Saved!

I took a long lunch today with several other Garnett staffers and watched “Saved!” I found it to be a hilarious, embarrassing, and moving critique of the American Evangelical Christian subculture. It was hilarious in that the Christian stereotypes are over the top, but also spot on. It was embarrassing in that I recognized myself in some of those stereotypes. I was once a judgmental Church of Christ teen who condemned all my Baptist friends to hell (Forgive me Father, I didn’t know what I was doing.). It was moving in that there were some truly tender moments in which the Christians–who were trying so hard to act as if everything in their lives was perfect–broke down and let their humanity show. It’s amazing how much better Christians come across when they act like humans. Equally powerful were the scenes in which a non-Christian acts more Christian than all the Christians around her.

If I think hard enough I could write another paragraph detailing all the things that bothered me about the movie and its message. In doing so, I would demonstrate that I had missed the point. Instead of critiquing this movie, I’m going to let it critique me.

And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “Saved!” may just be the 2nd greatest evangelistic opportunity in the last 2000 years.