Reflections on Kirk Cameron's "Unstoppable."

I had the privilege to view tonight's presentation of Kirk Cameron's recent project Unstoppable.  It was an enjoyable double-date night with another couple and included pizza at one of our favorite restaurants!

We were drawn to the film mostly because I am in the middle of a teaching series right now on Sundays at New Vision Church in which I am addressing the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  In this documentary film, a project that Cameron has called his most personal project yet, we see Kirk, his family, and everyone in the audience struggling with this same question.  He refers to it as a "faith-wrecking" issue, and he is right!



In this film, Cameron, with Bible in hand, shares the story of creation, the fall, and the rest of the story of the Bible.  With God as the main character, the hero, he creatively portrays Adam, Eve, the serpent, Cain and Able.  In many of these scenes, the cinematography is beautiful and artistic.  I am not sure the middle-aged viewers "got" it, but there was a lot of rich imagery.

While telling the biblical story, Cameron also told the story of a teenage boy from Bison, South Dakota, who came to Cameron's camps for  kids, and then died of cancer.  The movie includes powerful scenes from the boy's funeral as the entire town celebrated his life.  I found myself wondering if I am really connecting with this topic as I teach it.  Would I teach differently in the wake of personal tragedy?

The difficulty in addressing this issue of why evil and suffering exist is the task of offering some answer to this complex question in a short amount of time.  As a communicator, you have the pick the angle from which you present the problem and the solution.  In this regard, I think the film struggled to communicate its purpose.  As I reflect, Cameron was not at all attempting to explain why bad things happen.  He was asking one very clear question- but I missed it until I read the byline a few minutes ago on the website.  The question he is really addressing is, "Where is God in the midst of tragedy and suffering?"  This question was very clear as Cameron introduced the film live and on location at Liberty University.  But the focus on that one question was lost in the film (or I just wasn't paying attention).  Had I heard that one question, I would have more easily engaged the film.  In response to the question, "where is God..." Cameron clearly communicated God's purposeful and active work of redeeming humans through Jesus.

Due to the strong public support on this one-night showing, theaters will be offering a second showing on Thursday, October 3rd. Should you go?  Yes.  Be ready for a one-hour documentary narrated by Cameron.  Don't go if you are expecting a Christian movie akin to Courageous or Fireproof.  If you are ready to interact with the story of the Bible, then put on your thinking cap and see the movie.  If you are expecting to find all of the answers to this problem, you will be disappointed.  If you are seeking God in the midst of tragedy, go to the movie and then pray and talk to a Christian mentor or pastor.  And remember, the real question addressed is, "where is God in the midst of tragedy and suffering?"

God can't intervene? A Review of Harold Kushner's "When Bad Things Happen to Good People"

In preparation for my current teaching series at New Vision Church, I read the classic work by the Jewish Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  I read it first of all because it has become a modern classic on this difficult subject.  Second, I wanted to read a non-Christian perspective on this issue.

In the end, I really enjoyed it.  Kushner interacts with the Hebrew Scriptures (AKA the Old Testament) well.  He does come from a modernist, naturalist, evolutionary perspective, which influences his assumptions, arguments, and therefore, conclusions. But he does not come from a rationally dis-interested perspective.  Very early in the work, he tells that his work rose from his personal struggles with God as his son battled a terrible disease and died too young.  By sharing his story and his pain, Kushner keeps his readers from treating the subject as mere intellectual debate.

Rabbi Kushner essentially lands at the conclusion that God has chosen not to interfere with the workings of his creation, and thus, cannot, by his own choice, stop bad things from happening to good people.  He writes, "No matter what stories we were taught about Jonah or Daniel in Sunday School, God does not reach down to interrupt the workings of laws of nature to protect the righteous from harm.  This is a second area of our world which causes bad things to happen to good people, and God does not cause it and cannot stop it."  I disagree.  Even without accepting the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible is full of stories, which I believe to be historical, in which God intervenes and interferes with the very "laws" of nature which he created.  We have to be careful to understand what Rabbi Kushner is NOT suggesting.  He is not suggesting that God is somehow limited by the laws of nature.  He stands above them as creator, a fact which Kushner beautifully illustrates and recognizes.  He merely suggests that God chose to limit himself by his own choices.  At the same time, using the adverb cannot when God is the active subject is a bit strong.

Kushner also shares an interesting interpretation of the tree of knowledge of good and evil found in the stories of creation and the fall in Genesis 2 & 3.  Coming from his evolutionary perspective, Kushner sees the tree of knowledge of good and evil as a step in the evolutionary process that made humans greater than animals as they gained a conscience.  In eating the fruit, Kushner argues that they became truly human.  In conclusion, the gaining of conscience included the opportunity for real freedom.  I have the admit that this argument has pushed me to really think.  However, I cannot imagine this as the intended meaning of the story.  It is just too evident that God is unhappy with their choice. Additionally, there is plenty of evidence that they were more than animals and were fully human before eating the fruit.

Coming from this perspective, however, Rabbi Kushner is able to strongly say what many Christian leaders, who would disagree with his other positions, also try to proclaim.  First, he argues against our need (which often sound more like demands) for answers.  He decries the popular assumption that "there is a reason for everything!"  I think he is right when he suggests that sometimes there is simply no reason.  Second, he argues that we should give more attention to what we can do in response to bad things and less attention to figuring out why the bad things happened in the first place.  I agree!

Finally, he argues that we should learn to pray differently.  And here, his thoughts are really good!  He shares an incredible insight into two prayers of Isaac's son Jacob - one as a young man bargaining with God in exchange for protection and blessing, and then one prayer as an older, mature man who has nothing to bargain with.  He writes, "But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered.  They discover that they have more strength, more courage than they ever knew themselves to have."

I believe that we should listen to Kushner at this point.  I believe that God can and does interact with his world, interfering regularly in the lives of humans and with the laws of nature.  But I often pray only for miracles or healing (interference).  What if, while praying for healing, we also prayed for strength and for a sense of God's presence?  I believe we would then be better prepared for either response from God.  If he chooses not to heal, then I have strength and a sense of his presence.  If he chooses to heal, I am less likely to forget about him, having gotten what I asked for.

In the end, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a good read with good arguments and good pastoral advice, but it comes from a perspective with which I have significant disagreements.