May The Force Be With You - Episode III - What about the Dark Side: Anakin, Palpatine, Satan, and You

I feel that in the last couple of entries, I have established a strong comparison of the Star Wars idea of the Force to Christianity's idea of the Holy Spirit and how viewing the Holy Spirit much in the same way as we do the Force can actually shed some light on the mystery of the Holy Spirit. As we understand that the Force is a supernatural life-force that works freely in the lives of the characters in the Star Wars mythology, we also understand that our Holy Spirit is much the same, freely working in our lives, guiding and instructing us. At the same time however, we know that there are a select few characters who are actually able to use and bend the Force to do their bidding. These characters are Jedi and Sith. This realization brings us an appearant flaw in my comparison, which some may have already discovered.

This flaw stems mostly from a surface level understanding of the Star Wars mythology and story. On the surface, our realization of the difference between Jedi and Sith is that there are two sides of the Force; the Light Side and the Dark Side. This discovery suggests that the Force itself is actually good but at the same time evil. You can see where this assumption is a really bad deal when comparing the Force to the Holy Spirit. This, however, is really only a surface level assumption about the Force. In the Star Wars story, the Force is never revealed to us except through those who use it, Jedi or Sith, so therefore, as we dig a little deeper we realize that the Force itself is not inherently good or evil, but those who use it do so in a good or evil way. The same rings true for the Holy Spirit.

Allow me to explain it like this: You are Anakin, Satan is Emperor Palpatine, and the Holy Spirit is the Force. In Episode I: The Phantom Menace we are introduced to Anakin, a young boy, full of innocence and hope, void of any understanding of how the Force is working in his life. By the end of the film we find that he is destined to be the most important Jedi in history and he begins his Jedi Training. Episode II: Attack of the Clones is where our story starts to take a turn. It is established that Anakin is doing quite well in his training, but we start to see a dangerous trait growing inside him. Pride starts to creep up in him as he becomes more aware of his importance in the future of the Jedi and his exceptional skill with the Force. Anger also starts to take control as we see in Anakin's slaughter of the Tuskin Raiders after the death of his mother, and a thirst to know more rises as he begins to feel that he should be able to do more. In steps Emperor Palpatine, a Sith Lord hiding in plain sight of the Jedi Council. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith sees the decline of Anakin as Emperor Palpatine slowly begins to twist the young Jedi's views of the Force and promises him the chance to learn so much more about it than a Jedi could teach. Anakin falls for these promises and chooses to use the Force for evil and becomes known as Darth Vader. In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Darth Vader makes another decision to save his son and once again use the Force for good.

This is totally our story. We start out innocent and unaware of the sin in the world. Then as we become Christians, we find that we are very important in the future of our world, and we gain the use of the Holy Spirit. However, becoming a Christian does not guarantee our eternal goodness. Enter Free Will and Satan. The choice to use the Holy Spirit for good or evil is ours. In his book Star Wars Jesus, Caleb Grimes uses the example of Mother Teresa and Hitler to show this choice. While Mother Teresa used her power to help and serve others, Hitler used his power to kill and destroy without remorse. They both had a great power and influence, the difference lies in the way they used them. Much in the same way that there is a choice to be Jedi or Sith and to use the Force to those respective beliefs, we have the choice of how we will use the Holy Spirit. William Shakespeare put it this way; "Even the Devil can site scripture for his purpose." (Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3) Good and evil do not lie within the Force itself, but the choices we make in how we use it.

May The Force Be With You - Episode II - Obi-Wan, Philip, A Eunuch, and Luke: Lessons In Following Directions

In my last post, I made the connection of the Force from Star Wars to the Holy Spirit of the Christian faith, in an attempt to better understand the Holy Spirit, by discussing the way they both guide their respective believers down the paths on which they need to be going. In this post I want to build on this idea of their similarity by discussing their ability to instruct those who will listen.

