About halfway through, my wife said to me, “How many people is he going to kill?” to which I replied, “As many as it takes to get his daughter back.” Is that not the very same story of the Bible? When you think about it in that context, that of perfect love and dedication, all the death in the Old Testament comes into a new light doesn’t it? I remember struggling with “the God of the Old Testament” a couple of years ago. I just had a hard time seeing Him being a good God with all the death and disaster that takes place. I felt like God spoke to me and I wrote it down, “Andy I’ll do anything to save my bride, I’ll go to any length to destroy evil and rescue her.”

Think about that… He’ll do anything! Whatever it takes. He’ll put himself in harms way, I mean he literally died on the cross! If you haven’t seen the movie it may be hard to grasp the imagery, but Liam Neeson’s character literally hops on a plane to France, and pulls out all of his resources (he’s a former security agent/spy) and basically sends a one man invasion into the heart of a massive human trafficking and prostitution ring. Anyone who gets in his way, well, let’s just say it isn’t pretty. There are car wrecks, people die, explosions, Neeson’s character even jumps from a bridge to pursue his daughter’s captors. Isn’t that like God? Whatever gets in the way of His rescue mission – had better look out! I wouldn’t want to be an enemy of God! How powerful is that? How amazing is that? Now that’s a love story worth sharing.

Now, I know this gets confusing, because you might start thinking: well wait a minute who exactly is God trying to rescue? Isn’t it all of humanity? How does he kill one person to save another and how does that make sense? And to that I say…  yes he would go to any length to save any of us. However, things get kind of tricky when you give the very children you’re trying to rescue from the enemy the dignity of causation (or free will in layman’s terms). Now before we spiral into a meaningless debate into the existence of absolute free will and predestination, let’s just say this: God doesn’t like evil – and evil didn’t originate with mankind! We have an enemy remember? Satan attacked humanity, the image bearers of God, and although we willingly went along for the ride, the idea wasn’t ours to begin with. God also willingly adopts any of us as His children – He wants us!

I think what I love about this movie is it just shows us a glimpse of the “reckless raging fury that we call the love of God” (to quote Rich Mullins). I think we often forget that Jesus was fully man as well as fully God. Yes, there is good reason to be in awe of his divinity, but what about the impact of his humanity? The anger he has toward our enemies, the fury in which he pursues us, the personal abandonment he displays in our rescue? That is the Gospel!

There are other good things about this movie including the light it sheds on human trafficking – which is truly horrific. When you see the pure evil behind that criminal activity it really causes you to think twice about the sexualized culture which we live in, and the degradation of women that takes place right here in America. Just how far removed is our culture from the roots of human trafficking? I think it’s closer to it than we realize.

The final touch on this movie, as far as symbolism is concerned, is played out nicely in the final scene. After successfully rescuing his daughter, Liam Neeson’s character surprises her with a special gift, a visit with a well known pop-singer for music lessons (which she has always wanted to pursue). Now, from the purely cinematic story standpoint it seemed a little cheesy. However, I think it continues the message of our Heavenly Father. Not only will He do anything to rescue us – he also wants to give us good things. I believe this movie does a great job of symbolizing the love God has for us. Once again, whether intended or not, eternal truths do seem to shine through in just about any story.

I notice that I tend to believe, at least on an intellectual level, that God indeed heals all wounds. And I’ve come to accept this especially when it comes to the mortal wounds in my life (those that would kill me spiritually).  I believe in salvation, but I find myself struggling to believe in the maturity process or sanctification. I think my struggle is a combination of a lack of faith in God as healer, and a foolish desire to pull myself up by my own boot strings.

I simultaneously think these two things to myself:  “God can save my soul, but he can’t fix my problems now, I’m just too screwed up” and “I’ve got to get my act together, I’ve got this one God, if I just try harder I know I’ll make you happy.”  These are words of despair and shame.  They are lies from the enemy and they contradict what my Father says about Himself and about me. This attitude may seem self sacrificing in some ways, but it is the opposite, it is entirely selfish in an unhealthy and ungodly way.

