Many evangelical Christians have also concluded the film is openly hostile toward the Christian faith. Perhaps. But the burden for the Christian is to explain that the film doesn't depict the true Christian faith at all. It depicts a counterfeit religion masquerading as Christianity, accurately depicting the sin within the heart of those who profess to be ministers of the gospel but who are in reality committed only to their own profit and pleasure—at the expense of deceived followers.
 
The final scene brings this point home. The faith healing prophet/preacher Eli Sunday comes to Daniel Plainview with a proposition which unveils the depravity of his own heart.  Plainview unmasks the preacher, exposing his hypocrisy by demanding Sunday to repeat, "I am a false prophet and God is a superstition."

The philosophy expressed in those words rightly offends the sensibilities of Christians. But taken in the context in which they are spoken, these words are an honest confession of faith, revealing a heart far from God spoken through lips that have heretofore “honored” Him (cf. Matthew 15:18), thus exposing the evil heart. Unless we are confronted with the evil within our own hearts, we believe we have nothing to be saved from and therefore the Christian gospel has nothing of importance to say to us (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:20-25).
 
There Will Be Blood is not the positive, uplifting "Christian" film evangelicals prefer, but it doesn't have to be in order to proclaim Christian truth. Truth is present in the inability of its lead characters to achieve lasting peace through the unrestrained pursuit of their depraved passions, affirming the Christian’s conviction that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can cure the evil in the human heart.  
 
The absence of this gospel is the reason for the violence. In the end the film cries out for a resolution that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can offer. By leaving out an explicit presentation of the gospel the screenplay inadvertently, if not intentionally, leaves the need for the gospel in PLAIN VIEW.

 

Paul Edwards is a regular columnist and the host of “The Paul Edwards Program” heard daily on WLQV in Detroit. Contact Paul at paul@godandculture.com.