My life, my dominion

Two days ago a very courageous woman wrote in to the newspaper to express her views on marriage. I assum she is Christian for in this present age few religions or people would preach such a cause and believe in it as well. (As pointed by an Indian lady who said that it was time for equality in a marriage).

Allow me to say my 2 cents worth before i get married heh.

Marriage cannot be 50-50. Anyone in the commercial world will tell you, there is no such thing as a corporate merger because you can never have 2 CEOs. It's either a hostile take-over or a favourable offering. (look at SIA and Qantas)

Likewise a marriage is like anyother union. More so than ever with all the pre-nupt non-sense, legal documents, custody, marriage, adultery, marriage is more than ever like a contract. But really, we all start out in life wishing that it wasn't. We all start know wishing what we know a marriage should be, happy and till death do the two of us part and then some.

So why does the bible Ephesians 5:20-33 preach such a strange relationship betwen man and wife if reality is so far from it. The truth is that people do not accept time honoured examples of worked relationships. Men are no longer living up to their duties and women no longer accept that they were created not so much as equals (i'll get into a lot of trouble fr this but i don't care) but as a companion for man. Translate: women were made FOR men and not men and women made for each other.

Am i thus being a conservative and calling for a return of the days where wives were abused (actually research wil tell you that that is a better description of now than before)? NO. I advocate what God teaches.

Women submit to your husbands. Man is WEAK. God must have known that, why else would Adam make those lame excuses about why he ate the forbidden fruit. Man has an EGO. Therefore, women should USE this EGO. Love a man,
submit to him, go so far as to OBEY him. If one thinks that this is a BAD deal look at the opposite.

Husbands, love your wives, JUST AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH. Now, what did Jesus DO for the church? DIE. What does this mean? That husbands are RESPONSIBLE for their wives. They are the protector of their wives.
You think being head of the house is easy? Well think of it this way, if husband is a alcoholic, who suffers? His family and himself. Eventually, family ends up in the rut, do you think said husband is having the time
of his life?

The call for wives to submit to their husbands is simply telling to trade. Let the MAN rule, let his Decisions COUNT. Your role is to serve him and in return should anything go wrong, it is neither your fault nor will you
come to harm if your husband can help it.

For the guys. Really, love your wives. If you love them enough, you won't make stupid decision about money. You won't philandeer. you won't insult her in public. And for this love do you expect anything, well ideally you shouldn't but you would right? So would a submissive wife who gives good counsel but never overrides you be both gratifying and good as well? OF COURSE IT WOULD! you feel good and she's taken care of PERFECT.

NOw lets look at the modern day family. 50-50, everything 50-50. Can there be 50-50 say in everything? Colour of walls? Number of children? Household expenditure? 50-50 marriages spit in the face of holy matrimony.
The term equality already denotes a sense of 2 units under one organisation rather than the total merger of two entities. To be equal in a marriage would mean that both can do as they please. One could even take it in the extreme to mean that as long as the wife still beds with her husband, who she sleeps with in her spare time is really her business, her 50% of the marriage! In a discussion, 50-50 wil ensure that NO argument will end. Because neithe will backdown, all the reprieve
is about is stored ammunition for the next fight.

50-50 absolves responsibility. Becuase neither holds a full stake in the marriage, the failure of the marriage can be blamed on either or neither. Each will push the blame on the other party. union in God places the blame SQUARELY on the shoulders of the man. While in the OLD testament does say that men can divorce their wives, Jesus further clarifies that the law also states that this should be under circumstances of adultery and even then, divorce is not encouraged. Even in the old testament
Hosea followed Gods words and loved his adulterous wife.

So as we can see there are reasons for unions to be the way they are. Two become One is more profound than a spice girls song.

On a lighter note, bought a WHOLE lot of chocolates this afternoon from a sale. Rum and whiskey filled (yes yes alcohol but only a little bit :) ) prime reason. I'm SICK of my family chugging down chocolate like it was the last day of the universe. So i'm going to buy a whole lot and SLOWLY EAT IT.

And waited for 20 minutes for char kway teow which was well average really. Nothing fantastic. Okay portion but that's about it. Oh well that's all

Oh yeah Sonia! If you run out of places to eat just go Amoy if your new work place is near there.

