Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Presenting the gospel like remade movie trailers

Presenting the gospel like remade movie trailers

Last updated on: April 11, 2023 at 10:58 pm by Brad Vaughn

0 Comments

Presenting the gospel like remade movie trailers 2023-04-11T22:58:28-07:00 Brad Vaughn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If you’ve read much of my work, then you’ve come across this idea: We compromise the gospel when we settle for truth.

The basic idea is simple enough. We tend to be content with true ideas or doctrines, and that leads us to overlook, minimize, or even deny other aspects of biblical truth. Generations of missionaries have presented the Bible’s message accurately and passionately. Yet, for many who heard them, that message lacked meaning. It made no sense. While they heard the truth, something in the presentation obscured its value.

Right Movie, Wrong Genre

The following videos beautifully illustrate what happens when we don’t properly contextualize the gospel. These videos are remade movie trailers that present the movies as though they were from different genres. For instance, one depicts “The Silence of the Lambs” as though it were a romantic comedy. The other portrays Elf as if it were a horror flick.

Each of these remade trailers contains genuine clips from the movie. However, they are arranged in ways that misrepresent the broader gospel story. I think this can and has happened when people misuse tools like C2C.

When we are not mindful of how to do contextualization, we might easily present a collection of true statements yet in ways that are not biblically faithful or culturally meaningful.

To see what Vanilla Ice teaches us about contextualization, click here.

A Few Examples

What are some examples of poor contextualization that resemble these clips? I’ve shared several examples in the past. I’ll review just a couple to illustrate the basic point.

So often, we share bits and pieces of true doctrine but organize them in ways that only make sense to people already familiar with the Bible. For instance, I’ve written about the strangeness of the Adam-and-Eve story for people unfamiliar with the Bible. They wonder why they must go to hεll because some ancient couple ate some kind of forbidden fruit.

Likewise, we might emphasize one aspect of “law” (the concept has many cultural expressions) at the expense of a more robust and biblical conception of law. As a result, we do not distinguish a king from a judge. God is a king, not merely a judge. A king is a judge, but a judge is not necessarily a king. I too often see people reduce the “law” to a general set of rules, according to which God judges people “guilty” or “innocent.” God is reduced from a king to a mere administrator of juridical law.

In other words, God’s law becomes merely legal, not regal.

For those interested, I’ve also shown how we can misunderstand the meaning of God’s righteousness as something primarily punitive rather than saving. Furthermore, some present atonement in such a way that people can mistakenly regard Christ’s death as a type of “honor killing.”

These misrepresentations contain much truth but result when those truths are presented in less-than-biblical ways.

Contextualization

Previous Post

April 4, 2023

Was Jesus Forsaken By God? It Depends

Next Post

April 18, 2023 When Uzziah Traded Honor for Fame

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"A thoughtful and thought-provoking article that raises important questions about the challenges facing the Western ..."

amelia854taylor

The War on the Western Church

"to fit social or religious expectations. Especially women, who were expected to sacrifice everything to ..."

shay049ana

3 reasons you should not be ..."

"Powerful reminder short, sturdy truths can lose their weight if treated as slogans. The solas ..."

daniel603maclise

How Western Individualism Quietly Undermines the ..."

"If 'America’s deepest crisis is not merely political. It is moral and spiritual.' is in ..."

klatu

The Real Crisis Beneath America’s Social ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, 'My kingdom is not of this world'?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jesus Peter John Paul

Books by This Author Books by Brad Vaughn

See All Titles »