Just Stop, Again

Two films released this week have created quite a buzz in my little world, Noah and God's Not Dead. It's fascinating to watch the way folks approach these films, depending on where they come from in their worldview. I have friends who declare the greatness of one and stupidity of the other.  Others see nothing in them of any good. As they write their diatribes on Facebook all I can hear is,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhQGzeiYS_Q

Henry Cloud in his wonderful book, Changes That Heal, talks about a developmental task called the "Good - Bad Split". This is where we are able to discern the reality that people and circumstances are neither all good nor all bad, but there are elements of both.

When people begin to diatribe about things like film, their good/bad split issues come to the forefront. They cannot see the good in them or the bad. God's Not Dead is a Christian film, it must be all good! Noah is written by an Atheist, it must be all bad (and vice versa)!

Wrong! When we wade into cultural evaluation, we must see that there is both good and bad. We must fight against the natural inclination within ourselves to only see one or the other.

I read a fantastic book a number of years ago, Plowing in Hope. It points out that the creation of culture is an outworking of the image God in humanity. We, being created in God's image, can't help but create culture. Therefore, within cultural creation there will be good and there will be bad because the image of God within us is radically corrupted.

Every diatribe I read, I cringe. I cringe, because friends, Christian and non-Christian, are acting the way they don't want the other person to act.  So my friends, as you critique culture I challenge you to do this: write one paragraph about the good things you see, one paragraph about the bad things, and one paragraph about how you would improve it. If you're not doing long form, then one sentence or one tweet each. If you're not willing to do the work, in the words of Bob, "JUST STOP IT!"