I came across a statement recently that Sandra Bullock had originally turned down the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the movie, The Blind Side, because of her perception of Christians. The source of the statement came from this article, where she said the following:
“One of my biggest concerns stepping into this was how people use their faith and their religion as a banner, and then they don’t do the right thing,” explains Bullock. “They go, ‘I’m a good Christian, and I go to church, and this is the way you should live your life.’ And I’m like, do not give me a lecture on how to live my life when you go to church every week, but I know you’re still sleeping around on your wife. I told Leigh Anne the banner waving scared me because I’ve had experiences that haven’t been great. I don’t buy a lot of people who use that as their shield. But she was so open and honest and forthright. And I thought, wow, I finally met someone who practices but doesn’t preach—someone who blazes trails, and they do it as a family.”
It’s unfortunate how true some of those statements are, such as the number of people who “use faith and their religion as a banner” but don’t “do the right thing”. Also, how many Christians “practice but don’t preach”?
I actually think the number of Christians that “practice that don’t preach” is larger than the number of those who say one thing but live something else. The problem is, the banner wavers, as she calls them, often times have a bigger platform to begin with or end up with one because our culture loves to publicize the hypocrites and failures. Many people want to hear the stories about failure because it makes them feel better about themselves.
I hope more and more that people who know Christians will be able to say what Sandra said after getting to know the Tuohy’s, that they “finally met people who walk the walk.” She may have meant walk the talk, but you get it. Didn’t Jesus say something like that?
