I know, it's a teenage chick flick of super-fantastic proportions of female hormone angst. However, it is fascinating in its display of a group of vampires who have sworn off blood. Carlisle, the leader, is the best at ignoring its tempting power. "Years and years of practice." Yet, other younger ones in their group are still terribly and fatally attracted to blood, e.g., the hilarious birthday scene at their house for Bella, the female love interest of Edward Cullen. Bela Lugosi? More subtle humor.
Part of the theme of this sequel, other than love and competing loves, is the fact of age. Vampires do not age, but humans do, so what happens between the vampire and the human as the human ages. Bella wants to be changed by Edward and become a vampire like him, so that she will not age, so that Edward will not cease to love her. The vampire, Edward claims he'll love Bella no matter what age she is; his love is like that of Christianity, agape.
Edward also has a conscience and a theology. He believes that he is cursed; therefore, he has another reason to refuse to change Bella - he cares for her immortal soul. So, this vampire believes in heaven and hell, loves in his potential wife in a Christian way, and refuses to grant her wishes when he knows it is not for her good, even when it might bring him pleasure, or at least, longer lasting pleasure with Bella. Is this the vampire who, like the man who explained loving his neighbor to Chris, is "not far from the kingdom of God?" Interesting.
Bella and Edward's abstinence is akin to two teenagers trying to avoid sex. In that way, the movie may promote romantic attraction amongst teenagers, but it also promotes abstinence from sexual activity. It is questionable whether such bipolar messages will help or hurt young people in their endeavor to remain sexually pure.
Edward's presence at every dangerous event in Bella's life, after he left, is akin to Christ's promise to never leave or forsake us. Yes, the it is ostensibly every young girl's, woman's, fantasy of the ever present, every protective, ever thoughtful lover/husband, but it is only God who can be that for anyone. Jesus told His disciples: "It is better that I leave, for otherwise the Spirit will not come to you." Edward told Bella that it was better that he leave, that Bella could not come with him. So Christ told His disciples that they could not come with him now.
Toward the end of the movie, the Romeo and Juliet theme that was introduced at the beginning of the movie returns, when Edward thinks that Bella has died. Suddenly, he has lost his power to be present with her and apparently cannot tell that she is still alive. In a reversal of the Romeo and Juliet ending, life conquers death, instead of a deceptive death encouraging death. Bella tells the superhuman, the "divine," Edward that she is nothing, merely human. She can't understand why he would love her. Likewise, if we understand the truth of who we are, in the presence of the holy God, must say the same, but we must also recognize His love.
It is a very odd ending - the Volturi and all that vampire royalty stuff. Yet, the Volturi also have a biblical meaning in being some sort of perverse tribunal, and executioner, for vampires. Interestingly, none of the vampires can read Bella's thoughts. Unlike others, the vampires, particularly Edward, must get to know her by talking with her and having experiences with her. It demonstrates part of the evil of divination and mind-reading; it short-circuits the human relation that God has set up for mankind. It denies respect for one half of the couple. And as she watches Edward's life about to be sacrificed, she offers her own life for "a soul-less monster," as the chief Volturi says. Love for the unholy, the wicked, the cast-out. He is amazed, as we should be at God's grace for us - the unholy, the wicked, the cast-out. Bella's offering saves Edward from their clutches. Then, the prelude to the 2nd sequel arrives, as the Volturi demand the keeping of he promise of Edward and his sister to change her into an "immortal."
Monday, November 29, 2010
Shutter Island, cont'd
In Shutter Island, the protagonist's wife kills their children. She had told him that it felt as if a bug were crawling in her brain. What sorts of invisible problems do people go through of which we have no idea. And for which the person has no idea how to explain it, or is afraid to. We should pray for each other on a regular basis, just because we don't know what each other's needs are or how even to pray for each other to overcome. But Christ knows. When we see someone in trouble, we should pray, not judge.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Last Emperor, contd
The scenes involving the pursuit of a confession from the Emperor are extremely religious in nature. The requirement for complete truth and exactitude in the confession reminds me of a religious order of monks dealing with an immature monk. And, of course, the Maoists must bring him down to size, turn him into "just a man." His pursuit of his former glory by allowing himself to be used by the Japanese should give any man pause as to a pursuit of that which engrosses him at the expense of his wife and contrary to her wise advice. The end she comes to and the regret and guilt he would have to face the rest of his life would be incalculable.
The Emperor was never anyone great, never accomplished anything like his ancestors. He remained the same young boy wishing for love and being imprisoned by those who claimed to serve him. The movie is the story of his self-realization, his coming to terms with who he really is. It is the story of the disappointment men face at middle age, the realization of their true self, and the battle with the narcissism of sin. It is the story of us all. Like the laws of Humanism, the movie can expose fault but provides no divine redemption, no forgiveness by God.
