My Perspective

Yesterday, I posted on my Facebook status about how much I loved the movie Avatar. I didn't get too many responses. In fact, when the movie first came out I didn't hear much chatter on FB or elsewhere about the movie. At least in my personal circle, which is mostly Christian.

I had a conversation with my dad today and he had seen the movie back in December on opening night. He liked it, but had some issues with worshipping a tree, etc. I have a feeling this is how most Christians feel. Christians tend to blast movies such as Harry Potter and praise movies such as Lord of the Rings and yet both have many of the same elements.

Since I liked this movie so much it became a topic of conversation at Vance's Bible study this morning. There was a sense that if a Christian was all she was supposed to be she wouldn't enjoy a movie so much with such a message. Vance and I discussed this when he returned home this morning and agreed that it all comes down to perspective. Yes, Avatar was written and created by an extremely pagan man and I'm sure he meant to send messages such as: the military is made up of testosterone loaded, mindless warmongers, we (especially Americans) are destroying our planet and the real god is mother earth.

I'd like to share what I saw...

Every human is a creation of God. He knit us together in our mother's womb, he knows us inside and out and even knows the number of hairs on our head. Therefore, I believe that we were all created to give glory to Him. If we choose not to love Him there will always be something missing, there will always be a feeling that everything isn't quite right, never completely content, etc. But, we were still created for His glory and maybe James Cameron didn't mean to give glory to God, but He did - granted with some mistaken ideas.

On the way to the theatre the boys and I were talking about heaven. Just dreaming what it must be like. I told them I had been thinking a lot about heaven lately. Many times I think about a time in my life that was so good that I get these overwhelming feelings of nostalgia, wishing I could relive this time in my life. But, recently, I had the simplest thought - the best time of my life doesn't lie behind me but in front of me. No matter how good that time of my life was it cannot compare to heaven. I saw this in Avatar.

The main character, who is a paraplegic, gets a new and improved body, a body four times his regular size, a body so agile he can run and jump among the branches of trees hundreds of feet in the air. The Bible says that in heaven we will have new bodies...

Our present body is only a "tent" which we will put aside. 2 Co 5:1-3, 2 Pet 1:13-14
God, through Christ, will deliver us from this present "body of death" (which is the sinful nature). Rom 7:20-25
God has prepared us for the purpose of being clothed with our heavenly body. 2 Cor 5:4-5
Although we do not know exactly what our new bodies will be like, we know that they will be like Jesus. 1 John 3:2-3
Our new bodies will be like Christ's glorious body. Phil 3:20-21, Rom 8:28-30, Ps 17:15, Ro 6:5-8, 1 Cor 15:49, 2 Cor 3:17-18

When the main character learns how to connect with the beasts of this world it made me think of the passage with the lion and the lamb and how it must have been with Adam and Eve before the fall.

When all the tribes came together to sing and worship it made me think of how every tribe and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and how day and night we will be praising Him.

James Cameron was created by God and even though he has chosen in His heart (for the time being) not to serve Him, in my eyes He has unwittingly brought glory to the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

When we left the movie theatre it was as if we had just awoken from a dream. Have you ever had dreams about heaven, about being able to do something that would be impossible awake? I have and there were so many things in this movie that reminded me of these dreams. So, whether or not this movie was created to have people look down on the human race as a whole and how terrible we are - I CHOOSE to see something different and can't wait until I get the chance to see it again!