Interstellar

"Interstellar" came out in 2014. It's about time and family, but it contains a theological explanation of covenant family and dominion also. Long before seeing it and while sitting in a doctor's waiting room, I picked up a magazine and noticed an article about the movie. It explained that the makers went to an actual theoretical physicist to learn how to represent a black hole and a worm hole in a movie. The scientist allegedly took the equations governing the theoretical operations of these theoretical phenomena and matched it with special effects software for a video representation. But when they actually saw the image the equations created, they had made an entirely new scientific discovery as to the operation of the phenomena. Matthew McConaughey plays the main character, Cooper, a NASA pilot, living in the earth of the future, where crops are dying to blight, and the future of mankind looks bleak. NASA is no longer acceptable as an institution because farming is more important. Therefore, Cooper feels like a fish out of water but does the "socially acceptable thing" of farming. As for the deeper meaning of the movie, that is summed up at the end when Cooper's daughter tells her dad: "I knew you'd be back because my Dad promised me." That is the main theme of the movie, which is about time and family more than it's about space. The rest of this discussion will point out the tips and hints that appear throughout the movie. I'll address them chronologically - for the most part. Cooper is a farmer, a tender of a Garden, but first there's a Fall, or a Crash, caused by an "anomaly." Cooper's father-in-law, who lives with Cooper and his remaining family of a son and daughter, tells Cooper to "Repopulate the earth," which repeats a portion of the Dominion Covenant of Genesis: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:27-8. Watching the movie for the fourth time, I began to question whether the word "earth" in Genesis 1:1 need be restricted to one planet. Or could that word refer to all firm pieces of land in the entire universe? All planets? Cooper, whose view of dominion reaches far beyond the confines of our small planet, made me question what "earth" means. Cooper to his father-in-law: "We used to look up and wonder about our place in the stars; now we look down at our place in the dirt." He later expounds that "Mankind was born on earth but was never meant to die here." Sovereignty appears in the saying, "Anything that can happen will happen." He names his own daughter after Murphy, and he considers it a good thing. Of course, anything can't just happen without a personality causing such to happen. Murphy speaks about a drone he downs, and Cooper says he'll put its solar batteries to a "socially acceptable" use, powering a combine. All must go toward the goal of tending the Garden, feeding mankind. His son likes farming, and his Father thinks he'll be great at it. Another religious message: There's a dust message in his daughter's room, and Cooper's father-in-law says to clean it up "when you finish praying to it." By the way, the message is from a Father communicating through dust, what man is made of, and the Father is perceived by Cooper's daughter as a Ghost. What Father uses dust to write a message that would lead to the salvation of mankind by means of a Ghost [Holy]? A tribute to the female contribution to humanity, the daughter says to her father: "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me." "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." I Corinthians 11:8-9. In looking for the location revealed by the code in the dust, Cooper reaches a gate guarded by a light. Actually, it was a robot with a light. An angel? The coordinates for the location which would result in mankind's salvation were revealed "supernaturally." Another explicit biblical reference: The missions that were the pioneering exploration missions before Cooper's were called "Lazarus." Cooper was predestined to fly the Interstellar mission, for those overseeing the Lazarus mission tell Cooper that he was "trained for the Interstellar mission without even knowing it." Who sent Cooper? "They." He later explains that "Heading out there is what I was born to do." He was chosen by someone, trained without knowing where he was headed or what he was training for, sent by someone, and ends up doing what he was born to do. Science, represented by Professor Brand and Dr. Mann, promised salvation but didn't keep its promise. The Father kept His promise in Cooper's promise to his daughter. "I love you forever, and I'm coming back," promised Cooper to Murph. Covenant family promise prevails over the promises of scientific materialism. And "the remarkable Dr. Mann" demonstrates the total depravity of man, no matter his intellect and promise. Another Calvinist reference: The space station is called "Endurance," thus perseverance is an element of the salvation experience. As Cooper and his crew are headed out toward Saturn, one of the crew expresses his concern about being surrounded by space and the near-instant death it threatens. Cooper tells him that the space station they were traveling in is their boat. He tells him this after giving him what looks like a walkman carrying sounds of a rain storm. Ark? Flood? No, it wasn't an 8-member crew. Cooper tells his daughter, Murph, that "they chose me." They also chose Murph. And Murph, the covenant daughter, is a vast improvement on Professor Brand. She fulfills Murph's grandfather's statement to Professor Brand: "Maybe [Murph] should come make a fool out of you." She does. Brand is exposed as a fool and a deceiver. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." I Corinthians 1:25. Cooper's son sends out messages into the darkness, not expecting Cooper to hear them - the definition of unbelieving prayer. Murph refuses to send out messages at all. Ironically, Professor Brand is the most faithful in sending messages into space, but he's ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. II Timothy 3:7. Deceiving and being deceived. II Timothy 3:13. Next to "the remarkable Dr. Mann," he is the most cynical and contemptible character in the movie. An evolutionist believing merely in survival, like Dr. Mann, he says at one time to "think not as individuals but as a species." Covenant family for Professor Brand means sending his daughter into space based on a lie to the human race which he seeks to save. He's a consummate politician in other words, secretly seeking funding for a project he considers in his elitist scientific opinion as more important than any other. Dr. Mann reveals later his philosophy: "Survival instinct - single greatest source of inspiration." He's inspired by survival, and he later proves that that is all he believes in. That's the only ethic of evolution - survival, even if it means the death of others. Promise, covenant family, love - all disappear within the evolution worldview. The Father (Cooper) thinks for both - his family and the human race. Dr. Mann thinks of the human race, but he ends up thinking only of himself. Professor Brand's daughter, Dr. Brand, a member of Cooper's crew, speaks of something transcendent. Love, which unlike science, is not something that mankind invented. For her, love may transcend both time and space. She ends up being wrong factually in the context of the discussion in which she says that, but she ends up being right in the context of the covenant family promise of the Father, Cooper. Dr. Mann's planet is cold, not loving, and he is evil, what Dr. Brand didn't expect to find in outer space. When she says, "We're the best of humanity," she's referring to her team, the Lazarus mission members, and Dr. Mann. No evil there. Cooper has a more realistic view of evil. "Even me" is what he questions when she speaks about the best of humanity. Dr. Mann awakens from sleep and cries like a baby, as if he's being born. He tells the crew that they "literally raised [him] from the dead." During the Dr. Mann meeting they learn the truth, and Cooper's daughter sounds like an Israelite in the wilderness after leaving Egypt: "Did you know? I just want to know if he [her dad] left us here to die." Dr. Mann ends up a Cain figure, attempting to kill his brother so he can captain the mission instead of Cooper. He dies in his own folly. Save the world by sinning, not by trusting the Father and the covenant family promise, is Dr. Mann's philosophy. Evolution, the survival instinct versus the love ethic, proves hollow to the core, for even murder is just part of the process for Dr. Mann. Cooper ends up giving his life for Dr. Brand's daughter, and he becomes in charge of time, sovereign in a sense. As he's leaving his family earlier in the movie, he drives his truck away from the farm, and he looks like the classic portrait of Christ after being scourged. Cooper is a Christ figure, attacked by Cain and misused by the unbelieving deceiver, Professor Brand, but it all works toward the Father's plan anyway. The love of the Father causes the child to come to the Father to learn. That's what happens in Murph's room. And Murph sums it all up in the end: "I knew you'd be back because my Father promised me." The Christian knows God the Father will sustain him and that Christ will be back because their Father promised them. The promise of the Father is what led the prophets and believers of the Old Covenant to believe that Messiah, Love, would come. The movie ends with a new Garden of Eden and a new Adam and Eve - Cooper and Dr. Brand, the daughter of Professor Brand. In an ironic reversal or confusion of roles (not sure which it is), Professor Brand is like the serpent in the Garden, deceiving his own daughter and the new Adam, Cooper, into thinking that science can provide eternal life for man before they discover otherwise and return to the Garden. Conclusion: The Father has sovereign power over time and uses it to communicate to His children by means of the Holy Ghost - books and writing in dust, the element of man; thus he proves that His promise to come and save is faithful. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the ultimate covenant family upon which all covenant families are based.