Obi-Wan, Philip, A Eunuch, and Luke: Lessons In Following Directions

I want to start this discussion by directing you to the account of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch which can be found in Acts 8:26-40. Here we follow the travels of Philip as he goes about preaching the good news of Jesus in Samaria. Philip is given his first direction in verse 26. He is told to go to the desert road which leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. Upon following this order from the Lord, Philip meets the Ethiopian Eunuch, who happens to be unsuccessfully trying to study the book of Isaiah. A second order is given by the Spirit here. "Go to that chariot and stay near it." As we read on we see how Philip is able to help the Eunuch to understand the things that he is reading and studying. A third command is followed in this story, though the command itself is not expressed in the account. As we come upon verses 36-38 we see the Eunuch obeying the Spirit's command to be baptized.

We see this same story in the climactic battle of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. We find ourselves gripping the edge of our seats as the forces of the Rebellion take on the seemingly impossible task of destroying the Empire's ultimate weapon: the Death Star. Swarms of Y-Wings, X-Wings, Tie Fighters, and Tie Bombers fly through the narrow corridors of the surface of the Death Star. The target of the Rebellion, and their only chance of defeating the Empire, happens to be a thermal exhaust port that is only two meters wide. Our hero, Luke, finds himself within shooting distance, and his computer guided targeting system is locked on the target. Just as Luke is about to pull the trigger, a familiar voice speaks to Luke. "Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke. Luke trust me." The voice is Obi-Wan's, but we all know that he has become part of the Force. Luke turns his computer guided targeting system off and does as the Force has instructed. The proton torpedo goes straight down the exhaust port and the Death Star is destroyed.

The idea here is that only by following their directions were the three men able to accomplish their missions. We get the sense that the Death Star would not have blown up had Luke used the computer guided targeting system instead of the force. We also get the sense that Philip would never have helped the Eunuch had he not gone down the road he was told, or gone to the chariot as he was instructed. And the Eunuch could not have been saved from his sins without following the command to be baptized.

The Spirit instructs us every day. Some would call this our conscience. We all have that voice inside our heads that tells us when we should do this thing, or when we should not do that thing. It is imperative that each one of us should follow those instructions so that we can accomplish our ultimate mission in life; to know and be known by God. Caleb Grimes describes it this way in his book Star Wars Jesus, "Like Luke in the trench, however, our abilities will always be limited. We must use the Force to 'practice being sure of what we hope, and certain of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1)" (pg. 72). Grimes also uses the words of God in Proverbs 3:5-6 to equate to Obi-Wan's instruction to Luke: "Lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge me, and I will make your paths straight." Not only is it important for us to listen for the guidance of the Spirit in our lives, but we must also follow the instructions which the Spirit gives us if we are to accomplish that which is impossible by our own doing.

May The Force Be With You - Episode I - Old Ben (Obi-Wan), R2D2, C3PO, and Jesus: Adventures in the Desert

So I didn't expect to take so long between these blogs. Anyways, here's the first installment of my comparison of Star Wars and the Bible. As the title implies, I want to focus on the Force. This will actually be my main focus, and through it I will make a few comparisons of elements from the movies and the Bible.

Through the reading of Star Wars Jesus by Caleb Grimes, and an study of the Holy Spirit at church, I happened upon an epiphany: The Holy Spirit is like the Force! The Holy Spirit is always a tough topic in church. More often than not, we tend to shy away from talking about it because we have so much trouble understanding it. When we do talk about it, the discussion tends to go in all sorts of directions and so we really never pin down a better understanding of what the Holy Spirit is. The Force however, is easy to understand. If you've seen the movies at all you have at least a basic understanding of the Force. Well if you think about it, The Force and the Holy Spirit are really along the same lines. And, at least for me, the Holy Spirit becomes a little easier to understand. Consider this as we compare the two.

Old Ben (Obi-Wan), R2D2, C3PO, and Jesus: Adventures in the Desert

After being jettisoned in an escape pod from a Rebel ship, R2D2 and C3PO are found wandering through the desert in an attempt to locate a man by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Their mission seems hopeless (as C3PO is more than happy to point out) and once the Jawas appear, our droid friends seem done for. However, the Jawas, somehow, bring the droids to exactly the right person to help them find Obi-Wan. It seems like coincidence, but when you consider that the Force is involved, coincidence looks more like design. Following the droids purchase by Luke Skywalker's uncle, R2D2 shows his loyal determination to his mission, and runs off into the desert of Tatooine. The following morning, Luke sets out to find the lost droid, and gets himself into some trouble with some Tuskin Raiders. Just as it looks like the end for our future Jedi, a man named Old Ben miraculously appears and scares the Tuskins away. This again may seem very coincidental, but let us not forget the role that the Force plays in the Star Wars universe (let alone the major role it plays in the life of a Jedi). It would seem more as if the Force had led Old Ben into the desert, and directly to Luke and R2D2. These events seems oddly familiar to the story of Jesus and his journey through the desert.

