Christian truth is found in the darndest places

Dateline July 21, in the Year of our Lord 2023

Occasionally on long flights, my battery on my laptop dies, my book is in the overhead, and my ipad is all that’s left.  On these days, I watch some movie the airline provides – one which I would probably never watch otherwise.  Two of these illustrate something about truth that Christians seem to miss – All truth is God’s truth.

SPOILER ALERT

Several years ago, I watched Molly’s Game on a flight.  The film recounts the true story of Molly Bloome, an olympic skier who, taken out by injuries, turns to high stakes gambling.  I found the film to be refreshingly true even though no one would call it “Christian.”  Bloome’s attorney is an upstanding father who insists that his young daughter be substantive.  He engages in her education and models a father who leads and values true education.  Bloome has a strong ethical streak, even as she engages the underworld of elicit gambling.  This ethical streak comes to the fore as, near the end of the film, she accuses her father of being demanding, overbearing, and unsatisfied with her lack of success.  In a particularly uncharacteristic scene for a mainstream film, her father calls her out.  Her ethical stance came from his demanding upbringing.  He corrects her trite and cliche assessment of the problem between her and her father.  He then confesses that his affair with another woman, repressed in her memories as a little girl, was the real cause of the break between them.  Sin, not his strong paternal manner, was the real problem.  I could hardly believe the script had that much truth in it.  

This past month, I saw A Man Called Otto.  I’m a sucker for Tom Hanks performances, but he disappointed probably because the script was so preachy.  The writers didn’t even try to tweak the tired trope of “grumpy old man” until it came to a trans-teen that he encounters, with a sudden acceptance – it was the only thing he accepted in the whole show.  Hanks had a tough job with this plastic character.  The rest of the cast reflected every stereotype of “diverse” characters.  Of course, these characters were the heroes that changed his heart.  The twist at the end is that his enlarged heart kills him, which brings his new friends to laugh.  The show reflected truth in many respects – about love, community, and bitterness.  But these truths were used to tell lies about what it really means to love.  

Right now, there are a number of good Christian films circulating – The Sound of Freedom, Jesus Revolution, and Nefarius.  These films show that good stories, well told, appeal to everyone.   But we should not fail to see the truth or the lies in films that are not Christian.  Molly’s Game is not perfect.  There are ideas that clearly defy truth.  But, in real and important ways, it conveys truths that help shape our affections rightly.  Otto used true truths to get us to buy a lie.   

The medieval church embraced the writings of pagans like Aristotle, Cicero, and Virgil because they contained true truth, told well.  The heroes, while not Christian, taught us of humanity in ways that Christian writings may not have.  This helps fill in the blanks and better grasp the author of truth.  When we see this, we should call it out.  As Dante used Virgil to guide us through his Christian story, Christians should view our culture’s myths with great skepticism.  But, when truth is shown, it should be celebrated.  Good Classical Christian schools use the classics in conversation with today’s myths and stories like Molly’s Game, to return to the medieval tradition of attending to the truth, wherever it is found.