I don't watch too many movies--could count the number of movies I've seen in the last six months on one hand, and this includes rentals. However, I've discovered the wonder that is redbox, and have used it twice now to fill long Saturday evenings at home. I got online to check out what they had today, and made my selection before heading to get it. I chose "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage, mostly because I enjoy his movies and partly because the story line sounded interesting. I'm going to try to not ruin the ending as I share my thoughts on this movie.
The basic storyline is that Cage's character discovers a sheet of paper covered with numbers, written in 1959. Cage deciphers the writing and attempts to prevent some disasters along the way. However, I think the underlying theme is more important, and thought-provoking, than the main plot. Thorughout the movie, Cage wrestles with whether everything happens by chance or plan. Mysterious men appear, a boy hears voices and sees visions. A little too eerie for my taste, at times. However, the end was worth it. I'm going to have to pose a spoiler alert. If you want, but haven't, seen this movie, you may want to stop reading, then come back to finish this post when you have.
The movie ends with Cage's son and a friend being escorted onto a spaceship by these mysterious men. The men tell the boy that his dad cannot come, only the ones who have been called may join them. The men then shed their human form and take on forms that only resemble humans in shape--no features save for an ethereal glow and lightwaves resembling wings. The boy tells his father that the men were only going to protect them, that the men were always protecting them. Earth is consumed in a super solarflare, and boy and girl are safely deposited on another planet, running toward a massive tree.
So, as I watch this movie through the worldview of Christianity (thank you, Drs. Kurka, Knopp, and Castelein), it didn't take much for me to make the connections. 1. The mysterious men represented angels 2. The space ship represented the taking up of believers (not necessarily as we Christians would define believers, however) 3. The numbers represent prophecy, specifically of the endtimes 4. The new planet represents a "new heaven and new earth" (again, not necessarily as Christians would define it) 5. The tree represents the tree of knowledge of good and evil 6. The idea of a father parting with his son to save humanity is not new--it's woven the pages of the world's most enduring Book, and offers true salvation for ALL who believe.
My final thought is this: whether or not the final days of mankind will be scientifically explained, whether or not angels appear as they did in the movie, are we ready for that great and glorious day? Are we spreading the word, so that many may join us?
2 comments:
It is interesting how fascination with end-time prophetic events, the supernatural, science fiction, etc. is increasing in our time. The movie 2012 is just another example.
As I was reading your post, I started to think the movie was heading in a different direction. Boy and girl are deposited on a planet. Then, the surprise ending is that the original planet is not earth, but the new planet is, and the boy and girl are really our ancestors, Adam and Eve. I guess I thought that might be the ending because that idea has been used many times in science fiction before.
I haven't seen the movie 2012 but I have read descriptions of it, and I listened to a show on History channel about end-time prophetic disasters. These shows seem to leave something important out. They are really for entertainment, not education about Bible prophecy.
The Bible does predict end-time disasters likely to come in the lifetimes of most people alive today (not as soon as 2012, too many things need to happen first). But as I point out in my blog, what they leave out is the REASON for these disasters. They are not, as Hollywood likes to say, a struggle between good and evil. They are punishments for the sins of mankind, designed by a loving and wise God to bring mankind to repentance for our long-term good.
But you will not hear movies coming out of Hollywood speak of "repentance." I don't think they know the word.
You seem to have a zeal for spreading the word of God.
There is a direct connection between our willingness to be corrected by God's word and our effectiveness in preaching the gospel to the world.
What are we asking people to do when we preach the gospel to them? We are asking them to change. We are asking them to give up their previous beliefs and come to believe what God says in the Bible. For some, that might not be easy, but it is the price that has to be paid if you want the truth.
But in God's way of doing things, those who preach or teach must strive to practice what they preach. They must set an example. And the greatest example of this is Jesus Christ himself. He live a perfect life without sin for about 30 years, then faced and defeated Satan's strongest temptations in the desert, BEFORE God used Him to preach the gospel to the masses.
We cannot be effective in preaching the gospel to the world without God's blessing and intervention. God must EMPOWER us, or we won't be effective. This is shown by the message to Philadelphia in Revelation. Christ promised an open door to preaching the gospel that was not promised to the other churches (see the epistles of Paul for the meaning of the symbolism of the "open door"). Christ opens the door and He closes it. Anyone who wants to preach effectively needs that open door.
But if we ask the public to be willing to change and follow the God of the Bible, we have to be willing to do that ourselves. In other words, our learning new things from God's word, our willingness to let the Bible change us and change our beliefs, even when it is painful, must never end. Otherwise, we become hypocrites, like the Pharisees, who bound heavy burdens on men they would not life with one finger.
This means that if you or I try to preach the gospel, we better be willing to believe the Bible and change our beliefs when it corrects us.
Suppose I found something in the Bible tomorrow that was different than what I believed before. It might be a point of doctrine where the Bible taught me that one of the traditional beliefs of my church I had grown up with was wrong. Do I believe the Bible, or my traditions? What comes first, my church or the Bible? If I put anything except the Bible first, I become a hypocrite in the eyes of God if I try to preach from the Bible to the public. If I am not willing to let the Bible teach me and change my beliefs, what right do I have to ask others to do so?
I do not know what your beliefs are, but I know from the Bible that many doctrines of mainstream churches are wrong. I have written and published on the Internet a free book on Christian doctrine, and in my book I have to put an invitation for comments with my email address so that if I make a mistake and someone can show me from the Bible that I am wrong, I can change.
I think that is the attitude we must have if we want God's blessing so we can be effective in spreading God's word.
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