Wow, 2 blogs in 3 days, I must have some free time on my hands.
Anyways, I want to talk about possibly the greatest movie of the 2000's: The Dark Knight. When you combine Batman, my boyhood hero, with an unstable Heath Ledger, and the greatness of Christopher Nolan (see: Inception), you are going to have a great movie. But this one was awesome (And who can leave out Hans Zimmer, the greatest movie music guy... I don't know what you call those people). But I watched the movie again today, and still loved it, and I was able to catch a few things that delve a little deeper into the movie, or rather the commentary the movie was trying to make about humanity. Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen The Dark Knight, shame on you. Turn your computer off and go watch it right now.
There were 3 quotes/scenes in the movie that were very thought provoking, honest, and deep; I have these quotes listed, as well as my commentary, about what I think is going on/what lessons we can learn from a secular script.
1. "They are only as good as the world allows them to be"
I believe the Joker said this one, apologies if I'm wrong, towards Batman during his interrogation at the police station. What he was explaining to Batman, is that people will be as evil, corrupted, and unjust as they can be, within legal bounds. The only thing pushing mankind towards some sort of morality is law, or rather the fear of justice aka punishment. You could reword this quote to say 'They are only as bad as they can get away with'.
I believe this is a very profound statement, and it really leads me to question my motives in doing things. Paul writes in Romans 14:23 "And everything that does not come from Faith is sin." What Paul is trying to say is that you don't do things just because there is no sin involved, but rather when you do things by faith, there is no sin involved. I can fast for 7 days, but if it doesn't come from a faith in Jesus, and a desire to glorify Him by loosing the things of this world, then it is sin. It is just me, showing self reliance, trying to win God's favor. When you are using God in order to gain something for yourself, then you are committing idolatry. You are putting yourself as the ultimate determinate of satisfaction. And you will be hungry. It also goes the other way: For instance, me drinking a beer, seen as a sin by some of the Christian faith, is not necessarily a sin if my motives are to glorify Christ through my faith in Him. Maybe I want to delight in God's creation of Hops, and the presence of community glorifying God while watching baseball. When we live our whole lives through a lens of being satisfied with God, it produces faith based actions. Unfortunately, some Christians believe there are certain things that you can satisfy God while doing, and certain things you cannot satisfy God while doing. (See Praise Songs vs Hymns, Beer vs Anti-Alcohol, etc.) When you start deciding what God is glorified in, and what he is not glorified in, you are telling God that "I know whats best for you". A side effect is that all the things that you do will inherently glorify God, but the things you don't approve of, will suddenly not glorify God. To sum it up, when Sinners hijack Salvation, bad things happen. (See Catholic Church selling Indulgences during Middle Ages)
2. "Nobody panics as long as everything goes according to the plan, even if the plan is horrifying"
This was also the Joker, talking about his goal of "seeing the world burn, for the sake of it burning" (Alfred's quote).
It really is frightening some times to think about the many things we bring upon ourselves because it is all a part of the plan.
I'm actually going to skip this one, for now, because I have something brewing in my head for my next blog. So this was just something to think about in passing. To wet your appetite, here is a quote I was thinking about going off of for the next post:
"Everything happens for a reason/It's no reason not to ask myself/ If I am living it Right?" -John Mayer, "Georgia"
So sorry...
3. "The only morality in a cruel world is chance, unbiased chance"
Harvey Dent said this, to Commish Gordon and his family, while holding a gun to his son. What I believe Christopher Nolan is trying to tell people is that in a cruel world, which is our world, there is no universal morality. If I could take the liberty to think in his brain, he says that for some, morality would lead to a certain choice, while for others, morality would lead to the opposite of that choice. Americans were against the Nazi concentration camps and morality lead us to fight and liberate; Nazi Germans were for the Final Solution Hitler proposed (Or at least they were deceived by Hitler), and morality led them to defend their country and leader. So which morality is right? Hard question. Nolan obviously went with the fact that there is no morality in a broken world.
