Imagining a More Forgiving World

Bart Millard

“Imagining a More Forgiving World”

A Review of I Can Only Imagine by Nick Olszyk

MPAA Rating, PG

USCCB Rating, Not Rated at the time of this review

Reel Rating, Three Reels            

            Have you ever wondered what the story behind the 4^th least annoying Life Teen Mass song was? No? Well, Lionsgate and director brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin made a movie about it anyway. It turns out that MercyMe’s little diddy “I Can Only Imagine” is the single most played Contemporary Christian song of all time, the only song of that genre to go double platinum. Yet friends of the new liturgical movement should not be too dismayed for I Can Only Imagine is decent film made even better by timely concurrence with a recent social movement.

            Bart Millard (J. Michael Finley) grows up with an abusive father and absentee mother, and sometimes its hard to see which is worse. His oasis is the local church where he learns to sing and make friends. When he decides to pursue a career as a professional Christian musician, he father Arthur (Randy Quaid) berates him harshly, saying it won’t “pay the bills.” It’s hard to fault him as he was a former rising football star who had to suddenly switch careers after a bad injury. Bart couldn’t care less about his dad’s opinion and soon finds limited success with his band MercyMe. A seasoned talent agent takes the fledgling band under his wing. Bart has talent, but something is holding him back from being truly great.  

            After many years and some success, Bart returns home to find that his dad has significantly changed…or at least is really trying. In the wake of a cancer diagnosis, Arthur wants to make amends but as an abuser honestly has no idea how to have normal social interaction. The best he can do is make Bart breakfast and insist that he is “willing,” language that would be recognizable to 12 step members. Bart is understandably angry and suspicious at first but soon admits that forgiveness is necessary. The two reconcile and live briefly in happiness before Arthur dies. “I listened to you on the radio,” Arthur admits shortly before the end. “Then I would listen to the preacher after. That’s what started this.” Bart’s “ridiculous dream” led to Arthur’s salvation. Shortly after the funeral, Bart penned his most famous hit in only ten minutes, imagining what his father was experiencing in Heaven:

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk, by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When you face is before me
I can only imagine

Surrounded by You glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

It’s not Shakespeare or even Hillsong, but one could do worse.

            As an avid cinephile, the Oscars had always the most important non-religious event of the year. Yet after last year’s terrible debacle (which was not the Best Picture mix-up), this was the first time I missed the telecast in two decades. It wasn’t even that I was deliberately boycotting the ceremony, I just plain forgot, which is even worse. I was fed up with the political and self-righteous nature of Hollywood’s elite, especially during the #MeToo movement. Sexual assault is, of course, a grave sin, and it’s good that light is being she on the subject. Yet I was disgusted by the pretentiousness and hypocrisy that surrounded it. Decent men were being called out simply being awkward while pornographers of the vilest stripes were given a free pass. Most of all, a blacklist was being created that would make Joe McCarthy blush. This reaction is an odd consequence of a disbelief in sin. If morality is relative and evil unreal, then forgiveness is impossible. One can only have total embrace or total damnation.

            One of things that made Christianity so radical was its acceptance of human failings – the doctrine of original sin. We all need salvation. This can be seen throughout the gospels from Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath to forgiving the adulterous woman. “I have not come for the righteous,” he said. “But sinners.” The central message of I Can Only Imagine is that even the gravest sinners – child abusers, rapists, murderers, Satanists – not only can be saved but should be saved. The film itself is fair but as a message to rest of Hollywood that is not only relevant but powerful.

This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on March 16th, 2018.