A Review of Reactions to The Record Keeper and Its Demise
by Jim Hamstra
by Jim Hamstra, June 10, 2014
Heidi (showing her sons a new picture from Grandma): “Where is Grandpa?”
Titus (pointing to Yours Truly in the picture): “Grandpa is right there!”
Antonin: “Grandpa is at the beach by Haystack Rock.”
How can different people, even in the same family, see different things in the same picture and give different answers to the same question? How can different answers be correct? Many questions, even important ones, have more than one good answer. Your own response will depend on who you are, where you are, what you are looking for, and/or how you perceive the picture or question.
Previously I have reviewed the content of The Record Keeper (https://atoday.org/article/2493/reviews/movies/a-review-of-the-movie-the-record-keeper). Here I review the variety of reactions it has provoked, reactions far more divergent than Titus and Antonin. If you have not read the previous review, please read it first. If nothing else, The Record Keeper asks some very good questions. You should consider the questions for yourself before you try to understand the answers.
The early publicity for The Record Keeper was generally favorable. I first became aware of this project from an article in the NPUC1 Gleaner (https://gleanernow.com/feature/record-keeper-new-window-great-controversy). Online publicity plants included Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/nadadventist/videos-the-record-keeper/) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqATTCrzOv4). The preview received the 2013 Geekie Award for Best One Shot (Trailer) (https://www.thegeekieawards.com/the-record-keeper-2/). If the intended audience is contemporary geeks, then surely this must be on target.
The responses from the liberal and conservative wings of the greater world of Adventism were perhaps predictable (do they ever agree on anything?). Spectrum offered sympathetic coverage (https://spectrummagazine.org/article/alita-byrd/2013/09/26/jason-satterlund-and-garrett-caldwell-behind-scenes-record-keeper), whereas their conservative counterparts launched a hail of criticism. What seems ironic to me is that if anything, The Record Keeper’s approach would appear to lean toward the conservative side of the Adventist theological spectrum. Jason Satterlund and his fellow writers have taken pains to study how Ellen White describes the Great Controversy in general and angels in particular, and how to interpret these things in a very literal way. The cynic might say that Satterlund has been well-coached by his Adventist handlers, that this is a carefully scripted act. But from my own observations, correspondence and conversations, I believe that he has a personal passion for this project, for getting it right, for conveying this message to a new audience.
The criticisms from the conservative camp seem to come in two main flavors. First is a video from the opposition to theatrics and amusements from Ellen White (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEqIuxPSuZg, https://advindicate.com/articles/2014/2/7/fact-or-fiction-the-record-keeper-misguided). This video begins with prayer. The answer to this particular prayer seems to come immediately, as if someone already knows the answer. The video proceeds with a lengthy string of Ellen White quotes of guidelines that presumably are violated by The Record Keeper series. The counsel quoted here may be apposite. But how does it apply today? Presumably, these commentators would object to a junior high Sabbath School class in which every member (students and teachers) has and uses a personal electronic device. These devices can be used to study your Bible or other worthwhile subjects but they also provide a thorough range of idle amusements, from innocuous games through sports to porn.
I suppose that parents and teachers could simply confiscate all the offending electronic idols. I do not suggest this glibly. We home schooled our boys and did not have a television in our home until our oldest got his driver’s license. But we did have computers, which they learned to use before they started school. And we had Internet access long before it became a household word. When you are a high-tech consultant developing network technology for Apple, you cannot hide your computers from your children and pretend they (the computers or the children?) are evil. And, of course, their friends and cousins had televisions and video players. Unless you choose to live your entire life off the grid, your children will be exposed to “the world.”
So what happens when we want to reach out to those whom we cannot hope to control? Over one billion people now have smart phones. We cannot confiscate all of their personal electronics just so these people will consent to listen to what we want them to hear, using our preferred media and modes of communication. Perhaps we should pray that God in His mercy will take-down all the wireless data networks. Or even the entirety of the Internet, since two billion more people have access to online computers at home, work or school.
