What if two guys, who were college chums long ago, got together and made an honest film about their differences? And what if the biggest difference they had was about what each believed about God?
Well, its happened, and it appears this film is going to be something fascinating. Oh, and all you Christian folk out there might not feel completely satisfied when its over. I think that is good.
The premise of this film, to explore the differences and relationships of two distinctly different people; a believer and a non-believer is something that is rarely done, and even more rarely done well. We Christian folk are often terrible at this sort of thing, and I am interested to see primarily, if Craig Detweiler (the God-believer in the film) can play his role with grace, dignity, and real care for his friend. Disclaimer: my wife Nancy has audited a class at Fuller Seminary from one of the filmmakers, Craig Detweiler. She loved the class. I have not seen the film, I ordered it today.
From the Purple State of Mind web site:
Conversations are the ideal form of communication in some respects, since they allow people with different views of a topic to learn from each other. A speech, on the other hand, is an oral presentation by one person directed at a group.
That nails it. We've become a nation of speech-makers. Everyone has their bullet points. Everyone takes aim. Left versus right. Gay versus straight. Atheist versus believer. The shrapnel has caught all of us in the crossfire, and we struggle to respond like soldiers; we fire back, but our own guns fail us.
As a person of faith, Craig is troubled by the perception of Christians as judgmental and hypocritical. How could Jesus, the great defender of the poor, the hungry and the hurting have been turned into a hater? As a reporter in the Balkans, John witnessed the process by which religious and ethnic identity drives division. He's unnerved by the potential for a war of words to become something far worse. Purple State of Mind is an 80-minute effort to bridge the cultural gap, to push past politics, and wade into the middle ground where most people live.
For more, and to order the film, visit Purple State of Mind.