Donnie Darko

It took me awhile to figure this one out. Normally one viewing is enough for me to get the Christian view of a movie. I find it in just about every movie I watch. It doesn't matter whether the writer or directors intended a Christian view or not; I normally see it. It's as if Christ is impossible to avoid in writing stories about humanity. Perhaps it was the complexity of Donnie Darko that kept me from seeing it until I'd watched it four times. Or better yet, it was the fact that the movie is full of so much that remind you of something thoughtful, something from your youth, something realistically or surrealistically engaging. The details of the movie are so good that you don't readily see the theme that runs throughout. Last week, I watched it, and the next morning, it hit me. And it was so obvious, I found it strange that I hadn't noticed it before. First, there are several key conversations that Donnie has during the movie. They are confrontational, and they involve important people. They involve Donnie making very pointed critiques of things; therefore, they tell us something about Donnie. Conversation One: When Donnie's girlfriend (eventually) enters his English class for the first time, he explains the short story by Graham Greene, "The Destructors." He goes straight to the theme, answering the teacher's question exactly. It's about creative destruction. Conversation Two: When another teacher demands Donnie mark on the "Love-Fear Continuum" where a certain situation falls, he explains to her what is missing in the Continuum, how there's more to life than just love and fear. He explains to her that life cannot be defined by just one thing; it's more complicated. Conversation Three: To his two friends, Donnie explains the Smurfs very concisely and corrects their incorrect understanding of the Smurfs story and characters. Conversation Four: Twice, Donnie discusses time travel with his science teacher. The first time he learns about Grandma Death and her book and the fact that she had taught at Donnie's school at one time. During the second conversation, Donnie explains the vector from the chest that shows your set path in life. The teacher says that he's contradicting himself because if we could see our path, then we could choose a different one. Donnie says, "Not if it's in God's plan." At that point, the teacher tells Donnie he can't talk anymore about it or he could lose his job. In that conversation, Donnie combined an understanding of time travel or control over time plus the predestinating sovereignty of God. Conversation Five: When Jim Cunningham, the pseudo-counselor, comes to speak at Donnie's school, Donnie questions Jim's economic incentive in speaking to the students, explains that he also has missed the entire connectedness of life in his obsession with love and fear, and accuses him of being anti-Christ. In these five conversations, Donnie is always on the offense, explaining something the others cannot see, and critiquing their lack. He even critiques his teachers and counselors. He is relentless in his critiques, and we agree with his critiques. Donnie acts as a prophet in these conversations. He also engages in acts of judgment - flooding the school (hints of Noah) because the school is "in great danger" according to Frank, and burning down the house of Jim Cunningham, the anti-Christ. Donnie engages in judgment using the two main biblical methods of massive judgment by God - by water like the great flood, and by fire like the lake of fire of the Book of Revelation. Water and fire are God's two great judgments on mankind. Of course, at the end of the movie, Donnie controls time and even life and death, essentially raising his girlfriend from the dead. Summing up who Donnie is: He's a prophet because he understands judgment and the interconnectedness of all of life, as shown in his conversations; he speaks judgment and engages in judgment, a God-like attribute; he controls time, another attribute of God, and life and death. However, all of his conversations are nothing but judgment, death-dealing and uncompromising judgment. The bunny is a sinister character & somewhat hard to pin down. Think about this though. The bunny protects Donnie by leading him from his home before the engine crashes into it. The bunny leads Donnie to perform destructive acts of judgment. But the bunny also disrupts Donnie's sleep, his state of mind, & even leads him to kill. In protecting him, the bunny stops Donnie from fulfilling his redemptive purpose. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25. In giving his life, Donnie redeems others; therefore, the bunny is a satanic influence, leading him from that selfless purpose to a purpose of saving himself & one of judging others instead of saving them. At the end, when Donnie dies, the people he'd spoken judgment to seem to wake up, literally and spiritually, knowing something about themselves they could not face before. They experience divine revelation about themselves. Jim Cunningham even appears to be weeping in repentance. Donnie's death results in redemption for the people he judged, new life for his girlfriend, and he allows himself to die after controlling time, knowing all along that his decision to go back in time would result in his death. Redemption has replaced the judgment these people would have experienced had Donnie not allowed himself to be killed by the jet engine. Only one other person did something like that. Christ went to the cross, the key to our redemption, knowing his death would happen but voluntarily going anyway. His death resulted in new life and redemption for humanity, which replaced the judgment which we should have experienced. He was a prophet who saw all things clearly. Finally, there's the most mysterious statement of all. When Donnie is held to the ground by the drug-abusing thug, just before his girlfriend is run over, he says something that sounds like "Deo macheo" or "Theo macheo." If he was speaking Greek, the Greek word "theomacheo" means to fight against God. If Latin, then it sounds like "deo machto." It sounds to me like he's using "Deo," not "Theo," and "macheo" instead of "machto." The Greek "Deo" means "to bind together." So, I'm still not clear on the actual statement. I'll have to use context, which is always best. Is he telling the thug that the thug is fighting against God? Or is he saying, "I fight against God." The latter would not make sense because Donnie was on the ground and on the defensive. It's hard to understand exactly what he's saying, but it would make more sense that he's saying, "You fight against God." Also, although I am no more than a novice with ancient Greek, it appears that from studying a Greek Concordance (Strong's) the ending sound, long "o," could apply to either a 1st person singular or a second person singular use of the Greek verb "mä'-khā." I choose 2d person, which means he was saying, "You fight against God." Donnie Darko is not simply a rebellious, confused teenager trying to figure out his life. Knowing how to judge all whom he encounters, controlling time itself, knowing the future (& altering it), and giving his life for others, he is a Christ figure if there ever was one.