The Emperor was never anyone great, never accomplished anything like his ancestors. He remained the same young boy wishing for love and being imprisoned by those who claimed to serve him. The movie is the story of his self-realization, his coming to terms with who he really is. It is the story of the disappointment men face at middle age, the realization of their true self, and the battle with the narcissism of sin. It is the story of us all. Like the laws of Humanism, the movie can expose fault but provides no divine redemption, no forgiveness by God.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Last Emperor
A fascinating study into an individual's view of history, when that person's view is limited and when the history revolves around that character. The movie is clearly attempting to stay as objective about politics and history as it possibly can (with the gratuitous shot at the conservative, Chiang Kai Chek, being in it for the money), and it gets around the difficult contradictions and ambiguities by letting the main character simply be himself - naive, sad, self-contradictory, petty alternating with a desire for grand accomplishments, weakness alternating with cruelty, regret together with self-justification. The last emperor is a great study in narcicissm. Truth and its effects seems to be the theme, or at least one theme. Other themes there are, but they are subtly played. Sympathy is our first reaction, but upon reflection, comes realization that the sympathetic character that has been created is really a self-absorbed victim of being totally spoiled and pampered all his life.
With truth comes freedom, as we see in the case of the 2nd consort to the emperor, who simply walks away from the prison her life has become, wearing only the clothes on her back. When a servant attempts to give her an umbrella for the rain, she hands it back, saying twice and with a big smile on her face: "I don't need it." She experiences what the rich young ruler would have experienced had he listened to Christ. The wealth and grandeur of being attached to an ex-emperor was utterly empty and destructive. No purpose in life but to support a luxurious lifestyle which had been built originally from rulership and service for China became utterly vain.
To be continued.
With truth comes freedom, as we see in the case of the 2nd consort to the emperor, who simply walks away from the prison her life has become, wearing only the clothes on her back. When a servant attempts to give her an umbrella for the rain, she hands it back, saying twice and with a big smile on her face: "I don't need it." She experiences what the rich young ruler would have experienced had he listened to Christ. The wealth and grandeur of being attached to an ex-emperor was utterly empty and destructive. No purpose in life but to support a luxurious lifestyle which had been built originally from rulership and service for China became utterly vain.
To be continued.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Cocoon
Cocoon begins with someone, whom the viewer does not see, coming from the heavens to earth. This entity appears over an ocean, and dolphins are excited to greet this entity, as if they are greeting their creator. Then the movie turns to the state of man, a retirement community. We are all headed that way - decrepit, old, tired, not as attractive physically, waiting to die. We come to know 4 couples who are friends at this community. Three of the men go surrepticiously to a swimming pool of a neighboring empty house, while one claims that by climbing the fence, they are "committing a crime," and he won't be able to "sue if he falls." He later won't let his own wife go to the pool. "Nature dealt us her hand of card, and now at the end of your life, you're looking to reshuffle the deck." These three encounter in the pool what the entity has come for - cocoons. We learn at the end of the movie that the entity is a spacecraft, and the beings who rented the house for a month are some advanced, spiritual being who merely wear human flesh suits to conceal their identity and purpose.
Upon swimming with the cocoons, the three men become young again; they have found the fountain of youth. They are energized, and they get to know the beings who ultimately allow them to use the pool. The grace of the beings is shown in their choice of a struggling, practically bankrupt charter boat owner. They choose him to take them out to sea, where they dive to retrieve the cocoons and take them back to the pool. The boat owner also gets to know these beings. In fact, we learn more about their true spiritual nature through his eyes. They have the power to send their spirit into a human being and create a glow, a state of being of such pure pleasure that the boat owner essentially says it's better than sex. He says something very revealing: "If this if foreplay, then I'm a dead man." Yes, dead without Christ and His Spirit. However, at first, he's terrified by these beings and their power, just as mankind has been terrified by God's power throughout time. Why else would angels have to say, "Fear not," every time they encounter man? When Walter speaks to Ben and they agree to let them use the pool,
Up to that point, we are excited to see the elderly men getting empowered. It reminds us of the power of Christ to raise the dead, to give new life to the dying, to heal the sick - something we all want. Yet, the movie takes a turn and demonstrates that sin is still alive and well and able to ruin this paradise. When one of the four harms his marriage by misusing his newfound youth, the others at the retirement community discover the secret, which the head space being Walter had told the three men not to allow. They run like a mob for the pool where they think they'll obtain their lost youth. Instead, they foul the water so badly that they cause the space beings in the cocoons to risk death. The mass of sinful humanity takes away so much that it ruins things for them and for those from whom they take. One of
Yet Walter realizes that he is learning something brand new for the first time as he holds a space being as it dies - the sorrow of death. He weeps for the first time in his several millenia of existence. Being such a wise space being, he recognizes the importance of this lesson and decides to bring the three men, their wives, and anyone else from the retirement community to their home in heaven to learn their ways, while the space beings learn from the humans.
Like Jesus Christ, who had never experienced death and never would again, these space beings encounter earth life. But unlike Jesus, they had no idea what they would encounter; He who created all things, knew, but came anyway - for us.