Found in Matthew 4, Jesus is led into the desert by the Spirit following his baptism, much like Obi-Wan. On his journey through the desert, Jesus encounters Satan, an encounter that would mean doom for any other human (mirroring the arrival of the Jawas on the droids' desert journey and the Tuskins attack on Luke). Through the guidance of the Spirit, Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan and sent him away defeated (and I would argue that Satan left a little fearful, much like the Tuskins ran away after the arrival of Obi-Wan).

Much like the Force guides characters in the Star Wars universe, the Holy Spirit is a guide to our world. It guided Jesus through the desert, Paul on his missions to preach to the Gentiles, and leads us today in our walk with the Lord. In his book, Caleb Grimes states "Coincidences, as we perceive them, are often the way God brings about the possible"(26). In the next entry, Grimes says "Being mindful of a succesion of events, or things perceived as coincidence, is a good way to listen to God and become wiser; to learn to take those paths that He is directing you to take"(28). It's all about letting the Spirit work through you, and guide you along your path to an eternity in heaven.

My next entry will go a little deeper into this idea of the Holy Spirit being like the Force by looking at the way they instruct and perform. Until then, May the Force be with you.

Star Wars, The Bible, and Me

A comparison for those of us into "hokey religions and ancient weapons."

If you are like me, (and I know that most of my followers are), then you have seen every Star Wars movie about 500 times and we could probably all get together and reenact every scene if we wanted to. We make Star Wars references in just about every situation we get ourselves into every day, whether its waking up in the morning and feeling like Han Solo after being frozen in carbonite, or taking on a task as impossible as shooting a thermal exhaust port that's only two meters wide. A lot of you may also have a deep rooted faith, much like myself. Well this is the blog for you, actually I think I'll be doing a short series of blogs, in which I will be comparing several elements and scenes from Star Wars to elements and scenes from the Bible.

I haven't come up with these comparisons all on my own. Currently I am reading a book called Star Wars Jesus by Caleb Grimes in which he has done much the same thing. These readings have inspired me to think about the connections found between some of the Star Wars elements and elements of my own faith. I'd even make the statement that by looking at some of these things through the lens of the Star Wars mythology, I actually get a little bit clearer picture of different elements of my own faith which I never had much of a grasp on before.

Anyways, I am using here one of the sneakiest tricks Hollywood uses; The Teaser. Thats right, you get no real material, just a promise that more is to come. Maybe it will keep you coming by to see what's happening. So here is a little taste of what is to come. I started this blog with a quote from Han Solo. Some of you got the obvious reference to religion, but you may be wondering about the ancient weapons. Han Solo was talking to Luke Skywalker as he received some Jedi training for the first time. The ancient weapon as we all know was the lightsaber. In Ephesians 6, Paul describes the Armor of God, and in this armor is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And is Psalm 119, we find that God's word is "a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path." So we have a sword which is also a light, essentially giving us a lightsaber.

I promise that future posts will be a little deeper than the Bible being a lightsaber, but I told you this was only a teaser.

Re-Fuel

So this is completely random, but I thought it was a cool image to have about church and worship.

As I was listening to a prayer this past Sunday morning at church, something the guy said stuck out to me. He thanked God for the church building (which is not odd, nor the part that stuck out to me) for the convenience it gave us to come together and worship. It was the convenience thing that got me thinking that church is like a convenience store or gas station. Think about it. In today's automotive world, gas stations are a must. We use cars for just about everything and our cars need gas to run. Therefore we must make regular stops at the gas station so that we can go on about our lives. Church is the same way, I think. While we will all probably admit that we don't use our bibles everyday like we do our cars, most of us realize that we need God in our everyday lives. And a lot of us think that by going to church, we refill ourselves with God. So we go regularly on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening so that we can keep our faith running.