The Matrix

It's been a long time since I said I would write something about The Matrix, but the task seems so daunting, and it's been so long since I watched it. Here are my initial thoughts. There's really no telling what the beliefs of the makers are; there's such a montage of meaning in it. However, I always look for the Christian message of a movie, even if unintended. I believe it appears in all aspects of life even in artistic works. In the Matrix are the obvious Christian messages and the not so obvious. But it's odd for a movie to be so wrapped up into a worldview that so parallels the Christian or biblical worldview as The Matrix does. The Matrix posits an entire world in which people think they're living in reality but really are living in a dreamworld created by a super-intelligence. In this world, some people realize something is wrong "like a splinter in your mind," as Morpheus tells Neo. The Matrix is all around; you can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church. "It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth." The truth that everyone is a "slave, born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or feel or taste, a prison for your mind." It is the reality that people live in. There are certain persons with extraordinary powers to do wonders and understand things beyond what normal humans understand. Like Christ, it is those who come from somewhere else, not the dreamworld, who understand. A person can escape the dreamworld, but it involves a form of dying to the slavery of the dreamworld and being "born again" into reality. For such a person to escape, they must be called out; they do not save themselves. The person is instructed to count the cost and that the only promise is that they'll know the truth. Then there's "the One," the person who knew how to recreate reality according to his will and who could show the way to freedom to the others. But in order to achieve that status of power, he must die and rise again. He's betrayed by a member of his own group, leading to his sacrifice and resurrection from the dead. That is an outline of the movie, not a picking of a random scene or event or sentence here and there which matches the Christian worldview. That is the theme of the movie, and it matches Christianity almost exactly. Now, what about individual scenes, statements, and characters from the movie.

The Matrix - Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith, the agent for the Machine, software that can enter and leave any other software in the Matrix. He is one of three agents we see, and they are all something other than human in their actions and speech. Particularly revealing is Neo's experience in the interrogation room, before he knows what is going on. Mr. Smith comes across as a professional, unemotional law enforcement officer, but he also comes across as something else. The agents are a demonic trinity, and Mr. Smith is in charge. We learn the most about Smith when he has Morpheus in custody, and he speaks to him "honestly." He's impressed with the brilliance and beauty of the Matrix, like it's the living world of God's creation, but it's something that he and the rest of the Machine built for "billions of people living out their lives, oblivious." You wonder if there's some hint at the real world, where billions of people live out their lives, oblivious of whom the true Creator is. Smith talks about "the first matrix" where everyone is happy. But it failed. He believed that human beings defined their reality through suffering. The second matrix is all about evolution. Like the dinosaur, humans no longer rule, and the computers took over and made it their time. Smith shares his "revelation" with Morpheus. He tried to classify human species. They're not mammals, which create a natural equilibrium with the environment. The only way humans survive is by monopolizing an area, then spreading to another area. Another organism that does that is a virus. "Human beings are a disease, . . . and we are the cure." Then Smith tells Morpheus his personal angst. He can't stand his job of living in the matrix with people, their smell. He hates reality. He's afraid he's been infected by the stench of humanity. He himself wants liberty from "reality." He wants slavery in the computer above all. Humanity can be exterminated as far as he cares. He's the epitome of a gnostic, one who claims to know the reality and wants freedom from being human. Smith is really a computer, and being, or pretending to be, human is just too much for him. Humanity and "reality" are just illusions to him. He wants escape. He's superior to all humans.

