Evan Almighty stars God. Okay, not really God — but a very winsome expression of God as portrayed by Morgan Freeman. When He has to redirect one of His errant prophets — newly-elected congressman Evan Baxter — He doesn't chuck him into the belly of a great fish (VeggieTales already did that one). Instead, God becomes a jocular Hound of Heaven, chasing after Evan until he sees the wisdom of accepting God's call to build that big boat. It's funny, and, as many Christians can testify, frighteningly accurate. But that is not the only reason you will want to go to Evan Almighty, and bring friends along.
Christians should welcome just about any mainstream film that represents God or that takes the supernatural seriously — even portrayals of the demonic. (Theologian Rudolf Otto contended in The Idea of the Holy that dread of the demonic is often most people's first experience of the supernatural.) I am not saying that all Christians should see such films, but we should be encouraged when they show up at the cineplex, because they offer Christians a unique opportunity to discuss theological issues with those who do. Hollywood will get part, or all, of the theology wrong — count on it. Some people whine, or scream, when they think that God is being portrayed in any way that undermines orthodoxy. But in this spiritually-sterile world of hyper-scientific materialism that we inhabit, we should be excited about every chance we can get to engage people about spiritual things.
Evan Almighty delivers. Whether they know it or not, audience members will be watching a movie that will challenge them to consider: how they should respond to the calling of God, how God answers prayer, the need to count the cost before following God, what to expect when you sell out to God, and how God delivers. Embedded in the film is also what some might see as a left-wing environmentalist message (though it seemed like more of a general call to stewardship.). And yes, there are some theological problems. But rather than dwell on those as a deal-breaker, I'll explore a more profitable approach.
Challenges
Calling: What do you do when God calls? When odd deliveries of lumber begin arriving at Evan's house, he doesn't know what to make of it. Then, God arrives and tells him: an ark. Evan's first reaction is disbelief, but he finds it an untenable position when God begins to, quite literally, turn up everywhere. Evan panics, then engages in avoidance, but eventually he submits to God, and takes hold of his calling.
Not everybody gets it right the first time when God calls. Samuel mistook God's voice for that of the high priest, Eli. It wasn't until the fourth calling that Samuel recognized the voice of the Lord. God spoke to Abraham, telling him that his wife, Sarah, would conceive and bear him a child in his old age. Sarah's response? She laughed in disbelief. Jonah got called to Nineveh and ran away. God called Gideon and he made excuses, and then tested God, not once, but twice! The Apostle Thomas, of course, was a famous doubter.
People often say, "Why doesn't God just reveal Himself to me? — then I would follow Him." Yet here is Scripture demonstrating that many people, after having direct contact with God, act more like Evan. Fortunately, God is patient, "not wishing for any to perish" (2 Peter 3:9). He gives us ample evidence of His existence and power. Billions of people have testified to the transforming mercy of Christ. He lovingly confronts us at every turn, much like we see happening to Evan. And fortunately, Evan, like many of us whom God has pursued, finally comes around. It's not so odd, really.
Prayer: The Baxter family is not, after all, completely godless. Right after they move into their new home, Joan Baxter prays with her children. The prayers are simple: for a dog, for good weather on an upcoming family hike, for greater familial closeness. It is tempting to dismiss them as the safe, banal prayers that a Hollywood script writer would fabricate — if they weren't so familiar. God tells His children to cast their anxieties upon Him, "because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).
But there are no magical answers — although that dog does seem to come from nowhere. Instead, at the height of doubt and despair, Joan wonders why her family is falling apart over the ark business after she specifically prayed for her family to become closer. As she sits at a restaurant pondering her fate, she gets some answers from a very familiar "server" who asks her, "If someone prayed for their family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings, or does He give them opportunities to love each other?"
It is difficult to find many examples of earnest prayer in recent Hollywood films, much less a pretty plausible explanation of some ways in which God might answer us when we pray. How many of us have prayed for a chance to glorify God, only to have a needy person dropped in our laps? Or prayed for patience and found trials? Because Evan Almighty is a feel-good Hollywood film, you know that everything is going to work out (something that few of us see in our non-cinematic lives), but the mere existence of these scenes opens a door to ask people what they think about prayer, and how to interact with God.
Obedience is Costly: Evan Almighty is heavy on the pratfalls, and that particular brand of gross-out humor popular with pre-teens. Much of the comedy revolves around Evan's physical transformation. As one news reporter comments, Evan is known in the neighborhood as "The weirdo with a beard-o." But these laugh lines eventually give way to some significant explorations of what it costs to follow God.
Evan tries his best to keep meeting his agenda while God is pushing one of His own. But, eventually, the ark-building project, and the uncharacteristic hair, beard, and robe get the best of Evan's wife, Joan. She thinks her husband has lost his mind, is going through a mid-life crisis, or struggling with depression. It is both painful and oddly relieving when Evan finally tells her that he has been called by God to build the ark. Joan cannot deal with what she does not believe, and so she takes off with the kids. Evan, to his credit, does not try to shrug things off by saying, "Just kidding." He takes a deep breath, sighs, and holds fast.
