By Isaac Botkin, posted on 10 May, 2009

When I describe my interest in film and film production to my fellow Christians, I typically get one of two very different responses. The first is a very nervous uncomfortableness expressed by those who believe that Christians should have no part whatsoever in the very “impure” and “shameful” business of film. The second is an untempered excitement conveyed by Christians who desire to integrate themselves into the worst of the world’s institutions so that they can finally become “relevant” to pop culture.

On the one hand, I can appreciate both of these responses: Film is a very dangerous battleground that should not be entered lightly, and it is also a vital battleground that has been surrendered to the enemy and should be recaptured. On the other hand, however, these two opposing reactions are usually the product of two worldviews that do not accurately reflect our Biblically-defined Christian duties.

On the most extreme end of one spectrum are the retreatists who would prefer to withdraw from the battles of the culture war rather than fight for high ground that might be hard to defend. On the other end are the syncretists who are willing to integrate their faith with secular philosophies and try to build their homes on uncaptured enemy ground that they believe is “neutral.”

One of these worldviews limits the power that God has to equip us for battle. The other limits the scope of His authority over the world.

Christians must start with this foundational principle: The Lordship of Christ applies to every area of life and thought, and culture is a legitimate realm of work through which the Christian is called to proclaim the glories of Christ. This being established, great discernment and Biblical standards must be used when analyzing our Christian duty so that we can make the proper decisions about complex issues such as the arts.

For centuries, the dramatic arts have been considered problematic by Christians, and while many Church fathers have condemned stage plays and acting as sinful, only the improper uses of these powerful tools break the law of scripture. There’s nothing in scripture that speaks directly about the craft of film, but the Bible mentions several men who were supernaturally gifted in other, similarly artistic crafts (Exodus 31:3, 1 Kings 7:14), and God clearly desires that His people worship him with music (Psalm 47:7, Psalm 92:1).

As I apply the Scriptures, I see music, art, architectural design, literature, and film all as valid forms of media, which are potentially helpful and God-glorifying tools. They are neutral weapons — double-edged swords — that can be used either to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, or to destroy men’s minds and souls.

However, while these tools themselves may be neutral, the methodologies that govern their use are not. Songs, books and films that are made to conform to worldly ideals and secular worldviews will communicate pagan messages, compromising their producers and their consumers. This is why my father and I are emphatic in communicating our position that God-honoring films must be created “outside Hollywood;” free from a corrupting culture and an industry intent on denying the power of Christ.

Recent advances in technology have made filmmaking tools cheaper and more accessible to those of us who aren’t Hollywood insiders. Young filmmakers can now edit video and create effects and animation on any standard PC and shoot excellent images with consumer video cameras. These simple tools may not compete with the professional gear yet, but they are ideal for learning the techniques of visual storytelling.

Like the craft of film itself, these new technologies can be used for good or evil. The same developments in digital cinema and internet distribution that could enable an independent Christian film industry is also giving traction to a secular independent film industry that is even more ethically bankrupt than the Hollywood system. Even worse, cheaper video gear has considerably expanded America’s pornography industry.

However, Christ is Lord over all that is lawful. The Bible clearly shows that communication, aesthetics, and technology are all areas that Christian must take control of in order to fulfill the Great Commission and the dominion mandate. If pornography is predominantly distributed on the internet and DVD, it doesn’t mean that the internet is completely irredeemable, or that we cannot also release films on DVD.

In fact, I believe that the enemy’s widespread use of these powerful tools should only spur us on to take greater advantage of them. Unfortunately, the modern Christian church is generally slow to adopt new technology. This has not always been the case. Throughout history, Christian cultures have always been the first to adopt, adapt, and develop new technologies, even if they haven't always been the ones who discovered them.

A History of Christian Technology

There is evidence that wind and water wheels existed prior to the Roman Empire, but it wasn't until the early church evangelized and civilized northern Europe that these tools saw widespread use: by Christian farmers taking dominion of the land. Christian farmers also harnessed animal power more efficiently by inventing the breast strap and collar, and the heavy-wheeled plow.

Misguided historians would have us believe that Christian Europe is defined by an extended period of primitive barbarism following the glorious rule of Greek science, and that while our repressed Anglo ancestors were scrabbling through the Dark Ages, Muslim and Chinese scientists were building real civilizations.

The truth is that the Muslims burned the books in the Library of Alexandria and destroyed “infidel knowledge” wherever they found it. Some scientists in Arabia did make some fascinating discoveries, like Ibn al-Haytham in the field of optics, but none of these were adopted by Islamic culture, and many of their findings were destroyed by the Muslim clerics. Meanwhile, European workmen were manufacturing independently-developed eyeglasses that doubled the working life of nearly every fine craftsman in Christendom.

Asia had a rich history of technical advancement, but it had stagnated since the 9th century in the totalitarian regime of the Celestial Empire. They had inherited gunpowder, but for centuries only used it to make simple fireworks and ineffective rockets for battle, which did little besides frightening horses. Then European navigators found China (thanks to advanced navigation tools designed by their bespectacled craftsmen), and within a decade of bringing gunpowder home they were building canons, mortars, hand guns, and using more powerful explosives for quarrying and excavating.