You can blame the devil if you wish, but the YouTube trailer for The Record Keeper has recorded far more viewers than has Cancel The Record Keeper.
Cancel The Record Keeper also objects to the selection of the cast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNkd60s4tak). Some of these professional actors have previously performed in roles that mainstream Adventists would not wish to advocate or emulate. For example, Lindsay Frame (Raina) has previously acted in movies with strong sexual themes, including casual sex and lesbianism (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1812717/). Similar accusations are also leveled against others of the cast, confirmed by consulting the IMDb web site.
How did the cast of The Record Keeper react to these praying Christian men wielding their righteous muck-rakes? Three of the cast dismissed them by saying that that is why they have nothing to do with churches. One actor who came from a more conservative Christian background had maintained that he was nevertheless impressed that a church would produce this series. When the project was terminated he admitted with dismay that the others had been right: stay away from churches.
ADVindicate offers further commentary along these lines (https://advindicate.com/articles/2013/9/24/general-conference-spends-nearly-one-million-on-great-controversy-themed-dramatic-series). The comments from Doug Bachelor, and especially from Scott Mayer, are interesting and deserve serious consideration. This is not a simple question. I do not know how to cast a video series in a way that is compelling and yet authentic, but this is not my chosen profession. I do consider authenticity a core value for every Christian endeavor. And I wonder if this could be one reason for my impression from watching the series, that the consequences of evil were portrayed more convincingly than the consequences of good.
On the other hand, as Mayer notes, this medium is very much about creating illusions. “Acting is emptying yourself and being something you're not, and then tricking people into believing you're something you're not, so I feel like that format is using a lie to show people the truth.” A good actor cast in an unfamiliar role will spend serious time studying not only the script but also background material about the subject matter. You have to get your head into the role if you are going to play it convincingly. Some roles prove to be transformational for their actors. Most do not.
It is good news for me that Jesus was a friend of sinners. The religious elites criticized Him for associating with drinkers and women of ill repute. His purpose in these associations was redemptive. In the Gospel narrative, the Twelve and later the Seventy who were sent out to labor for the Master were very much a work-in-progress. It is not clear to me that “everyone on that team [was] sold out to Christ.” At least one of them was a thief who eventually chose to betray the Master. Might the Master’s response to the present muck-raking and mud-slinging have included the saying, “Let him who is without sin stone the cast first”?
ADVindicate also offers another critique of The Record Keeper from someone who watched only the trailer (https://advindicate.com/articles/2014/2/7/fact-or-fiction-the-record-keeper-misguided). His objections include the use of “imaginative retelling” and also the depiction of the abode of the fallen angels. I would claim that use of the imagination is not sin. Without imagination we cannot conceive of God because God is outside of our physical realm of observation and influence. Revelation is an “imaginative retelling” of much of the Great Controversy story (or alternatively, is it the Great Controversy that is the imaginative retelling?). Much of the Old Testament poetic and prophetic writings appeals to the imagination. Ezekiel and Daniel are full of imaginative retelling. One passage in Ezekiel is so (porno)graphic that I have yet to see a literal reading in a mainstream translation: you have to study the footnotes.
In my correspondence with Jason, he pointed out to me that Ellen White describes an unearthly place where Satan and his angels are now confined (or “displaced,” in the parlance of The Record Keeper). She does not call this place “hell,” nor does The Record Keeper use the term “hell.” The term “hell” has been injected by the critics. Revelation says that Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Part of the great deception is that God eternally consigns the lost to share Satan’s existence in Hell. In other words, there is no end to evil and suffering. Adventists teach that for lost humans and fallen angels the lake of fire is not the beginning of their chosen existence without God; it is the end.