The Calling, that is, Election

In the Matrix, Trinity sets up a meeting with Neo (hacker name; his real name is Thomas Anderson), a meeting he doesn't even know he's attending. They meet in a place that can be described as a den of iniquity, sin and uncleanness. In their introduction to each other, she meets him and says, "Hello, Neo." He asks, "How do you know that name?" She answers: "I know alot about you." When she tells him her name, he asks, "The Trinity? that cracked the IRS D-base?" She says, "That was a long time ago." He says, "Jesus!" She says, "What?" So the parallel to Christ, in the name, the singularity, and the identification of someone who "knows alot about him is established early in the movie. She tells him: "I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, . . . why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit at your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him; I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did." Neo answers, "What is the Matrix?" Trinity: "The answer is out there, Neo. It's looking for you, and it will find you, if you want it to." THe very next conversation is between Neo and his supervisor at this job the next morning. The supervisor accuses Neo of believing he's special. Then, directly after, Morpheus calls him in a providentially set-up way and tells him: "I'm not sure you're ready to see what I'm planning to show you." Then he attempts to guide Neo to prevent being apprehended by the agents of the enslavers who are trying to detain him and prevent him from following Morpheus. Ultimately, Neo is asked to risk his life to obtain enlightenment and freedom, but he can't do it. His trust in Morpheus is weak. He doesn't know him. He is self-pitying: "Why is this happening to me? I didn't do anything." He's lost and doesn't even know it. He's like you and me before knowing Christ - unwilling to risk life and limb for what we do not know, selfishly thinking we're innocent and not knowing how lost he is. The only thing he has going for him is that he disrespects the reigning authorities and definitely doesn't trust them either. That is shown in the next scene when they detain him and "bug" him in order to track his movements and hopefully catch Morpheus. Then Morpheus calls Neo again, during a thunderstorm, and tells him: "They don't know how important you are, or they would have killed you." Like Satan didn't know how important Christ and his death were, or they would not have killed the Lord of glory. When Morpheus meets Neo, Neo is still a potential enemy. Morpheus' assistants have to ensure that Neo doesn't hurt them because even though he means them no harm, he's clueless as to the dangers of the trackers and what they intend to do to Morpheus and his group. Morpheus sends him to the "Adams Street Bridge." Adams street? How much more obvious could you get? Neo still lives in Adam's world, and he knows where that road leads; he's been down it before. Trinity tells him, therefore, Neo has to trust Trinity because she knows that's not where he wants to be. After explaining as much as he could about the Matrix, Morpheus must admit that Neo can only understand what it is by seeing for himself. Morpheus gives Neo a choice to find out, where there's no turning back. Neo must partake of a communion of sorts, eating either a blue pill or a red pill. Choosing the red pill is deciding on a change, an encounter with reality, with truth. Neo chooses the truth. In being prepped for the "trip" out of "Kansas," he asks Trinity: "You did all this?" Trinity: "Yep." Before he enters the truth, he's still blind as to his condition, his slavery, his blindness to the truth. Morpheus asks him: "Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure it was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?" When Neo awakes, he discovers he's part of a network of sleepers that powers an evil empire of lies. He may have never intended to support such evil, but he does, merely by being blind to the truth. Trinity and Neo continue the double entendres throughout the movie. In another scene, Neo says, "God," as an expletive, and Trinity answers, "What?" When Neo meets the oracle, the prophet, he learns what? It's hard to tell. She doesn't say he is or isn't the One. He leaves thinking that he's not the One, but Morpheus later tells him he learned exactly what he needed. What he needed was love. His love for Morpheus causes him to act in a way that indicated he didn't care what happened to himself, leading him to great deeds, leading to the discovery that he was the One. Had he continued to think, "I must protect myself because I'm the One," then he never would have risked himself for Neo. The One loves his brother more than himself. The calling is important, but it's less important than loving one's brother.

Morpheus = John the Baptist

Morpheus is wanted by the authorities. He's outside the regime. He brings others into the truth. He baptizes them into a new way. Morpheus asks Neo: "Do you want to know what it is?" If Neo chooses the blue pill, the avoid reality pill, then he wakes up in his bed and "believes whatever you want to believe." Unreality is not fixed; it's changeable and subject to opinion. The red pill, the reality pill, will allow you to see the matrix, the truth. Morpheus has exited the dream world, lives frugally in a ship called "The Nebuchadnezzar." And he brings in those who have escaped and heals and rebuilds them. He's sure of what he's doing, his calling. He pulls Neo out of the baptismal waters and into his ship. Morpheus explains the Matrix and its structure to Neo. Morpheus explains the limits of reality to Neo and how what is real can be changed, imitated, recreated. He shows Neo the world as it exists today, a desert, a wasteland, like the spiritual reality of the human world destroyed by sin. What we ourselves had created were the cause of our own destruction. Like the law of God, Morpheus explains the slavery, how it works, the condition of humanity. Like that of John the Baptists, Morpheus' mission involves hardship and suffering. Most importantly, Morpheus tells people about the Messiah, the One who "had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the matrix however he saw fit, . . . who freed the first of us, taught us the truth." Morpheus believes "the oracle," what we would call the prophet. The oracle speaks of the One to return. Therefore, Morpheus has spent his entire life looking for him. And Morpheus believes he has found the One in Neo. Morpheus trains Neo in spiritual warfare, or digital warfare, as far as the movie's concerned. Like the catechism question about having a soul as well as a body and the scripture in James about the body not living without the spirit, Morpheus catechizes Neo about the reality of dying in the matrix, even though it's just in the mind: "The body cannot live without the mind." Near the climax of the move, Morpheus is caught and imprisoned. Sounds like John the Baptist, who leads the way for the One, the Messiah.

Neo, the New Man, & Trinity

Neo, or new in Latin, is the new man, saved from darkness, blindness, slavery, to walk in a new life. He represents sinful man, saved from slavery to the world of deception of the devil, but he's also the Messiah, the One who will bring others into freedom. Neo speaks to Cipher, the traitor, not knowing he's the traitor, and learns that Cipher wants to go back to Egypt. "Why, oh, why didn't I take the blue pill?" But it's Trinity who knows who Neo is. She knows but cannot say. They work in perfect harmony, like the real Trinity. That's displayed when the helicopter scene occurs, and they act in tandem as if they know what they other's doing. Smith is also a Devil character, seeking to kill Neo. Trinity brings Neo back to life, like the Father bringing the Son back to life. Neo dies and rises again at Room 303, Heart O'the City Hotel. Her faith in what the oracle/prophet is greater than death itself. Trinity is like Abraham who believes that God will bring his son, Isaac, back from the dead. In his resurrection body, he still has the marks of the bullets in his chest, like Christ who still has the scars of the nails in his hands. then, in the last scene of the movie, he tells the machine that he knows it's scared. He tells them the world will be shown what it's like to not have borders and boundaries, like Christ broke down the walls and boundaries between man and God. He then ascends into the heavens, as Christ ascended into heaven. I know there are other ways to interpret the movie, even anti-Christian ways, but that's how I interpret it.

