Forget for a minute that you exist. Forget about your life, what it
is and what you expected it would be. Forget about your likes and
dislikes, your preferences and annoyances, your motivations and
discouragements. Forget that you have a mother and a father, brothers
and sisters, aunts and uncles, co-workers and colleagues. Forget that
you have a place in this world, whether good or bad, happy or sad.
Forget, if you can, that you exist at all. In fact, forget that you ever existed. Imagine a world that doesn’t include you. A world remarkably similar to the one that you do live in, but one that hasn’t bothered to include you in its plans; the world that you know, minus one thing: you.
Just such a world is the gift that is given to a particular sinner one Christmas Eve. Despairing of life and the struggles associated with living it, this individual decides he is better off dead. Just hours earlier, he was informed of a cold, hard financial truth: he is actually worth more dead than alive. In desperation, he throws up a half-hearted prayer to God for direction. When he receives a bloody lip instead, he takes this as God’s answer to his prayer and becomes more resolved than ever to carry out his own execution. Unbeknownst to him, however, God’s answer—to his and every other prayer that was being prayed for him that night—was a bit more creative.
Similar to A Christmas Carol, which we discussed briefly last week, It’s a Wonderful Life is a redemptive story about the powerful effect of one man’s life. Unlike A Christmas Carol though, It’s a Wonderful Life gives its protagonist a glimpse of what the present world would be like without him. While Ebenezer Scrooge is given a foretaste of the future and the wretched end that awaits him if he doesn’t alter his present course, George Bailey is permitted to see how dramatically different the present world would be if he had never been born.
It never fails to surprise me every year just how dark of a film It’s a Wonderful Life (IWL) really is. Similar to Dickens’ vivid descriptions of Scrooge’s foul demeanor, the viewers of IWL are taken on a hard, bumpy ride as they follow George Bailey’s path from being a young bright-eyed soon-to-be world-traveler to a “warped, frustrated young man.” Director Frank Capra lets the story unfold naturally, allowing the viewer to experience firsthand the steady weakening of George’s optimism, as events and circumstances slowly grind his life dreams into dust. (See A.O. Scott’s short video review for a quick reminder of the bitter reality portrayed in the film.) As with A Christmas Carol, the dénouement of IWL centers on the importance of relationships and gratefulness, not material possessions and dreams of a better life.
I find it rather interesting that these two stories, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life, have become as synonymous with the Christmas season as wreaths and pumpkin pie. Christians should be quick to notice the Gospel in both of these similar storylines. While we can certainly approve of the not-so-subtle anti-materialistic message common to both stories, we should also be reminded of the savage world that Christ Himself entered as a baby, two thousand years ago. I am convinced that one of the key reasons that these two stories are as enduring (and endearing) as they are, is because they don’t try to paint a false picture of “good will toward men” where it doesn’t exist. Jesus was born in a stable in a world that wanted Him dead (Matthew 2:13-14). Ebenezer Scrooge and George Bailey are two kindred spirits that have been hardened by the world of profit and loss. In the black and white world of financial pluses and minuses, it’s a relatively small step to begin to see people in the same way. Scrooge and Bailey become consumed with the dollar signs, forsaking their relationships with friends and family along the way. Jesus came looking for a relationship—a marital one (Ephesians 5:22-33)—not temporal prosperity and financial gain. The reason that these two stories continue to stand the test of time is because they parallel the real story of Christmas: the Incarnation and nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not to say, though, that these two stories are “Christian” in the sense that most modern Christians tend to think about things. It is true that neither of these stories have a comprehensive Gospel message that lead the readers and viewers to the Cross. But this misses the point entirely of what makes something Christian or non-Christian. Adding the “sinner’s prayer” onto the end of a story does not make it a Christian story. Using squeaky-clean characters whose only “sins” are missing a daily “devotion” time also does not qualify it as Christian (but it does qualify it as “fantasy”!).
Christians should be able to tell the best stories because we have seen the view from both sides of the “great chasm” (Luke 16:26). We understand the depth of the depravity of the heart of man because we have something to compare it to; someone who has never been cleaned has no idea how dirty they really are. Even though A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life were never intended to be Christian parables, they are because the writers understood something about the reality of living in a fallen world. Whether or not the authors understand the Gospel, they certainly understand that something is terribly wrong in the heart of man; and this is the first step in coming to terms with the radical solution offered by Christ. We can’t do it on our own; we need supernatural mediation. And this is exactly what Ebenezer Scrooge and George Bailey receive through their respective Christmas Eve visitors. The power of these stories lies in the new understandings imparted to these two men, and what they do with this information. This is the true message of Christmas. As Jesus said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
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You wrote,
"This is not to say, though, that these two stories are “Christian” in the sense that most modern Christians tend to think about things."
What an understatement! So why write about it? Why extol the pretended virtues of these "traditions of men" (both reproduced, endorsed by Hollywood) that is not "Christian" in any sense of truth whatsoever!
The Pilgrims and Puritans in early America (and Westminister Assembly's England) banned Christmas justly as pagan and Romish superstitions, until "Christmas Carol" came along with its humanist propaganda to label anyone against Christmas as "Scrooge" (when in fact the Merchandisers and Misers like Scrooge profit very big from this most "profitable time of the year", along with many churches financially). I submit, therefore, that *Christmas Carol was part of a counter-reformation*, to revive Christ-mass, which 18th century reformers in England and America denounced and banned!
It's A Wonderful Life is full of Humanist propaganda, the "good of man", in contrast to his absolute depravity, all done through mere Fiction. The truth is that if we could see the sinful scandal of everyone's secret lives (as much as Tiger Woods) it would not appear so "wonderful" as that of the fictional character, whose life is as glossy as an artist could make!
Both are propaganda, with humanist values, with heretical notions of the after- or present-life, glorifying Man, not Jesus Christ, deny the doctrine of the depravity of man, for their pretended "virtues" or "charities" for their most Wonderful Life.
One secular source justly critques A Christmas Carol:
"The original title of the story, now rarely mentioned, was A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a *Ghost Story of Christmas*. Indeed, the other-worldly characters who appear in the story are not religious figures; rather, they are the "ghosts" and "spirits" of Jacob Marley and the decidedly unbiblical ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. These supernatural visitors *do not describe a recognizable Christian, theological afterlife*. And while Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit are praised for *their goodness*, the person who emerges in the end as the most generous giver of gifts is none other than the very unreligious, but newly transformed Ebenezer Scrooge, who was brought to a love of Christmas *not by Christ, but by specters from the netherworld who are uninformed by Christian theology.*
Is that not true?
Instead of reviving American "traditions", both unscriptural and inconsistent with real Christianity, real Christian literature, by genuine Christian authors, would be more suitable to promote....unless one is attempting to revive some "selective traditions" of America instead of the Truth of Christ and the Christian religion, against which the "virtuous Humanism" of these books is the enemy.
Posted by: Westvirginiaholler.blogspot.com | 16 December 2009 at 04:33 PM