In marked contrast to the dim view from the conservative establishment stands the enthusiastic video endorsement produced by Daniel Wahlen and other students at Southern Adventist University (https://vimeo.com/84200253). Similar videos have been posted by other groups of young Adventists. Those who challenge these video endorsements have noted that they do not include people who disliked The Record Keeper. Likewise, I have noticed that the critical web sites do not include people who liked The Record Keeper. Could it be that only people who agree with me are unbiased while people who disagree with me are biased?
Confronted with a series of conflicting desires and concerns (including strong pressure from at least one well-heeled conservative donor), the General Conference first delayed (https://www.facebook.com/TheRecordKeeper/posts/569064119850286) and then terminated (https://news.adventist.org/all-news/news/go/2014-04-11/decision-to-suspend-the-record-keeper-comes-with-strong-endorsement-for-creative-outreach/) The Record Keeper project. The statement affirms a “continued desire to produce creative material.” The force of the action sounds a clear warning that future creative endeavors must be very much more circumspect to avoid being crushed by ecclesiastical authority or conservative power elites. Or you might choose to take your creativity elsewhere. A more apt headline might be “Decision to Suspend The Record Keeper Comes with Qualified Endorsement for Creative Outreach.”
The Emmanuel-Brinklow Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ashton, Maryland, served as the pilot location for The Record Keeper as part of an evangelism series that baptized 30 people (https://emmanuelbrinklow.org/recordkeeper-response/). The letter they published in response to the decision to terminate the project can be found at https://emmanuelbrinklow.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/response.pdf.
A Sabbath Blog has posted a fairly comprehensive series of articles about The Record Keeper and its demise (https://www.asabbathblog.com/2014/04/why-suspension-of-record-keeper-is.html). You can find links to several relevant articles here, including an excellent interview with Jason Satterlund (https://www.asabbathblog.com/2014/04/exclusive-record-keeper-director-talks.html). It seems fair to characterize their coverage as supportive. Rather than repeating what they have said, I would encourage you to read for yourself.
Jason Satterlund puts a brave face on the situation in his own response (https://www.bigpuddlefilms.com/blog/2014/04/17/the-5-things-i-learned-from-the-death-of-my-baby/). I can tell you from experiencing major project cancellations that you do not put your heart and soul into something and then walk away without grieving. Where Jason is in his grieving process I do not know. I do know that he can use our prayers, though he is not publicly asking. He has recently begun work on the script for a related project that will be privately funded (https://www.jasonsatterlund.com/news).
The church leaders who terminated the project also need our prayers. It is not easy to explain why you flushed three-quarters of a million dollars down the drain. All of the thinking that went into this decision cannot be known. Probably, some of the considerations are discussed in this two-part review and its references. The rest is subject to rumors and speculation. In the calculus of risks and rewards, the risks weighed more heavily. I have used the word “terminated” here, whereas the official announcement says “suspended.” There may have been or may still be discussions about possibly salvaging some of the work. In my experience, when you suspend a project and allow the talent pool to disperse, it soon becomes infeasible to resume.
The General Conference has released a list of “Theological Problems with ‘The Record Keeper’” (https://news.adventist.org/fileadmin/news.adventist.org/files/news/2013/TRK_BRI_i.pdf). This list notes 13 “theological problems” found by “those assigned in the Biblical Research Institute who watched the film.” Elsewhere it has been reported that this summary was drafted by Dr. Clinton Wahlen. I have not confirmed this but it is nevertheless interesting to contemplate the rather different responses of Clinton Wahlen and his son Daniel to the same picture and question (what to do with The Record Keeper?). One wonders whether Clinton Wahlen would have passed the critic’s pen to someone else if Daniel Wahlen had directed The Record Keeper.
The preamble seems carefully constructed to suggest the theological force of the Biblical Research Institute without actually claiming that it is the work of that group. Who or how many of “those assigned” actually “watched” is nowhere stated, nor who did the assigning. Some of their points I would agree with. Some upon scrutiny would seem to differ with what other current or former Institute members have written. Even within that august assemblage there is not unanimity on the finer points of Christology, Soteriology or Male Headship.