Cultures with a proper understanding of God's Word are in a much better position to use technology effectively. Societies that understand the dominion mandate understand what work is for and are better suited to adopt, invent, and define the use of tools to accomplish that work.

As the Catholic Church, which had previously been a driving force in Christianizing Europe, became more and more heretical, the Catholic nations suffered financially and technologically. When the church officials prohibited laymen from reading the Bible, it was a small band of independent churchmen known as “the Reformers” who took advantage of the invention of movable-type printing in 1450.

Within fifty years after Gutenberg built his first printing press, there were an estimated 20 million books circulating throughout Europe, most of which were Bible translations, Reformed commentaries, and other religious pamphlets. This is one of the fastest adoptions of technology in history, rivaled perhaps only by the internet, and driven almost entirely by Christians. By contrast, printing presses were outlawed in every Muslim nation except Turkey until 1815.

The Theology of Work and Tools

The fatalistic worldview of Islam and the oligarchical worldview of Catholicism limited man's freedom to serve God, corrupted the purpose of work, and denied the proper theology of tools, albeit in different ways. Modern Christians have a similarly flawed concept of their purpose as followers of Christ due to three main influences:

1. A pragmatic understanding of the Gospel
2. A hopeless "terminal generation" eschatology
3. The secular presupposition that religion and science are opposites.

There are a number of other key extra-Biblical ideas that have colored the Church's perception of what our goals are and what we can do to achieve them. For example, today we can find some churches that are not only opposed to Christians being involved in technology, but also to Christians being involved in any world or culture-changing activities beyond simple one-on-one evangelism before the rapture hits.

On the other side of the coin, there are churches that hold to a similar eschatology, but are more indoctrinated by the world and have been enculturated by some of its worst elements. These people are trying to reach the lost using very pragmatic methods such as “Christian” death metal music and missionary dating.

The expediency of this “end-justifies-the-means” use of current technologies and trends isn't rooted in a large vision, but in a limited understanding of Christ-honoring methodology. Christians who are willing to compromise for mere pragmatism seem the most eager to work in film, but they are also the ones who are most likely to damage our cause — the cause of Christ — and their own souls in the process.

Scripture makes it clear what our goals should be, and how we are meant to achieve these goals. We must employ to the greatest possible advantage every tool that can be used to take dominion for Christ's kingdom. However, not everything is a usable tool. Some things, like certain kinds of music, may be redeemed. Others must be replaced.

For example, books, art, music, film, and the internet can all be used to propagate pornography and other obscene content, but Christians can still use all these forms of media to effectively communicate God’s truth if they avoid the pitfalls of compromise. In the same way, Christians can make, sell, and own guns (Christian cultures were the inventors and perfectors of firearm technology) even though guns can obviously be misused.

And in some respects, the double-edged sword of media is far more dangerous than any firearm. Any involvement in these areas must be on God's terms and done God's way. All production and consumption of media must be done carefully and soberly. The content of our media projects must be created independently of evil systems, without using evil techniques. The ideas we communicate and the images that we show our audiences must be presuppositionally and biblically consistent.

New Resources and New Opportunities

Providentially, this generation of homeschoolers is uniquely suited to building their own film industry from scratch. They’ve watched their parents build an independent education industry from the ground up and should be unfazed by establishment nay-sayers. They are largely free of indoctrination that comes from constant exposure to Hollywood films and should be full of fresh ideas. Most importantly, they know how to learn, which makes them ideal candidates to adopt the very technical art of filmmaking.

If young filmmakers learn the craft of film well and are professional in their labors, they will achieve excellent reputations and be tempted by opportunities to participate in the Hollywood system, making the world’s films according the dictates of Hollywood’s worldview. However, if they can stay focused on the things of God, and focus on telling God-honoring stories, they will be able to avoid compromise and continue to create their own projects.

I strongly suggest that any Christian interested in learning more about making the most of our resources and meeting other like-motivated filmmakers should attend the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and Film Academy in October (for more information see www.independentchristianfilms.com). This week-long event attracts hundreds of young media professionals who are eager to make connections, learn new tools and techniques, and collaborate on plans for a truly independent Christian film industry.

And these plans aren't to just make a few Christian pictures. As nice as it might be to merely offer some variety to the movie-going public, that is a small vision. We have been called to expand the Kingdom of God, and so we should plan for nothing less than a full-scale reformation of our entire culture. I firmly believe that with the resources God has available to place at our disposal, and His continued blessing on those who seek to honor Him, we cannot fail.

To summarize: Our goal is not to Christianize the "things of the world," but to use every tool in our procession to evangelize people and reform our culture. Neither is it our goal to synthesize paganism with Christianity or to build on the foundations of existing corrupt institutions. Our goal is to do God’s work, God’s way.

Toward that end, we must endeavor to make the most of every idea, resource, tool, and invention God gives us to take captive every thought to His glory.