FACEBOOK REPOST: Altar Calls...
Some Altar Calls are distasteful and don't enhance the work of the spirit. Some aren't (distasteful). I was allowed to go for free to the Theatrical Release of The Passion of The Christ because a local church bought up the theater and gave the tickets out for free - a marketing move obviously on the part of that church, the largest one in the area. I don't take it lightly that they allowed me to go for free. But they stopped down for an "altar call" at the theater - right as the sweeping symphonic music was ramping up at the credits. This was a film that had already made news for how gripping the ending was, and that, in many theaters showing it, people were staying glued to their seats during the credits, deeply impacted by the narrative. Taking it to heart. Letting the depth of Christ's Passion sink in. Grinding down the credits and pulling up house lights to hand out decision cards and have an in-theater Altar Call was their choice but it was still distasteful, and in my opinion, COUNTER to the primary aim of the movie. To touch hearts. Not to get decisions on a list. That degree of pragmatism is well-intentioned but misguided.
As I stated in posting the above to a Facebook discussion on The Chosen (by Dallas Jenkins), I added:
"but, I think, in opposition to what the creators of the Chosen are trying to do."