At one point, the movie gives an amazing nod to the salvation of God in Christ alone, or at least, the futility of salvation by law. The one friend who wouldn't use the pool (it was stealing) and who refused the unnatural rejuvenating power of the pool (it's not natural) loses his wife who had been senile for some time. He changes his mind when she dies and takes her to the pool, where in one of the most touching parts of the movie, he puts her in the pool and begins to bathe her, hoping to bring her back. Walter walks in and tells him, "It's too late." He tells Walter, "I'll give you everything I've got." But it's too late. Thus, the power of the law cannot save. That scene appears to be the one that gets to Walter and causes him to invite the elderly people to his planet.
Another powerful scene is Ben's explanation to his grandson that he and his grandmom are going away. He tells him that where they are going they never get sick, they won't get any older, and they won't ever die. But he'll never see his granddad again. He tells the boy he'll leave soon, and he tells him to look up; that's where he's going. He essentially describes heaven, without speaking of God, but he can only describe it as what is not there, n ot what is there. He tells his wife, who is having second thoughts, one of the funniest lines in the movie, "You feel like we're cheatin nature. Well, the way nature has been treatin me lately, I don't mind cheatin her a little bit." These people are living as if this is only a temporary stopping place, which it in reality is. One of them closes his bank account and experiences the joy of giving away hundred dollar bills to every one he meets on the street. The one who harmed his marriage goes back to his wife and tells her that he'd rather live 6 months (he has cancer without the pool) with her on earth than in eternity without her. They treat their departure from earth like the saved treat their departure from earth, like they know they're going to a better place.
The grandson is no longer scared once he can say goodbye to his grandparents and knows they are going to a better place. He goes to his mother. Some must stay. Berney, the one concerned about violating the law, stays; it's his home. The spacecraft picking them up displays the powers of the God of Mt Sinai - ligthening and thunderings. They ascend on the boat into the heavnes, like Jesus going into heaven.
Upon swimming with the cocoons, the three men become young again; they have found the fountain of youth. They are energized, and they get to know the beings who ultimately allow them to use the pool. The grace of the beings is shown in their choice of a struggling, practically bankrupt charter boat owner. They choose him to take them out to sea, where they dive to retrieve the cocoons and take them back to the pool. The boat owner also gets to know these beings. In fact, we learn more about their true spiritual nature through his eyes. They have the power to send their spirit into a human being and create a glow, a state of being of such pure pleasure that the boat owner essentially says it's better than sex. He says something very revealing: "If this if foreplay, then I'm a dead man." Yes, dead without Christ and His Spirit. However, at first, he's terrified by these beings and their power, just as mankind has been terrified by God's power throughout time. Why else would angels have to say, "Fear not," every time they encounter man? When Walter speaks to Ben and they agree to let them use the pool,
Up to that point, we are excited to see the elderly men getting empowered. It reminds us of the power of Christ to raise the dead, to give new life to the dying, to heal the sick - something we all want. Yet, the movie takes a turn and demonstrates that sin is still alive and well and able to ruin this paradise. When one of the four harms his marriage by misusing his newfound youth, the others at the retirement community discover the secret, which the head space being Walter had told the three men not to allow. They run like a mob for the pool where they think they'll obtain their lost youth. Instead, they foul the water so badly that they cause the space beings in the cocoons to risk death. The mass of sinful humanity takes away so much that it ruins things for them and for those from whom they take. One of
Yet Walter realizes that he is learning something brand new for the first time as he holds a space being as it dies - the sorrow of death. He weeps for the first time in his several millenia of existence. Being such a wise space being, he recognizes the importance of this lesson and decides to bring the three men, their wives, and anyone else from the retirement community to their home in heaven to learn their ways, while the space beings learn from the humans.
Like Jesus Christ, who had never experienced death and never would again, these space beings encounter earth life. But unlike Jesus, they had no idea what they would encounter; He who created all things, knew, but came anyway - for us.
At one point, the movie gives an amazing nod to the salvation of God in Christ alone, or at least, the futility of salvation by law. The one friend who wouldn't use the pool (it was stealing) and who refused the unnatural rejuvenating power of the pool (it's not natural) loses his wife who had been senile for some time. He changes his mind when she dies and takes her to the pool, where in one of the most touching parts of the movie, he puts her in the pool and begins to bathe her, hoping to bring her back. Walter walks in and tells him, "It's too late." He tells Walter, "I'll give you everything I've got." But it's too late. Thus, the power of the law cannot save. That scene appears to be the one that gets to Walter and causes him to invite the elderly people to his planet.
