Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
Wrestling star Steve “Sting” Borden is currently promoting his recently released direct to DVD “Christian” movie aptly titled The Encounter. So, what is it about?
“It’s about five people traveling down a road, and due to weather they all get stuck. They end up at a diner, which maybe one or two of them saw, and the rest of them never did. They go into the diner and have an encounter with a guy named Jesus, who actually ends up being Jesus Christ…” ~Sting
Steve may be a lovely character (I am not questioning his testimony) and this movie may actually even be a thrilling block buster but it is high time the evangelical church became less gullible and more discerning with what is presented to it. Seeing that it is being projected as a “christian film”, I hope The Encounter has the gospel in it. I hope it is not just another glorified mysticism (like The Shack where God was allegedly stuck in a shack) with religious allegorical allusions and Christian sounding colloquialism. If it is, then there is only one word that would describe such a distortion – blasphemous!
But wait a minute! (With the Bible becoming less relevant to the seeker sensitive church today) there is no better time to release another sanitized fad into an already saturated evangelical market. Afterall don’t we these days go to church to listen to movie sermon series and sing “christianised secular love songs” during worship?
What more harm can entertainment with Jesus stuck in a diner cause to the sufficiency of scripture?
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
From the trailer, it appears to be a “Four Spiritual Laws” type of Christianity, rather than a biblical Christianity. This is the norm, and it would be remarkable for this – or any other “Christian film” – to be solidly biblical.
“Four spiritual laws” type of christianity sounds like a commercialised market savvy kind of religion.
I agree with you. I can easily see this movie further promoting the “ask jesus in your heart and your life will be more fun” foolishness of our culture
I believe The Encounter is a very good movie with strong Christian themes. I have seen it several times.