p. 8 | A CHRISTIAN THEATER by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 1, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 18.

“A CHRISTIAN THEATER.”

By G.

The theater, as devised by men, has but one purpose, namely, the gratification of the lusts of the flesh. Its origin is heathen; nowhere in the Scriptures is it associated with the true worship of God. For centuries professed Christians have patronized the theater, on the theory that people must have some light diversion of a worldly nature, something in the nature of amusing or thrilling entertainment. They have been tempted with one bait or another to incorporate the institutions of men into the service of God. They adopted the Church-and-State theories of the heathen; they made a sabbath of the Sunday—the “solar holiday” of paganism; they “baptized” pagan idols and named them after the apostles, thus making so-called “Christian” images. And they transmogrified heathen temples, with much of their paraphernalia, into so-called “Christian” churches.

In later years the tendency has been to utilize the theater and the novel (the theater begat the novel) in the furtherance of nominal Christianity. The novel has been adopted to an alarming extent, and the theater is mimicked quite extensively, in the human effort to draw people to the church. In the New York Independent of March 14, Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, author of “In His Steps,” comes out squarely in favor of the “Christian theater.” This is what many people have been wanting some noted churchman to do, and there is no doubt that the idea will meet favor in many church circles. Upon the question, “Is a Christian Theater Possible?” he says:—

“By Christian theater I mean an institution distinctively and of set purpose organized to represent only those plays which would be regarded as Christian in the best sense of the word—not necessarily what would be called ‘religious’ plays, but plays as clean and sweet and wholesome as anything to be found in the clean, sweet, and wholesome lives of the best Christian men and women in the world. And by Christian theater I would mean also a theater owned and controlled entirely by Christian people, as much so as any church organization. In addition to all that, I would mean also, by Christian theater, an institution in which all the actors and actresses were decidedly and positively Christian men and women.”

That the purpose is to cater to the light side of humanity, to cultivate the innate folly of the young especially, and do it in a way that it may pass for Christianity, is shown in the following further quotation:—

“The whole question of the theater, however, has raised in my mind the possibility of a school for Christian actors, and for Christian playwrights and Christian managers—in other words, a distinctively Christian theater, where men and women of consecrated, devout, earnest Christian character would act only good plays. Humor that is sweet and wholesome is as much a part of life as tragedy; and if it is true, as most theaters confess, that the majority of theater-goers, especially among the young people, go to the play to be entertained and amused, then it would be true in a Christian theater that plays written for the purpose of making people laugh, in sending them away with sweet and wholesome images of what they had seen and heard among things that were funny, would be a distinctively

Christian thing to do for large numbers of people who often grow very tired and weary in the great struggle for existence in the great cities, and need the rest and refreshment that come from wholesome fun.”

To complete the idea from Mr. Sheldon’s standpoint that an institution which is in itself bad, because it is fictitious and lustful, can be made Christian by the efforts of fallible beings who have a longing for mere humor, we give one more expression:—

“I am not able to avoid the conclusion that at least half the plays which are at present put upon the stage in the great cities are not helpful to the Christian life of those who attend them. I do not see any prospect of a change for the better until we have established a school for Christian acting, or even founded a theater which shall be as distinctively Christian in its purpose, in its financial management, and in its entire life, as the most Christian home or church that we now possess. That this is within the reach of possibility I believe, because I believe in the elevating power of Christianity over all things that belong to humanity.”

Our apology, if there need be an apology, for giving so much space to a statement of this proposition, is that the idea will meet with extended favor. It is a delusion that will carry many unwary souls into the vortex of worldly pleasure. The inclination is already so much that way that a strong current can easily be created by the encouragement of a few influential spirits.

Now the church of God—the true church—is already a theater. It is the only true Christian theater in the world. “We are made a spectacle [margin, ‘theater’] unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” 1 Cor. 4:9. “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10. The earth is the stage; true Christians are the actors; angels and men are spectators; and the subject presented from day to day is the life of Jesus Christ. All the acting, in the only real Christian theater that is possible, is real life, and each one’s part is a life-long act. Only by the crucifixion of the lusts of the flesh, by “bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,” by keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” can any one “manifest” the life of Christ in “mortal flesh.” Under no circumstances can Christ be represented on a fictitious stage, by individuals in fictitious character, in “plays written for the purpose of making people laugh.”

The only “school for Christian acting” is the school of Christ; the text-book is the Word of God, and the instructor is the Holy Spirit. Every principle thus taught is to be wrought out in the daily life. The Word of Christ thus worked in and worked out becomes the life of Christ manifested in the individual. It can not be dramatized on an improvised stage. The very suggestion is blasphemy, and the attempt hypocrisy. Every Christian has his own part to act in life; he can not take up the work of portraying the lives of fictitious persons or of real persons, for that matter, on an imitation stage of life. We have no such example or teaching in the Word of God.

The Lord established all the essentials for the perfecting of His people. “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Eph. 4:8-13.

There is nothing here, or elsewhere in the Scriptures about “Christian playwrights,” or “Christian managers” of theaters, or Christian “actors and actresses” upon any stage of human conception and construction. Whatever may come of such a suggestion will be merely a work of the flesh, a delusion and a snare to all who will be deceived thereby. “The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” It is no time for Christians to be devising and acting fictitious tragedies and comedies for the mere amusement of each other and doing it in the name of Christ. G.