Chariots of Fire is the based-on-fact 1981 movie of two runners, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, who train to compete in the 100-meter sprint in the 1924 Olympic games. Abrahams, played by Ben Cross, is a English nonreligious Jew who is a student at Cambridge just after WWI. Liddell, played by Ian Charleson, is a Christian Scot and former rugby star who is expected to take over his father’s religious mission in China. Both are driven to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but for different reasons.

Abrahams views winning as vindication for the discrimination he faces as a Jew. Liddell senses God made him “to run fast” as a way to honor Him. As they travel to Paris for the Olympic games, Liddell learns that the race will be run on Sunday, and it is his conviction that he cannot run on the Sabbath. He is pressured to honor king and country above God but maintains his resolve. Finally a compromise is worked out to compete in a race for which he has not trained. This is an outstanding movie contrasting a man with a temporal worldview of life against that of a man with God’s view of life in eternity. This is a great movie for small group discussion. Acts 17:11 web has a good Bible study based on this movie.

Chariots of Fire is the based-on-fact 1981 movie of two runners, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, who train to compete in the 100-meter sprint in the 1924 Olympic games. Abrahams, played by Ben Cross, is a English nonreligious Jew who is a student at Cambridge just after WWI. Liddell, played by Ian Charleson, is a Christian Scot and former rugby star who is expected to take over his father’s religious mission in China. Both are driven to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but for different reasons.