At the recommendation of a friend, last night I used the excellent iplayer to watch Deborah 13: Servant of God. I am very rarely moved to blog on anything these days, but this programme is worth your time. When I was advised to watch it, my heart sank. I thought ‘great, another BBC documentary making evangelicals look like nut jobs’. I am glad and refreshed to say that in actual fact, this was not the case. Besides one or two overly interpretive ‘voiceover’ comments by the narrator, Amanda St John, it was a credit to the whole team who made it, lead by producer Linda Brusasco. I cannot escape the feeling, however, that the original premise of the show was to portray a Christian family purely for the entertainment of others, like some kind of freak show. That it does not entirely come out this way is a remarkable thing and due in no small measure to what happened during filming, I reckon.
The only people who really said anything that would sound odd to a non Christian (and to many Christians actually) were the family themselves, the Drapper family of deepest Dorset, who appear to live on a very pretty farm in the middle of no-where. Whether they are farmers for a living or if there is some other employment was not made clear, but it seemed obvious that both parents were around the home every day.
The documentary focuses on Deborah Drapper – who has started her own blog (and begun to receive some predictable comments from those who hate God). Deborah is 13 and one of eleven children, two of whom have left home – one is married at 19 (shock! horror!) and one is away at university aged 20. (Oh – how suprisingly… normal!) Deborah is articulate, engaging and forthright about her Christian faith, more so than her older siblings, it seems. The programme sets the scene of her family life, shows her doing some evangelism, and then takes her away from home for a few days at university with her older brother to experience ‘real life’.
The first thing I noticed was the reams of Way of the Master evangelistic material everywhere. The programme opens with Deborah (DD) using Ray Comfort’s method of confronting her interviewer with the ten commandments, and showing that she has broken them. I use WOTM materials myself, but there is more than one method of evangelism, and especially in the UK, the Comfort route is not always the best way ‘in’. Nonetheless, DD goes on to demonstrate a good use of the methods and materials. Rather this form of witness than the usual British Christian ‘no witness at all’.
The programme had a great emphasis on DD’s conviction that ‘we all deserve hell’. Of course, she is correct – but I did wonder if the show was edited to raise the proportion of ‘hellfire and brimstone’ comments and lower the reference to anything positive. We will never know. What did come out was DD’s great fear about people ‘walking under a bus’ and going to hell – and perhaps an unhealthy fear that someone going to hell could in any way be her (DD’s) fault for not witnessing. What WAS NOT CLEAR ENOUGH was the obvious fact that DD herself has NO FEAR of hell or judgement because she has trusted in Christ. The film closes with her two emotional and definite words ‘He has’ referring to the fact that Christ has paid the price for her sin. A non-Christian viewing could be left with the view that DD was neurotic, insecure, and hated herself. Not so.
Out witnessing to young people who seemed to have nothing better to do at night than to sit in bus stops smoking and drinking, DD was able to hand out tracts to everyone. What was fascinating was the response of one of these girls asked later what she thought of the presentation: ‘Well, it was TRUE, but anyway we don’t believe in God’. Ummm – if it was true then perhaps you ought to believe in God? It made me smile. This was the first point at which the simple, deliberate life and conduct of the Drapper family was compared to the vapid, empty world around them – and how bleak and dark it all seemed. But that is reality – the atheistic secular humanist view of life which leads to an absolute purposelessness, and is (it seems to me) increasing the size of an ‘underclass’ of folk whose lives will never consist of more than reality television and where the next ‘fix’ is coming from. The answer to society’s ills is the gospel – why was there no revolution in Britain at the same time as the one in France? The gospel. That life-changing message that transformed the lives of so many in society – those of every ‘class’. Aspirations raised, meaning and purpose given to every life, no matter how poor or difficult. But, I digress.
One issue that arose a few times was the matter of Alcohol. DD took the view that God was against it. She might read this piece so I don’t want to be too hard but the reality is that booze was the only topic she quoted scripture about, and it was mis-used. Drinking or not drinking is a personal, moral decision – drinking alcohol is NOT a sin otherwise Christ Himself sinned. And He did not. Drunkenness is of course condemned, but she never mentioned drunkenness, just ‘alcohol’ itself. I’ve been there. I used to have a fixation with the ‘evils’ of alcohol. We need to realise that the fag in someone’s hand or the tin in the other hand is not the issue – the issue is that person’s heart. Stick to the ten commandments when it comes to witnessing – far, far better.
Back at the family home, it was wonderful to see family devotions and bedtime prayers ‘in action’. The voiceover was inaccurate saying ‘they teach that not one word of the Bible is open to interpretation’. The Bible itself tells us to interpret it and gives us rules for doing so – for example ‘comparing spiritual things with spiritual’. I think they were looking at the letter to the Galatians or Romans, but I couldn’t be sure.
The absolute highlight of the programme belongs to Mr Drapper. He is talking to the narrator about the need for training of children. ‘What are you training them for?’ she asks. After a short pause, he says one word: ‘Eternity’. Magnificent – simply spine-tingling as a moment in broadcasting, for me. Parents, are you listening?
Throughout the show there was a lot of reference to creationism. Some of the stuff mentioned seemed rather crude and simplistic. What was perhaps DD’s weakest point was one or two of her pronouncements on creation and evolution. She was in fact guilty of being as dismissive and rude as our old friend Professor Richard Dawkins can be, when referring to ‘the other side’. We have to be very careful of this as Christians. Although things seem so clear to us, and others seem so stupid, we have to remember that to others, WE look stupid.
