‘Beware of Christians’
This past weekend I stumbled across a hidden gem in the documentary section of my Netflix account; a quirky little film entitled Beware of Christians. This film follows the journey of four American teens, Matt, Will, Alex, and Michael on their journey to Europe to follow the path of Jesus.Intriguing, hilarious, and uplifting, Beware says something very interesting about Christianity today.
Beginning with the dialogue between the four Bible-loving boys, it is revealed to the audience that they are on a journey to explore how the Jesus that they were raised to believe in is quite less glamorous than the one depicted in the Bible. In an effort to drop their biases on Christ, the four travel to 10 European cities throughout the course of the film to explore what being a Christian means to them. Topics discussed are along the thought processes of materialism, sexuality, entertainment, alcohol and more. Cities visited by the rambunctious quadruplet include places like Rome, Budapest and, of course, London.
While I found that after most of the cities the American teens visited, they drew the proper conclusions, I found that after London I was feeling a bit shocked about the assumptions they made.
Their journey in our city began by asking real Londoners what it was to be Christian here. Most of the answers they received conveyed a very similar message of, “it’s not a huge part of everyday life here.”, which for most Londoners is an accurate statement to make. It was what the boys said afterward that surprised me. The four explained to their audience that if they themselves had grown up in London, they believed that they would be less Christian than they are today. The four concluded that it would be too difficult to be religious here.
While it is true that a great number of Londoners do not affiliate or strongly affiliate with a chosen religion, it does not mean it cannot be found. If the four had really looked they would see that Christianity is a thriving community especially for young people here in London. This rash assumption on part of the boys highlights a lack of understanding in the difference between cultures of the deep south of the United States, where billboards spouting Bible quotes line the highways, and London, where religion is a bit more subtle. The beauty in London’s religious sector is that it allows those who wish to be a part of it, participate and leaves those who don’t to make their own decisions.
In its entirety the film is extremely entertaining, especially for Christian youth. Personally, I believe that their judgments occasionally came out a bit too fast but granted they did only spend a brief 10 minutes of airtime in each location. Either way, it’s contents got me to truly think about a topic that I haven’t given notice to before. How much does the location of our upbringing determine our religious practices? Would Jesus look the same if we had been brought up somewhere else?