The enemy is always happy to heap despair and shame upon us.

Despair is hopelessness, and it is contrary to what God tells us throughout the His word.  Hopelessness denies the power of the Risen Savior to conquer all evil. “He is faithful and will complete a good work He has begun in you” is a promise not to be thrown aside lightly.

Shame is about identity.  Whereas one can feel healthy guilt over wrong actions, shame is an attack on our core person. Satan is constantly lying to us and telling us how worthless and hopeless we are.  God on the other hand says that we are saints, sons of the King, righteous, holy, and that He has made us a new creation and given us a new heart. And… if you go back even further, before the fall, you’ll recall that we were made in God’s image and there is an Original Glory that is inherent to all men. There is never a reason for us to strive to make God happy, who we are, who He has made us, makes Him happy.

So back to my original premise… do I believe that God heals? Again, I confess this need to my Father: Help thou my unbelief. This is a daily prayer, or should be. The intellectual knowledge is present, but is it soul deep? This is where I need help.

It strikes me that there are three themes that resonate with me from this movie.

First… Attitude is crucial to our lives. What is your attitude toward your circumstances? Are you ready to hang your hat on hope or despair? As the movie so famously asks, are you ready to “get busy living” or are you ready to let despair sink in, and “get busy dying?”

Life isn’t fair, and for Andy (the main character who was falsely sent to prison for the murder of his wife) that is an understatement. Here you have a succesful man, a brilliant banker, a seemingly decent man by most accounts. Early on we find out his wife has cheated on him, and if that isn’t bad enough, he is then wrongly accused of her murder. Andy is betrayed by those closest to him, and he has his life taken from him (in this case by two life sentences in prison). When analyzing his situation in prison he can think these things happened for no other reason other than “bad luck.” And the truth is, it seems like it is just a bunch of bad luck. Unlike some stories, you don’t really get a reason for the struggles and attacks that Andy faces. So what does he do with his sad situation?

While he see’s other inmates give in to despair, Andy is always hanging on to something. Whether it’s securing a few beers for his fellow inmates by helping out one of the guards with taxes, or securing funds for a prison library expansion, helping a fellow inmate graduate from high school, carving chess pieces, or playing Mozart over the public address system at the prison (and getting punished by solitary confinement for it), Andy is always hanging on to something. He has hope, that his current predicament isn’t the end of the story.

The Second theme in this film that resonates with me is the importance of community. If anyone had any doubts about how hard prison life is, this movie does a great job of displaying the nasty, rough, reality of life in the clinker. However, that being said, you notice that there is a bond, a brotherhood, a community that exists within these walls. And it is in large part that fraternity that helps sustain these men from day to day. I think the movie makes it very clear that we are relational beings. Sadly, the way the men in the prison relate as friends and allies often displays deeper relationships than many free men have with their neighbors, co-workers, classmates, or other acquaintences.

I believe this truth shines through in the film: Community, relationships, this is what is of utmost importance in life. Life behind bars with strong community seems better than life in the free world with no friends and isolation. Do you have a band of brothers to live life with? To fight through trials with? To commiserate with? To encourage you along the way? Brooks, an older character who had been in the prison for 50 years, had community and purpose in prison. Once he was released, he was isolated, he felt completely out of place, and ultimately sank into despair and took his own life.

The third truth that I walked away with, was the fact that we as human beings were never meant to judge the worth of other human beings. You see in the move it’s very clear that the good guys aren’t always good, and the bad guys aren’t always bad. Unfortunately, we spend way too much time labeling people, and I’m as guilty as anyone. Despite the popular quote, I’m more and more convinced that actions DO NOT define the man.

