X-Men: Days of Future Past

Since it's that time of the year, a lot of the movies I'll be discussing these days are Christmas ones. But to shake things up I'll still discuss non-Christmas movies here and there too, like this one!






from JustWatch

This is a movie I've watched recently that blew me away. When I saw the trailers for X-Men: Days of Future Past, I thought it looked un-promising.

I thought, "Oh, they're making another X-Men movie, and it looks so typical that I don't even need to go see it." But I was wrong.

I am SO glad that I did go see it. I loved it. With me, I can always tell that a movie was really good if I spend hours or days afterward still thinking about it, and this movie definitely did that for me. I thought about the plot and the time traveling and tried to make sense of that, but the main thing I thought about afterwards were the deep, complex themes about life and how we deal with it.

This movie has some great action and comedy throughout, but, being the deep thinker that I am, I mostly adore it because I connect well with its depictions of living in a fallen world, mostly through relating to the character of Young Professor X.





from vanityfair.com

In this movie, a young Charles Xavier is depicted during a time in his life when he is deeply struggling with his superpower of telepathy, a power which makes him able to hear/see/feel what every person in the world does, all the time. It might even better be called "tel-empathy."

I am SO glad that they explored this aspect of the character in this movie, because I've always thought that superpower certainly has the looming potential to devastate the one who possesses it. People, of course, experience joy, love, excitement and more in their life, but with his powers, Xavier sees and feels all the feelings of all the people of the world, a world that is full of evil and suffering and pain. He truly has "seen it all." And in response, he--naturally, I would dare to say--becomes severely depressed.

Though I personally do not possess the gift of telepathy, I as a person possess the "superpower" of regular human empathy. Most people have this power. Yet however much good this power can achieve, this great and necessary gift still presents challenges.

For example, I have difficulty these days watching the news, as I know so many others do too. Even though it is undoubtedly important as a world citizen and Christian to remain up-to-date on what is happening in the world, it can be hard to learn of all the relentless sad stories and all of the evil that affects people. It's usually easiest to just tune it out, to not look at it. But for Charles Xavier, "tuning out" the worldwide pain and suffering of others is not so easy an option.

Xavier turns to drugs to numb his awareness of other people's thoughts and feelings. He tries to stop feeling the pain by any means necessary. This part of the movie was actually really for me hard to watch. As an X-Men fan familiar with the stories, seeing the beloved leader, Professor X, at such a low point is unsettling and even heartbreaking.

The suspense at this point of the movie is based on wondering whether Xavier will ever recover, ever regain hope, ever rise up and help people as only he can.

And the thing is, this "low point," this state of hopelessness, depression, and numbness is what I'd say is a completely natural response to all the pain and suffering and evil that's in the world. Constant awareness of all this pain is naturally overwhelming and depressing. It looks hopeless because it never seems to end, and sometimes it even seems to be getting worse. And even if we were able to hold the awareness of all the darkness and sorrow in the world, we don't have the ability to help everyone.

So at this point, yes: sorrow, hopelessness, giving up... makes sense.

But, praise God, there's more to the picture than that.

The world is actually not hopeless. We actually are not hopeless. Before Jesus left the earth, many days after he had been crucified and resurrected, He spoke to his disciples (see John 16:25-32) telling them that because they have believed that Jesus is from God, God Himself loves them.

They say "yes, we believe you are from God," but Jesus says, "'Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.'”

So pretty much He's saying that things are going to get rough (and indeed they are already) but that his followers don't need to be dismayed about it. God wins over evil. God wins over injustice. Jesus conquered death when He died and rose again. Jesus has overcome it all.

Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. -Proverbs 23:18

This world is filled with evil and turmoil and suffering and sin, but God has seen it, and He has sent a Redeemer! (read Isaiah 59) Jesus took on all of our sin and suffering and pain and has made us able to be one with God again, and He Himself is our peace (see Ephesians 2:14). As individuals, we do not have the power to save everyone, but God has that power, and He has reached down to us to save the world. He offers Himself as a Savior to everyone.

Hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. -Psalm 130:7



from movieweb.com

So this brings me to another point of the movie that really got to me.

At one point in the plot of the movie, Wolverine asks (begs, really) Xavier to look into his mind, connect with him, and thereby see and feel all of his darkest, most painful moments. Xavier, still in his suffocating depression, responded in the way I probably would've. In tears, he said, "I DON'T WANT YOUR SUFFERING."

Xavier is given tremendous responsibility in his ability to take on so much pain. This, to me, looks like a shadow, an imperfect reflection, of Jesus.