The Adventist Review recently published an article on the problems with using metaphors to describe God (https://www.adventistreview.org/141514-16). No human metaphor can completely describe God. This includes the parables of Jesus, as well as The Record Keeper. However, without metaphors it is very difficult to convey very much about God in non-technical language because God is so far beyond ordinary human experience. This Review article also correctly explains the problems of trying to mix metaphors. What is true for conversation or writing is also true for movies. You have to work with one metaphor at a time, keeping in mind the limitations of whichever metaphor you choose.
I here respond to those points where I think The Record Keeper or Ellen White or the Bible or, ultimately, God is misrepresented in the formal GC critique, within the context of the metaphors chosen for The Record Keeper. The rest I will leave to the professional theologians.
Regarding Satan’s influence (3)*, there are statements in some of Ellen White’s writings that suggest that Satan was not permanently banished from the “gates of heaven” until after the crucifixion. Regardless of Satan’s whereabouts, one premise of the Great Controversy motif in general, and especially of traditional Adventist interpretations of the cleansing of the sanctuary, is that the residual effects of evil in heaven are not eradicated until Satan and his adherents are eradicated.
Regarding fallen or unfallen angels manipulating events on earth (4), I refer you to Ellen White’s introduction to the time of trouble in Great Controversy. She writes there about the role of powerful angels in events on earth. She concludes by saying that what holy angels can do when God commands, evil angels can also do when God permits. Elsewhere she also states that angels have appeared in the councils of men to influence their decisions and actions.
Regarding Satan in “hell” (5)*, my correspondence with Jason Satterlund confirms that the word “hell” nowhere appears in the script. As I have previously remarked there is evidence in both the Bible and Ellen White that Satan and his angels are generally confined in some specific place. I do not recall any episode in The Record Keeper where unfallen angels visit that place.
Regarding “the pardon” (3)*, I refer you to Ellen White’s remarks about the Prodigal Son, a parable she says above all others most clearly shows God’s love for the lost. When did that father forgive his son? When the son fell upon his shoulders and confessed? When he saw the son coming a long ways off? When the son decided to arise and go to his father? Or when the son first decided to leave home? Would a wise and loving father have given the son his inheritance, knowing what would happen, unless he had already forgiven him?
This does not obviate the son’s choosing whether to accept or reject the forgiveness. The son could have chosen not to return home. The son did not know how much he was forgiven until his father said to bring the family robe. But the father knew before the son ever walked out the door. What if the son chose not to return? In the words of the late Dr. Arnold Wallenkampf, “Hell will be full of forgiven sinners.”
Regarding “witness the death of His Son” (5)* in The Record Keeper, fallen angels are not “displaced” to earth but to a specific place of confinement apart from earth. Nowhere does the script suggest that only fallen angels witnessed the death of Christ. The script does suggest that fallen angels were compelled to witness the death of Christ. Ellen White says that neither fallen nor unfallen angels fully comprehended the true nature of the Rebellion until they witnessed the death of Christ.
Regarding the demise of Lars [sic] (6)*, the answer depends on whether you view the final judgment as punitive revenge or as a natural consequence of sin. There is no existence apart from God. For any creature, to ultimately withdraw from God is to cease to exist; i.e., the ultimate suicide. Jesus says in John 3 that we judge ourselves by whether we come to the light or turn away from the light. The final judgment is where the lost (angels and humans) accept the ultimate, inevitable, unmitigated destructive consequence of their choice. Of their own volition, but under the compulsion of inescapable evidence, they acknowledge their fate. The lake of fire described in Revelation is the aggregate effect of billions of individual experiences. For each individual to acknowledge that he or she no longer exists is to take the final plunge into the lake of fire (or fireball in The Record Keeper).
