The Gospel!!
I was watching one of my favorite Christmas movies,"a Christmas carol" by Charles Dickens, and I have started to notice that something was missing in their attempt to deliver a Christian message. It's the gospel. Not only did Scrooge change on his own, but that he only changed his selfish, greedy ways because he was threatened with eternal torment.
A true believer does not change on their own. It is the ongoing redemptive work of Jesus Christ in him or her that changes them and no true believer should ever come to Christ because of the fear of hell; rather they should come to Him because of what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross.
That is the Christian message that is missing in this moralistic story.
What's missing in the story "A Christams Carol"?
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Christos doulos, Dec 24, 2011.
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Was Charles Dickens a Christian? -
Scarlett O. ModeratorModerator
A Christmas Carol wasn't intended to bring attention to the Christ of Christmas. It wasn't a gospel presentation. It was just a story - a morality play, as you state. Frankenstein is also a morality play. I've used both stories in literature classes for that reason.
Was Dickens saved?
I don't know. He attended an Anglican church, but that doesn't save anyone. He wrote an-easy-to-read version of the four gospels for his children that they later had published. I have a copy - it's entitled The Life of Our Lord. But writing a book about Jesus doesn't make one saved either.
He apparently admired Christ. I read somewhere that his children claimed that he gave them New Testaments when they would leave home. But giving away scriptures doesn' save either.
He was a brilliant author. Among the best. It would be nice if he had been saved, but I can't say for sure. -
Tiny Tim did talk about Jesus giving sight to the blind and making the lame walk, but not saving from sin, that I remember, anyway. If I'm wrong on that please correct me. Apart from that, yes, just a morality play, as Scarlett says.
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The only thing I can say for sure is that Charles Dickens never knew the true gospel -
preachinjesus Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Why does Dickens have to tell a Gospel specific story? Are not the virtues and results part of a Gospel centered ethic?
I enjoy reading Dickens, he's a great story teller. That said my favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story with Ralphie. Great movie. -
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I'm not a Charles Dickens expert or anything like that. However, as a historian, I think he was really trying to make a social protest about life in England and the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century (child labor laws, poor working conditions, etc). I don't think the Gospel was his aim in the story. A story does not have to present the Gospel to be a good story. To say Dickens did not know the Gospel because he did not present it in this story is going way too far. You need to study his life before making a bold statement like that. I don't know Dickens' beliefs about Christ (etc) and I certainly would not try to figure out his entire belief system based on one writing.
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preachinjesus Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Maybe it's just a good piece of literature and we should appreciate it as such, since it makes no claims to be a presentation of the Gospel. :thumbsup: -
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I believe it is the book of Ester that does not mention God in it, but we see Him working throughout. -
Yes. And Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" saga does not have the Gospel message spelled out, but it is RIFE with Christian imagery and ethics.
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How bizarre to think that every story has to be a presentation of the gospel.
(We need a head scratching smilie). -
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I have it in the form of a Bantam Classic which I picked up in Hong Kong months ago. Dickens was quite the story-teller. There is a section in the back Dickens Reads His Carol --The Reception. It's quite revealing.
Although there are allusions to the Gospel --the Gospel as such will not be found in his classic tale. I think Charlie Brown's Christmas makes it much clearer.
The main point about the transformation of Scrooge is that he "lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle,ever afterwards..."
I take nothing away from Dickens. He was a wonderful writer,and it's especially around this time of the year that I dip into his works (well,they're back in Korea at present). -
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
There is a line in the Christmas Carol where his girl friend tells Scrooge that he Fears the World. That to me is telling, since no true Christian fears the world when Christ is master of the soul. :jesus:
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I tend to look at his story similiar to CS lewis with narnia, Tolkien with Rings, as Chrsitian fiction being used to highlight/stress a Chistian message, in more of a allogorical/symbollic fashion...
message is there in the sense of Christmas being the time to have repentence and have faith back in something larger thn yourself, to "get in the spirit" of the season and becom e a changed person!
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