Elmer Gantry
 

being stuck at home because of covid i started watching old movies on the TMC channel and i was surprised by this old movie about Christian revivals

the main character is a drinking, gambling, womanizer who has a Christian side and he gets involved in a Christian revival group as he is smitten by the woman minister running it. he becomes the revivals main preacher along with the woman

the movie gets into issues of "fake" Christian ministers who present themselves as one thing but are something else but to me the movie was also about something else much deeper. how we define spirituality

this guy, elmer gantry, even though he drinks and chases women, has a genuine concern for others and carry's love with him. he evolves through the movie morally and comes to love the female minister and wants to marry her and raise a family with her

the ending was great to me. he comes to realize what god and spiritualty is about and "walks off into the sunset" and away from the revival business when asked to take it over with the line:

"When I was a child, I understood as a child and spoke as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11)

he came to discover love was everywhere one made it. at the end he even shared a drink with the atheist journalist, saying "god this is good" double meaning there, and in fact the atheist journalist refused to run a bad story on him saying "we are all human" and so not judging him in a negative way based on what he did, rather judging him on what he was, a good caring person

INTERESTNG POINTS!

Lately, I have been thinking, what would our beliefs be if we were never exposed to any beliefs. Would we come to the conclusions we have come to now?

I believe that the primitive man was more in tune with his non-physical side, and with the reason for being here. I saw it in regressions.

"Civilization" creates limiting beliefs that humans weren't supposed to have.

Neville Goddard Quote I know it is difficult to give up the belief in the historicity of scripture. When I first came to Los Angeles it was back in 1945. At the time I was invited by a very prominent man in the metaphysical field to conduct a series of lectures on the Bible. The night I arrived, I was to address 400 or 500 of his graduates. About five minutes before I took the platform, the man took me aside and told me that I could not speak on the non-historicity of the Bible, because he teaches the Bible as history and did not want his people disturbed. I thanked him, told him that because I was his guest I would abide by his decision this night, but in the future he could not tell me what to say. Then I reminded him of scripture: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.” I can only speak of what I have seen and heard. I know the Bible is not historically true, but is eternally true. The records recorded there are forever and to be experienced by all.

Scripture is a revelation of truth which carries with it such certainty it cannot be denied. Having heard the truth from someone who has experienced it, you may feel my message is too much to grasp; but when it happens in you doubt leaves, for you know the truth from experience. Every story is true, but not as recorded. They were not writing secular history, but divine or sacred history, which is forever. It is not something that happened in the past or that will come; the climax has been reached and is always being reached every moment in time.