What Christmas Movies Teach About the Birth of Christ

Episode 79 Show Notes

What Christmas Movies Teach About the Birth of Christ

From the Show

Michael Horton: These are movies that are intended to be part of our Christmas celebration and yet, is it fair to say that as we kind of unpack some of these examples, that all of them are kind of rabbit trails directing us away from what Christmas was actually all about, to really all of them being moral tales. They’re not gospel tales. They’re not announcements of what God has done, rending the Heavens to come down and save us. They are stories about people who were bad and they became good so that Santa finally could give them presents and they could enjoy Christmas.

Justin Holcomb: What’s noteworthy about a lot of these Christmas stories is they’re not just happiness and Christmas songs and presents. There’s usually some darkness involved. With the Christmas carol, you have the scrooge and he’s starving our poor people and then you have another with It’s A Wonderful Life, 1946. This is one that — I mean, my mom watches this one every Christmas. That’s just part of what she’s going to do. She’s going to sit down and this is going to be seen. It’s the opposite end of spectrum of Ebenezer Scrooge.

This is a guy who is at the end of his life and with the help of his guardian angel, Clarence, he’s shown all of the good that he’s and what the world would have been like without him. And the arrival of the three spirits with the Christmas Carol kind of threatened him, like watch out, you’re going to be alone. This one is the opposite of Clarence, which is, hey, buck up. You’ve done some amazing things. What are you so sad about? I mean, that’s kind of the message from the in-breaking outside of this normal world. This angel shows up to help him feel a little bit better and enjoy his journey of self-discovery. That’s the hope in that movie.

Adriel Sanchez: And again, I think you guys hit the nail on head when you’re talking about how depressing that can be for some people. So does that mean Christmas is meaningless if I’m lonely or if I don’t have people around, if I don’t have family around me? That is cruel, I think.

Whitney Gamble: And it’s in a sense humanitarianism has become a religion here. So we find our identity in being kind to another and having each other. And those are all good things in Christ, right?