An amusing ‘cameo’ in the documentary was a puppet show the family (and a few others it seemed) put on at a nearby holiday camp. They had a packed tent, and put on a good show. Mr Drapper’s closing address drew some fire from a parent, who said ‘What a load of cr*p’ and ‘It was disgusting’ and ‘Too in your face’. Seeing as what Mr Drapper said was on record, the way in which the mother then twisted it is instructive. Watch it for yourself. DD herself points out to the camera that talking about heaven and hell and spiritual reality is offensive, and people are very uncomfortable about it. Great kudos for how she handled the next question from the presenter: ‘What if it is all not true?’. She said ‘Well, I’ll have wasted my life and I’ll be dead – but what if it IS TRUE?’ Then, by inference, the questioner would have wasted HER life and would not just be dead, but be in Hell. I thought it was a good answer, really. Better than just saying ‘but it IS true!’.
As the focus shifts to DD’s few days away experiencing ‘real life’, Matthew, her 20 year old, likeable older brother comes into the film more. He says, perceptively, that he wishes DD would think and speak more about Heaven and be a bit more balanced. This perhaps indicates that the film crew did NOT skew the footage. Anyway, he is quite right. I was recently at a funeral when the sermon was all about damnation. But the deceased was a believer in glory! More recently I went to another funeral where the message focused on Heaven, and asked the question ‘Why wouldn’t you want to go?’. The latter was far better. Deborah, your brother made a good point.
Away to Buxton, Derbyshire they go, and the voiceover announces that Matthew lives with ‘non-christian flatmates’. Again, shock, horror! It seems to me that he makes a pretty good job of it, and I was glad of his presence in the film to show how Christians do not have to live isolated lives. DD experiences big shops, modern fashion -and QUITE RIGHTLY points out that dresses supposedly in her size are utterly immodest. A big party is coming up, and the question is raised – is DD going to witness at this party? You betcha! What is most telling is, in general, the bewilderment of DD and younger siblings when confronted with parties, with ‘heat’ magazine and so forth, asking ‘What is the point of all this?’. I have always been the same myself. I have visited a few nightclubs and been ‘out’ with friends from work, and after an hour or so I have walked away, shaking my head, wondering what they see in it. Of course they are rapidly becoming drunk and I am sober – and everything seems enjoyable when you are intoxicated.
The voiceover says ‘DD is ready to save some souls’ at a house party. Well, of course she doesn’t believe that SHE can save souls, but why spoil a good line for the sake of theological accuracy, eh?
The next day she meets a couple of girls from the party for coffee and they talk more. In a wonderful display of postmodern thinking they condescend to tell her that they respect her, but she does not respect them. Why? Well, because they will let her believe what she wants and leave her alone, but she DARES to want to ‘change’ them. Yes, care for never-dying souls is these days considered to be ‘lack of respect’. They struggle to accept that they should go to hell with ‘murderers and child-molesters’. It was at this point, and others, where DD would have been best served by letting scripture speak for her – but as I said, the only clear reference to the Bible was regarding drink – which was a pity as it is a real side-alley. Again, this could be down to film editing.
A night out at a club does not last long, as (unsuprisingly) the experience is deafening and overwhelming. As they catch their breath in the street, a drunken girl walks up to them semi-exposed and wants her chest autographed. What more poignant contrast could there be between two codes of conduct: valueless filth and godliness?
And so the film closes with DD’s impassioned monologue on the wonder of Christ’s atoning death. She gets it. She knows she is a sinner, as do all Christians. To everyone else, it is just foolishness. But God’s word tells us that this is how it will always be. I pray and hope that this documentary might be used of God to speak to the hearts of those seeking answers to questions of life, and eternity.
One closing comment I would make was the lack of reference (there was one obscure one) to a church in which the family was involved. I have written to DD to ask her if they do go to a church (perhaps for reasons of privacy it was not mentioned) but I feel that was a vital part of the picture missed, and one that would tend to ’skew’ the production again, portraying the Drappers as isolated extremists. Interestingly, Mr and Mrs Drapper looked very familiar to me. I cannot think why!
DD will grow up. But she won’t ‘grow out’ of her views as the worldy-wise students on the show posited. A teacher at school ‘bet’ me £1000 I would never believe the ’same things’ in ten years time. Fifteen years on, I am still waiting to collect that £1000. True Christianity is a relationship with God – you don’t grow out of it, you grow into it. Alas the media is all too full of people who say they once believed in God but grew out of it. Ok, you might have believed in some things, just as you might have believed in Father Christmas. But you didn’t know Him. Life really is all about not what you know, but who you know. Do you know Jesus Christ?
Watch it!!
*Update: I am informed, via the comments, that the Drappers do indeed go to church as I had expected and hoped. The omission of this vital fact from the film I believe does show the film-makers desire to exaggerate ther ‘isolation’ of the family.
I’ll admit, I’ve not read a book by Max Lucado before. If this is his best offering, I doubt that I will be going through the back-catalogue.
Note: This is the first review I have done for Thomas Nelson. It has taken a long time to get done because it took three months for the book to arrive!