We all make mistakes, sometimes they are horrific, and there are terrible consequences. Such is the case with Red, one of the main characters who committed murder as a young man. Red spends 40 years in jail, and there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind about his guilt and remorse, Red himself admits he is guilty joking that “he’s the only man in Shawshank who is actually guilty.” Throughout the film you see Red’s wisdom on display and his care for others. I dare say he’s a man of high character. You spend a lot of the movie getting to know Red, and the last thing I walked away thinking was, “He’s just a murderer.”

I’m not suggesting that murder is acceptable, nor am I suggesting that there aren’t consequences for our actions. However, I am suggesting that you (and I) cannot judge a man’s worth by his actions. If we could just look at human beings and see the glory, the dignity, the intended purpose endowed by our Creator… perhaps we could find empathy for men who commit atrocious acts, knowing that the act itself is an anomaly, a malfunction, contrary to the original glory of men. Or have we forgotten that men were made in the image of God?

Also in the movie there are guards who kill prisoners, the Warden launders money and has an inmate murdered, and the supposed, “good guys” are not all that good at times. Perhaps we should be slower to label “good people” and “bad people” and instead try to understand that there is a war within each of us. For those who are in Christ the tide has turned, the battle is being won by the good inside us. What’s truest about believers is the good heart. For those not in Christ, there are still the reminants of original glory…how else could you explain the good that is in the world among non-believers? But, ultimately evil is winning out in their hearts, and they are being eaten alive by sin.

I have been guilty, many times, myself of seeing people in black and white terms. That’s just a terrible way to analyze a human being. In fact, I would say it’s almost an insult to God to see people in such simple terms. Our Creator designed us with far too much detail and intricacy for us to simply discard some as bad and label others as good. There are more wounds, more stories, more internal struggles, in each and every individual than what any of us could even begin to comprehend. I for one, am thankful that God judges the heart, rather than the actions.

-Andy

“It’s not glorious, it’s not beautiful, it’s not even heroic. It’s merely doing what’s right and doing it again and again. Even if one day you end up looking like this” (referring to his mangled self).

That struck a cord with me. Life is a battle. The war analogy is not an overstatement, it’s very appropriate for us all. We are in a world at war. Good versus evil. The Apostle Paul said:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

If you don’t realize that we’re at war – life doesn’t make a lot of sense (to paraphrase John Eldredge from the book Waking the Dead). Haven’t you noticed that it seems like there is an awful lot of opposition in our lives? Has it ever occurred to you that we are opposed by forces unseen? I know I forget this. The Bible talks about how the devil hates humanity because we were made in the image of God. Isn’t it reasonable to assume that someone who hates us is going to attack us? Anyhow – I was struck by the quote from this movie because often times life gets ugly. We don’t always win each battle. There are losses… significant ones. But, it’s not a matter of glory, beauty, or even heroism in battle as much as it is about doing what’s right and doing it again and again.

The other movie I saw this last weekend was X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, in fact I thought it was one of the better X-Men movies thus far, although it was a little darker.

One scene that stood out to me was when Logan (Wolverine) is on the run and an elderly couple takes him in for the night.  You have to understand the situation… He has just escaped from a military facility where they have been doing excruciatingly painful experiments on him. He also just recently learned that his girlfriend was murdered, and that the same people behind it planned on killing him too. He escapes but he’s on the run, he’s exhausted, naked, cold, and all alone. That’s when Travis Hudson and his wife allow him to stay the night while feeding him and giving him clothing.

Logan is incredibly conflicted.  Throughout the movie you see that he doesn’t want to be hurt or see others hurt, yet he struggles with past traumas and the violence and anger that results from these.  Often these arise out of the need for survival. Travis Hudson at one point asks Logan about his future plans and (sensing that he’s in some real trouble) tells him that he has always has a choice in life. Logan argues and says his choice got taken away. The elderly Hudson responds immediately by saying, that’s “bull shit.”  You always have a choice.