Dunno why i like this song, perhaps its more to do with the piano solo than the song. Anyhow, the song is about abortion. Sad. yah. Well that's about all. Shan't flood my blog with too many songs at one go so shallload another one another day.

Shall start another series of songs that i like. YAY!!

Do enjoy.
Apologies if they are repeats


Brick
by Ben Folds and Darren Jessee

6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb

Up the stairs to the apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
They're not home to find us out
And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son, it's time to tell the truth

She broke down, and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying

Driving home to her apartment
For a moment we're alone
Yeah she's alone
I'm alone
Now I know it

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

I like ideas.I love ideas. i appreciate original ideas.
That's why i didn't take philosophy.

Didn't.

I don't, will not take philosophy.
I don't will not take ethics.

WHy? Not becuase i am afraid of those ideas. Not because i find them hard of complex that
they will confuse me. NO.

I reject them.

I have what i need in the word of the Lord, the Holy Bible. It is my code of ethics, my moral
bedrock. It is my philosophy of life, no it is THE WAY of life, not the mere ramblings of a mad
man in the street or some wizened professor in a cold university.

No. My truths are defined by that which is eternal. HOw can you base your life on something
temporal? YOur eternal soul cannot be limited by man, the body is but a vessel in this time
and age. Man wishes not to be restricted by others, yet he rejects that which is eternal
and seeks to restrict himself with his own ideals and formulations.

I chose not to take those subjects because they are wrong. They represent a direct challenge
to God. The fact that they can be studied would mean that they are impermanent. The idea that
they generate new ideas, is proof of their fallibility. Yet they embrace their fallibility as
proof of their geneality and universality.

All nonsense. The good book is my guide in this life and in the life everlasting. My Lord IS my
Lord.

I think we all have the innate want, ability and need (yes need) to hurt. By this i qualify that this is all within the premise that humans define our own little world, that what is , is waht we believe or chose to believe.

Which bring me to my first and possibly only point. (Tis isn't my usualy style of writing, in school during exams i like to immediately laeve for the toilet and sit there for a good 5-10 min planning out my essay with my fingers on teh toilet cubicle door.) I'm just writing this as it comes to my head.

All humans want one thing, and one thing only, control. Not money, not fame, not honour and glory, not peace, not enlightenment, not the way. We want A way, OUR way. All others are just tolls to gain that control.

Which leads me to my 2nd point, humans are insecure. As compared to the animal kingdom, where size or speed matter humans must compare on every level. He's faster, he's richer, she's prettier, she's more popular. We find any and everything to comper. OTher than for survival we have invented another thing, face value. We have to 'look good'.

Add the two together and u have this result, a distinct dislike for everyone else.
Why? we know that we are not superior to everyone else so we have to somehow look superior. We know that we can't control others, but if we can't control others that would make them superior to us thus we have to find a way to control them.

The quest for superiority is the quest for control. Theo ne that contorl is the superior one.

Therefore we hurt. We want to for we want to control. We want control over how other's feel, how they react, how the act subsequently, how they think. Hurt, drives some people so much taht the hurt defines all that they do. And hurt hits everyone. No one is impervious to being hurt, words affect everyone. Even the most in control people in teh world can be hurt by those close to them. We often hurt those close to us because we know them well and they are also those that threaten us the most. That is why we want to hurt them. If we can control someone so close and is so linked to you, total strangers would be easier.

We can hurt. Simply becuase it is too easy to do so. Hurting is simply lording one's rights over another. As long as any two people have a connection, hurt is possible. It is all too easy.

We need to hurt.
We don't need to, but the world makes it seem like we do. We are given rights, we are given laws, we are given control all so that we can further establish these by hurting others.

HOw have we hurt eacho ther?

It’s really weird you know. For weeks I have been doing the annual returns of financial institutes (there are LOADS of them), then one day I’m some scalp hunting loan shark, calling up all the banks and querying them about why such and such a number looks so suspicious.

And the reaction I get is rather interesting. I can detect that little bit of irritation (more so in some) at everything question. Most people are polite or at least civil, but there’s that ‘I don’t want to hear another one please!’ tone in their voices. That’s why I usually state up front where I’m from, that way, at least they know I’m representing SOMEBODY. Oh well, bet they’d all flip when they find out it’s actually just a temp calling them up.

