The Gospel according to the Three LIttle Pigs and Its Modern Adaptation

I was watching the Disney version of the Three Little Pigs the other day with my kids. It had been since I was a kid when I last saw it. Something dawned on me about the Disney version in comparison to the original, as it reflects the modern evangelical view of the gospel quite well. I say "original" to refer to the earliest book including pigs (the same story appears with pixies and bunnies in variation).

Everyone knows the story. The first two pigs build houses out of perishable material that disinigrates when the wolf comes and blows it in. The last pig builds his house out of sturdy material that will last the onslaught of the wolf's fierce gale. 

Both the original story and the modern Disney one are the same at this point. What is different in each is what happens to the pigs.  

Now, at this point, it probably important to point out what the building of the houses means. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the houses represent what one does in life, i.e., what he builds his life out of by what he does with this time. 

The first two little pigs spend their time on their pleasures in the Disney version to represent this fact. The original story is more implicit with the analogy.  The last pig spends his time working while being intentional about building his house out of the material that is going to endure. 

There are political interpretations and applications of the story, but the imagery itself seems to come from the Bible. Two ideas in the Bible seem present: The idea of building one's house on the rock rather than sand in order to endure the storms to come, and the idea that one should build his house (i.e., doctrines of the faith and living) out of enduring material rather than wood, hay and straw.

The perishable material seems to be taken from 1 Corinthians 4, but the idea of wind that knocks a house down and moral of the story from Matthew 7. 

Matthew 7 argues that one should not merely claim to have Christ as his Lord, but that one only truly has Christ as his Lord when he lives according to Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In other words, if one lives accordingly, then when the storms, i.e., judgment comes, his life will stand in terms of being a witness to the fact that Christ was His Lord during life. His claim is true, he may enter eternal life with Christ. However, if he has lived according to lawlessness, i.e., his own religious ideas instead of Christ's commands, this is building on human ideas which are sand and the storm, i.e., judgment, will come and show his claim to have Christ as his Lord to be false. He will receive the words of Christ, "Depart from Me, I never knew you, You who practice lawlessness, i.e., live according to your own human ideas/morals." 

Understanding this principle, the original Three Little Pigs relates that when the two little pigs who built their houses out of perishable material have their houses blown in by the wolf, he eats them. They die horrible deaths. The story parallels Matthew 7, where people who claim to be Christians do not live as Christians, and thus, show themselves to be of the world and destined to receive the damnation of the world.

The modern Disney version, however, looks very different. The first two little pigs live according to their pleasures in disregard of any judgment to come, and when their houses are blown in, they simply end up running into the third pig's house and all survive because of it.

There are a couple different directions I could take with that idea. One is that some think they can ignore Christ and will somehow be saved by virtue of their being associated with people who do live for Christ, as though salvation is through association. The other, however, is the way that evangelicals treat the gospel and talk about grace. 

Since Jesus built His house out of brick, i.e., lived a life of obedience to God, I can live my life in whatever manner I please and still be saved because Jesus is my Savior. He's got a brick house so I can build mine out of straw or furze. I have no need to be inentional about living for God since Jesus did it for me. 

This is where a misunderstanding of justication and sanctification come in. Most evangelicals think that Christians don't need to do good works and refrain from evil because that would be legalism and we're saved by grace. Hence, Jesus' brick house ensures that I have no need to be loving toward God, wise in the world, and follow Him by obeying His commandments.  

Christians obeying Christ by living out Christ's commands as evidence of their unification/salvation with Christ, however, is exactly what Matthew 7 is talking about. It isn't talking about Christ's active obedience that covers Christians in justification. It's distinguishing between true and false Christians, those who follow Christ and truly have Him as their Lord and those who only say that they do and live according to their own moral laws, traditional or mixed between traditional/cultural and biblical while setting other biblical teachings and morals aside. 

In Matthew 7, and the original Three Little Pigs, those who do not live out their lives by making choices for that which is eternal over temporary will perish. In the new version, living out such wisdom is optional. Jesus saves me with His house of bricks either way. 

In this regard, the modern Three Little Pigs is a deadly lie. It comforts the ungodly and assures them of their salvation when there is none. It cries out, "But this is the temple of God, the temple of God, the temple of God!" with the pre-exilic Judahites who trust in the promises of God given to those who repent and obey Him, even though they neither repent nor obey Him (Jeremiah 7:1-15). 

The original story actually continues after the wolf fails to blow in the last pigs house, as even the pig who built his house out of brick must continue to live wisely, aware of the judgment/death/wolf that seeks to destroy him. In the end, he ends up eating the very wolf that desired to eat him (perhaps a fitting metaphor for Christians overcoming the judgment of eternal death in resurrection--i.e., devouring that which once attempted to devour them during their lives).

Evangelicals continue to repeat their mantras, "We're saved by grace, by grace, by grace," even though grace and the promises of God are still for those who repent and have Jesus Christ as their Lord by seeking to obey Him in all things. When they fail, they continue to repent by ceasing to do evil and learning to do good. This house built out of the stuff that Christ commands is evidence that one has been actually building his room in Christ's house, under His Lordship, and if he has done so, though the waves crash down, the winds howl, and the wolves blow, his house will remain forever.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Gal 6:7-8)