Charles Brammall on a movie that explains the Bible’s two Adams, and how actress Jennifer Garner came back to God
Paul the apostle’s letter to the church in Rome, chapter 5 verses 12-19:
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through ONE MAN and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
“Nevertheless, death reigned from ADAM to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of ADAM’s transgression. He is a “TYPE” of the Coming ONE.
“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the ONE MAN’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the ONE MAN Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.
“And the gift is not like the ONE MAN’s sin, because from ONE sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.
“If by the ONE MAN’s trespass, death reigned through that ONE MAN, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the ONE MAN Jesus Christ.
“So then, as through ONE trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through ONE righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.
“For just as through ONE MAN’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the ONE MAN’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Jennifer Garner, 53 year old US Christian actress and mum of two girls and a boy, is a HoustonTexas lass. Her family moved to West Virginia when she was three. Her dad William had a Masters in chemical engineering, and mum Patricia was a domestic engineer and then English teacher at a local college.
Dad was “very conservative” and mum “quietly blue“. Jennifer was a believer as a child, weekly member of her local United Methodist Church, and went to Vacation Bible School.
She has two sisters, and described herself as a typical middle child who sought to differentiate herself from her accomplished older sister.
As teenagers, she and her sisters were not allowed to wear makeup, paint their nails, pierce their ears, or dye their hair. She has joked that her family’s “take on the world” was “practically Amish“.
She stopped churching regularly when she moved to LA to seek her fortune as a budding actress. And she hasn’t always been open about her relationship with God, understandably. Fame (and having Affleck as a husband) bring with them great and sometimes frightening intrusion.
Garner starred in one of the most-watched movies on Netflix; The Adam Project (hence the Bible passage above).
It seems to me a slightly unusual choice of film for Garner to make (lots of expletives, and mentions of male genitals). So what might her reasons be?
In the story, time-travelling fighter pilot (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with his 12-year-old self in a mission to save the future. He has crash landed in 2022. The cast is positively stellar, including Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana among others.
Critical response was mixed. But one Lutheran review says “This plot is.. a handy way to think about the true history of the world and the story of the Bible… We live in a corrupted world where a great crime has happened in the past that affects us all (the fall- ed.).
“Our world actually is a dystopian future from the way the world ought to have been (Eden- ed.)… A great hero from outside time came on a mission to set things back to the way they were supposed to be.
“Jesus is the human from that other timeline, the perfect human we were supposed to be but have failed to be.”
Although (in my opinion) correct, the review doesn’t link the movie’s plot directly with the the Bible’s first Adam/second Adam theology (viz Rom 5), and is therefore inadequate.
Rom 5:12-29 is very particular about the nature of the “great past catastrophe”- Adam. And of the far greater past, present and future solution (the second great Adam- Christ).
It deliberately links them. I wonder if the film makers (and Garner) may have had this in mind, more than merely what the rather reductionistic review detects.
In the Bible, Jesus, the one new man, IS the Adam project. His life, and death as our substitute- His resurrection by the Father of life, and ascension to the heavens to rule- ARE the great mission to reverse the first Adam’s rejection of God.
He is the mighty second Adam, in almost every way different to the first (and to all us other Adams and Eves as well). And yet in an indescribably empathic way, SO much like us, fully human as He is. The Man/God miracle.
But it was not this film that brought Garner back to God. She recommitted herself to Him 11 years ago, as a result of her part in the 2016 Christian film Miracles from Heaven.
The film is based on an (allegedly true) memoir by Christy Beam, a Texas mum whose daughter Annabel suffered from an incurable, rare disorder of the digestive system.
And I don’t say “allegedly true” out of any doubt at all in God’s undeniable ability to heal without medical explanation. My scepticism is merely because there is no way for me to fact check.
After the little girl fell almost 10m into the hollow trunk of a tree on the family’s property, tests revealed that Annabel’s illness had “disappeared”.
Christy: “Annabel was sick. There is documentation. People lived it with us. She’s a completely healed child now,… She eats and does whatever she wants, well, within reason. But it happened. We lived it, and how can you deny that?”
There’s no denying Beam’s passion for her daughter’s story. She received a vast amount of support as a result of what her family believes is a miracle from God.
Beam knew she had to tell the world about Annabel’s journey.
“I think, you know, I should have shared this story,… It was the right thing to do. It was selfish to keep it… It motivates me.”
When she learned that Jennifer Garner would be playing her, she couldn’t believe it. “I just want people to know that there is hope,… That there is a God who is faithful, and that there are miracles around you daily.” she said.
Was Garner chosen for the party due to her (re)budding faith? I haven’t found anything to suggest so, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Jennifer described being affected by the film: “I grew up going to church every Sunday and, you know, Ben and I took our kids home to West Virginia to be baptised in my family’s church”. (Christ Church United Methodist)
“… the thing about this film was it kind of encouraged me to reengage in participating and not just believing, but actually participating in raising my children so that they had the same background that my parents gave my sisters and me…
“There was something about doing this film and talking to my kids about it and realising that they were looking for the structure of church every Sunday.”
She, ex-husband of 11 years Ben Affleck, and the kids, joined a Methodist church in LA after the shoot. But she also attends various other church services near her home in Pacific Palisades.
Jennifer tragically lost a friend from church in the current LA brush fires;
“I did lose a friend, she didn’t get out in time. And for our church, it’s really tender, so I don’t feel like we should talk about it yet,…
“My heart bleeds for my friends,… I mean, I can think of 100 families, and there are 5,000 homes lost. I can— without even (thinking)— I could just write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes. I feel almost guilty walking through my house.”
It is great to pray for our high profile brothers and sisters in Christ, in entertainment. Success can come at an astronomical ethical and moral price. And fame can come at a high personal price. Jennifer and the kids were stalked by a chap called Steven Burky from 2002 to 2003, and again from 2008 to 2009.
The family took out an AVO on him, and he was arrested in 2009 outside their daughter’s preschool. He was charged with two counts of stalking, to which he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In 2010 he was declared insane, sent to California’s state psychiatric institution, and ordered to stay away from the Garner-Affleck family for 10 years if released.
As well has having starred in multiple film and TV roles, Garner is also a philanthropist. She was Artist Ambassador for Save the Children Fund for over 10 years. As well as bringing Save the Children’s early childhood education programs to her home state of West Virginia, she has advocated for it in the Senate. Also she has traveled all over the US meeting up with lawmakers, press and philanthropists, to raise awareness and funds for the organisation.
During the pandemic her 12.5 million Insta followers said her weekly feed inspired them spiritually with prayer and meditations. More recently it has included updates from “Save the Children” on the ground in Ukraine.
Garner says when she reconnected with God “you can’t have faith only if things are going to be good. The world is a complicated place and our faith helps us makes sense of it.”
The industry seems to be rife with spectacular falls from grace (like Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Oscars slapping incident). But Jennifer seems to be quietly inspiring millions and using her influence to give life to awareness of the LORD.
Miracles from Heaven is available with an Amazon Prime Video subscription, and The Adam Project, on Netflix.
Image: jennifer garner. Image credit Karon Liu/Flickr