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.