddock suggests that the man in the pulpit should “seriously ask himself whether he should continue to serve up monologue in a dialogical world.” In other words let’s just chit-chat at church. Can anyone hear Madonna singing in the background, “Papa, don’t preach.”

I’ve got a question. If the Christian minister has no authoritative message to bring why preach or chat at all? If we don’t really have anything important to say why waste time on Sunday morning? For goodness sake, stay in bed!

 

But a study of church history shows that the great periods of revival were preceded by authoritative preaching. In true preaching the preacher dares to speak on behalf of God. He stands in the pulpit as a steward of the mysteries and grace of God (1 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Peter 4:10, 11). He declares (or should declare) the truth of God’s Word for people to hear and apply to their lives. That’s a gutsy thing to do! But the preacher’s authority does not come from the man it comes from the authority of the Scriptures. It comes from the foundation of the Bible being the Word and will of God.

True peaching is not delivering fables; it is delivering a message (2 Peter 1:16-20). When a church denies the authority of Scripture it end up going on a safari for significance. And when the preacher does not trust in the authority of the Bible, after his sermon people ask, “What did he say?” But preaching the Word of God with authority challenges us to ask big questions: “Do I believe this? Will I obey it? How must my attitudes and actions change?

I must admit, as a preacher it is difficult to hear the voice of the Lord from Scripture and then to faithfully proclaim it week after week. But when I surrender my heart to the One who has all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18) I am encouraged to say, “Thus says the Lord.” And God’s people are blessed. The Scripture says, “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:20).” Let’s hear it!