Inception 2

In Inception, death is a constant presence. It moves a person from one form of reality to another. However, Dom's imagination, the memory of his wife, the guilt he lives with keeps him returning to a fantasy world of the mind. That fantasy world is an attraction, a pull, even a call to death. It is what draws him to what killed his wife, and it keeps him from the reality of his own children. Is not sin a belief in more than one reality, as Mal asks at the end? Therefore, what can destroy Dom is his sin? Sin allures us with attractive fantasies, and it justifies our engaging in it because their can't be just one reality, that of God and His just hatred of sin.

Interestingly, the person who most often confronts Dom about his problem is Ariadne, who of all the characters in the book, dies the most. Three times she dies in a dream - in her first encounter with a workshop of shared dreaming, when Mal stabs her in part 2 of that same workshop, and at the end when she leaps from a tall building. And we see it register in her face. She, in spite of her name which is taken from the ancient goddess of dreams, is the person most rooted in reality and able to judge Dom's inordinate fascination with what can kill him and harm others who join him on his projects.

Inception is a fascinating and imaginative study of the human psyche, the effect of guilt, and the need for purging that guilt by death. Thus, it not only shows the importance of the relationship with God the Father (see earlier post on the core theme), but it also demonstrates the need for atonement and sacrifice. But the sacrifice is not our own, or Dom would have died at the end of the movie to pay for his sin. Instead, he is restored to his family. Dom is restored from his guilty state by engaging in a project that restores a son, Robert, to his father, Maurice. But Robert must die first, and who kills him in the dream? Mal, the person who gave herself over to the other reality, who believes in more than one reality, and who is trying to draw Dom to death.

To Kill A Mockingbird

You would think this movie would be easy to peg with relation to a biblical theme. It's not. Of course, there's the theme of racial equality, a very biblical principle. We are all created in God's image, all sinners equally in need of a savior. You could also assert that Atticus is a Christ figure, as he stands with the downcast, even risking his life at one point. However, I don't think that captures what seems to have made this movie (and book upon which the movie is based) so captivating. Let me give you some key events in the movie and see if you agree with what I'll later explain as the key biblical theme. I think once you read it, you'll have to agree.

The movie is told through the eyes of a child, Scout who is the little girl in the movie. We also see life through the eyes of her brother, Jem, but as Scout relates his experiences. However, Scout doesn't tell us what she will have learned by the end of the movie. We move along with her as she ages, as she experiences life in Maycomb, as she matures. The basic theme begins at the beginning, when Mr. Walter Cunningham delivers his payment for legal services to Atticus' home. It's a bag of hickory nuts because during the depression, farmers were "hit the hardest." When Scout is surprised to learn that it's better Atticus not thank Mr. Cunningham, Atticus explains to Scout that it's better that he not know when Mr. Cunningham delivers payments; Mr. Cunningham is embarrassed at being thanked. This is just a hint of the reversals of that the adult world performs upon the ethics she has been taught as a child. This adult world about which Scout is just beginnning to learn.

Soon, we learn from Jem of an antagonist in the movie, a strange character named Boo, who is over 6 feet tall and only comes out at night and eats raw squirrels and drools. This opinion is confirmed by Ms. Stephanie, their friend Dill's mother. According to her, he's a murderous fiend, a danger to man and animal, someone to stay away from. In fact, Ms. Stephanie seems more fearful of Boo than the children themselves. Again, the child's view is contrasted, compared, and merges with the view of the adult's world.

Briefly, we meet a minor character, Ms. Dubose, an elderly woman whose sole enjoyments in life are her roses and harassing children with cruel and vicious language if they walk by and don't use the correct language to properly address her. Atticus ends up defusing the situation between Ms. Dubose and Scout by complimenting her on her roses. Adults have to be manipulated by Atticus, but he speaks freely and explains "just about everything" to Scout. In this brief encounter, we see the adult world and the child's world being contrasted, but the adult world looks smaller, meaner, even more childish than that of the children.

Later, Jem, in true child adventure fashion, proposes to Dill and Scout that he go look in the window of the Radley house to get a look at Boo. The escapade contains all that is needed for a child's imagination to run wild with the excitement of seeing the fiend of the town. It's a close call, and Boo almost gets Jem, but even though he had the opportunity, he doesn't act on it. Boo is still a mysterious figure to us and the children because all we see is a menacing shadow hovering over Jem. The children escape, but not without Jem losing his pants. When he goes back for his pants, the childish adventure turns into a potentially life-threatening disaster. But the danger came not from Boo but from Boo's dad, Mr. Radley, who shoots at a prowler near his collard patch. Of course, the prowler was a 7-year-old child, Jem, who almost lost his life because he was retrieving his pants from the barbed wire around Mr. Radley's collard patch. Mr. Radley's fear of a possible prowler, his fear of what he did not know, caused him to shoot first and ask questions later. So, where was the danger to the kids - Boo or the "responsible" adults? The contrast between the children's world and the adult world lessens, and yet it deepens because we start to wonder whom should the children be more afraid of.

Later, after a fight with a fellow classmate at school and a run-in with the teacher during her first day at school, Atticus has to explain something to Scout, something he understands but we question whether there's anyone else in this town who does. Atticus explains to Scout that you don't really know a person until you walk around in his shoes. Scout and Jem are always learning from Atticus, and much of what they learn involves the elimination of misperceptions about him. The story is about misperceptions. The adults in charge are not to be emulated, and the ones who seem to be not much or even evil, turn out to be better than the others. When the kids start seeing people for who they really are is where their journey begins to diverge from that of the so-called adults; they are maturing, while the adults are stuck in childish prejudice.

The kids are impressed with Atticus' advice, but they think that's all he's good at. The shooting of the rabid dog near their house causes the children to begin questioning their understanding of just what kind of person that Atticus is. Experience shows them what they didn't know before. He's also the best shot in the county. Atticus represents civilization. Just as he protects his kids and the community from the rabid dog, he also protects the community and justice from men like Mr. Ewell. We see this when Mr. Ewell approaches him when Atticus is visiting Tom Robinson's wife. Mr. Ewell is drunk and a threatening figure to of all people, children. He calls Atticus a "nigger lover," and Atticus stares him down but does not respond in kind.

