Finding God through Fantasy
Fantasy remains a human right, we make in our measure and in our
derivative mode, because we are made, and not only made, but made in the
image and likeness of a Maker.
Sunday night my husband and I saw The Avengers for the first (but probably not the last) time. I love action movies. There is just something that rises up from deep inside of me during a good movie or book where the fate of the world hangs on the thread of an archetypal hero. Something that knows this story already, the impression that while I know what's on the screen is fantasy, it's also true. Good and evil, the fallen and redeemed, sacrificial love, and the promise of a happy ending.
Whether it's The Avengers, Harry Potter, The Matrix or even *gasp* the characters of Twilight, whether purposefully implied or not, these themes ring true. It's why each of these has followers, die hard fans whose enthusiasm is not altogether wrong, but simply misplaced. They find something to relate to, to grasp hold of. Something that reminds them of this distant and faint impression that there's a world beyond this one, where underdogs are heroes, wars rage behind veiled realities, and where nothing is as it seems.
We rally behind the sarcastic Iron Man as he finally understands the meaning of hero, sacrificing his life for the island of Manhattan. We do this because something tells us that's as it should be.
We cheer on Frodo as he battles friends and foe to carry out his task, because something feels familiar.
We rise up with Neo as he battles an enemy that veils the truth in fiction and holds mankind hostage.
Our hearts remember, if only faintly, that all is not as it should be. They remember the story that was before the universe was created.
Whether it's The Avengers, Harry Potter, The Matrix or even *gasp* the characters of Twilight, whether purposefully implied or not, these themes ring true. It's why each of these has followers, die hard fans whose enthusiasm is not altogether wrong, but simply misplaced. They find something to relate to, to grasp hold of. Something that reminds them of this distant and faint impression that there's a world beyond this one, where underdogs are heroes, wars rage behind veiled realities, and where nothing is as it seems.
We rally behind the sarcastic Iron Man as he finally understands the meaning of hero, sacrificing his life for the island of Manhattan. We do this because something tells us that's as it should be.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
We cheer on Frodo as he battles friends and foe to carry out his task, because something feels familiar.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We rise up with Neo as he battles an enemy that veils the truth in fiction and holds mankind hostage.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Our hearts remember, if only faintly, that all is not as it should be. They remember the story that was before the universe was created.
The Original Story. About good and evil. About a fallen, angry enemy and a sacrificial love that transforms the world.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has also set eternity
in the hearts of men
In a world that consistently denies universal truth, where God is thrown out of our schools and government, where science and reason have been made the enemy of faith, our hearts give us away.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has also set eternity
in the hearts of men
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