Simply, I watched this movie and came out of it understanding, perhaps, a small direction in which we as Americans have gone. Let me simply cut to the chase. In the movie, the heroes defeat the villain, of course, as the good guy always wins. Let us ask the question how. Now, in many stories we find that the bad guy is taken to justice and justice always prevails. However, not so in this movie. Herein we have the heroes who are able to obtain evidence against a corrupt political agent. In the latter part of the movie, they run from the mob in an effort to take this evidence to a newspaper and post it on the web. In a twist, the hero finds that he did not actually successfully audio record the villain. So then his conclusion is to simply kill the politician in cold blood. This is done without remorse or consequence; indeed, the flow of the movie leads us to think this is the good thing to do. Now while there are moral dilemmas in this which, I hope, are obvious, I wish to focus on something more than just murder.
Lately, there is a modern insurgence of vigilante movies and stories; stories wherein man takes the law into his own hands and deals out justice to his own end. This is a turn from movies of yore where the hero triumphs evil and the badguy is found by justice. These were movies carried by the theme of "Justice always prevails". Our movies are different these days. Now, it would seem that the theme is "What goes around comes around". This is sad really.
Now while it is true that Our Lord visits justice on the unjust, this eastern philosophy does not align with Scripture nor should it be adopted by true believers. Please be wary of this madness that seems to be the popular thought of today. It apparently encourages this madness of taking the law or justice into one's own hands, so also it takes the perspective of justice, as we should always have our eyes even in justice fixed on Our Lord God, and places it vengefully upon our enemies. Nor does this encouraged a right hearted forgiveness. Let us break it down. The Lord says that vengeance is His (Hebrews 10:30), and not only this but that He shall be the one to visit His wrath in justice (Romans 12:19). So what then? What is our attitude to such as those who wrong us in a culture and time where it seems that the unrighteous prosper and wickedness is rewarded (Jeremiah 12:1). We are to do as Christ commanded (Matthew 5:44); that is to love our enemies and pray for them. Why? Because we know that God will judge them ultimately, one way or another. And we remember that we were once just like them; that we too were under God's Wrath; that we all were going to suffer eternal judgement (Romans 3:10). Yet we have hope and joy because Christ is our mediator. Nigh two thousand years ago, Christ suffered that wrath on the Cross, taking our punishment. So then we can rejoice that we, once sinners, are now bought by Christ with His blood! And we can rejoice that "by grace, through faith, we are saved" (Ephesians 2:8). Rejoice! And pray for your enemies, that they may also know Christ; that they may also be saved. So don't tout this "what goes around comes around" thing; instead, remember Christ and the Cross, and pray that many more would come to faith to the glory of our beloved Sovereign, Christ Jesus!
SDG
No comments:
Post a Comment