Another powerful scene is Ben's explanation to his grandson that he and his grandmom are going away. He tells him that where they are going they never get sick, they won't get any older, and they won't ever die. But he'll never see his granddad again. He tells the boy he'll leave soon, and he tells him to look up; that's where he's going. He essentially describes heaven, without speaking of God, but he can only describe it as what is not there, n ot what is there. He tells his wife, who is having second thoughts, one of the funniest lines in the movie, "You feel like we're cheatin nature. Well, the way nature has been treatin me lately, I don't mind cheatin her a little bit." These people are living as if this is only a temporary stopping place, which it in reality is. One of them closes his bank account and experiences the joy of giving away hundred dollar bills to every one he meets on the street. The one who harmed his marriage goes back to his wife and tells her that he'd rather live 6 months (he has cancer without the pool) with her on earth than in eternity without her. They treat their departure from earth like the saved treat their departure from earth, like they know they're going to a better place.
The grandson is no longer scared once he can say goodbye to his grandparents and knows they are going to a better place. He goes to his mother. Some must stay. Berney, the one concerned about violating the law, stays; it's his home. The spacecraft picking them up displays the powers of the God of Mt Sinai - ligthening and thunderings. They ascend on the boat into the heavnes, like Jesus going into heaven.
Clash of the Titans footnote
One aspect of this movie that completely undercuts it theologically is the idea that men's prayers fuel the gods. Maybe men can fuel demons, but God is totally self-sufficient, aseity as the theologians call it. It means His Self alone is all He needs. This aspect of the true Creator God is one reason man should fall on his face before Him and acknowledge their utter and complete dependence upon Him. Another reason is man's uncleanness, which the movie (and the ancient mythologies) does not deal with at all.
At the end of it all and despite all his attempts to avoid it, Perseus becomes like "them," i.e., the gods. He uses their power, and he ends up defending one god, Zeus, from another god, Hades. It's like being on the side of the "white" witches against the "black" witches. You merely end up defending witchcraft, which represents a rebellion against the sovereign God's order. Likewise, Perseus, as Zeus aptly put it at the end, will end up being worshipped as a god.
So, what about Christian denominations that teach that man is capable of reaching God? They often teach that the Calvinistic doctrine of the sovereign and gracious choice of God in saving individuals is wrong? Do they not accomplish a similar futility, while claiming to teach Christianity? Teaching humanism instead of the true faith?
At the end of it all and despite all his attempts to avoid it, Perseus becomes like "them," i.e., the gods. He uses their power, and he ends up defending one god, Zeus, from another god, Hades. It's like being on the side of the "white" witches against the "black" witches. You merely end up defending witchcraft, which represents a rebellion against the sovereign God's order. Likewise, Perseus, as Zeus aptly put it at the end, will end up being worshipped as a god.
So, what about Christian denominations that teach that man is capable of reaching God? They often teach that the Calvinistic doctrine of the sovereign and gracious choice of God in saving individuals is wrong? Do they not accomplish a similar futility, while claiming to teach Christianity? Teaching humanism instead of the true faith?
Friday, November 19, 2010
Shutter Island
What does Shutter Island have to do with the bible? Shutter Island plays the same trick that A Beautiful Mind plays. You live in the mind of the deceived, the psychotic, and think life is odd but real. You empathize with the character by the time you even know the person is sick in the head. What makes Shutter Island somewhat less believable than A Beautiful Mind is the absurdly unrealistic and artificial attempt at role play set up by the main character's therapists. What is important to learn from both movies is that the unreal can appear real, like a living person the flesh can deceive, and the reality that results from actions taken in compliance with the unreal are truly tormenting and potentially fatal to normal human life, human relationships, and even life itself.
There is a spiritual world, and failing to identify the true from the false results in an unreal world. Sin leads to psychological disorientation because the belief in a reality different from that of God results in an unanticipated and disorienting consequence. What is challenging is the situation in which you face something - a feeling, a perception, perhaps even a vision that appears real - that contradicts the written word of God and you choose the word of God. This is faith in the true God, this is recognition that our own selves lack the capacity in themselves to determine the true from the untrue, the real from the unreal. It is also an opportunity to learn again how our salvation is truly not dependent upon our performance, our own perfection and performance, but depends solely on the grace of God in Christ alone. Our abilities, our knowledge are utterly dependent upon the grace of God. And in our weakness, we learn this, hopefully for good, so that God can use us for His glory and we not take any credit.
There is a spiritual world, and failing to identify the true from the false results in an unreal world. Sin leads to psychological disorientation because the belief in a reality different from that of God results in an unanticipated and disorienting consequence. What is challenging is the situation in which you face something - a feeling, a perception, perhaps even a vision that appears real - that contradicts the written word of God and you choose the word of God. This is faith in the true God, this is recognition that our own selves lack the capacity in themselves to determine the true from the untrue, the real from the unreal. It is also an opportunity to learn again how our salvation is truly not dependent upon our performance, our own perfection and performance, but depends solely on the grace of God in Christ alone. Our abilities, our knowledge are utterly dependent upon the grace of God. And in our weakness, we learn this, hopefully for good, so that God can use us for His glory and we not take any credit.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Clash of the Titans
Yes, I know it's a movie about ancient gods, but for some reason, among all the legends of those ancient gods, it has endured within the Christian world. There's a reason for that. Other than the fact that it's a great adventure story, it displays, in quirky, confused, and disjointed ways, mixed with error, the gospel. It's as if the desire throughout history of man for release, for liberty, for meaning, is tracking the purpose of God, which is to bring that liberty to man through a man. But not just any man. The movie demonstrates how it must be some other kind of man, "born to kill the Kracken."