I submit that The Record Keeper got this right as the experience of an individual fallen angel. Nowhere does it say when the final scene occurs. The commenter has read his (no women at the Institute) own biases into the script. The final judgment is not about revenge. It is about God’s finally and irrevocably and reluctantly (He has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked) consigning the lost to the consequences of their own choices. Heretofore these consequences have been mitigated by His mercy. Rightly understood, the final act of termination is God’s final act of mercy for these unfortunate beings. The actions of God demonstrate His character of mercy from the inception of sin clear through to its eradication.
Regarding “feminization of God” (2)*, God is often described anthropomorphically in the Old Testament. I recall no Scripture reference to a Divine penis or beard or womb. There are references to a Divine bosom, a promise that God will comfort us as a mother comforts her child and care for us as a father cares for his child. Arguably God is both our father and our mother. The Holy Spirit may have hovered over Mary to impregnate her, but she was physically a virgin when she gave birth. Of course, all of these are anthropomorphic descriptions, and this is a specious and vacuous argument. God has no gender. But I did not raise the issue; I am only responding. It is clear in Genesis that male and female together represent the image of the Godhead in humans. To assign this image exclusively or primarily to either gender is to be unfaithful to the text.
When I first held my own son in my arms and we gazed into each other’s eyes, I silently said to him, “I will always love you. I forgive you now for anything you will ever do to hurt me, regardless of whether you acknowledge or even realize that you hurt me.” My sons are grown, and I have largely consigned them to the consequences of their own actions (though I sometimes intervene in their behalf).
One of the most important contributions that Adventists can make to Christian thought is to show that the love and mercy of God extend as much to fallen angels as to unfallen, to lost humans as to saved. This is one of the least understood aspects of His character, though clearly taught and demonstrated by Jesus (if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father). The deeply-ingrained notion that God is ultimately out for revenge is demonic. The most loving and merciful thing God can do for those who have rejected Him is to let them go, but only after they have fully understood and accepted their own choice. The final jury to render a unanimous verdict will be the jury of the lost. Even they will come to see the mercy of God, though they have refused to partake of it.
I am dismayed that the Theological Problems with The Record Keeper document does not reflect the caliber of work that I have come to expect from the Biblical Research Institute. I am grieved that some of the criticism seems to reflect a lower view of the love of God than the love I have for my own children.
1North Pacific Union Conference
*Number in parentheses refers to the numbered list of issues discussed in the Biblical Research Institute report on the Record Keeper, which Adventist Today has previously published and can be seen at https://atoday.org/article/2449/news/april/the-record-keeper-why-the-film-project-was-canceled. It can also be seen on the General Conference website at the URL referred to earlier in this column.
Jim,
Thank you for a thorough review of the matter and giving us some serious things to think about.
I would like to suggest that criticism of The Record Keeper is a product of a misconception about what is true spiritual education. We have become like an instructor who gives students a list of facts to remember so they will be able to give correct answers on a test. We teach facts about God, not how to have a relationship with a divine being who loves us. Instead of that, we should be stimulating interest in spiritual principles by illustrating solutions to moral and ethical issues, then leading them into a relationship with God by displaying the benefits of knowing Him. By doing this we can grow people into disciples instead of getting lost in debating factual details.
"I do not know how to cast a video series in a way that is compelling and yet authentic, but this is not my chosen profession."
Interesting observation. I saw the trailer(s) of the Record Keeper and was appalled that my church would be complicit in such a venture. It boggles the mind to think such a depiction is any way associated with the Gospel of a meek and humble Savior. Whether I'm writing here or a film is being developed one should always bear in mind: What would He do or say?
Too often we, including me, fail to take that into consideration.
Seeker,
Thank you for taking the time to read what I wrote. If you want even more understanding of the complexities of this you might also read the many online sources I link to.
This is not a simple problem. How can we use online media to reach the increasingly secular-minded world around us?
Perhaps the answer is that we cannot. But some of us are not yet ready to write-off these people, especially when we work in that society and have many firends there.
