| Review of the Christian movie "Joshua", based on the novels by Joseph Girzone |
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| Movies |
| Written by Michael Nissim |
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[This article is a review of the movie "Joshua", based on the novels by Joseph Girzone.] A friend of mine invited me to his home to watch a movie called “Joshua”. At first, the movie gave the impression of an innocent, maybe even naive story of a man who visits a small town and affects the town life by giving an example of how to love people and live by faith. The hero, Joshua, is presented as a modern re-appearance of Jesus. I saw many positive reviews of this movie by evangelicals, but I cannot recommend watching it at all. I'll explain why and I'll try to go from the relatively lighter points to the heavier ones. Since Joshua is supposed to be a Christian movie, I'll start with its attitude to the Bible: The Bible is not promoted or upheld in any way in the movie. The hero, Joshua, never quotes the Bible, is never found to be reading it or to encourage people to read it. The only one in the movie who seems to represent the Bible is the rigid and unloving Catholic priest, subtly linking the Bible with legalism and rigidity. The only two references I remember Joshua making to the Bible are by calling it “a love letter” and by saying “Never thought the law of God was something to be afraid of.” I'm afraid this doesn't give the Bible its proper place. (Compare with Ps 119:120 “My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments. ”. See also Philippians 2:12.) The movie also gives a twisted idea of what faith is. Example: Joshua's sleeping quarters are a hay barn. Nothing wrong with simple living, I even support it. But although Joshua is a skilled builder (he builds a church) he never cares to fix his broken roof. Why? - because he “has faith” that it will never rain inside. So even when the storm comes and it's pouring down with rain outside, his shack is completely dry. Another example is his illuminating the barn by lighting candles all over the hay stacks, never fearing fire might break out, again because “he has faith”. That is not faith. That is called testing God. It's promoting negligent behaviour. Joshua also teaches people to “have faith” to win a pool game or get good rock n' roll out of your electric guitar. I don't support that idea of “faith” either. The following point is one there's no need to elaborate on: Joshua's behaviour with women in the movie is very disturbing. He “lovingly touches” a widow in the privacy of her home and later acts surprised when she falls in love with him. He also spends time with a married woman in her home “to teach her to cook”, in the absence of her husband. He lovingly kisses and hugs her in the process. This is outright unholy conduct that leads to adultery but is all presented as Joshua's being a “loving” character. If Joshua is supposed to be representing Jesus in the movie then it's far from the Lord Jesus I know; the Lord never behaved that way with women. Apart from the above mentioned points, there's one more major point that can escape an undiscerning mind: The movie Joshua is highly ecumenical and condones Catholic practices. This doesn't surprise me at all, because I have since learnt that the movie is based on novels by “Father” Joseph Girzone, a retired Catholic priest. In the movie, Joshua not only visits the Catholic church – he builds a statue for them! But the Bible says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”. So there we go: out with the statutes, in with the statues. In keeping with the ecumenical line of thinking, the people in town learn to “work together to become a community”, but all crucial doctrines and practices are left out of the movie: There are no baptisms, no repentances, no people getting saved or born again, not a whisper of the gospel, like believing in Christ who died for us on the cross, etc. Nothing. Just the happy clappy “let's love everyone”, “we're all Christians”. People can't be saved by joining a local a church or by “becoming a community”, but that's what the ecumenical movement will have you believe. My advice: be on guard when watching so-called Christian movies; they might be yet another one of the devil's cunning attempts to soften God's word and His truths in believers' hearts, minds and attitudes. The Joshua movie does just that. |