Breaking the illusion

Weeks late, I finally got around to watching the latest Bond blockbuster Skyfall. An interesting experience, because I was only able to book to see it with subtitles in English. Having watched loads of foreign-language films with English subtitles, I thought it would be no problem.

How wrong could I be? It absolutely ruined it!

Seeing the words flash up, slightly before they were spoken made it look like they were just actors reading lines - not like Bond, Q, M and Moneypenny at all - just actors in a play. The subtle timing of jokes was spoiled. The scenes where there was supposed to be smouldering romance were emptied of passion as it became obvious that they were just pretending. The delicate illusion of the theatre had been torn away by the simple addition of some words along the bottom.

To watch movies and plays you have to suspend belief that it is a fiction. To experience the tension, excitement and drama, you have to perform a subtle mind trick on yourself - you have to imagine it's real when you know it's not. There are any number of ways that that can be stopped - bad acting, poor dialogue or bad special effects can all break the spell. Subtitles destroyed that illusion for me last night, sadly.

Believing the lie

One of the subtle (and powerful) arguments that atheists have about those who believe in God, is that we are just exercising the same mental muscle we use at the movies. We suspend our sense of what we really know is going on (it's only actors on a 2D screen); to make the experience better and more interesting for us (I'm actually watching MI6 in action). In the same way, they suggest, believers cling to the idea of God because we cannot face the true reality of a world where we are alone and mortal, and must make our own mind up about matters of morality and meaning.

vAtheists are correct when they say that religious beliefs are an interpretation of reality that we choose to accept as true. And it is true to say that a world without God can be colourless and grey, and the truth of our mortality so crushingly depressing that we prefer to live believing a beautiful lie rather than a more grim reality. This will be the powerful message that The Life of Pi will suggest when it is released next week.

But, like many of the "killer arguments" that atheists are so fond of, this accusation fails to address two questions.

1. It is not just religious views of the world that are interpretations. All worldviews, including atheism, are interpretations of the facts. They are belief systems based on faith. We need to hear the criticism that atheists offer, and search our own souls. What is our belief in God based on? Is it merely wishful thinking? Is it a result of trying to be "escapist" in some way? Or is it based on a conviction that the facts about Jesus Christ, when we look at them properly, point us strongly to the conclusion that he was and therefore is who he claimed to be?

2. Precisely what evidence are we basing our conclusions on? When we turn the spotlight of motivation back on the atheists, there are some equally searching questions that we can offer to them. Were you actually convinced by the evidence? Or is your strong belief in the absence of God motivated by something else? A hatred of being told what is right and wrong? A revulsion at the idea that we are accountable to someone for how we live? And is your conclusion based on a careful sifting of which facts you are prepared to look at - removing the uncomfortable facts that do not suit your pre-formed view of reality?

And it also fails to recognise that many Christians don't conform to their caricature of "escapist faith" at all. They look over the fact that many believers are reluctant converts - compelled to acknowledge God against their own instincts by the strength of the Gospel facts about Christ, as the Father loving draws them by his irresistible grace. Many believers would testify that coming to Christ has freed them from a self-obsessed escapist mindset and forced them to focus more clearly on their own lives, and on the needs of others. They would describe their conversion in the same way - seeing a world without God as a pretty lie, that the Gospel has shown to be empty, futile and without hope.

For entertainment purposes, the ability to believe the unreal is essential for enjoying the experience. But when it comes to forming conclusions about God and the Gospel, give me subtitles every time.