Monumental Confusion<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
A Review of Kirk Cameron's Documentary: Monumental
 

"My premise as I start out this film is to approach this subject not as an actor or as a politician or not even as a Christian but to approach it as a father." (emphasis ours) This is how Kirk Cameron defined his documentary in a recent interview to a secular radio host and this is exactly what the film delivered having just watched it at the live screening.
 
Before we even get into the review, it needs to be noted one of the most shocking parts of the live event was a very welcomed live feed from Glenn Beck on the set of GBTV studio. On the pre-show before Monumental starts, Kirk talks to the audience of viewers and introduces Beck as "one of our biggest supporters of the film and a friend." Beck then comes on the screen very excited to be partaking in this live event and says, "I am honored to be called your friend", and then goes on to say, "You were in Left Behind while I was reading it." He goes on to address the audience with statements on the topic of how God is giving us an alarm, and if you don't have freedom you can't be who you are.
 
Beck states "He (talking about God) is telling us to do these things."  Beck also says, "There's no way out", then goes on to say that God has really confirmed to him "why would I be telling you to gather if I'm a God that wants to torture you. He is a loving God. We have to return to Him." Kirk then says, "We are ready to answer the call" and graciously thanks Glenn and pleasantries are exchanged.
 
Kirk then introduces some others involved with the film, in particular of note was his conversation with his current pastor Rex Holt of Conejo Church, http://www.conejochurch.com/
They have a conversation together talking about this being a spiritual journey and Holt speaks about John Robinson the pastor to the Puritans that were on this voyage.
 
The film opens up with the trailer many of us have seen with Cameron blasting away at how the world is supposedly going to hell in a hand basket and we have to somehow stop it from spiraling downward before we hand it off to the next generation.
 
The film is portrayed with Kirk's narration back and forth of what he is learning along the way as he goes from point to point along the pilgrim's escape route from England.
The portrayal of what the pilgrims were trying to accomplish according to the film is quite extraordinary. If what the film says of their journey is true, they were seeking to accomplish the goal of living out what the Bible teaches. They were printing Bibles in English to get the Gospel out…. this is where we hoped the film would lead; however it takes a different path.
 
It diverts from the pilgrims simply trying to get out from under King James's rule and tyranny to, "we as Americans now have to reclaim what they did in order to regain liberty and freedom." That is where it starts getting really messy. The film brings you to where Kirk and Marshall Foster meet up and Kirk is asking, how do we get back to that, I wish they would of left us a recipe. Foster is quick to tell him they did leave one, and its just over the hill they happen to be standing on.
 
The Monument then flashes on the screen and its magnitude is highlighted by aerial shots and larger than life footage of this granite statue. Kirk is awe of what he sees and what Foster then delivers to him in exposition of the parts of the monument. We are not told how Foster knows all of this information; he just starts explaining all the symbols of it.
 
Here is the following of how he broke down the description of the monument:
--Faith: She is pointing to God because her faith is in the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ. She has the Geneva Bible and the pages are opened up because that meant they were reading it. The star is for wisdom, how to live, and without faith it all falls apart.
 
--Morality: Internal morality, the woman has no eyes, she's looking internal to the heart first, and then external. She has the scroll of Revelation in her right hand and the Ten Commandments in the left. (Again he is not telling us how he knows that is what she is holding, you can't see that from the film that it's inscribed with those verbiages on it). You have to change hearts and minds first. The side statues give meaning of Evangelism, the writing down of the Gospel because "He came to set us free" he states.  Law meant civil law, if you want order then you must have the Law-the principles of God are related into civil law, and the mercy that He's having.
 
---Justice: She's holding scales of justice and in terms of equity there should be equality.
 
--Mercy: It's built upon the idea that He offers us mercy and grace.
He sums that up by saying you have to have morality, a moral system of law and one that shows grace to people. You have a freedom and a civility and how you can educate your children.
 
From there he goes to the Education statue saying she is educating her children and sitting in victory. It's how to carry on truth to kids and through their youth.
 
The one thing we did agree with, if its in fact true that the statue represents all of that on education was Foster's comment that, it is the parent's responsibility to do this (educate) their children because their worldview was different from the government. He said it was our responsibility to teach our children, not the government's because they will not learn the proper things if left up to them.
 
---Wisdom: In the left hand it's pointing to the Ten Commandments and an open Bible. This man is older and wiser, he is teaching the children how the world works from a biblical perspective and passing on liberty. Again, we are never told how Foster knows all of this; he just starts interpreting all of these symbols.
 
--Liberty Man…the big climax and focus of the documentary and one that Kirk is fascinated with. Liberty Man is the fruit of it all. That is what he represents. Foster says the Liberty Man is "the result of obeying the matrix of liberty," (the matrix of liberty being the rest of the monument.) He has defeated tyranny and is holding it down.
 
The summation of all this description from Foster in referring to Kirk's desperate desire for an answer to all of it…"This is that recipe."
So Kirk now has his answers of how to reclaim America and his children's future…. by following the mandates of this Monument.
 
He then wants to know if our founding fathers were as on target with Christianity as our forefathers were.
He heads to Texas where he states, "home of David Barton, the leading expert" on the topic.
Barton and Cameron have an exchange around Barton's elaborate collection of supposedly historical documents. Barton states that Congress and the founding fathers printed the first English Bible, so if they were so atheistic, agnostic, deistic, then why would they want the Bible in schools.
Simply put to Barton…they would, that is why they were getting it out there. Kirk says after seeing all of this, "the founding fathers did not ditch the faith." Barton says there are many out there that are deliberately and denying the truth of the founding fathers. They are repeating it ignorantly when they say that the founding fathers weren't Christians. He takes a great time showing Cameron the book, The Godless Constitution, and uses one page from the bibliography as his basis of how people do not document their sources when they say the founding fathers weren't Christians. 
 
How does it all end? Kirk tells us in his own words, "The solution to the crisis? It's not to blame, the responsibility to secure freedom for my family is in my hands. Join me we will secure a Monumental future for our children."
 
We walked away from this gospel-less film, done by a guy that is known as an evangelist for the Christian faith, with utter confusion and one big looming question…why did Kirk not go to the scriptures to seek out his Monumental question?
 
The answers are there. We will not reclaim America, but rather Jesus Christ will restore creation when He returns. That is a much better solution than what we as humans or monuments could come up with. His word is Truth!