Jesus before His crucifixion was in agony. He was praying in earnest and sweating blood. He knew that He was about to bear the sin of the whole world and drink the cup of the wrath of God. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done.” (see Luke 22:41-44)

from charlesanderik2016

Hallelujah! Even though Jesus was about to undergo terrible pain and suffering--the pain and suffering that sin has brought upon everyone in the world--He was still committed to obeying God's will, and God's will is that sinners be saved and brought together with Him.

Jesus has taken on our sin and pain that we may be saved and be with God forever where there is no sin or suffering or pain; He will wipe every tear from every eye (Revelation 21:4). Yet while we are still living on earth before Jesus' return, where there is sin and suffering and pain, we endure it all, like Jesus, so that we can know Him more intimately by sharing in His suffering (as indeed, He suffered for our sakes) and so that we may live (and even die) to glorify God and to show His love to others.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -Romans 5:3-5

Since Jesus is in heaven now, we are his hands and feet on earth (read Ephesians 4). By His grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, we are called to see and feel (with our superpower of empathy) the pain of others around us, show them love, and introduce them to Jesus, who gives hope and peace and life.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. -Galatians 6:2

Xavier realizes in the movie that he should not give in to his despair but that he plays an important role. He can have an impact on so many people's lives and share hope with them. Even if he can't remove the pain from everyone, he can do so for some, and therefore should. But he needed to be given hope first, and God does that for us. And so we, by the grace of God, should share our hope with others and help others in their pain, just as God helps us in ours. And even though we cannot wipe the tears from every eye, our God can. (How awesome!)

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. -Matthew 5:4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. -2 Corinthians 1:3-4 



from businessinsider.com

So this amazing movie gave a lot of great messages about being saved from hopelessness and also giving hope to others. God loves us and has demonstrated that for us in sending His only son to endure so much pain for us. This movie has several messages that can be applied to our lives, maybe you can find even more. And of course, when we know God, these messages mean so much more.

So I hope this encourages you to find your hope and peace in God, reach out to those who don't have it, and perhaps look for echos of Jesus in other movies or unexpected places.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. -Romans 5:13

Suggested verses for further reading:
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; -Lamentations 3:20

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11

Also see Romans 8:19-21 and Galatians 5:5 about hope in this world.


Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to add to the discussion in the comments below. Also, if you have any movie suggestions for me, let me know!

X-Men: Days of Future Past. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2014. Film.

Arthur Christmas

Since it's that time of the year, a lot of the movies I'll be discussing these days are Christmas ones. But to shake things up I'll still discuss non-Christmas movies here and there too.



from https://www.deviantart.com/john-sulu/art/Merry-Christmas-722132984

I watched the film Arthur Christmas for the first time yesterday, and to be honest, I wasn't anticipating a funny, creative movie. But a funny and creative movie it was!

I was expecting your typical animated Christmas family film with furry animals, funny voices, cheesy comedy, and an extremely overdone plot with extremely cliché themes. But this movie had some really funny moments, a unique-enough plot, and not a single annoying talking animal! I really enjoyed it and would actually like to see it again next year.

One of the things that I admired most about the movie, though, was its messages about grace, faith, and works.

from youtube.com

Grace

At the very beginning of the movie, Santa and his elves are doing their work delivering gifts to houses. The sequence shows a lot of high-tech equipment that they use for everything from descending to the houses, communicating with each other, to...scanning whether children are naughty or nice.

Yes, the elves would actually scan the children while they were sleeping to see if they qualified as naughty or nice, deserving or undeserving of their gifts. As this happened, I was thinking about how appalling it is that this jolly Santa in everyone's stories only gives these wonderful gifts to the children who have been good enough.

This is nothing new; everyone familiar with Santa knows how this works.

I just couldn't help but hate that so many people would want to teach their kids this: that if they were too naughty, too bad, then they'd just have to have a Christmas with no presents. Santa would be disappointed in them and withhold all that he would otherwise be giving them.

I was thinking about all of this when something in the movie gave me a huge surprise. It was amazing.

from blueray.com

As an elf scanned one sleeping child, the device blinked red and showed "naughty" as the result. The elf appeared saddened by this, then after looking at the kid, scanned himself so that the device would read nice instead.

What a great picture of grace! What a great illustration of the gospel! and such a simple one that even children watching can understand. Even though the child was "naughty" and thereby didn't deserve gifts from Santa, the elf's goodness replaced it, and the child could receive those gifts after all. As we are also all "naughty," doing what is wrong so often even when there are times when we try to do what is right, God still gives us Himself, the greatest gift we could ever want. That's the gospel. If we've been saved by Jesus, then even in our naughtiness, Jesus is scanned instead of us, and He is 100% good.

Wow. I was really glad that happened.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. -Romans 3:21-25 (ESV)

from pinterest.com

Faith

Something that I've learned recently is that it's OK to have faith but still have questions. It's actually an essential part of faith. As Martin Luther King Junior put it,

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

Or in other words, faith is not knowing for sure, but trusting in God and who He is and what promises He's made to us. (He is good, wants good for us, won't abandon us...)