In his neighborhood, at the capital, and in the media, Evan is an object of ridicule. People laugh and mock his pronouncements about the coming flood, despite the miraculous cooperation of the menagerie of animals that has arrived at the building site. Alone, Evan forges ahead. Only when Evan is fully committed, does God bring back his family to help. And by then he has already weathered significant storms.
Jesus commanded His followers to count the cost before choosing to become a disciple. The Lord predicted that people would mock His followers — and worse. The Apostle Paul described himself as a fool for Christ (1 Corinthians 4:10), and the writer of Hebrews graphically lists all manner of difficulties that first-century Christians faced as a result of their faith (Hebrews 11:36-38). It isn't always easy to follow God. A movie like Evan Almighty gives us a chance to use pop culture to ask, "If God really called you to do something like this, and people laughed at you when you did, how do you think you would respond?" The answer would tell you a lot about that person's perception of God, and it would give you a chance to share yours.
God Delivers: Because it is a family-friendly comedy, in Evan Almighty God delivers — in a number of ways. Throughout the film, He delivers Evan's family from their mutually-alienated existence. He provides a kind of salvation for Evan's neighbors. In a way, God also saves us from ourselves, as at least part of the reason behind Evan's work is to derail a bill that would allow developers access to national parkland. (As someone who lives a stone's throw from a national park, I was certainly rooting for God.)
Some critics might oddly complain that the screenwriter inserts a deus ex machina — an improbable turn of events, or the use of a god in order to resolve plot difficulties — but in the Almighty films, that is exactly the point. It is only a problem to insert God into the affairs of humans if you already possess a bias against the idea that God, in fact, does interact with humans. The prescribed length of this column does not allow for a full development of this idea, but you can find it neatly presented in C.S. Lewis' wonderful book, Miracles.
Not everything yields itself to science. Some experiences in life are intuitive, or anecdotal, or flat-out mysterious. That does not make such experiences unscientific; it just makes them non-scientific. And beyond the little miracles that many have experienced, God has in store grand miracles as well: the redemption of the world through the death and resurrection of God's Son and eternal life in heaven with Christ for all who confess and believe on Him. God is in the delivery business.
Problems or Truth Claims?
There are theological issues in Evan Almighty; Christians would be surprised if there were not. Two are particularly glaring, even if their appearance in the film is very short. At one point we see Evan reading Ark Building for Dummies, and the dedication is written to all "six billion of God's children." It is comfortable for people to believe that everyone is a child of God. But it is not true. Jesus calls some people children of the devil (John 8:44), and the Apostle John explains that only those who believe in Jesus are given the power to become children of God (John 1:12). Nevertheless, when the Apostle Paul stood on Mars Hill to address the pagan men of Athens, he used the idea of the universal fatherhood of God — quoting their own philosophers — to argue that as His children none of us should believe that God is something that can be made with human hands. Who wants to believe that their father is a rock?
Paul's argument further illuminates the second error in the movie: that God is in all things. This is panentheism at best, and pantheism at worst. Panentheism argues that God both transcends creation and is present in it. Pantheism makes God and the material universe one. Both are misrepresentations of the Creator God who is distinct from His creation, but who sustains it by His power.
There — did you noticed what happened? Evan Almighty made errant truth claims about God. These problems were explained and then answered. Instead of complaining about the existence of false claims about God — in a fallen world we cannot hope to escape them — we can use their existence as an invitation to exploration and correction. That is precisely what films that depict spiritual content provide to a discerning Christian: an opportunity to engage.
An Invitation
This evening, I challenged my 17-year-old son (and film student) to name ten films from the last five years that portrayed a positive expression of prayer. He struggled to come up with six. Then I asked him to name ten films this year in which the topic or expression of prayer was entirely absent. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Why, just about every film is like that." Evan Almighty is a rare cinematic invitation to spiritual discussions — you just have to step up and participate.
There is no explicit discussion of the redemptive power of Jesus. But the film does provide a catalyst for conversations about calling, prayer, the cost of obedience, God's deliverance, His role as Creator (and our role as stewards of creation), and it even lets you do some heresy hunting. We should not, we cannot, expect Hollywood to do our heavy lifting, but this weekend millions of people are going to the cinema to watch a film about God.
We can choose to complain about all of the ways Evan Almighty is not right, or we can use this opportunity as a means to explore our neighbors' conceptions about God, and share our own — the one based on the Scriptures. Not everyone will come to church to hear about Jesus, but just about all of them will gladly discuss a recent film. Every torn ticket stub for Evan Almighty represents a chance to talk about the Lord Almighty. Let's take it, and introduce people to the Savior.