Atticus is misperceived by the town also. They're talking about him taking the job of representing Tom Robinson, as if that makes a negative statement about Atticus' character. They fear one of their kind, a white person, going over to "the other side," which they perceive as dark, literally and in other ways. But they judge by the wrong standards.

Mr. Ewell, the true evil antagonist, is a "responsible" citizen reporting a crime against his daughter by a black man. Boo is a fiend, but we learn that he secretly folded Jem's pants and left them on the fence for him the night Jem was almost shot and that he leaves little gifts in the knothole of a tree on the Radley property, which Jem had found and placed in a cigar box, used by Jem as a treasure box. The kids are just starting to look at Boo differently, but this occurs after they start to look at Atticus differently. Their views are beginning to diverge from those of the other adults in town. Reputations are beginning to get turned around at this point in the movie, or set right for us, as we move toward the denouement of the movie, the Tom Robinson trial, where again our perceptions are turned around and righted. But our view of the "responsible" adults of the town does not improve.

Then we see the power of the child. Atticus is protecting Tom Robinson, and he's all alone because the sheriff was called on a wild goose chase. Atticus as the defender of civilization stands against a mob. Atticus stands for the right to due process, a fair trial, and the mob wants to kill a fellow human being. They base their goal on a misperception, a pre-judgment of a man because of the color of his skin. It is Atticus' stand for justice, Jem's courage to refuse to leave, and Scout's innocence and kindness that defuses the mob. "A little child shall lead them."

The childishness that we have seen in the adults in charge results in great evil and injustice, and it makes the childishness of the children pale in comparison. And it is the children who learn something from this evil, and it is Jem who suffers in the end. And by whom is he rescued but by one who has been unjustly treated, excluded, and pre-judged - Boo Radley?

It is the children who can see what's really going on. Thus, the key theme to which the injustice and prejudice themes have been leading to and which has been hinted at throughout the movie is this: "Unless you become as one of these little ones, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."

Inception-Core theme

After hearing a sermon this morning, I'm more convinced than ever that Eames' statement is the key theme: "You have to start with something much more basic . . . the relationship with the father." The statement appears throughout the movie in a variety of ways. Jesus told his mother that he must be about his father's business. That statement defined his life and death - doing only what he saw the father doing and obeying him and trusting him no matter what God put him through.

Saito is a father-figure in the Almighty sense; he can make anything happen, and he shows up almost with omniscience to protect Dom. He can buy anything at any time, and he seems to exercise a seeming life-and-death power at the beginning of the movie with respect to the worker who failed. He controls the entire American justice system with one phone call. He tells Dom that he can fix his legal problem but doesn't explain how, as if he has divine power. Dom's real father, Michael Caine, is loving but firm, a source of ethics. Yet, he also is forgiving; he kindly meets Dom at the airport at the end of the movie and restores him to his children.

Then there's the executive's son who has thought throughout his life that his father can't stand him, is disappointed with him. But notice that the end of the movie is in his own subconscious, not someone else's. Also, the man who is his father in the dream is not being played by someone else. This is the real inner consciousness of the son, and his perception of his father, like our perception of our heavenly father, has been faulty all his life. How do we know this? Because the son has had a conversion experience - he dies and rises again; he's born again. This time, when he sees his father, he sees the real father, the one who wanted the best for him, like our heavenly father wants for us.

Thus, Dom not only must be restored in his family relationships, by following his father and father figure, but he also is the person who leads the executive's son to a true understanding of his father. It doesn't matter that Dom doesn't plan it all out perfectly; that's the sovereignty of God at work, who even uses the wickedness of Dom's projection of his wife to bring about the death and resurrection of the executive's son.

Shawshank Redemption

The name gives a clue - "Redemption" is in the title. The black man gets out of prison differently from Andy. He gives up on trying to prove he is good to the Parole Board. Like the sinner, he gives up and admits his corruption, his depravity.

But Andy leads the way, gives him hope and a way of living after prison. Andy gets out differently. He has to go through 500 yards of sewage. As Christ had to take on, no, become sin for us, taking our shame and filth upon Himself, Andy takes filth upon himself and comes out a new man, with a new identity, with untold wealth. By the way, like Christ, Andy is innocent.

The warden is a Satan figure. He's a hypocrite, a liar, and ultimately a murderer. He persecutes Andy, even though he knows he's innocent. But Andy conquers him in the end, exposing his hypocrisy and ultimately destroying him. And where do Andy and the black man meet at the end? Like Christ and the disciples, who became fishers of men, they meet on the seashore where Andy is working on a boat which he plans to use for charter fishing.

Throughout the movie, Andy is set up in small ways as a Christ figure. Remember the scene where they work on a roof, and Andy gives financial advice (he's a former banker) to the head guard, risking his life in the process. What does he ask for? Beer for his friends. Andy doesn't even drink beer. The black man (played by Morgan Freeman) is the narrator and says he figured that Andy just enjoyed watching them act normal for once.

The prisoners are portrayed as crude and unable to deal with liberty. One who had been in prison for over 50 years, even kills himself because after release, he couldn't handle freedom, no one telling him what to do. We sinners also fear freedom, particularly the freedom of Christ. We ask ourselves, "What will keep me from doing something bad?" We think we need a stick hanging over us to keep us in line. We want someone to tell us what to do. But liberty can judge for itself what is best and can choose God's way. Liberty implies self-responsibility.

Andy is interested in books and ends up helping other guards with their taxes and finances, becoming something of a celebrity among the guards at his prison and even others. Interestingly, Andy keeps a little hammer, the hammer he uses to dig a tunnel for escape, in a book. What book? A bible. The word of God is his key to escape from the slavery the others live in.

Thus, the Shawshank Redemption is really a parable, an allegory, about salvation through Christ.