In anycase, the matter of the torture this is pretty much settled now. Thank goodness. Though I think it might have changed me a slight bit, the whole scenario I mean.
Shan’t elaborate but even though it’s behind me the after effects still linger on in my head. Although, everyone was rather surprised that I had it in me, maybe I am slightly insane, anyone know how to find out?

They just announced D&D a few days ago and distributed teasers for the lucky draw yesterday. Typical cock-up when they posed part one of the quiz wrongly, named wrong couple form wrong Amazing race. Anyhow, kindly enlightened them, darn should have left my name maybe they’d give me one of the iPods up for grabs. Have resolved not to buy iPod/mp3 player, shall only win one.

Short sharing (haven’t done so in AGES).
Reference: parable of the sower, Matthew 13 : 1-9 part one of the kingdom parables, describing the kingdom of heaven.
Misnomer really considering that it’s talking more about the seeds than anything.
However, after reading this passage, strangely I came up with 3 different pov.

1. it could be about pre-election by God. Where He is the sower, and that the seeds he scatters are his word. Some will listen while others may not. But generally I don’t think this one really stands.

2. It could refer to the word being the seed and that we are the soil. Which soil type are we? Thorny and full of weeds, too caught up with the affairs of the world that they choke up our need for God (verse 7). Or like the rock hard ground and picked off my birds before anything can happen, are we un open to the word? (verse 4) what is our heart? Are we receptive? Can we be like the good soil (verse 8) and bear fruit?

3. Finally, I think it could refer to us as the sower, that we are the ones to sow the word in the lives of others. While some may fall on unfavourable ground, it is still our duty to scatter the seeds (verse 3). Where they Land God decides but we can rest assured there where the soil is good, fruit will be borne. And in the final verse, it is a call for us to preach. For ‘He who has ears, let him hear’ Is not a call to listen to him, but a call for us to ensure that all who can hear, receive the good news.

Just had youth camp where we played our usual game of underground church.
A brief intro, underground church is a game of pretend to give campers a glimpse into the terrors that are faced by Christians in some countries.
I basically play the role of a torturer. The campers are given the impossible of having to combine bits of a bible verse together without talking to each other. When they are caught breaking that rule they get called to my chambers.

I just talked. I shouted a bit, okay so i did shout REALLY loudly. But really I didn't shout at them directly i always shouted away oh well yeah you get the idea.

And while we do make some of the kids cry, basically my hit rate was getting a bit high, like 100%.
Then came to this particular girl, i really didn't know what went wrong (the main reason is a contact lense affected by a blindfold). I still don't really.

Well anyway back to this girl. So yeah, it's like along story. So.... ermmm. okay she doesn't know me that well i don't know her that well and i'm just generally nice to her (she's only 14 for crying out loud). Then that day of the game i had written her a encouragement card (small note of encourgaement).

So she came to my station, and well she always seemed slightly more mature so i well did my thing.

I really don't know what happened, but well she started to cry. I stopped it at there and told her that she could go. She then walked off. I called out to her cause i usually explain that everything i did was part of the game and well not to be taken to heart. Then yeah well i then sensed hat something wasn't right.

Later after the game i apologised to those that i tortured ( i only talked, never touched them) and somehow this just added to the problem that i had created.

I wanted to apologise to her personally but then she walked away again and this time aparently started crying in the toilet with some other girls.

Under some girl's advice i decided to leave things and just not mention it anymore. which i did.
Strangely later that night while everyone was together, she came up to me and we had a short chat about the thing and other nonsense, and i suppose she was really okay.
I still feel guilty for what i did, just glad that no permanent scars were left.

But well it did affect me quite a bit, and some of the others said that perhaps i'm the one who's more traumatised. largely cause i haven't done anything similar in about 5 years, the last time being at the sec 1 camp where i was a peer support leader.

I suppose couple of years back i would have relished the fact that my words alone i could dive people to tears. But no i don't like it one bit. I don't the fact that it's in me, i don't the fact that i can do such a thing to others. It's almost like i saw a demon growing in me. WHile i planned what i would say it all ended up coming out of it more 'perfect' that i had wanted. I don't know, it's all very confusing right now. I always thought I wasn't capable of such things. Seems like i am....
I don't know. I'm just glad i'm forgiven (i think).