Notice how the Titans are more like demonic powers. And the bible tells that the heathen worshipped devils, not mere stone images. The rising of man against "the gods" is the rising up against false gods, against wicked gods and devils. At the same time, however, it is a rising up against the sovereignty of God, a complaint, a railing against His will for man, the suffering man must endure. Perseus, much like the God-man Jesus Christ, reconciles all these seeming contradictory themes.
Perseus' adoptive father, like Joseph was adoptive father to Jesus, sums up so much of the movie at the very beginning when he explains his love for Perseus, a lad of about 12 years old or so. He tells him that their love for him, an adopted child, is different from the love of a natural child. This love is what gods and men fight over. Then he quickly moves to another theme and says, "I never understood the gods. But even I know there's a reason you were saved, and one day that reason will take you far away from us." The love of his family is not something that Perseus wants to lose; it's more important to him than any divine calling, and it represents the juxtaposition of love and destiny, choice and sovereignty, which is played out through the movie. The gods make the choices, and the people have to live with them and love those gods anyway. Throughout the movie, Perseus refuses to use a sword given by Zeus, proclaiming he wants to fight this battle as a man, and he refuses an offer from Zeus to live in Mount Olympus. Thus, he sides with man, in spite of his relationship to Zeus. In a sense, he’s a new Adam, refusing the temptation to be “like God,” which is the temptation Adam and Eve fell for.
The next scene is years later when Perseus is a man, and his father complains about Poseidon and Zeus because he catches no fish. His wife tells him it's caused by the men who defy them and that he should be thankful, but the old man continues to rail and with Perseus standing by and listening, he says, "One day someone is going to have to take a stand, one day someone is going to have to say enough." Not much later, they see men destroying an idol, and Hades quickly destroys them. More than a mere man or men are needed to bring about the liberty from the gods that is needed.
Perseus tells his father: "I have everything I need . . . right here," meaning that his family, their fishing boat, and livelihood, is enough. The call of Zeus does not deter him from that love. But Satan, represented in part by Hades, directly after destroying the men taking down the idol, and inadvertently accomplishes God's will for Perseus by destroying everything Perseus had. Even Perseus cannot bring the dead back to life. The next scene reminds the viewer of Satan before God in the book of Job because Hades basically bargains with Zeus to allow him to be set loose upon mankind "to remind them of the order of things."
In Argos, we meet a prophet of the gods, a wild man who berates the people for not being thankful and for fighting the gods. He later becomes the greatest advocate for engaging in human sacrifice. And we learn that Perseus is actually a son of Zeus. And we're introduced to the arrogance of Humanism in its rawest form. Andromeda, the daughter of the king, is embarrassed by the frightening display, demonstrated best when her mother proclaims that the gods should worship Andromeda for her beauty and that "we are the gods now." Andromeda recognized the danger and says, "Don't" to her mother, who persists in her taunting. Perseus appears sheepish also, even though he has more reason to be angry for the loss of his family. Hades, like a demon-god of old, demands the sacrifice of the princess, Andromeda.
There's even humor in Clash. When arming up for the dangerous journey ahead, Perseus picks out of a chest the old mechanical owl that was in the original movie and asks what it is. Hilariously, the most aggressively antagonistic soldier of the group, tells him to leave it. Two hunters join the group of soldiers lead by Perseus, and they provide some comic relief. They also provide the human perspective of those respecting Perseus. Unlike the soldiers, who take every opportunity to mockingly call Perseus “son of Zeus,” these men give Perseus the shield which he’ll use to slay Medusa. As they leave, they call him “fisherman,” which Perseus receives endearingly, considering the love he had for his fisherman father. Io, his guardian angel so to speak for all his life, tells Perseus: “You’re not just part man, part god; you’re the best of both.” A stunningly accurate depiction of Christ, the one who called himself “son of man” and who was the best of all men. While Jesus Christ, as the second person of the Trinity, cannot be better than the Father or the Holy Spirit, he did win the title King of Kings and Lord of Lords and now sits on the right hand of God and because of His sacrifice, is celebrated as the greatest of all heaven.
