It's All About the Dogmatics - a post by Deb

As Christians we so often shun or demean movies that have any bit of religious ridicule. Movies such as Saved or Dogma stir up in Christians, for some reason, feelings of offence, heresy, and often cause us to turn on our defensive mechanisms. It’s quite frustrating for me, a movie lover and a Christian, to try and talk about movies like these, to tell others, my friends and family, about them. Now don’t get me wrong, I do get annoyed with movies and people who treat any faith like some ridiculous thing that people do to feel something. However, as I watched these two movies I thought about our world, the people who created these movies, and the people who will watch these movies. So many say to me, “how can you condone the message of these movies, they’re blasphemous and displays Christians in such an ignorant way.” To which I reply, “you do realize that people who write scripts like these don’t just make this up off the top of their heads, they see it, hear it, and in many cases have lived it.” Let’s take Dogma for example. It’s a classic Kevin Smith movie, with the great cast of comedy wonders from the late 90’s. It is apart of a series of movies with an ensemble cast that created Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob, and so on. The humor is crude, bold, physical, and in my opinion hilarious! I decided one day to rent Dogma; it was recommended by my boss that I should watch it because he thought that I would find it interesting because I am a Christian. So I did! The opening scene is a disclaimer, a disclaimer to all the Christians that may be watching who will probably get offended. I thought that was funny, Kevin Smith knew that this movie was going to offend people, so he made the disclaimer, it’s our own faults for continuing to watch it! I watched with an open mind, in the forefront was the disclaimer, I went in to learn something. And I did! I learned that Christians are viewed in a negative light, but not because we’ve been misunderstood but mostly because there are those that really do act is such a way. Kevin Smith was raised in a devout Roman Catholic home, he has a good grasp on theology and most importantly he has his own views of the faith. Yes, Dogma had many questionable details, but for the most part it will cause you to think. As I finished watching the movie I had so many thoughts going through my mind, it made me look at my own life and how others may perceive me. I don’t think Dogma is meant to offend but to cause you to think! I recommend that you watch it, see how others see Christians, and understand how others view the biblical story. Maybe, just maybe you might learn something!