How to Share Your Faith Using Casino Royale
He's a new Bond. Blond and buff. Bold and brazen. Casting Daniel Craig as the new James Bond in Casino Royale drew plenty of fire before the movie's release, but once the new 007 hit the big screen, the barrage of criticism directed at Craig seems to have been successfully deflected away.
Casino Royale explores the early career of James Bond, introducing viewers to the man before he 'earned' the rank of 007. This Bond movie seeks to unveil some previous episodes of Bond's life and unlock the prisons and passions that have come to shape the British agent fans have followed throughout the previous Bond films.
Is Bond a hero in this new film? Well, he's fighting terrorists, so of course we'd like to think he is. But like most characters in action movies, he's using some dubious tactics in the process, violently dispensing his own justice and behaving in a variety of morally questionable ways. As with real-life battles between good and evil, sometimes things do not appear in black-and-white. Does that mean there are no such things as right and wrong and good and evil? No. But sometimes things do fall into the 'gray zone' and in those situations we are called to wrestle with the confusing choices we face.
While 007 lives and thrives in this 'gray zone', viewers of Casino Royale should remember that Bond's crises descend upon him fast and furious, (this is an action movie!) We, on the other hand, generally have more time available to us for making the difficult 'gray zone' decisions we encounter along our path. And realizing this we should take the opportunity to seek God's guidance as we wrestle with those kinds of decisions in our lives. For Jesus promises to provide us with guidance when he describes the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17,
" And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth."
The 'shoot first and evaluate later' approach tends to work best in the fiction world of a James Bond, the rest of us might want to reverse the order and weigh the decision in question prayerfully first before we shoot (off our mouth - or anything else.)
Whether you choose to see Casino Royale or not, you may find yourself in conversations about it. So here are some questions that might help you talk about spiritual things when James Bond pushes his way into the conversation:
- Why do you think the James Bond character has such a fan base across so many movies and actors? Do you think it has anything to do with him battling evil?
- Bond makes a lot of instantaneous decisions that aren't clearly black-or-white. How do you make decisions when things don't seem to fall into clear black-or-white choices? What do you do when you find yourself with a 'gray zone' decision? Do you follow your gut? Do you pray? Share honestly how Jesus influences your difficult choices and decisions.
- Bond has a boatload of bad stuff come at him in this movie that shapes who he becomes. When bad things happen to people, sometimes it pushes them toward hardness and bitterness and self-protection. How do you respond when tough stuff comes your way? Share what God has taught you about forgiveness or about relying on God's faithfulness through the tough stuff.
- In the film, there is a character who willingly dies so Bond can live. Ask your friends if they would be willing to do that - and ask if you can share how Jesus did that for, not one person, but the whole human race.
Agents like James Bond are trained and prepared to effectively handle anything that comes their way. Are you trained and prepared to be God's agent for grace and truth in any conversation? If you'd like to learn more about how to share your faith effectively with your friends, check out How to Share Your Faith With... at dare2share.org.
