 Last weekend, my family went to see the new version of Disney’s The Lion King. The movie was made as part of Disney’s campaign of remaking live versions of classic animated movies. However, this movie—starring a cast of lions, hyenas, a warthog, and a meercat—contains no live shots of animals and, apparently, only one live shot of scenery.
So what makes this version new? The original film, released in 1994, employed mostly traditional hand-drawn animation. It looks like a well-made cartoon. The 2019 remake uses very realistic computer-generated animation and “virtual-production techniques” that include filming the voice actors acting out their parts and then recreating their facial expressions on the animated animals. Much of the animation looks impressively real, as if birds are actually flying through the air, grass is actually blowing in a breeze, and lions and hyenas are actually talking to each other. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you can watch the trailer here. The art of animation has come a long way since Walt Disney made his first animated short film in 1928. The word animate means “possessing or characterized by life; alive; full of life.” To animate means “to give life to.” [1]
The Bible also equates life with breath. In Genesis 2:7, “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God animated humans with his own breath. Yet, there is more than one type of life described in the Bible. Humans were given life when God formed the first humans from the dust of the ground. Yet when Jesus came, he offered a new kind of life, one that stretches into eternity: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Life changes with Jesus. What came before is so different, it’s as if we weren’t alive at all. It’s like the difference between a virtual-reality computer generated film and a hand-painted animated film. The computer generated film has more color, more depth, more feeling, more detail, more…life! But just like a computer generated film is still just an imitation of real life, there is also something greater in store for us than the Jesus-filled life we lead now. When we have outgrown the physical bodies we live in now, God has something even better waiting for us. “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Our new lives will be even more real than anything we have experienced before. There will be more color, more depth, more feeling, more detail, more…life! It will be a life without tears or pain or death (Revelation 21:4). Praise God today for the physical life he gave you, the new life you have in Jesus, and the amazing life you will have for eternity. What amazing gifts these are! [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/animate [2] Id. Lion photo by Luke Tanis on Unsplash
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Today, I had to retrieve my passport from a safe-deposit box. It reminded me of something I wrote years ago about our eternal citizenship. I made a few tweaks to it, but most of this is from my book, Standing Firm: Are You Ready for the Battle? Between 1975 and 1979, a communist group known as the Khmer Rouge controlled the government of the small country of Cambodia in Southeast Asia. To maintain control and to institute a new, highly controlled way of life, the Khmer Rouge outlawed anything to do with the Cambodians’ former way of life. They banished schools, churches, banks, hospitals—even families. Children were taken away from their parents and raised in the new thinking of the Khmer Rouge. Anyone who disagreed with the government, or anyone who could be considered a threat to its stability, was brutally murdered. Around two million Cambodians—almost one third of the population—died, either at the hands of the Khmer Rouge or as a result of the terrible living conditions which resulted. A great many were taken to large fields where they were killed and buried in shallow graves. Those fields came to be known as “the killing fields.” In 1984, a major motion picture was released to document some small portion of the terrible events in Cambodia. In that story we see the horrors of war and hate. We see death, brutality, and destruction, and all without any reason we can comprehend. We see evil in human form, the fullest expression of sin and its consequences. The Killing Fields tells the story of an American journalist in Cambodia during the takeover of the Khmer Rouge. As bad as things got there, with bombings, random killings in the streets, and a lack of food and other necessities, the American never completely despaired. Like other foreigners in the land, he could go to an embassy for help, hop on a helicopter, or take a truck offering safe passage out of the country. The passports they held in their hands proved their citizenship to another country and their right to walk away and leave Cambodia before their worst fears became reality. The American’s friend and interpreter, a Cambodian national, was not so lucky. It was not until the American had to leave his friend behind that he finally realized the full horror of the situation his friend faced. As Christians, we also have citizenship in another kingdom, and our names are on a list guaranteeing us safe passage out of this war zone when the time is right. We live in this world, and we might be very attached to it and not want to leave, but this is not out our home. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The New Testament calls us “foreigners” or “aliens,” “exiles,” and “strangers on earth” (Hebrews 11:13 and 1 Peter 2:11). Jesus also said, “the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21). It is a spiritual kingdom made up of people all over the world—from every tribe and language, people group and nationality—all who acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The heavenly passport we hold can be a source of hope in a war-torn world. Or we can leave the passport in a safe-deposit box and forget about our true citizenship while we bicker over things that have no eternal significance. Ask yourself today, where do you belong? Which Lord will you follow? For which kingdom will you fight?   I am a big fan of movies, but there are some genres I don’t care for. Horror is at the top of that list. I don’t like anything with ghosts, demons, monsters, creepy aliens, or oversized-sharks. So, I have a hard time explaining how I became a fan of the Netflix series, Stranger Things.
