Proof of God, Confession, Forgiveness, and Seat Belts: Devil

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Agatha Christie, Agnostics, Atheists, Confession, Devil, evil, Existentialists, Film, Forgiveness, God, good, Hell, M. Night Shyamalan, Nihilist, Proof of God, Seat Belts

I took my baby sister to see Devil (because she likes horror movies and I like thrillers, especially around Halloween).    Seeing as M. Night Shyamalan is behind it, I was intrigued.

Okay, I figured out the plot twist thanks to being an Agatha Christie fan.  However, I was surprised by the spiritual depth of the film as well as the cinematography.  I won’t reveal everything but there were two main themes: Confession and Forgiveness.  If we do not have those two, we are damned to Hell (whether literally or figuratively).

Another great message is that, if there is a Devil, then there must be a God.  God is not mentioned until the very end of the film, but it is the whole point of the film.  I think that is what Nihilist, Existentialists, and some Atheists and Agnostics miss.  They think “Oh, there is evil in the world, so there must be no God.”  However, how can there be evil, if there is no good?

SEE THIS FILM!  It is a fun philosophical and theological film.

Until Our Next Meeting,

The Lost Writer of Rohan.

Also, there was secretly a “wear your seat belt or DIE” message in the film.

Nighthawks and Noodles

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Blue Like Jazz, call out, Communion, Donald Miller, Edward Hopper, evil, family, God, human interaction, isolated, Jesus, loneliness, Nighthawks, talk, the Fall, Vietnamese noodle place

I went to a Vietnamese noodle place that recently opened up near my home.  I went there to meet up with my immediate family.  Everything was delicious, filling, and relatively cheap.  That isn’t why I’m writing this blog though. 

As I went home, I realized how isolated my family was from the rest of the restaurant.  We didn’t talk much with the staff or the single woman also in the restaurant.  I noticed how all of us were slumped down during the entire meal and I realized that it felt like Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks.  (If you haven’t seen it, click here.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Nighthawks.jpg)  We may be totally alone, but we do not make the effort to make contact with those around us. 

Why is this?  Because loneliness forces us to become more and more withdrawn in ourselves.  Being alone is not evil.  (Even Jesus needed the occasional people break.)  It is too much loneliness that can kill us.  Babies die without human interaction.  Isolation is considered the worse form of punishment in the world.  In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller talks about a park ranger who had been alone for several months.  He wanted human interaction, but he couldn’t remember how to talk to people.

Why is there loneliness though?  Why would God allow this?  Because he gave us free will.  Before the Fall, we had complete communion with God and others before the fall.  When we disobey God, we are ignoring our relationship with Him and ask to be alone with ourselves.   Afterward we ate the fruit, because we asked for selfishness in our choice to eat the fruit, God gave us what we wanted.  He had to separate Himself from us.  Hell is total separation from God.  We crave company because we crave God.  That’s how one is able to feel alone in a room full of people. 

Jesus brought us back into communion with God.  We just have to move out of our loneliness and call out.

Until Our Next Meeting.

The Lost Writer of Rohan