Ok, I assume those who are still with me know what the story is about or else you won't ever get around to reading it. As I mentioned in my blog the day after I finished reading Thr3e, I was completely shocked at the twist toward the end. I was conflicted as to whether Slater would end up being a split of Kevin's personality, but when Sam saw two pairs of feet under the door, I felt that that was the ending revelation. However, when she called Jennifer and was told that she also was a split, my mouth literally dropped open and I had to read the passage a couple more times.

It pains me to have to reveal the central plot twist to anyone who might not have read the book, but I can't talk about why it was so compelling to me without speaking to the 3-way split of Kevin's personality into good, evil and the man in between. I don't want to be overly voyeuristic in this blog, but I will say I've struggled with certain sins in my life to the point that, years ago, I found it easier to view my own sin nature as a separate personality splintered from the good Jodi. I saw it as an extension of Paul's cry in Romans "I do not do what I want to do."

In truth, it was simple pride. I didn't want to admit and couldn't reconcile within myself the fact that I could be redeemed and utterly grateful for Christ's entrance into my life...and at the same time not be able to exert a measure of control over a sin nature that reared its ugly head at every turn. It was too much for my self-pride to swallow, that I existed as a weak vessel every second of every day, with a desperation for both the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit and a continual need for new forgiveness from the blood of Christ. I will freely admit that, if I could, I would splinter my personality today so that I could live with a measure of relief.

And pride -- can't forget that. Because it's my pride that is hurt when I can't control my sin nature. My pride that takes a beating when I have to admit that I can't get through a single day, and sometimes hour, without sinning...even these many years into my faith journey. It is simply a matter of pride that it took me so long to realize there is no good Jodi, apart from the minute-by-minute influence of the Holy Spirit breathing into me.

Perhaps this personal struggle is why Thr3e spoke to me so eloquently. It visualized in meaningful metaphor my continual, daily slog to live as a follower of Christ in a fallen world where my sin nature pulls me back to earth as lead in my shoes.

That was my reaction to the book. As to the movie I have a few different thoughts. First, as I said, I probably should have thought a little more before bringing my mom. The movie portrayed the chaos, violence and sadness of the book very well and, quite frankly, wasn't something mom would enjoy generally -- but taking her on her day off between the long stretch of 12-hour days when she's generally looking for fluff made it even worse…sorry Mom!

This was not an easy movie to watch, even aside from the content. It was somewhat choppy, jumping from scene to scene, and I’m not sure I could have followed it as well if I hadn’t read the book. There were also a lot of disturbing images. True, there was no swearing or sex and you didn’t see actual bloodshed in spite of all the explosions, but I still felt something about it was a little gritty to qualify it as a “Christian” movie. Actually, there was only one line in the film that blared “Christian” to me, otherwise I could have thought it was just any old psychological thriller.

And I mean that as a compliment to both Mr. Dekker and the filmmakers. I think we need films that reach to a broader audience and raise questions of spirituality. Not every quote-unquote Christian book, song or movie, in my opinion, needs to end with an altar call. If it entertains and makes a little money from a broad (not specifically Christian) audience, while at the same time bringing to the non-Christian mind a moment of pause as to what the man behind the curtain was trying to say -- more power to them!

To me, the overall metaphor of Thr3e was very powerful, spiritually speaking. It was fun to see the book played out on film and they did a pretty good job with it. It wasn’t a perfect movie, but it was a good one that I’d recommend if you’re not thrown off in general by thrillers.

One last thing I want to say is that, before the movie started, they showed a preview for House, an adaptation of the Ted Dekker/Frank Peretti book. The preview looked, to me, like another in the long line of freakishly scary horror movies that Hollywood delights in churning out. I’m going to have to do some thinking before I shell out money to see it, Christian-themed or not.

I guess it’s a positive sign though. There’s never really been enough variety in Christian-themed art for my liking. I’ve always thought it would be cool if we could have more than one or two radio stations -- then I could listen to Christian Country or Christian Pop and skip the Christian Heavy Metal and Christian Rap. :p Same with bookstores -- wouldn’t it be fun to have different sections so that you didn’t have to wade through a genre you can’t stand to get to the good stuff? If I decide to skip House because my loathing of horror films outweighs my need to support Christian art, I guess that wouldn’t be all bad…