Toy Story

While Woody's attack upon Buzz did not involve as evil and murderous as Cain's upon Abel, it was close. The motive was the same - jealousy. And because Buzz went out a 2nd story window, it resulted in the loss of Buzz from Andy's toy world, i.e., his room. Interestingly, Buzz's fault before Woody was his righteous deeds. I John says that Abel's works were righteous, which caused Woody's jealousy. Buzz's fault before Woody was not just his fantasy world of being an intergalactic hero; it was also his service to the rest of the toys. He had become not just an action figure/hero; he was a true servant, teaching and helping the others improve themselves. Thus, while Woody's rebukes to Buzz about his fantasy world were correct, his jealousy and attack upon him for being popular among the other toys was wicked to the core. It represents the indwelling sin of Woody, the leader and stability for the toys upon to this point in his life . . . as a toy.

Woody's only hope is to reform Buzz of his fantasy world, to befriend him in spite of the annoyance of Buzz, the weaker brother, to use all his leadership abilities to form a plan and team to rescue him, and to risk his life for Buzz as he faces explosive death. Thus, Woody becomes like Christ, who became like His brethren for the suffering of death, that He might redeem a people for Himself. Buzz becomes a better friend to Woody than any of the other toys, a true leader, and someone who risks his life for Woody. Thus, each of them portrays perfect love by laying down their lives for their friends.

Toy Story

There is an entire theology surrounding the Toy Story movies. Here is a sample. They create a microcosm of God's world, wherein toys stand in for humans and children stand in for God. Like God, the child loves the toy, giving its existence meaning. Woody best represents the ideal faithful human before God - loyal, subservient, respectful of his position, loving. He's also a leader for the other toys - organizing, encouraging, giving wisdom, etc. He's like a king or pastor leading a flock of people through the dangers of life.

Interestingly, the dangers they encounter are particularly theological in substance - faith in their human child and the assurance of not be lost or neglected or rejected by that child. It is the fear of every human to not be loved by God, or worse, to be loved then be rejected. Woody encounters loss of place, of distinction, to another, an equal. But it is not just any equal, it is a newer toy, with more bells and whistles. Therefore, Woody must deal with his place in the world, where he is becoming obsolete, like an elderly person facing the loss of place and position in life.

The ultimate reconciliation of Woody and Buzz indicates that the body of Christ is one body, with many parts. Each part has its own function, and each one contributes to the other to make each part more. Woody became a less rigid, more tolerant leader, and Buzz realistically faced life with a faith that dealt with his real world, not a fantasy world. Together, they were the perfect pair, working effectively together because they were such a great team and so complimentary in who each of them was.

Toy Story

Amazingly, Toy Story deals with self-righteous, indwelling sin. Buzz is so caught up in his self-perceived hero status that he cannot see the reality of who he is. He won't even listen to his friend, Woody, who tries several times to bring him to reality. His only hope of facing up to the reality of his identity is to hear it from the source - his God, which is the toy company which made him. And he does - through a commercial about him, or at least, his toy. The commercial from his maker tells him who he is, and in an attempt to prove it wrong - tempting his maker - he jumps off a balcony attempting to fly. He falls and breaks, just like man who falls and breaks because of sin. Now he can arise as a crouching human to face what he really is, what he in reality can do - falling with style, and use it for good.

It is the same for us. We must come to the end of ourselves, as we view the law and who we really are - sinners before an angry God. Then, we can face the reality of God's grace and His ability to lift us up from the mire. And we can then effectively use the gifts God gives for good.

Spiderman I

The movies of Spiderman portray a fascinating picture of indwelling sin. Take, for example, the Green Goblin of the first movie. Unlike Peter Parker, his change by technology occurs from an overweening ambition, and it aggravates the hatred he holds toward the other scientist, whom he immediately kills once he attains the power to do so easily and anonymously. His ambition is to overcome the natural limitations placed by God on man, and he does so in a test of God. The initial tests indicate a dangerous possibility for insanity, yet Osborne goes ahead and uses the formula upon himself.

Thus, we see how sin, Osborne's hatred, is hidden in his heart and merely waits for the opportune time to burst forth and enact its revenge. Technology, gone awry, is the modern world's version of the ancient gods, who would mate with human females and produce herculean heroes. In Spiderman III, we see indwelling sin even affecting our hero, Peter Parker. This is biblical. No human being, not even the Christian in whom the sin principle is crucified with Christ. But it is not altogether eliminated.

In Spiderman II, the scientist allows his own hubris to corrupt his initial goal of providing energy to mankind. Even a good goal can corrupt a person because of pride.

The Matrix - Morpheus

Morpheus is an obvious John the Baptist type, in that the Oracle reveals that he would find "the One," he taught many others about "the truth," and he gives his life for the sake of the One. At least, he thinks he is giving his life. In the end, the One shows his preeminence by saving Morpheus. Morpheus is a man of faith, and he teaches faith to Neo, the disciple. This faith believes in another world, that which is outside the Matrix. After being freed from it and while in it, one must realize that the rules governing it no longer constrain the one freed. But death is still possible, and so is suffering. Morpheus' disciples know the dangers of the Matrix and from those still bound by it, so they are severe with Neo when they first contact him. And their words, while having completely comprehensible meaning for those who have been freed, are cryptic gobbledy-gook, even evil to those unfreed. Morpheus, like John the Baptist, has a moment of unbelief himself, when he sees Neo die. Morpheus, even though freed and full of faith and believing that the prophecy would come true, did not know exactly how it would turn out. For example, during training he told Neo that when he was ready, Neo would not even need to dodge bullets. Yet, when Neo is struck by bullets and dies, Morpheus was dumbstruck and couldn't believe what had happened. In the same way, the disciples of Jesus, though they believed in Him and His messiahship, did not understand He would have to die. For them, death was victor, along with many other things in life - suffering, loss, disappointment, difficulty - all these things mean God is not in control or has forsaken them. Christ always rose above those things. Think of the time in the boat with the disciples, when they thought they were sinking, but Christ simply said, "Where is your faith?" Think about Lazarus and his sister, Martha, when Jesus asked, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of god." Therefore, Christ was perfectly content with the difficulties His Father allowed into His life and believed always that only the best would result.

The Matrix - Neo

Neo is an obvious Christ figure. To simplify, he dies, rises again, and thereby lives in total control of the Matrix, unable to be defeated by the Agents of the Machine but able to decode and devour them from the inside out. But if it were that simple, the movie would not be genius, and it is genius.