The finale is the scene in which Zeus, not Hades, releases the Kracken, the fiendishly awesome spectacle of utter terror and judgment from the gods. But there’s still a demigod headed for Argos. Zeus allows, even assists Perseus, in obtaining what he needs to defeat the Kracken. So also did God Himself release His Judgment but not against men, who were rightfully due that judgment. Someone else, Christ, interceded for mankind, and He came at the Father’s own bidding. Clash of the Titans rightly withholds from Perseus the power to cover sin by dying for mankind; Perseus merely stops the judgment in the form of the Kracken. It is a mere temporary stay of the judgment that man deserves. Perseus interceded to defeat a specific form of judgment for one time only. Yet, his accomplishment does mimic that of Christ in two ways. The Kracken was created to defeat the Titans, who had become too strong. So, once the Kracken was destroyed by Perseus, that form of judgment was gone forever. Also, when Hades shows up after the Kracken’s destruction, he tells Perseus it’s futile to pull his sword on Hades because Hades is a god – “I’ll live forever.” But Perseus relies upon the sword of Zeus and Zeus’ lightning to send Hades back to the underworld. With three words, “but not here, “ Perseus also sends Hades back to his world, presumably forever, and out of the world of men.
Jesus Christ, all man, all God, the best of men, gave His life as a man, taking the punishment which was owed to men for their sin. He did this as a man, loving man, and He even remains in that form, carrying the scars He earned for His great warfare against Satan, his minions, and that which would have destroyed man.
Notice how the Titans are more like demonic powers. And the bible tells that the heathen worshipped devils, not mere stone images. The rising of man against "the gods" is the rising up against false gods, against wicked gods and devils. At the same time, however, it is a rising up against the sovereignty of God, a complaint, a railing against His will for man, the suffering man must endure. Perseus, much like the God-man Jesus Christ, reconciles all these seeming contradictory themes.
Perseus' adoptive father, like Joseph was adoptive father to Jesus, sums up so much of the movie at the very beginning when he explains his love for Perseus, a lad of about 12 years old or so. He tells him that their love for him, an adopted child, is different from the love of a natural child. This love is what gods and men fight over. Then he quickly moves to another theme and says, "I never understood the gods. But even I know there's a reason you were saved, and one day that reason will take you far away from us." The love of his family is not something that Perseus wants to lose; it's more important to him than any divine calling, and it represents the juxtaposition of love and destiny, choice and sovereignty, which is played out through the movie. The gods make the choices, and the people have to live with them and love those gods anyway. Throughout the movie, Perseus refuses to use a sword given by Zeus, proclaiming he wants to fight this battle as a man, and he refuses an offer from Zeus to live in Mount Olympus. Thus, he sides with man, in spite of his relationship to Zeus. In a sense, he’s a new Adam, refusing the temptation to be “like God,” which is the temptation Adam and Eve fell for.
The next scene is years later when Perseus is a man, and his father complains about Poseidon and Zeus because he catches no fish. His wife tells him it's caused by the men who defy them and that he should be thankful, but the old man continues to rail and with Perseus standing by and listening, he says, "One day someone is going to have to take a stand, one day someone is going to have to say enough." Not much later, they see men destroying an idol, and Hades quickly destroys them. More than a mere man or men are needed to bring about the liberty from the gods that is needed.
Perseus tells his father: "I have everything I need . . . right here," meaning that his family, their fishing boat, and livelihood, is enough. The call of Zeus does not deter him from that love. But Satan, represented in part by Hades, directly after destroying the men taking down the idol, and inadvertently accomplishes God's will for Perseus by destroying everything Perseus had. Even Perseus cannot bring the dead back to life. The next scene reminds the viewer of Satan before God in the book of Job because Hades basically bargains with Zeus to allow him to be set loose upon mankind "to remind them of the order of things."
In Argos, we meet a prophet of the gods, a wild man who berates the people for not being thankful and for fighting the gods. He later becomes the greatest advocate for engaging in human sacrifice. And we learn that Perseus is actually a son of Zeus. And we're introduced to the arrogance of Humanism in its rawest form. Andromeda, the daughter of the king, is embarrassed by the frightening display, demonstrated best when her mother proclaims that the gods should worship Andromeda for her beauty and that "we are the gods now." Andromeda recognized the danger and says, "Don't" to her mother, who persists in her taunting. Perseus appears sheepish also, even though he has more reason to be angry for the loss of his family. Hades, like a demon-god of old, demands the sacrifice of the princess, Andromeda.
There's even humor in Clash. When arming up for the dangerous journey ahead, Perseus picks out of a chest the old mechanical owl that was in the original movie and asks what it is. Hilariously, the most aggressively antagonistic soldier of the group, tells him to leave it. Two hunters join the group of soldiers lead by Perseus, and they provide some comic relief. They also provide the human perspective of those respecting Perseus. Unlike the soldiers, who take every opportunity to mockingly call Perseus “son of Zeus,” these men give Perseus the shield which he’ll use to slay Medusa. As they leave, they call him “fisherman,” which Perseus receives endearingly, considering the love he had for his fisherman father. Io, his guardian angel so to speak for all his life, tells Perseus: “You’re not just part man, part god; you’re the best of both.” A stunningly accurate depiction of Christ, the one who called himself “son of man” and who was the best of all men. While Jesus Christ, as the second person of the Trinity, cannot be better than the Father or the Holy Spirit, he did win the title King of Kings and Lord of Lords and now sits on the right hand of God and because of His sacrifice, is celebrated as the greatest of all heaven.
