OK to be honest, my first impression when I saw the preview was I thought my friend Susan Hinrich (who has become my online friend with both of us losing our sons) may have gone off the deep end :) This is a show protraying a town outside of Buffalo full of "mediums" who can see and talk to dead people. Although I think the program of course is geered towards making this place look like some sort of refuge and place of answers, it looked more like playing pretend to me. I wish the show had portrayed Susan's point of view more than what it did... I think the edit made it appear as if she was just resistant to what they had to offer. I think the media wants this sort of thing to appear as if it is the "answer" and Christians appear as if they are the ones holding everyone back. I commend HBO for even putting a Christian point of view on here however.
This show makes me angry in sense that they are offering the easy way out so to speak. I actually tuned in to the show with a small thought in the back of my head... what if this is real? See how easy it is to step into desiring something so strongly that you WANT to buy into it. We all want answers. I know myself I bargain with God everyday to just see or talk to Tyler one more time. Places like this prey on the grief and hurt. Anyone who has lost anyone, especially a child, has an open wound that never will close. To be quite frank, these people can smell blood in the water. If you watch, they start with generalizations and hone in on those who are willing to jump in. They can see you respond to what they say and it allows them to further comment, building on your reaction. Now this is of course my own opinion and it would certainly be easier to think Tyler was floating around here somewhere, but I don't believe it. Why would he want to float around here when he is in heaven at the feet of God? How much easier would grief be to deal with if we could still communicate with those we have lost? But if you really look at that, it is a selfish wish for us to want our loved ones here with us. Instead, I wish I was there with him. Faith is a difficult row to hoe because you can't touch it or see it appear as a "green globe" as that one gentleman said his girlfriend did in his hand. That is why when you find faith, however small a mustard seed, it is a truly remarkable thing. I don't believe a word any of these people said. Again... my opinion... but that is what you are tuning in for... my opinion. I would love to hear your opinions on this. Let's discuss it. Don't be afraid to disagree with me... I don't bite :)
WOW!!! I am so blown-away by your deeply insightful review! Yes, I must first agree with you that it was really surprising that HBO would even want a Christian viewpoint in the film, and I am glad they allowed it. But, as you saw, they bring me in the picture only after they have just shown the protesting group at the front gate, and they of course want people not to miss the sign being held by the one person that states: "Harry Potter will damn your children's souls to Hell". Yeaaah, riiight, that's just what all Bible-believing, Born-again, Evangelical Christians run around yelling at people! A person at Lily Dale had asked me my belief in regards to that sign and my response was that those folks just need to sit down with their own Bible and work on getting their own lives as God-focused as possible, and try to save their "sharing" with those who want to engage in a real and honest conversation about Christianity. So, I know that HBO thought it would be a good "contrast" to that group in showing me. They did not have the guts to really give "Full-disclosure & Total-transparency" (my son Scotty's tag-line!)about the fact that they went "trolling" for parents who had a child die. They came across me on a grieving mother's website and felt that if I was open to going to Lily Dale and showing my Christian response to the people there, then it might make for good point/counter-point in their film. Well, it was only months after Scotty's death and I knew that it would really be a hugh step for me to take in going there, that many folks would not understand me doing it and would judge me harshly for it (believe me...they have!) and yet, I knew in my heart that any opportunity to share with others about the horrible reality of child loss, was something I could not say no to. I wanted people to see what becomes of those of us who have had to experience the worst nightmare of parents. What do we turn to in our pain? Would "hearing" from my son make my grief any less? Should we judge the ones who seek out this method of dealing with loss? In the film, one of the Lily Dale mediums says that they believe in "experience", not "faith", and they were given the opportunity to show some of those very interesting "experiences" (like him doing "healing" with a green bell pepper). My goal was to show that my Christian faith does not "save me" from the tragic things of this life, it does not provide me with a easy answer to everything that comes my way... it simply has become both my experience: I was changed by coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and my faith: God carries me from one low point in the valleys of my questioning of Him, to the next mountain-top moment of faith, when I can once again say with all honesty: "All the glory goes to God, it's all about Jesus" (my son Scotty's other tag-line!). ** Continued Below**
ReplyDeleteI say in the film the words of King David, upon his seeing that his infant child had died: "He will not return to me, I shall go to him". My prayer, standing on their "sacred tree stump" (which has really made some of those folks very, very angry at me!) was simply: "Lord, please show Yourself to them". I can't "convert" anyone. I did not go there to do so. If only one person comes away from seeing me at Lily Dale with a sense that just maybe it is possible to believe by faith, and trust with your heart that Jesus Christ is the Way, The Truth, and The Life, then I would be glad that I went there. I have no big ideas about that... I only know that we live in a culture that tries pretty hard to not ever focus on suffering, death, and the dying process, and it all came into my home, and I could not run away from it, but I keep finding on a day-by-day basis, that the God of the Bible has given me what I need to follow Him, just the way my beloved son Scotty did to the very last moment of his life when he looked me in the eyes and said "I want to be with Jesus", and then he was gone... but, by the faith that the Lord keeps alive in my head & my heart, I believe he is now in eternity with the Love of his life, and I just need to "finish the race set before me" and I will join him forever. Daneele, I truly hope that others will join in on this really important discussion about something that is hard to deal with in some ways, but oh, so very real for us to be dealing with. Thanks so much for your review, and I welcome any, and all, comments from others, good or bad, it does not matter, because we all have a right to our own views. Feel free to email me: Susan Hinrichs at Hinrichsfamily@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteGoodness to that. Didn't see it but of course they are preying on people who 'want' to believe them. People definitely have visions of what is to come but they don't live in a small town in new york together with special cards to identify them as the chosen ones. Seriously...a special card to certify them???
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the show, but would like to, now. Your comments remind me of when my Mom died, Kasey was 8. And at one point, he said to me he wished he could have just one more phone call to Grandma in heaven. That still brings tears to my eyes! I can see where some people might be comforted to think they are having contact with a loved one, but really, do you want them hovering around seeing all the things going on in our lives? I agree, Daneele, I feel much better knowing they are safe & secure & full of joy...dancing in the presence of God! I want to be there some day too!!
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