Yet as I say in my reviews, I do not find anything else the Adventist church is doing that is very effective for this large segment of society.
Paul said he had become all things to all people in the hope of winning some of them. That includes going to places like Athens where the "yield" was not very high. Some of us have to undertake God's higher-risk missions.
Jim,
If we can take a lesson from this discussion, I hope it is that we need a wide variety of outreaches. We need to be working in so many places and ways that it becomes hard for people to not encounter spiritual principles and lessons showing them God's redeeming love. If we're not being successful on one area it probably is because our exploration of those new opportunities has been limited by our outdated, historic concepts of how we should be working for God.
Eight years ago I felt like God was inviting me to start in a new ministry. Like Moses at the burning bush, I felt that God was asking what was in my hand. Moses had his shepherd's rod. I had a small tool box filled with cheap tools. He told me that He could bless it and he started me into a helping ministry where we do whatever a person needs help with, be it yard work, structural or other repairs on their homes, or moving. The impact on individuals and families has been nothing short of amazing. I am so addicted to the ministry that if we don't have a project for a few weeks I start going into withdrawal! God has grown that little tool box into a variety of tools that fill shelves in my garage and won't fit in the three tool boxes on the long-bed, supercab F-150 pickup with three tool boxes that God provided. A couple months ago a family in our church moved to another state. They were active volunteers in the ministry and have become aware of a need in the church they attend nearly three hours drive away in another state. Just this week the wife contacted me to ask if we could come and help that family in their church with a situation at their home.
I am utterly amazed by how God has grown that little tool box into a ministry, by how many lives have been touched by God's love through it and how many people have either come to know God or had their weak faith strengthened through it. So I am confident God will show the right creative people how to use the Internet for new and effective ministry.
Seeker,
If you are appalled by The Record Keeper, apparently you are ignoring the gross failure of the church to spread the gospel in the industrialized world. The word you used, appalling, is a an accurate description of the results the church is delivering for God. Yet you are critical of others who are trying a different approach to communicate gospel themes to people who aren't listening to our old presentations? If you want us to think you have a better approach, show us the results your ministry is delivering. Otherwise, please don't criticize those who are actually trying to spread the Gospel to the people who aren't paying attention to our messages.
"The fearful state of the youth of this age constitutes one of the strongest signs that we are living in the last days, but the ruin of many may be traced directly to the wrong management of the parents. The spirit of murmuring against reproof has been taking root and is bearing its fruit of insubordination. While the parents are not pleased with the characters their children are developing, they fail to see the errors that make them what they are. . . . " {CG 176.3}
Looks like we have a parental problem if we accept the words of EGW.
Maranatha
Are you as practiced at bringing people into the Kingdom of God as you are at throwing EGW quotes to condemn others? I've seen far more people driven out of the church by quote-throwers than unrepentant sinners. Matthew 3:10.
Matt 7:1-3 "Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
Maranatha
I fail to understnad how a quote from Child Guidance, a compilation of excerpts from Ellen writings published after her demise, relates to The Record Keeper. This compilation was published to advise Adventist parents regarding the rearing of their children. The target audience of The Record Keeper is secular adults, not raised in Christian homes. Presumably thier parents never read Child Guidance nor any other Adventist publication. Are we simply to turn our backs on this unfortunate generation because they were not raised by Godly parents?
Seeker, i am appalled at your total concept of policing the current SDA membership, to "seek out" those who should be censured, or executed. Many members are tripping over each other in the rush out the back door, to escape you, their "Judge and Executioner". Brother, wake up, your piety is a burning fire, burning the edges of the Church. It will scorch you. Wash the sand out of your eyes.You are blind. Your style of "thus saith the Lord" drives souls out of the Church, and those "outside" will never enter. The world todays different than your 19th Century preaching, when one could be "frightened" into God's loving arms of protection. The Information Age is here. To reach souls, you "must" follow the Masters leading, "go where the masses are". You would have problems with that. "Go ye into the highways and the byways and invite them in". To reach souls today, you must understand their language, know where they are at. What are the "HOT BUTTONS" that must be pushed to get their attention. Honestly do you think you can bring "even one" to Jesus, with your dialogue?? Are you trying to shake out the tares from the Church until there are only 144,000 pure souls of the "REMNANT CHURCH" left, including yourself. O' Brother, open your eyes and see what a blessing you could be to HUMANITY, and lead souls to hear the wisdom of the HOLY SPIRIT.
