So I went to see Avatar the other night with a few guys from church. The special effects and 3D were nothing short of spectacular. The story was very spiritual. The main character, Jake, befriends a native group on the moon Pandora. His desire is to get to know them and understand them. He ends up falling in love, and welcomed into the community. They are very connected with the earth, with their deity (if I remember right, they refer to her as a tree goddess or mother or something). It's more like an energy that they connect with that connects them to one another (you'd have to see the movie to really understand what I mean). It's amazing how popular spirituality is today, and how good it makes people feel. I couldn't help but wonder to myself why people are attracted to this connection with a deity and with others in an unnamed god, but are often repulsed or offended by Jesus who promises the kind of connection they find so appealing in this film. I couldn't help but think of Ephesians 2:19-22 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (TNIV)". This was the picture that came to mind. God is not some faceless force that dwells in a tree and connects us to energy. He is a personal God that became flesh and connects us to both himself and one another through his Spirit. I don't know why that wouldn't be more attractive to more people. I suppose there is a cost when you have to take God for who He reveals himself to be and not just who we'd like him to be. But that's another discussion for another post.
12.31.2009
Spirituality and Avatar
So I went to see Avatar the other night with a few guys from church. The special effects and 3D were nothing short of spectacular. The story was very spiritual. The main character, Jake, befriends a native group on the moon Pandora. His desire is to get to know them and understand them. He ends up falling in love, and welcomed into the community. They are very connected with the earth, with their deity (if I remember right, they refer to her as a tree goddess or mother or something). It's more like an energy that they connect with that connects them to one another (you'd have to see the movie to really understand what I mean). It's amazing how popular spirituality is today, and how good it makes people feel. I couldn't help but wonder to myself why people are attracted to this connection with a deity and with others in an unnamed god, but are often repulsed or offended by Jesus who promises the kind of connection they find so appealing in this film. I couldn't help but think of Ephesians 2:19-22 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (TNIV)". This was the picture that came to mind. God is not some faceless force that dwells in a tree and connects us to energy. He is a personal God that became flesh and connects us to both himself and one another through his Spirit. I don't know why that wouldn't be more attractive to more people. I suppose there is a cost when you have to take God for who He reveals himself to be and not just who we'd like him to be. But that's another discussion for another post.
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