The finale is the scene in which Zeus, not Hades, releases the Kracken, the fiendishly awesome spectacle of utter terror and judgment from the gods. But there’s still a demigod headed for Argos. Zeus allows, even assists Perseus, in obtaining what he needs to defeat the Kracken. So also did God Himself release His Judgment but not against men, who were rightfully due that judgment. Someone else, Christ, interceded for mankind, and He came at the Father’s own bidding. Clash of the Titans rightly withholds from Perseus the power to cover sin by dying for mankind; Perseus merely stops the judgment in the form of the Kracken. It is a mere temporary stay of the judgment that man deserves. Perseus interceded to defeat a specific form of judgment for one time only. Yet, his accomplishment does mimic that of Christ in two ways. The Kracken was created to defeat the Titans, who had become too strong. So, once the Kracken was destroyed by Perseus, that form of judgment was gone forever. Also, when Hades shows up after the Kracken’s destruction, he tells Perseus it’s futile to pull his sword on Hades because Hades is a god – “I’ll live forever.” But Perseus relies upon the sword of Zeus and Zeus’ lightning to send Hades back to the underworld. With three words, “but not here, “ Perseus also sends Hades back to his world, presumably forever, and out of the world of men.
Jesus Christ, all man, all God, the best of men, gave His life as a man, taking the punishment which was owed to men for their sin. He did this as a man, loving man, and He even remains in that form, carrying the scars He earned for His great warfare against Satan, his minions, and that which would have destroyed man.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Robin Hood with Russell Crowe
I found this movie fascinating. It tried to give the historical and political underpinnings for the real person, if he was real, Robin Hood. I liked it, even though it rarely referred to the Christian faith of the parties who pressured King John into signing the Magna Carta. In fact, the only one relying upon God was King John, who referred to the divine right of kings. Thus, the movie shows the skewed view, no, the ignorance of the modern world: That the only Christian influence upon history was in favor of tyrannical kings, while freedom was something invented by humans, not instilled in humans by the gospel.
This is why the modern, secular world opposes Islam while embracing it and tolerating it. It doesn't understand the source of freedom is in religion. Islam must be tyrannical politically because that is its root - tyrannical religiously. "Behave, or else!" is its motto. Christianity says believe and you shall be saved - before you ever behave, in fact, after you have royally misbehaved. Therefore, humanism is helpless before Islam. It says, You Muslims are human; therefore, you must love freedom. But that ignore the fact that they love slavery, or they would believe the gospel, which promotes freedom. But freedom is terrifying to the slave, unless born again.
Thus, while I liked the attempt to put Robin Hood into a fuller historic context, I found it lacking in the Christian history that so pervaded the 11th and 12th centuries.
This is why the modern, secular world opposes Islam while embracing it and tolerating it. It doesn't understand the source of freedom is in religion. Islam must be tyrannical politically because that is its root - tyrannical religiously. "Behave, or else!" is its motto. Christianity says believe and you shall be saved - before you ever behave, in fact, after you have royally misbehaved. Therefore, humanism is helpless before Islam. It says, You Muslims are human; therefore, you must love freedom. But that ignore the fact that they love slavery, or they would believe the gospel, which promotes freedom. But freedom is terrifying to the slave, unless born again.
Thus, while I liked the attempt to put Robin Hood into a fuller historic context, I found it lacking in the Christian history that so pervaded the 11th and 12th centuries.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Warfare in movies
Rambo, Avatar-both movies deal with war. People have a purpose; they spare nothing for accomplishing the mission - on both sides. Is that mission, that all-consuming purpose still alive in our time? What purpose could there be in living in peacetime, other than surviving and getting the most stuff we can? This question belies an incredibly great blindness as to the war occurring constantly all around us - the battle for men's souls and the kingdom of God. If we are called to deploy in that battle, what are we doing worrying about how much we can spend on the next TV? Is TV worth our time? Or is it a waste of time? Do you not see the need? Do I not see the need for vigilance, for service, for sacrifice? Why? To accomplish the mission. To see the gospel spread, then lived throughout the entire earth. In wartime, people give to the cause, worry and pray for those on the front line, feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. What could be bigger or grander or more worth sacrifice than the cause of Christ, the Son of God, who sacrificed comfort of an unimaginable kind to fight for us? That is why war movies attract us - the sense of serving something greater and more important than ourselves.
Rambo was an individual warrior coming to terms with why he fought. At first, it seems mindless. His actions in the first movie are insane, yet he fights those who can't see the importance of warfare, who mock and abuse him. Later, he comes to understand the true reason for fighting - the kingdom of God. In Avatar, Jake has no reason for living. He can't even walk. Yet in warfare, he comes alive and must overcome obstacles of a life-threatening nature. It is exhilarating. It gives his life meaning.
What fight do you have? Is it for the kingdom? Will you endure? Will you win? If you abide in Christ, then His life will abide in you, and you cannot help but overcome, even if it means death.