Jim,
I was uncomfortable with what the trailer shows, and frankly am less than enthused about personifying what is by no means human. At best it is inevitably tawdry and at worst a distraction.
I sense that what may have happened was the General Conference communication director got the president’s ear at just the right time when the Great Controversy project was all the rage, and the rest is history.
What started out as an all-hands push for the Great Controversy project ended up with a visual experience that was shocking to those previously pushing for the Great Controversy to be distributed widely. It is one thing to push a book, and quite another to see the themes of that book played out in vivid human-on-human (make that angel-on-angel) violence, both physical or mental.
The Great Controversy is in so many ways a violent story. ‘War in Heaven’ cannot possibly be glossed over as some mere argument. What just could any of us really expect if this story is converted to video?
In the future, it will be best that Seventh-day Adventist artists and video story tellers privately fund their work. There are multiplied millions of dollars in independent ‘ministries’ within the church.
This said, how can War in Heaven in any way bring people to appreciate the Gospel of Jesus? That is a bridge too far, is my sense.
Since when does the Gospel of Jesus need to get people’s attention? We all die. The Gospel of Jesus is the declaration that we will not perish but by God’s love we will live eternally. If that isn’t a universal point of interest, that needs no Record Keeper introduction, I am missing something pretty fundamental.
If Jesus declares that the single distinguishing mark of Christians is that we love one another, what in the world does War in Heaven have to do with this?
It doesn’t take a bible to realize that we are all destined to die.
And it just takes a Christian to testify: ‘I believe you will live forever, because Jesus Christ is God’s guarantee of His eternal love for you. And me.’
Let’s get down to business, and forego the stories.
Ellen White herself noted that the most compelling attraction for the Gospel of Jesus is a loving and lovable Christian.
On so many fronts The Record Keeper fails, staring with being distracting when it comes to the Gospel of Jesus.
In short, this project’s funding was by people who wanted to use church funds to make a dramatic, high-impact video about … the book they believe uses the bible to identify the Seventh-day Adventist church that they feel needs dramatic attention to distinguish itself from all other churches.
If so, I am reminded that the disciples came to Jesus reporting that they had demanded that a person driving out demons in Jesus’ name stop because he ‘was not one of us.’ Jesus’ reply was both personal and rational. ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said. ‘For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.’ (Mark 9:38 ff)
The Gospel of Jesus is not contained by any church, and in reality is not contained by the whole world. The Gospel of Jesus is not even contained by the heart of God.
That is shocking enough it seems to me, and in all the right ways.
PS: Clearly the creators of The Record Keeper surely are not against the Seventh-day Adventist church, so in the spirit of Jesus, they deserve to be allowed to finish their project as the church had already approved.
That said, I see irony in the church beginning with a million dollar push to bring dramatic attention to itself, ending up by killing the finished project and looking impossibly small in the end.
It is time for the church to put down the mirror. Instead, how about the church spend not a penny, and advocate that every congregation begin every worship service for a full year singing just the chorus to the song, Turn of Eyes Upon Jesus … look full in His wonderful face, and the things of Earth will grow strangely dimm, in the light of His glory and grace. … Just the chorus. Just 39 seconds sung slowly. A capella.
And then repeat the the testimoney of the First Angel, 'I beleive you will live forever, because Jesus Christ is God's guarantee of His eternal love for you. And me.'