I'm really tired. Shuttling between Sembawang and Tanjong Pagar between camp and work is seriously taking a toll on me.
Also, my office is getting significantly colder and a lot of people are getting sick. OH well, i have resorted to wearing a jacket almost all the time.

Anyhow something strange happened at camp.
Crux of the matter, someone (female) confided to me about something.
Although we had a lengthy talk and stuff i still felt it better if another female close to her were to continue, e.g. her elder sister. I told said sister to talk to younger sister but i did not disclose anything that we had discussed. NExt day got rather mixed response from the younger sis. Now i dunno if i've lost the trust and as a result undid the good that the talk did. Sigh..... Oh well, quite used to screwing up things while trying to right them. Shall see if i can clear up the mess.

Bleah

Blasted weather is being VERY crummy right now. ah heck

Let's see, had lunch at Uncle Sam's Kitchen, it serves mostly clay pot stuff like rice and horfun. Pretty good really a bit pricey.
Where: SIA building next to CPF building.
What: $6 Ipoh Hor Fun which was quite authentic.
Service sucked but oh well it's the food that counts.

Finding more people who studied at warwick, heh good good, up yours 'V' to all the rickety old barfs who went 'WHERE?' when i told them about my university of choice.

I think everyone has their favourite moments in movies. I think i;'ve done this before but here are a few.

1. Ghost in the Shell - when the cyber secretaries 'expand' their hands so that they can type more things at the same time. This is achieved by splitting their fingers and extending to form numberous smaller fingers

2. Kung Fu hustle - using the 'qi' from playing the 'gu zhen' to produce a 'dao' / sabre.

3.Saving Private Ryan - The sniper on top of the clock tower who prays as he shoots the Germans

4.Braveheart - The throwing of William Wallace's sword before the final battle scene.

5.Highlander - Christopher lambert saying 'There can only be one'

6. Once upon a time in china - Anything with Jet Li is cool, and this WHOLE movie is cool but i suppose to pick one scene it would have to be Wong Fei Hong Vs Club Foot and the Wu Ying Tui.

if there are anymore i'll post them up
What are some of your fave scenes?

I PASSED!!!! WOOOHOOO
AFTER $2000 dollars and hours of excruciating pain i FINALLY PASSED. I have a LICENSE!!!! WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!1

oh yhea i also have a BRAND NEW LAPTOP WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!

Okay i'm happy.....end.

While i may seem to be rather confrontational in the previous two posts i am most certainly not going to withdraw them.
I do apologise for their somewhat 'strong' nature however, i hold those views very strongly and very dearly. As such i hope you will understand.
I did not and do not intend to offend, i just merely want to make ure that if i know of something that seems wrong i would like to do my best to right it.

Dear friends,

I hope you read this because it is something i feel strongly about.

First of all i'm not targetting anyone here, i think it's good to spread around good christian literature.But i would really like to point out a few VERY WRONG things from this guys email.

Firstly, NO WHERE in the bible does it state that we should perceive lessons about GOD from the words of non-believers. Good comes from the righteous and Godly.

Matt 12-34-35
34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things
out of the evil stored up in him.

Why? simply because this colludes the idea that all words from God are God inspired. Only the word of God and man of faith can speak words that inspire others to the lord which are based on the bible not a movie!

2 Timothy 3:15-17
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.

You can use daily examples to learn about God, but the important thing is that the lesson has to be based on God and His Word. Not vague references.

Closest that the bible even comes to saying that the Lord speaks through unconventional means is when Paul was in prison and his letter to the church of Phillipi:

Phillipians 1:14-18
14Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
15It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish
ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And
because of this I rejoice.

The intentions were wrong but the CORRECT word was still being spread. As such God's word was still being preached!

Imagine, if we all started pulling out meanings from Star Wars what will become of God? Next thing you know, we will say that Gollum in LOTR is like Christ, sacrificing himself to destroy the great evil which is sauron or
that Anakin's death in 6 to destroy palpatine is like the matrydom of paul who once persecuted the christians and then became a great apostle! Goodness! This cannot BE!