So I've learned that it's OK to believe in God but still want to know more. In fact, it's even more than OK; seeking God and a closer relationship with Him is an important part of our walk with Him.

We'll never totally understand God and His ways (see Isaiah 55:8-9), but the Bible also informs us that we should "ask", "seek", and "knock" (Matthew 7:7). So telling God honestly that we have questions is, you could say, encouraged.

In this children's animated movie, there is a profoundly simple yet affecting illustration of this.

During the movie's exposition, viewers are presented a little girl's letter to Santa. In it, she talks about how her friends dispute the reality of the Santa legend, saying Santa would burn up if he went around the world fast enough to get to every child's house. Yet even though she has plenty of questions for Santa, questions getting at the fundamental elements of what he is and what he does, she still has faith. She writes in the letter: "I think you are real, but how do you do it?"

In this way, she's showing a faith that still has questions, a faith that's seeking to know more. A faith that shows she trusts that Santa is who he is, and not someone who would burn up reindeer.

With this illustration of course, I'm not trying to say that it's worth it to put your faith in Santa. There's a better "Santa" who really can see and know all of us, be anywhere and everywhere, and He actually has the capacity to love and care about each and every one of us (which this Santa doesn't, but I'll spare you the spoilers).

from http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t4-G-o_ont8/maxresdefault.jpg

Works

(Ok, sorry, this one actually does involve a bit of a spoiler. I hope that's alright.)

One of the bigger themes of this movie is also a big one in Christianity, which perhaps viewers of this movie pick up on along with Arthur.

As Arthur and his companions go on their crazy adventure to deliver a gift to a child, he is in it with his whole heart. He deeply cares for their cause and and is willing to do anything to complete it. He finds out along the way, though, when times get tough, that not everyone in that sleigh with him is in the same boat.

That is to say, his grandsanta (love that name) is only on this mission with him because he wants to prove how good he is.

He's in it for his own glory, not for the cause of bringing the gift to the child. Arthur is heartbroken when he finds out and tries to explain that it is not right to act in such a way and not how they should be completing this task.

The grandsanta replies with something to the effect of, "Well what do my motives matter as long as I get the gift to the kid?" But Arthur knows that the motives really do matter.

This is yet another great illustration that has parallels to our real lives. Things fall apart when we try to "live the Christian life," doing good works, without placing our faith in God and relying on Him as the source of our righteousness and love for others. After all, "we love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

We may obey God's laws and serve others ("good works"), but the action is empty unless it is one of actual love.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

-I Corinthians 13:2 (ESV)

Are we doing the good things we do as a show to make ourselves look or feel like we're good? Or are we doing it as an act of loving our God and Savior with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, all while knowing that only by His grace are we any good at all. Do we do what we do grudgingly or with great joy and out of the love that God puts in our hearts for Himself and other people?

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 22:36-40

These are important questions to ask, and ones I've had to wrestle with. But through this, God has renewed me time and time again, giving me more and more love for Him and for others.

So Arthur in this movie is the example of one who braves a long and difficult task as a way of showing love for another person, the child, and genuinely wanting good for her, even at his own expense; he wants her to experience the gifts that Santa can give and to believe in him.

Likewise, we as Christians can joyfully, lovingly, selflessly serve others, by the grace of God alone, so that they may see the love of God through our own illustration of it and be introduced to Him.


So, ya, it's a pretty great movie. It is definitely a great one for discussion and one I'd be excited to show my kids one day. Even though not every aspect of the film would make a positive Biblical lesson, it still does give a lot, more than I've even talked about here. And without giving any more spoilers, I'll just say also that the entire plot holds a great, wonderful allusion to Matthew 18:10-14, the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Good stuff :)

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to add to the discussion in the comments below. Also, if you have any movie suggestions for me, let me know!

Arthur Christmas. Dir. Sarah Smith and Barry Cook. Perf. James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy. Sony Pictures Animation, 2011. Netflix.

A Bit of a 'Mission Statement'

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:13-15 (ESV)

This is my reason, purpose, and goal. I believe in God the perfect, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient creator of our universe, in Jesus His son and our Savior who for the joy set before him and for God's love of the world endured to cross to save sinners, and in the Holy Spirit who God gives to those who accept the work of Jesus covering their sins and live for Him.

That's why I'm writing on the topic of faith and the Gospel of Grace, because it is everything to me. I am living under grace, and I want others to know so that they can live under it too and in that new freedom and life that Christ gives. He makes everything better, and He is everything.

In sum, He's pretty awesome, so that's why I'll keep bringing Him up ;)