Monday, 01 August 2011 13:19
The film stars Daniel Craig (when he's not being James Bond), Harrison Ford (in his first Western since 1979), and Olivia Wilde (when she's not on House). Robert Downey, Jr. was to play Craig's role, but he ended up as Sherlock Holmes instead.
As the title and trailers make clear, cowboys in the Old West (1873 Arizona) find themselves battling aliens. You don't know for the first half of the movie how Craig's character obtained the wrist shackle which is the humans' only defense against the invaders. Or why Wilde's character is interested in keeping him around.
The film is getting mixed reviews—some critics like the acting, while others find the Western vs. Space Invaders culture clash to be jarring. I thought the movie was fun, but cannot claim objectivity—I've seen every Harrison Ford film since he was Han Solo. (Note: I wouldn't take elementary school children to see the movie—the special effects sometimes border on the nightmarish.)
What interests me most about the movie—and constitutes the reason for this review—is the theological worldview the film portrays. A frontier minister tells Craig's character, "Whether you end up in heaven or hell is not God's plan—it's up to you." Later the preacher tells a character who isn't sure if God exists, "You don't expect God to do everything for you, do you? You got to earn his presence, then you got to recognize it and act on it."
Here we find classic pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps self-reliance. If it were confined to Old West caricatures that would be one thing. The fact that it sums up conventional wisdom in 2011 is the problem. The majority of Americans think "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible, though Algernon Sydney originated the statement in 1698 and Benjamin Franklin made it popular in his Poor Richard's Almanac in 1757.
The fact is, self-sufficiency is spiritual suicide. God cannot do for us what we try to do for ourselves. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit" is God's formula for spiritual significance (Zechariah 4:6).
I do like one of the preacher's last lines in the movie: "God doesn't care who you were—only who you are." That's a statement worth remembering—and believing.
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Comments
Look, first of all, humans were designed and intended for a "relationship with God." This means that there is a give and take between Him and us. He "guides" and we "do."
On top of that, He expects us to learn and observe our mutual limitations: we do not attempt to manage anything other than our personal affairs, and he does not override our ability and right to make choices in that exercise.
Then, He hopes for a desire to build in us as this relationship grows that we will seek to tune our thinking to his - so that the choices we make reflect his values.
He is not alarmed by "self-sufficient" persons; it is the person who will not submit to his Authority who stands in jeopardy of temporal distress and Eternal Damnation.
God has NO limitations.
God gave us free will, it is not a right but a priviledge.
Although it is a bad idea to not submit to Gods will, that alone does not condem one to Hell, not believing on Christ is the only thing that can do that.
Once we've been declared righteous, then we are to do good works for God, the things he prepared for us to do even before the world began (Eph. 2:10). A faith without works is dead (James 2:20) but we are saved by grace (back to Eph. 2:8,9) it's not a reward for the good things we've done.
When we really grasp all the blessings that belong to a person who puts his faith in God, how could we NOT want to be God's child, and work for Him?
Instead of "God helps those who help themselves," I believe that God blesses those who serve him.
I cannot believe God put us on Earth to be completely dependent on Him. Not when so many characters in the Bible are about ordinary people whom God uses in extraordinary ways. My favorite story is Esther for example. She was a regular woman who saved an entire culture by doing something difficult that she knew was right. God often tests our faith as he did with Abraham and his son because there are few things worth fighting for that are easy.