(Credit: Warner Brothers)
Summer has come to a close, the kids are back to school, and PubTheo is back for our seventh year of good discussion and good company!
One of the things about September is that we look at it as marking the end of summer. For those movie fans out there, that also means the end of summer blockbuster season. And as long as there have been summer blockbusters, scary movies have right in the mix.
Probably the definitive summer horror blockbuster was “Jaws,” all the way back in 1975, which convinced a whole generation of moviegoers to get out of the water, even if that water was in your backyard pool or the Great Lakes. With the end-of-summer horror sequel “It Chapter 2” now out in theaters, I think this raises some interesting questions for us to think and talk about as we launch into a new season of Pub Theology conversations.
First, do horror films have a redeeming value? Why do we pay good money to have someone scare us, whether we’re sitting in a darkened theater, or scuttling through the hallways and rooms of a haunted house, or wending our way through some “haunted” corn maze? In short, why do we find fear fun?
Second, because this is Pub Theology, we’re throwing faith in the mix too. Admonitions to “fear not,” or “be not afraid,” show up all across scripture, in the Psalms and in both New and Old Testaments. Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid when they see him walking on water in the midst of a storm and think him a ghost. Moses tells the Israelites to not be afraid for their deliverance is at hand. So how does your faith perspective help, or perhaps get in the way, with how you deal with fear?
Finally, it’s been suggested that while fear is a great motivator to action, Christians in particular seem especially susceptible to having their politics driven by fear, to more often vote out of fear rather than out of compassion or for a positive vision. Do you think that’s true? And what do you make of the practice that some churches have made of using fear as a tool of evangelism?
Join us once again for the conversation beginning tomorrow evening, Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. at Lockhart’s BBQ in downtown Lake Orion.