The Dialogue Deception

I don’t really consider myself a deeply philosophical person. I cannot look deep within movies and books and find themes. Nor do I really want to.

But I can spot a big fat lie when I see one. And it is about time someone exposes this one–The Dialogue Deception.

We have heard this typical excuse for the lack of discernment for years now. But with the current fascination Hollywood has with biblical tales, it has become even more prevalent.

“I know it misrepresents scripture, but it starts a dialogue.”

Come again?

It starts a dialogue?

SO you mean to tell me that we cannot talk about the marvelous gift of salvation without a movie? We can’t start a conversation about the eternal stuff of life without some help from Hollywood? Do we realize how pathetic that sounds?

It’s not that we can’t, we just don’t want to.

You see, many years ago, right around the time I was in college, we were sold another big lie–we need to be relevant to reach the world. Now, nowhere in scripture can this be found (those who want to use I Corinthians 9:20 as a defense for this philosophy clearly do not understand context), and yet, the church as a whole, desiring for an excuse to continue in their worldly ways, jumped on this bandwagon in full force.

Fast forward thirty years. We are in a culture that literally hates true, biblical Christianity and anyone that follows it-– for Christianity actually has the audacity to follow a Book that includes absolutes and moral standards and teaches that there is a literal hell and only one way to heaven. These are in direct opposition to the post-modern philosophies so prevalent today.

And so, with our minds firmly sold on the relevance lie, we recognize the possibility of looking very uncool if we clearly state we believe in God’s Word. And cool is everything. Look– I am right there with you. It is so much easier for me to casually mention a movie about God than to ask the question “If you die tonight, do you know, without a shadow of a doubt, where you would go?”

And so we skirt around the issues and casually try to work our way to the plan of salvation. The funny thing is that we see none of this skirting the issues in Paul’s epistles, or even the life of Jesus. They were straight forward and to the point. Loving, yes. But never vague. And certainly never needing a helping hand from a worldly practice (unless publicly denouncing it) to start a dialogue.

In all of the days of my almost fifty years, I have never seen the world so lost. The consequences for leaving biblical standards are tremendously painful. In just my little world alone, I know of many who have walked into the gay lifestyle, a few suicide attempts, and countless struggling marriages–and that is just the very small percentage of situations that have made their way to my ears. People and even entire families lie broken in the ash heaps of these sinful choices. This world is hurting!

Do we really need a movie to talk about the hope that is within us?

I don’t think so. In fact, I think that this lie of dialogue is hurting Christians far more than it is helping unbelievers. With each step away from a commitment to biblical doctrine and the inerrancy of scripture, we find ourselves with harder hearts and a growing lack of discernment.

Satan is no fool. He knew this would be a very effective way into the church and he was right.

It is time for thinking Christians to stand and fight. Let’s have the courage to stand for the Truth. And let’s bravely start the conversations that offer hope. Yes, that means we may be ridiculed. But we are talking about eternity here.

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