However, as Christians, we have come to believe that God has given us a moral law that is designed in our human nature (See C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" opening chapters). Therefore, if there is a designed law in all humans, there must be something that is outside human nature that gives us this moral law, or else we would have the problem in the above paragraph. As Christians, we believe that this law came through Jesus Christ, to be fulfilled by him, and to reconcile us back to the "judge" at the end of our lives. Thankfully, this second option for morality gives life greater meaning. I don't really like to run around with a coin, flipping it every time I make a tough decision. Thanks to the Holy Spirit who guides those who have submitted to Christ's authority, who has put the law on our hearts and given us the opportunity to follow it by Grace.
And I'll end it with that. Hope I have been an encouragement.
Brett
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
All Great Men wear Bed Sheets
I have always thought Gandhi was a pretty weird guy. I mean, smart guy. Either one. But I mean, if you can be labeled one of the most influential people of all time, while wearing a bed sheet, you must have something going for you.
If you don't know too much about Gandhi, his biggest achievements came as a leader of the Indian revolution, using "civil disobedience" to bring Indian government to a more progressive stance for the lower class and throw off outdated British government. His radical thinking has led to many huge shifts toward social justice, including the push for civil rights in America in the 1960's. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr lists Gandhi as one of his biggest and most important influences.
However, you most likely know Gandhi from his 2 most famous quotes:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world", and "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
In fact, I believe the first quote has been marketed on the shoe brand "Toms". You know you have made it big when your quotes are on shoes.
Unfortunately for Gandhi, I believe he is wrong. Yep, I said it. Gasp. Ok, let me explain, then you be the judge.
As for the first quote ("Be the change..."), I have nothing wrong with the encouragement it gives others to make someone's life better, in fact, that is great. Let me repeat: This quote is such an inspiration, but it is misleading. Let me get right into it. Wherever you look, you see a broken world, you don't even have to look far or have a particular worldview to determine this. Christians and Non-Christians both agree that this world is broken, we just have different solutions to "fix" it. The Non-Christian believes that something other than Jesus Christ can fix humanity. The Christian says nothing else but Jesus Christ can fix humanity. I am being a little broad, as the atheist would most likely say that humanity doesn't need to be fixed, or it can't be fixed by anything, but that is the general point. The reason Christianity makes more sense here, is that if humanity is inherently broken, since the beginning of humanity, then there is nothing in humanity that is capable of fixing it. If the problem is inherently in the world, then the solution must come from somewhere outside the world. That is why it is crucial to Christians that Jesus Christ is God incarnate man. He can't be just a moral person and teacher, he has to be the God-man. Therefore, going back to Mr. Gandhi's quote, there is no infinite change that can be produced by man in humanity. I would say, rather, to LIVE the change you wish to see in the world; you will never be the change. On a side note that might get me into trouble, I would like to point this out to the Christian agenda in America. America will never be a Christian nation, or else it is no longer America. While we need to try to push for as many God-inspired laws as we can (Since we believe that God's law is for the betterment of humanity and Christ came to fulfill the Law with Grace and Truth), we will never be able to save America. Christianity is not to be pushed as a state religion; it is a Theocracy, and we all have an inheritance in it, but we will never be able to "litigate the Hell" out of America.
As far as the 2nd quote goes ("I like your Christ..."), I don't want to go into too much depth, because I actually do appreciate this one as well. I think it is a great warning to Christians, but I think it is a bad rally cry for the Non-Christian. To get to the point, you cannot like Christ and hate his followers. The bible doesn't let you do that, Christ himself won't let you do that. When you choose Christ, you get his followers too as your brothers and sisters. The Christian life was not meant to be lived apart from the community of believers, even Christ himself had his own followers, who were, like all Christians, idiots. When you choose Christ and reject his followers, you are doing something that Christ did not even do. Most of the time, this quote is used to put into words the hate for the "Typical Christian Hypocrite", clogging up the church in America and around the world. I think there are two important truths that come from this:
1. Yes, we are hypocrites. Big time! Therefore, how much does it show about God's love for his people? For a group who mess up every day, and to still choose to work in us, sacrifice for us, and love unconditionally, how great is our God? He sees the depths of our hearts, and he loves us the same!
2. What do you expect? Sanctification is not necessarily a sprint, for most it is a marathon, a very long, tiring, but successful marathon. Paul tells us in Phil. 2 that our attitude should be like Christ's, but since we are not him, its not until we are made perfect will his image be on us. Will you really base your unbelief in the incompetency of others? That's not smart. At least deny Christ or something, not use your own race as an example of ignorance.
