watchman F
1 – Are you a Christian?
If one of the requirements for being a Christian is to dislike or to be uncomfortable with Avatar, then no I am not. If one of the requirements for being a Christian is to believe in one or more of the three “orthodox†versions of the Trinity or in Tritheism or Modalism or anti-Trinitarianism or any other kind of Godism, then no I am not. If the ONLY requirement for being a Christian is to be in Jesus Christ, then yes I am. Since I know of no denomination of Christianity that believes the latter explicitly, and since the term “Christian†is associated with Christianity and refers to a lot of people who even you hopefully would agree are not even in Christ, then no I am not.
2 – Have you seen the movie?
Yes!
3 – “Where (Were) you not the least bit uncomfortable when they all started worshiping bowing down praying for Ewah to bring the female scientist back to life?â€
Since that question presumes that the Na’vi were praying to the tree as if a God, I have to ask you, Did you see the movie? I am going to assume that because you think that I should have been uncomfortable implies that you saw the movie. And your thinking that the tree is the God of the Na’vi also implies that you did not understand what you were seeing. May I suggest that in the future you limit yourself to movies that you know you will be able to understand. I hate to see you wasting your money. Yes, you are right. It is your money and you can waste it in any way that you choose.
I have previously mentioned this segment of the movie that seems to continue to escape the notice of the prejudiced and the conspiracy hunters:
The situation for the Na’vi has become dire. Jake plugs into the tree and starts praying to it. Neytiri comes up behind him and tells him CLEARLY that he has the wrong idea about the tree. The tree is not their God. The tree merely keeps the balance of nature in the forest. Jake replies, “Well, I triedâ€. It is the people in the Corporation, including the head scientist, Dr. Grace, and even Jake initially, who have the misunderstanding that the tree is the God of the Na’vi. And it is that misunderstanding that motivates the attack on the tree by the mercenaries in an effort to drive the Na’vi away from an area that has an abundance of the coveted mineral. In the end, the tree does precisely what the God, who is not mentioned in the movie, created it to do. It stops the mercenaries of the corporation from destroying the forest. It kept the balance of nature.
Twice in the movie, the tree is revealed to be able transfer life, NOT CREATE LIFE, from a living person to a living, but soulless, Avatar. Grace was too badly injured for the transfer to take place. It is stated that her own life force was too weak. Jake was healthy, and in the end the movie implies that the tree was successful in his case. Why is this harder to grasp than the same thing happening to Jake through scientific means? What science could NOT do was to effect the transfer on a permanent basis. The tree was able to effect the transfer on a permanent basis. Or so the ending implied. Perhaps the problem that people are having is that in the end the tree was better than the science. If we assume that the tree was created by God and the science was created by human means, why are we surprised when the creation of God turns out to be superior to a creation by human science? But these are both assumptions because neither are specifically mentioned in the movie.
You want to read one of the original versions of Avatar? Read this novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, “A Princess of Marsâ€. It was published in 1912, and was extremely popular a century ago when it was first published. It was one of a series of novels. The series continues to be popular enough to still be reprinted on a regular basis. This same author also published a series of novels on “Tarzan of the Apesâ€, the original also published in 1912. Cameron obviously enjoys Science Fiction. No doubt he has read the whole Martian series by Burroughs. I personally believe that Cameron retold the story to a new generation very well.
Why would this movie bother anyone? It’s a Science Fiction Fiction Fiction movie. Most of it is impossible by our standards. Do you see the “Alien†series and the “Terminator†series in this same conspiratorial light? They’re Cameron movies also. If you do, why on earth would you be bothering with the movie Avatar? Do you really think that Avatar is worse than other non-Christian movies? How about Star Trek in its many incarnations? Are they all evil and advocates of conspiracy against God and Christianity? Why don’t you take this kind of thinking to its logical conclusion. Fictional stories are conspiratorial imaginations against the reality of God, and God would rather you only deal with reality as it is described in the Bible. No more movies or TV or books that are fictional for you.
On the other hand:
1 – Are you a Christian? A bothersome question when the shoe is on the other foot isn’t it?
2 – Did you actually understand the movie Avatar? I am assuming that you already saw it at least once. And I have already shown that you didn’t understand the movie in at least one area, maybe in both situations that I described.
3a – Are you able to try to understand the movie in and of itself without all of the typical interpretations that so many Christians especially, but others also, are prone to?
3b – If you are, then go see the movie again and just enjoy it as a fictional movie. You know, like you used to do when you were a kid, without trying to read into it things that aren’t there. It’s a very good movie with very good actors and a very well told story and very good special effects. In this story, it isn’t hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, as it is in so many stories these days. And the good guys win in the end. It even includes a lot of good comedy bits. And if the movie implies that we should take better care of our planet, why would you as a Christian be against caring for a planet that you believe was created by God? I’d hate to see you miss this movie simply because you are too busy looking for conspiratorial ideas.
Movies tell stories. Movies provide a time of rest and enjoyment. And I for one praise God for a movie that accomplishes its purpose as well as Avatar.
JamesG