Unfortunately, we tend to think thats all we need to do. We don't take our "fuel" and use it in the world. It's like we went to the gas station, filled up our car, and now we are driving laps around the place until we need to fill up again. That's not how it works. When we go fill up our cars, we drive away and use that fuel to go to the post office, go to work, go to the grocery store, etc. We even use that fuel to go on vacation. This is the way it should work in church. When we go to church and fill up with God, we need to take Him out into our lives, share Him with our friends, put Him in our families, and show Him in our attitude and actions.

Another cool image I got was about inside the gas station. If you go inside, there are all sorts of things we can get, like snacks and drinks. Church is like this too. Once you get inside you will find that there are classes and small groups to join, friends to make, ministers to talk to and get advice from, and a family who will stand with you in times of trouble.

So next time you go re-fuel, take note of what you do with it. Will you use it or just do laps until you need some more?

Take A Hike!

Hey everybody! I know it's been a while since I last posted something here. I've been quite busy getting married and going on a honeymoon, but I'm back and I have a pretty neat image to share with you (at least I think it's pretty cool).

For some reason I was thinking about the whole "straight and narrow path" thing and the image of hiking trails came to my mind. Some hiking trails can be pretty narrow and there is only one way to make it up the trail, unfortunately it's not the smoothest path, in fact it can be pretty difficult to make it up that trail. Then you have trails that pretty wide, and while these trails have their tough spots, it's so wide you can just go around them, no problem, easy peasy.

These are exactly like the paths of life. Tight spots and rough terrain are common in life. Everybody faces a broken relationship, financial hardship, uncontrollable urge, etc. We have to carve our paths through these obstacles. Now just like with those wide trails through the woods, it's better to take the easy way out and go around the obstacle, right? Nope. Jesus calls us to a straight path, one that plows straight through that obstacle. One that requires that we rely on Him to help us make it through. The easy way past a financial hardship leads to theft, scams, and even sketchier places and times. It's a lot harder to give up a few things (not our giving to others in need or to the church) and to remember that God will provide for all those who love Him.

Most hikers will even claim that they get a greater sense of joy and accomplishment at the end of that straight, rough path. Their reward is better than if the took the easy way. This is the same for us in life. If we take those easy ways out, we get a false sense of accomplishment and a lot of times we just get into more trouble. But when we keep on through our tough times and put all our faith in God, he rewards us more than we could or would even imagine. And in the end, if we've carved our path as straight as we can, we win the ultimate reward and the ultimate joy, a mansion in Heaven. So next time your out hiking, or the next time you hit "a rough spot in the road," just remember to keep going straight and put your faith fully in God cause He will see you through and give you more.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9

Peter, John, and Jesus

It's been a while since I've posted anything I know. I apologize. I have been very busy making wedding preparations for this coming Saturday. Anyway, I thought I could share an idea that popped into my head this morning (I guess technically it was yesterday morning) at church. There was mention of Peter's denial of Jesus and it got me to thinking. Peter gets a pretty bad rap for this. We are always pointing out how that is not the kind of Christian life we should lead. We should not fear the thoughts and feelings of others for having faith in our Lord. I think most Christians like the idea of being John-like instead. You know, the guy who drew his sword and chopped off the ear of a Roman guard attempting to arrest Jesus. Ya, we like that story, we should be more like him... or should we? While he made a stand in his faith, John seems to have gone a little too far. He seems a little too eager to fight. In fact, Jesus stops him before he can take out the whole group of guards, and replaces the man's ear.

Now I know this is the "church" answer, but Jesus is the one we should strive to imitate. He stood for God, knowing full well that people would hate Him, not caring how they felt about Him, but at the same time He didn't fight everyone to the death, swinging His "sword" wildly about, cutting those He was trying to reach. That's what being Christ-like is really. Letting the world know your faith, caring not if some hate you for it, accepting the persecution some may bring upon you, but doing it in a way that shows love and compassion for even those who are doing the persecuting. I realize this is no easy task, but I bet carrying the cross wasn't either.