Maybe 59 seconds at the beginning of every worship service in every Seventh-day Adventist church around the world. 20 million people every Sabbath declaring, 'I beleive you will live forever, because Jesus Christ is God's guarantee of His eternal love for you. And me.'
That is all one has to say to any own who asks … the invit to church next Sabbath would be equally casual … 'Like to learn more … Saturday at 11:20 at my church might interest you.'
And hearing that testimony at the beginning of the service kinda sets the tone … and would inspire some pretty helpful sermon prep is my guess.
Bill,
You wrote: "In short, this project’s funding was by people who wanted to use church funds to make a dramatic, high-impact video about … the book they believe uses the bible to identify the Seventh-day Adventist church that they feel needs dramatic attention to distinguish itself from all other churches."
That may be the real root of the problem. There simply are too many views at variance with each other to satisfy the various groups within the church at any level. Perhaps because it has been around for a century we've become too familiar with The Great Controversy for there to be any possibility of any film based on it to be generally accepted. This is not the first time I have seen an effort to produce a film based on the book end in failure. Over the years I have seen at least three fully-developed movie scripts based on it that went nowhere. So I wonder, When we will recognize that it may be impossible to make such a film as long as church leaders are decision-makers? When will we abandon the illusion of making films based on it unless they are independently funded? When will we retire the book in favor of newer products that are more appealing to a modern audience?
No good movie is ever like the book if the book came first. We cannot make good movies based on books unless we accept that the movie will not be like the book.
Now we can also turn this on its head and say that no good book is ever like the movie if the movie came first. So what is a prophet to do when they see visions that are more like movies than like books? That is one reason why the apocalyptic portions of the Bible can seem so bizarre to the reader. And what about Genesis? (Oops – wrong thread but I couldn't resist 8-).
Jim,
You understand far better than many the difference great between what is described and what is seen!
Bill,
You make many excellent points which are certainly food for thought. You may very well be right about the motivations for originally backing this experiment – and th shock at the reality it portrays.
One of the ironies of The Record Keeper is that the trailer which was meant to get attention (and certainly succeeded) is more violent than most of the episodes of the series. The very scenes that capture the secular mind repel the Adventist mind.
Actually most of the series is dialog among angels about events on earth or in heaven. And one of the reactions of younger viewers was "too much dialog and not enough action".
At least 1/3 of the series is devoted to events surrounding the crucifixion. The series very much lifts up Jesus (the Prince) from the perspective of both fallen and unfallen angels. Even some of the fallen angels are shocked and dismayed by the death of the Prince, whom they claim to still adore. This is the very juncture in the series where the message that the rebellion is not really about freedom, but rather doing away with God, comes through clearly.
But you would never know that from the trailer.
the message that the rebellion is not really about freedom, but rather doing away with God, comes through clearly
Could the same be said about some of the commentary from the Adventist Yesterday contingent on this web site?
Jim,
"The very scenes that capture the secular mind repel the Adventist mind."
Are we not all secular … for God so loved the world … and just don't let ourselves believe this truth?
To believe that the spiritual person is not the secular person, or worse is no longer the secular person, is to believe we in some elemental and distinguishing way no longer personally depend on the Gospel ourselves, that by being spiritual we have freed ourselves from Gospel dependency.
We are all on the road to Jericho. The question is whether we are spiritual or human, whether we will embrace our differences, when there are none, or will be compelled to reject every spiritual, cultural, racial, economic, and national difference that is so dramatically obvious, and be the Smaritan, be everyman, because we cannot escape realizing that it is us beaten and bleeding and dying beside the road, and realize that we have been lifted by the Gospel of Jesus rather than left to perish.
Just thinking out loud here …
~~alphameg
His remarks are inconsistent with the mission of the SDA church and should be expunged by the leaders of AToday. Having disagreement is OK; being downright disagreeable is not OK.
Maranatha
Perhaps he's hitting too close? The editors are the only ones who decide who must be expunged. Careful, it could be you!