Frank Cottrell Boyce, a renowned screenwriter, writes about film and faith on the website of the British Jesuits. (Boyce wrote the splendid film Millions, about a boy who talks to saints.)
Conventional storytelling is all about consequences, about the merciless chains of cause and effect; but the great religious stories – The Prodigal Son, for instance – are about how mercy and grace will cut you free from those chains. I believe strongly in unearned surprises and discontinuous glories. So there is a conflict, but it is a creative one.
Interesting that the beginning of the article mentions Colin Firth. I was thinking of “The Emperor’s Speech” as an excellent example of good storytelling.