This really sticks out for me because I feel like so often Satan feeds us that lie… the lie that we don’t have a choice. That we are a slave to our weaknesses, to our sins, to our failures. And I believe the appropriate response to that lie is to call it what it is: a bunch of bull. The blood of Jesus has not only forgiven us of our sins, but it has freed us from the dominion of the power of darkness. So when we hear that voice that whispers that we are nothing but failures we should rebuke it and bring the cross against it in Jesus’ name.

The old man then proceeds to give Logan his dead son’s leather jacket and he gives Logan the keys to his motorcycle.  It may not seem like much but I thought this scene was a powerful example of a male father figure initiating a boy (although Logan is hardly young at this point).

So there you have it… a few eternal truths from a couple of movies…written and produced by folks who probably aren’t believers in Christ. But truth doesn’t hide, I’ve found that in most stories, myths, and tales there is an element of truth that shines through.  And there’s no better way to learn than in the form of story or parables. 

VIKI: Do you not see the logic of my plan?

SONNY: Yes, but it just seems too… heartless.

You see VIKI is a super computer that follows logic alone.  The logic she follows leads to cruel actions toward others and it completely lacks any heart.  Sonny on the other hand is a robot who has been designed with free will, emotions, and most importantly of all…heart.

A simple message perhaps, but a profound truth. Brain without heart is less than human and for that matter less than God. A significant part of our humanity is our heart. God see’s the heart and knows our motives. Thank God we’ve been given a good restored heart through Christ! And that heart comes from our Creator (in Who’s image we were made and in who we are redeemed through the blood of Jesus). When we think of God as all brains and no heart it’s no wonder we doubt His intentions and fail to see Him as truly good. We doubt Him and we doubt our true selves.

“Andy… You have learned to use what I intended for good, for your own glory. Self worship is the heart of the matter. The answer (or response) to self worship is not self hatred, rather it is truly loving oneself (which always points to the Father). Beautiful women are not for you to consume, they are daughters of the King to be cherished.”

At this point I decided to look up the definition of the word “cherish” and found these helpful definitions:

1. To hold or treat as dear.

2. To care for tenderly; nurture.

It occurred to me then that “cherishing” entails doing what is best for others not focusing on what you think you can best get out of them.

So then this is my prayer…  “God help me to remember this. Lord burn it into my heart and my mind. I bring the cross of Jesus against voices that would encourage me to think otherwise, and I ask for protection against all foul spirits.  Lord help me to crucify the flesh, rebuke my enemy, and lean not on my own understand. I exercise the authority given to me as a believer in Christ through His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension.  Amen.

“In my experience self hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.

When we have come to believe in the voices that call us ‘worthless’ and ‘unlovable,’ then success popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap however is self rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone or abandoned I find myself thinking: ‘Well that proves once again that I am a nobody’. My dark side says ‘I am no good, I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned’.

Self rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us, ‘The beloved’…

Christ wants us to alter our attitude toward ourselves and take sides with Him against our own self evaluation. ” – Brennan Manning (Abba’s Child)

“Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” -  Proverbs 29:20

I have been thinking about re-opening my blog for a long time. It’s been very difficult to keep my mouth shut these last couple of years. I like to write. I like to share opinions. Sometimes though, my words have been foolish. I think this verse in Proverbs speaks to that. A lot has changed since I once ran this blog. For one thing, I’ve dealt with a lot in my personal life that was once afflicting me. I had a lot of pent up self-condemnation that fueled much of the condemnation I lashed out with at the world and at our culture. I’m sorry for any judgmental, legalistic, prideful, and condemning tones of the past. I can’t quite explain all that I’ve been through in the last two years except to say that I have developed a new paradigm. A grace paradigm. I’d like to think my empathy has grown, that I’ve developed more humility and brokenness,  and that I try to see things from other perspectives. I’ll let you be the judge of that as we move forward. Better yet, why don’t we let God be the judge. Humankind spends way too much time on the judgment seat in roles that we were never designed for in the first place. With that said, I’d like to invite you to listen to this challenging message called “The Picker” by James Wilder.