Thats it for now, I will leave Mr. Gandhi alone.
Brett
P.S. I don't think I'm smarter than Gandhi.
P.P.S. God's wisdom is smarter than Gandhi.
If you don't know too much about Gandhi, his biggest achievements came as a leader of the Indian revolution, using "civil disobedience" to bring Indian government to a more progressive stance for the lower class and throw off outdated British government. His radical thinking has led to many huge shifts toward social justice, including the push for civil rights in America in the 1960's. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr lists Gandhi as one of his biggest and most important influences.
However, you most likely know Gandhi from his 2 most famous quotes:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world", and "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
In fact, I believe the first quote has been marketed on the shoe brand "Toms". You know you have made it big when your quotes are on shoes.
Unfortunately for Gandhi, I believe he is wrong. Yep, I said it. Gasp. Ok, let me explain, then you be the judge.
As for the first quote ("Be the change..."), I have nothing wrong with the encouragement it gives others to make someone's life better, in fact, that is great. Let me repeat: This quote is such an inspiration, but it is misleading. Let me get right into it. Wherever you look, you see a broken world, you don't even have to look far or have a particular worldview to determine this. Christians and Non-Christians both agree that this world is broken, we just have different solutions to "fix" it. The Non-Christian believes that something other than Jesus Christ can fix humanity. The Christian says nothing else but Jesus Christ can fix humanity. I am being a little broad, as the atheist would most likely say that humanity doesn't need to be fixed, or it can't be fixed by anything, but that is the general point. The reason Christianity makes more sense here, is that if humanity is inherently broken, since the beginning of humanity, then there is nothing in humanity that is capable of fixing it. If the problem is inherently in the world, then the solution must come from somewhere outside the world. That is why it is crucial to Christians that Jesus Christ is God incarnate man. He can't be just a moral person and teacher, he has to be the God-man. Therefore, going back to Mr. Gandhi's quote, there is no infinite change that can be produced by man in humanity. I would say, rather, to LIVE the change you wish to see in the world; you will never be the change. On a side note that might get me into trouble, I would like to point this out to the Christian agenda in America. America will never be a Christian nation, or else it is no longer America. While we need to try to push for as many God-inspired laws as we can (Since we believe that God's law is for the betterment of humanity and Christ came to fulfill the Law with Grace and Truth), we will never be able to save America. Christianity is not to be pushed as a state religion; it is a Theocracy, and we all have an inheritance in it, but we will never be able to "litigate the Hell" out of America.
As far as the 2nd quote goes ("I like your Christ..."), I don't want to go into too much depth, because I actually do appreciate this one as well. I think it is a great warning to Christians, but I think it is a bad rally cry for the Non-Christian. To get to the point, you cannot like Christ and hate his followers. The bible doesn't let you do that, Christ himself won't let you do that. When you choose Christ, you get his followers too as your brothers and sisters. The Christian life was not meant to be lived apart from the community of believers, even Christ himself had his own followers, who were, like all Christians, idiots. When you choose Christ and reject his followers, you are doing something that Christ did not even do. Most of the time, this quote is used to put into words the hate for the "Typical Christian Hypocrite", clogging up the church in America and around the world. I think there are two important truths that come from this:
1. Yes, we are hypocrites. Big time! Therefore, how much does it show about God's love for his people? For a group who mess up every day, and to still choose to work in us, sacrifice for us, and love unconditionally, how great is our God? He sees the depths of our hearts, and he loves us the same!
2. What do you expect? Sanctification is not necessarily a sprint, for most it is a marathon, a very long, tiring, but successful marathon. Paul tells us in Phil. 2 that our attitude should be like Christ's, but since we are not him, its not until we are made perfect will his image be on us. Will you really base your unbelief in the incompetency of others? That's not smart. At least deny Christ or something, not use your own race as an example of ignorance.
Thats it for now, I will leave Mr. Gandhi alone.
Brett
P.S. I don't think I'm smarter than Gandhi.
P.P.S. God's wisdom is smarter than Gandhi.
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