religulous review

have you seen the new movie 'religulous' with bill maher? it's the #1 sacriligious comedy in america and a friend and i went a couple weekends ago. we had both enjoyed it thoroughly and had a great conversation about the film afterwards. he and i see things very differently i.e. in our approach to God, and how we choose to engage spiritual things. but one thing we both enjoy is asking good questions, stirring good conversations and then investigating the answers and sharing our own point of view. though neither of us agree with all of bill maher's conclusions, we both definitely understand bill's viewpoint that God is often used as an excuse to avoid rational thinking. it seems that people throughout history--and particularly in our day in age--have used the Name of God as a justification for their own agendas. in other words, they make choices with their own interest in mind, and then defend their poor behavior or irrationality by saying they prayed, or they heard from God etc. it's almost like they're little kids trying to keep themselves out of trouble by saying "the tooth fairy" made me do it! 

but what really interested me in our conversations and in the film, is that even when irrationality is exposed . . .authentic relationship with Christ is still magnetic. in fact in the interview below Christ's presence is so magnetic in some people that bill maher says he wishes that all those who claimed Christianity would stop the 'bells and whistles' of religious behavior and start living like Jesus did, forgiving, loving, & serving others. i heard a wise man say once "never let people ruin God for you."  bill's and my friend's inability to shake the desire within to know what is true is because there are still some people who genuinely live as Christ did, and they have a tremendous impact on us and our culture. they are not pushy, impatient, angry, selfish consumer's of God's Name, rather they are gentle, kind, graceful, and cautious with how they use the Name of Jesus.

if we're wired to search for honesty, meaning and answers to the hard questions, along the journey the challenge will be not to allow irrationality or religiosity to ruin the fun. the challenge will be to walk humbly, and speak respectfully with others. and if you want to stretch yourself to engage in the questions gently . . .watch this movie. you will be offended at times, and you may have a TON of questions when you leave. but, you will also have a great opportunity to consider how you play into the solution. because at the end of the day, this is a movie about human behavior and how our desire to be 'right' negatively defines us. we are all connected and sorely affected when ideas become more important than relationships. and if we can humbly open ourselves to the reality that God has never been about irrational religious behavior, but rather faithful, spirit-inspired service of others, then we can enter the conversation compassionately and in the process gain relationships (even with those who see differently from ourselves).