Towards Better Things

I've often thought that I might make a good film critic.  I'm a big fan of movies, but I have a critical nature that tends to unpack and analyze things.  I know some people can't stand critics.  They'd rather not think too hard about their entertainment, and to them a critic is like that English teacher in your life that can't help but bring your grammatical errors to your attention.  I have, as you might expect, a different view.

I believe that film critics have the potential to raise the standards of movie making.  They can, though they seldom do, hold Hollywood accountable for its excesses and irresponsibility.  They make very clear what's wrong with the movies we watch, but they also call our attention to the true gems.  It gets difficult, after all, to distinguish what is good, unless you are willing to identify what is bad.  If you praise everything, then what do you say when you encounter something genuinely praiseworthy? 

I think the common Christian view of the modern church is a bit like film reviews in a high school newspaper.  Everything gets five stars, even when it stinks.  Sometimes I get the impression that we believe that if we think highly of everything, it will actually be good.  Consequently, we rarely reconsider the directions the church has taken. 

When someone like me comes along, who is inclined to look at the church through a critical lens, people either find it refreshingly honest, or irritatingly pessimistic.  But any critique of the church has to be like a movie review, the intent behind finding what is wrong is the opportunity to recognize the really great things when they come along.

More specifically, a critique is not really helpful unless it suggests a new direction.  That is my intent, to seek out and implement solid Biblical directions that promise to fix what ails us.  Of course, if Christians reject the critique, they also reject the possible solutions.  We assume then, that we don't need to do anything or go anywhere new because what we were doing and where we were going are already just fine.  Or, sometimes, we recognize things are probably not what they should be, but we are resolved to the deficiency, believing the way things are is a dynamic we cannot overcome.

While many, maybe most, people find criticism inherently negative, it occurs to me that criticism exists because of the belief that something better is possible.