Stranger Things has a TV-14 rating based on language, some sexuality, and, most of all, some very scary monsters. I wouldn’t recommend it for pre-teens, even though many of the lead actors in the show were under age 14 when the show started in 2016. The third season hit Netflix on July 4. Watching it, I still have to close my eyes or hit fast-forward during some of the gorier parts. But I don’t watch it for the gory parts. I watch it for the characters. In any genre of story-telling, my favorite characters have always been ordinary folk who step up and become heroes during extraordinary circumstances. Stranger Things is all about people like that. There is something else I like about this show, something you only get from fantasy, science-fiction, or horror shows. It provides a visual allegory for the battle between good and evil being fought on a spiritual level. In Stranger Things, the monsters come from another dimension—the “upside down”—after a “gate” is opened between their dimension and ours. In our world, we are also called to do battle against enemies who are not like us. The Bible tells us, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). We don’t fight these enemies with ordinary weapons but with special armor God provides—truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer (Ephesians 6:13-18). Learning how to use this armor takes time and practice, but with our armor in place we can heroically stand up against our enemy and make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of everyone around us. I’ve noticed another similarity between Stranger Things and the real spiritual battles we face. Although the stakes are high in each season of the show, the characters who know about the monsters are reluctant to tell anyone else what they know. In season one, a mother “knows” her missing son is near, but her knowledge is based on flickering lights, strange sounds, and something that seems to be alive inside the walls of her house. How can she explain that to anyone without sounding crazy? Who would take her seriously? It can be difficult for Christians, as well, to talk about spiritual things with people who don’t believe in God or the Bible. Even some Christians think the Bible’s stories about Satan and demons aren’t meant to be read literally or such supernatural beings aren’t active in the world today. So when we’re struggling with fear, depression, doubts, and anxiety, we may not consider addressing them as spiritual issues. When we watch our neighborhoods and nations spiral out of control with violence, bigotry, and immoral behavior becoming the new normal, we may not think to put on our spiritual armor and march into battle. Even if we recognize supernatural forces at work, we may not know what we should do about it. I think it starts with getting a good grip on what we believe about God and his intentions for this world. Then we need to take up our armor and learn how to use it. There are many good Christian books to help with both these goals. I wrote one on the Armor of God which I’ll be re-releasing in August. If you would like to join my email list to receive updates on the re-release of Standing Firm: Are You Ready for the Battle? just use the link below. You will also receive a free excerpt from chapter one of my upcoming book, Finding Your Part in God’s Master Story. In the meantime, read through Ephesians 6:10-20 and think about how you can use the Word of God and prayer to stand up to the enemy in your life. Click here to join the mailing list and receive your free excerpt! |
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Enter your email address to receive a free guide to worldviews and the strange things some people believe. AboutStories are a metaphor for life. That's a deep way of saying we can learn life lessons from stories we read or watch on stage or on big or small screens. When viewed through a Christian worldview, even secular films and books can tell us something about our Christian walk. Here you will find a collection of blog posts with lessons I have learned from stories. I hope you enjoy them! Archives
August 2021
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