Movie Review - "The Perfect Stranger"

Back in 1981, the must-see arthouse film was "My Dinner with Andre." Starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, almost the entire movie took place in a New York restaurant, where Shawn and Gregory dined and conversed about a wide-range of philosophical topics. It was a strangely compelling film, with Gregory weaving weird tales about Buddhist monks, experimental theater, being buried alive, and trips to the Sahara and Tibet, and Shawn desperately trying to manufacture conversational seques to bring the conversation back to reality.

When I first heard about "The Perfect Stranger," I thought, OK, it's "My Dinner with Andre" for Christians: "My Dinner with Jesus." And it is - but it is far more than that.

Pamela Brumley plays Nikki, a housewife and mother with a strained marriage and trouble at work. Brumley seems stiff in the early scenes, constrained by a script that - perhaps because it is based on a novel - has a few too many one-liners and sarcastic ripostes for my taste. But her performance becomes more and more compelling as the film progresses, and at the end, I found myself deeply moved. Her character progresses from hard-edged attorney to adoring child of God - an emotional range few actresses have been asked to protray, and Brumely does a superb job.

Jefferson Moore plays the Perfect Stranger. His performance is critical; if he's not 100% believable, the film falls flat on its face. Fortunately, Moore is up to the task. His character is charming, witty, loving, and wise.

But what makes this film so much more than "Andre" is the content. It contains one of the most attractive and winsome presentations of the Gospel I have ever seen. All the "Big Objections" to Christianity are woven into the dinner conversation - from "Aren't all religions basically the same," to "how can a Good God allowing suffering," to "how can Christians be so arrogant as to think that they have the only way to God?" Each question and objection is gently and clearly responded to by the Stranger. And as he does so, he is slowly opening Nikki's heart to the truth, healing years of doubt and pain.

The film, ultimately, is a apologetic for Christ in a pluralistic and secular world. Its message is as old and as true as the Gospel itself, but its presentation is refreshingly new.

I highly recommend this film to all.

For more information click here.

The Romans Road According to Jesus

If you are not familiar with the Romans Road, please see my previous blog entry.

Here's the same Gospel message, in the words of Jesus:

Mat 5:19: Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus says that God gave us the Law in the OT to show us how to be righteous. He says that unless our righteousness *exceeds* that of the Pharisees (known for their scrupulous attempts to keep the Law), we will not enter heaven. In other words, no one can keep the Law. God gave us the Law to show us how Holy He is and how much we fall short of His glory. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Law is a "tutor" that leads us to Christ - the Savior we all need.

What to do? -> Admit that you are a sinner.

Mat 25:46: Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Sinners - which Jesus defines in the context as anyone who breaks the Law - will not obtain eternal life. If we're honest with ourselves, and compare our actions to the Ten Commandments (the Law distilled), we'll see that each one of us has broken God's Law many times. Thus, our "default destination" is certainly not heaven.

What to do? -> Understand that you deserve death for your sin.

Mat 20:28: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus says that His life will be given as a "ransom" to buy us back from sin and death. The wages of sin is death - eternal separation from God. But the free gift of God is eternal life. Jesus paid the price for our sins - He took upon Himself the punishment we rightly deserved for our many sins.

What to do? -> Ask God to forgive you and save you from the punishment you deserve.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We must place our faith in Christ. This doesn't mean just believing that He existed. This doesn't mean believing that what He said was true. It means trusting that He really did take our punishment upon Himself on the cross. In exchange for our sins, Christ gives us His perfect righteousness. That's *how* our righteousness can exceed the Pharisees - because it is not our own, but His!

What to do? -> Give your life to God... His love is what saves you -- not religion, or church membership. God loves you!

John 14:6: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father and heaven. Instead of all roads lead to heaven, Jesus taught this:

Mat 7:13: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Mat 7:14: But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

What to do? -> Call out to God in the name of Jesus! His is the only name under Heaven by which you can be saved (Acts 4:12).

Rev 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus always is ready to receive you. I believe He is knocking at the door of your heart as you read these words.

What to do? -> If you know that God is knocking on your heart's door, ask Him to come into your heart.

The Romans Road

Perhaps you've heard of the "Romans Road?" It is a series of verses from the book of Romans that encapsulate the essentials of the Gospel.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We all have sin in our hearts. We all were born with sin. We were born under the power of sin's control.

What to do? -> Admit that you are a sinner.

Romans 6:23a "...The wages of sin is death..."

Sin has an ending. It results in death. We all face physical death, which is a result of sin. But a worse death is spiritual death that alienates us from God, and will last for all eternity. The Bible teaches that there is a place called the Lake of Fire where lost people will be in torment forever. It is the place where people who are spiritually dead will remain.

What to do? -> Understand that you deserve death for your sin.

Romans 6:23b "...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Salvation is a free gift from God to you! You can't earn this gift, but you must reach out and receive it.

What to do? -> Ask God to forgive you and save you from the punishment you deserve.

Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"

When Jesus died on the cross He paid sin's penalty. He paid the price for all sin, and when He took all the sins of the world on Himself on the cross, He bought us out of slavery to sin and death! The only condition is that we believe in Him and what He has done for us, understanding that we are now joined with Him, and that He is our life. He did all this because He loved us and gave Himself for us!

What to do? -> Give your life to God... His love is what saves you -- not religion, or church membership. God loves you!

Romans 10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"

What to do? -> Call out to God in the name of Jesus!

Romans 10:9,10 "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

What to do? -> If you know that God is knocking on your heart's door, ask Him to come into your heart.

Faith and Reason

I've been reading Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, by Dr. William Lane Craig. In the opening chapter, he draws a distinction between knowing that Christianity is true and showing that Christianity is true. He says that we know Christianity is true ultimately because the Holy Spirit reveals that it is so. He says, however, that we can show Christianity to be true to an unbeliever by use of reason. Using Luther's categories, Craig distinguishes between the magisterial use of reason (placing reason over what the Bible says) and the ministerial use of reason (using reason to support and explain to others why what the Bible says is true).

In my own experience, I think Craig is essentially correct. While I regard my faith to be completely reasonable, and - in fact - I find my faith strengthened by reasonable arguments and evidence, it is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit that brought me to saving faith.

How can this fact be used in apologetics? Because saving faith is a result of one's openness to the witness of the Holy Spirit, it relieves the pressure on the apologist to "make the perfect argument." Obviously, we should strive to make our arguments the best they can be, but a hard-hearted unbeliever may reject even the best argument; and the sovereign Holy Spirit can make up the lack in even the worst argument to make it effective in a soft-hearted unbeliever. The most effective weapon in the apologist's toolchest, therefore, is prayer that God will soften hearts and open minds!

I'll leave you with Craig's advice:

"What, then, should be our approach in apologetics? It should be something like this: 'My friend, I know Christianity is true because God's Spirit lives in me and assures me that it is true. And you can know it is true, too, because God is knocking at the door of your heart, telling you the same thing. If you are sincerely seeking God, then God will give you assurance that the gospel is true. Now, to try to show you it's true, I'll share with you some arguments and evidence that I really find convincing. But should my arguments seem weak and unconvincing to you, that's my fault, not God's. It only shows that I'm a poor apologist, not that the gospel is untrue. Whatever you think of my arguments, God still loves you and holds you accountable. I'll do my best to present good arguments to you. But ultimately you have to deal, not with arguments, but with God himself.'" [William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, (Revised edition, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1994), p. 48.]