Neo begins as a pawn of the Machine, like all other humans. So in that case, he is not like Christ, who came from outside this world to teach us about the outside of this world. After being freed by Morpheus, Neo comes from outside whenever he returns to the Matrix, but he is not free of the Matrix when he returns. At least, he is a witness of that which is above and beyond the world of the Matrix as Christ was a witness of the world from which He came. Neo in Latin means New, and his name spelled differently is One, as in the One. Christ also was the new man, the second Adam, come to build a new kingdom, not like the old. "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Eph 3:15-16. After rising from the dead, Neo ascends to heaven at the end of the movie. Part of the genius of the movie is that this supernatural gift of Neo's is not just to show he's the One. It's to show how to escape slavery to the Machine, the world of rules, limitations, disbelief. Neo shows us to endure, even death, and that we will come out the other side of whatever is stopping, hindering, even destroying us. In Neo's case, it is the greatest enemy of all - death. There is no greater difficulty. All our problems are less than death; therefore, if waiting on God, believing that victory is ours, is what Christ and Neo did, then that is all we need. Another part of the genius of the movie is the discipleship phase of Neo's life. Here is what we relate to the most as humans. Neo, according to Morpheus, knows there is something wrong with the world, but he can't explain it. It's "like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad." That's how sin is. You can't explain why and how you're not right, nor why and how the world is not right. And you don't know how to stop being a slave to that world. Jesus said, "He who sins is a slave to sin." Neo can't be told what the Matrix is; he must see it. "Except ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." Jesus' conversation in John 3 with Nicodemus. And Neo is. He comes out of the womb, seeing the world for what it really is, controlled by something unfriendly, keeping him blind to the truth of the slavery the Machine keeps him in. His new life requires learning new things, most importantly learning how to deal with suffering and fighting with those powers that held him.

His biggest fight is in his mind. In training Neo, Morpheus seeks to "free your mind." He must let it all go - "fear, doubt, and disbelief." And anything is possible. Neo's relationship with Morpheus is subtle but evident; he loves Morpheus for freeing him, for teaching him, for being a fearless man standing for the truth. And this relationship leads to the key to Neo realizing his calling. The oracle scene is profound. Instead of telling Neo he is the One, she tells him that he's not ready. She deflates Neo's inordinate attraction for himself and lets him know there's someone more important - Morpheus. Based on the Oracle's foretelling that he would have to make a choice between himself and Morpheus, Neo makes the choice to think of someone other than himself, and that is where his faith and power arise, from his love for Morpheus. Even so Christ did not suffer for the righteous but "in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6. Were we more deserving than Christ? On the contrary, it was the opposite case - we deserving His death, and He deserving life. Yet, he put us first. Thus, love conquered, and Neo's calling was revealed.

The Water Horse

A lonely boy, who has lost his Dad, finds a creature whom he helps and who grows into a friend and a protector of the boy. But this creature is not like men, cruel and demanding, lacking understanding of a small frightened boy. This creature takes the boy and plays with him in the environment most terrifying to the boy, makes him see its wonder, and that it is not a danger to one who can protect the boy from just about anything that threatens the boy. The boy learns to love this great creature, to build a relationship with it. It is so with our great Creator, who loves us and is so powerful, fearful, yet faithful to us. And we can know Him and His love.

Spiderman 3 - Harry Osborne

Harry, spiderman's best friend, goes through quite a transformation himself. He's lazy in high school, and Peter helps him through school. He's a disappointment to his father, the ambitious, successful scientist, who would rather have Peter as a son than Harry. Thus, Harry has to overcome alot just to remain friends with Peter. Amazingly, their friendship last, but in S 2 it's fraying because Peter, as the photographer of spiderman, Harry perceives as spiderman's friend. Harry thinks spiderman killed his father.

At the end of S 2, just after learning that Peter is the spiderman whom Harry thinks deserves to die, Harry begins to hallucinate like his father, and he finds his father's equipment and drugs. But Harry is not the same as his father. He's not that selfish ambitious type. He can be lazy, he can be a jerk, he can love being wealthy and famous, but his actions in S 3 are for revenge, an excess of justice. It's an excess in the sense that an individual human doesn't have the right of revenge, even if it's just. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord." Harry's use of the Goblin equipment and drug are for one purpose - to get spiderman, and he thinks this is justice. Harry being Goblin Jr., as Peter taunts him during a fight in S 3, is not at the expense of humanity and solely for himself. It's for the sake of love really, a misplaced love of his father. That is vengeance, the love of family, friend, the innocent. So, Harry can return to friendship with Peter and spiderman, once he knows the truth.

But Harry reveals a different character after his "bump on the head." He's a very caring person at heart, and he tells a nurse after Peter and Mary Jane leave his hospital room: "I'd die for them." This is prophetic, for at the end he does die for the very spiderman he originally wanted to kill. Harry's hatred and vengeance were rooted in passion, not a cold self-centered ambition like his father's. Therefore, once he knows the truth and accepts it (he doesn't accept Peter's explanation at the start of the movie), he can move straight to his true self, that of caring deeply for his friends. Don't get me wrong; he's capable of great evil and manipulation, for instance, his instigation of the break-up between Peter and Mary Jane. But still, even that is rooted in love and loss, partly for Mary Jane and partly for his father.

Spiderman 1-3 - the female

Mary Jane began as not just the girl next door, but also the hot girl dated by the hot, football player guy, who is a jerk, but whom all the girls wanted to be with anyway. She became her own person in the first movie, seeking a dramatic acting job. In the sequel, she became the successful actress, overcoming her past, and the girl who admits that she's in love with the person who was the geek, and who became more than she knew he could be or was, more than what he himself knew he could be. When she stands in Peter's door at the send of S 2, she tells him, "I've always been standing in your door." This is a great admission. She loved him for who he was when he was a geek, when he was nobody.

In S 3, the stakes get huge. She and Peter are about to get married, and unlike the other two movies, she doesn't learn how great he can be or love him in spite of his humble condition, she learns just how low he can go. Here is where the real test of her love occurs. Can she love him when he has become the jerk in high school she dated but decided against?