X Files 2 and Ruminations on the Christian Faith

By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor

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The new "X Files" sequel, subtitled "I Want To Believe", is a provocative, scary movie that touches upon issues of Christian faith and asks whether God speaks through people today.
 
"It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science," Director Chris Carter said. "It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith."
 
Mulder is the former FBI agent in the movie who used to handle cases involving supernatural beings and forces and, eventually, conspiracies involving aliens. The movie's tension between faith and science is reflected in the dramatic, emotional relationship between Mulder's character and his former partner, the beautiful and intelligent Dana Scully. Mulder wants to believe in the supernatural, but Scully, who has a medical degree, tends to put her faith in science.
 
This tension is also reflected in the different beliefs of Carter and his writing partner, Frank Spotnitz.
 
"Chris is a person of faith," Spotnitz explained. "I am not. I'm a doubter, skeptic. And, this movie is all about faith. I'm very interested in faith, and the question of faith. But, when it came time to resolving this movie, and coming up with an ending, we were at an impasse. We actually went to script not knowing how to resolve our personal differences. The ending that we came up with – which I think is really the only ending, even if you are a believer – is that you must find God through faith. It's not going to be proven to you. That's what I believe as a non-believing spiritual person:  if there is a God, it is going to require your faith to find him."
 
Thus, at the end of the movie, Scully finally takes a leap of faith in going ahead with an experimental procedure to save the life of a boy. This occurs, however, after she skeptically questions whether Mulder's belief in God's forgiveness of sin can ever be proven this side of Heaven.
 
"You have to take that on faith," Carter notes.
 
But, as the biblical author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [King James Version]."
 
Therefore, in reading the biblical text of the New Testament documents, Christians can know they have assurance of God's forgiveness for sins because they trust in the Work of Jesus Christ, who died for their sins yet rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just some fairy tale; it is a historical event supported by the factual evidence of the eyewitnesses who saw Christ's death on the Cross and then saw His resurrected body after it was placed in a well-guarded Roman tomb.
 
This beginning of the Christian faith can be seen reflected in the historical growth of the Christian Church down through the centuries since Jesus Christ. As Paul points out in 1 Cor. 15:17, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins."
 
The Christian faith, therefore, is a belief system founded on historical fact, on factual evidence, not just a mere possibility or whim.
 
Consequently, the release of the new "X Files" movie just may present an opportunity for believers to discuss the historical evidence on which their Christian faith is based.
 
Wouldn't that be an X File worthy of the name? After all, the use of the Greek letter X as an abbreviation for the word Christ goes back to the earliest days of Christianity. In fact, the beautiful first chapter of the Gospel According to John is poetically designed as an X in Ancient Greek, for easier memorization and in honor of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made Flesh and the Divine One who saves us from our sins.
 
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