Rambo was an individual warrior coming to terms with why he fought. At first, it seems mindless. His actions in the first movie are insane, yet he fights those who can't see the importance of warfare, who mock and abuse him. Later, he comes to understand the true reason for fighting - the kingdom of God. In Avatar, Jake has no reason for living. He can't even walk. Yet in warfare, he comes alive and must overcome obstacles of a life-threatening nature. It is exhilarating. It gives his life meaning.
What fight do you have? Is it for the kingdom? Will you endure? Will you win? If you abide in Christ, then His life will abide in you, and you cannot help but overcome, even if it means death.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Rambo
It can be easy to forget that Rambo was not just an action movie; it was a movie about the psychological issues a Vietnam vet was going through. It was not a pro-Vietnam War movie; it was a pro-Vietnam Vet movie. Only Rambo was such a good warrior and was such a psychologically damaged vet that he was practically autistic, or like an idiot savant, only in weapons and warfare instead of with numbers like the character like one in Rainman. The last sequel was the resolution for Rambo, who saw something of himself in the mercenaries hired by the missionaries and whom he was transporting into the jungle of Burma.
Yet, at the end he saw the female missionary, and she saw him. She, a pacifist, saw the value of a warrior who could protect her and those doing God's work from the most wicked. But he saw the woman and the Christian missionaries whom he was defending. His life was redeemed. She saw the calling and purpose of the warrior, and he saw that his work as a warrior had purpose, not just any purpose but God's purpose. And he went home . . . healed by the knowledge that his talent for fighting was not worthless. He was not worthless. In a sense, he had come full circle. Like any young man, Rambo probably had a vision early in his life of doing something with purpose in life, perhaps even something for God. Yet, he saw it crumble to dust before his eyes. His resurrection as a guardian for God's servants was the ultimate validation of his life. And so it will be for those who persevere in faith.
Yet, at the end he saw the female missionary, and she saw him. She, a pacifist, saw the value of a warrior who could protect her and those doing God's work from the most wicked. But he saw the woman and the Christian missionaries whom he was defending. His life was redeemed. She saw the calling and purpose of the warrior, and he saw that his work as a warrior had purpose, not just any purpose but God's purpose. And he went home . . . healed by the knowledge that his talent for fighting was not worthless. He was not worthless. In a sense, he had come full circle. Like any young man, Rambo probably had a vision early in his life of doing something with purpose in life, perhaps even something for God. Yet, he saw it crumble to dust before his eyes. His resurrection as a guardian for God's servants was the ultimate validation of his life. And so it will be for those who persevere in faith.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Avatar-Even the title
The scientific world of the West looks upon the word avatar as meaning "a visible manifestation or embodiment of an abstract concept; archetype." The entertainment game world of the West views the term as meaning "a user in a multi-user virtual reality (or VR-like)." But the word "avatar" in Hindu mythology means "the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god." Dictionary.com. Thus, even the title shows the theme of the man from heaven coming down to people, taking on their form, and giving his life to save and rule them. We have modernized and made it technical. Of course, the Christian view of the term is most perfectly embodied in Christ, who truly was from heaven, truly was perfect, truly was holy, truly was and is eternal in the heavens, having come down from heaven to take upon Himself the form of man and save and rule him.
But Christ didn't just take on a temporary form of man; He became 100% man yet remained 100% God. This was the issue at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. There had been controversy before that year as to just how Christ, the Son of God & 2nd person of the Trinity, could be both God & man. Was He a 50%-50% type of being? Was there some kind of mixture? Or were the two substances, divine & human, completely separate? These were important questions because the bible requires that man, though created in the image of God, be seen as entirely different from God in His transcendent, incommunicable attributes. E.g., man has a soul that lasts forever & can discern good & evil, but he may not determine what good & evil are. That is God's role, & it was the mixing of roles which got Adam & Eve & the entire human race in trouble in the Garden of Eden. Man has a beginning, God does not. Man knows things incompletely & imperfectly, God knows all things perfectly. Etc.
Here's the statement on the matter from the Chalcedon Council:
"We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; (ἐν δύο φύσεσιν ἀσυγχύτως, ἀτρέπτως, ἀδιαιρέτως, ἀχωρίστως – in duabus naturis inconfuse, immutabiliter, indivise, inseparabiliter) the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person (prosopon) and one Subsistence (hypostasis), not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God (μονογενῆ Θεόν), the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us."
There are numerous important effects this doctrine of God & man have on every aspect of life - from science to politics to gender. R.J. Rushdoony has written on some of those effects in his book, The Foundations of Social Order: Studies in the Creeds and Councils of the Early Church.
Some of the key distinguishing features of Christ's incarnation & every other religion which includes an Avatar: Christ did not act like a God while on earth but lived like a man, Christ's incarnation was not caused by carnal action but by the Spirit of God, Christ retains a human body until today & through eternity but not a body like ours, & Christ shares with us the gift of a new body at the end of history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)