What we say as christians is very important. We have to make it veyr clear that we derive everything we know by faith and base it on the true word, the bible. What would non christians think if we go looking for God in films
like star wars? If that isn't an atheistic film then i don't know what is. What about chicken soup for the soul? The book that perpetuates that the belief in miracles and self-realisation / reliance will be enough to see us
through. It's a very mild book that doesn't really contradict God out right but if we can see meaning in Star Wars, then what's to stop non-christians from looking to Books such as <7 habits of highly effective people> for
guidance in life! (the book preaches have a sole belief/focus in life and God does not necessarily need to be that particular focus).

Jesus himself did not quote anything BUT the Bible when he preached. When he was tempted by Satan he quoted the bible Matt 4. He did not quote from the Quran saying 'see even the muslims believe in one God' nor did he say that
'Buddha did good works, so should you'. The bible is sufficient! Why look elsewhere?

As an example let me state the possible dangers of using Star wars to extract lesson in God. The redemption of Anakinin 6, is he like christ? NO. the article seems to
allude to that to appeal to non christians. Point, Anakin was an evil person, not proud of his wife, sinned. Jesus was perfect, i think you couldn't state a more profound difference.

That said i would like to move to my 2nd point and that is regards to the disclaimer that the writer put up and other things he said near the end.

"The biggest movie sagas of late, however (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars),
envision a salvation for mankind closer to what we believe. In these
stories, perfection and order only comes through the
re-institution of a former authority. Only when Righteous power is restored
to pre-eminence shall wars cease and evil flee.
So for now, Evil will have its day, and not just at the box office. But we
already know that Victory has been won a long, long time ago, in a galaxy
not very far away. Our own galaxy."

Salvation 'CLOSER' to what we believe???? Goodness, so there is a possible parallel? NO there ISN'T!There is none! To have such views is to accept that by our own strength we can more or less come to the truth. WRONG! Our salvation is brought about by God's grace, it has NOTHING to do with our own action the 'FORCE' or Frodo and Gandalf. God GAVE US salvation. IT IS HERE! it is neither a past nor future thing, it is eternal.

And 'evil will have its day'? Or as he said later, the evil will eventually be triumphed over? When is that? Yes the triumph has happened, but such a sentiment does not bring out the urgency of the need to spread the word. Yes
we christians know we are saved and that EVENTUALLY we will see God, but what about those who aren't? Milliions die without even knowing God! IS it enough to know what God will triumph in the end? NO! There is the need to
Believe in HIM and not just believe that He has/will succeed.

And finally his disclaimer. To state that we should look at things like star wars because they are worth something is very very wrong as i have stated above. Just because fox turned it down initially and then the merchandising
rights before it became a success means we should look at is closer. It is precisely why we SHOULDN'T look at it closer for it just shows how successful tales from the devil are

And then he quoted Jeremiah 15:19 to substantiate his usage of the example. "I would like to point out that the bible has been MIS QUOTED. " DISCLAIMER: This commentary is written with the posture of "Extracting the precious from the worth;ess" (Jer 15:19)."

Allow me to post the ENTIRE JEREMIAH 15

Jeremiah 15
1 Then the LORD said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell
them, 'This is what the LORD says:
" 'Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.'
3 "I will send four kinds of destroyers against them," declares the LORD, "the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them
abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 "Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected me," declares the LORD.
"You keep on backsliding.
So I will lay hands on you and destroy you;
I can no longer show compassion.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
8 I will make their widows more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.
9 The mother of seven will grow faint
and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
before their enemies,"
declares the LORD.
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses me.
11 The LORD said,
"Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
12 "Can a man break iron—
iron from the north—or bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
throughout your country.
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in [a] a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
that will burn against you."
15 You understand, O LORD;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart's delight,
for I bear your name,
O LORD God Almighty.
17 I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails?
19 Therefore this is what the LORD says:
"If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,"
declares the LORD.
21 "I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."

This is the passage in question. I have read it a LOT of times. And all i can say is that Jeremiah is the precious one extracted from the worthless jews of that time because he was Godly. He would be a bane to the people but God has his plan for him. Jeremiah was a prophet anointed by God and bless by God, not some sci-fi movie. The comparison is BAD and very misleading.
And what's more, the bible states that God chose Jeremiah for he spoke 'worthy' not 'worthless' things. To use this as example to support the letter is VERY WRONG.

There i said my piece. This is not a personal attack . I feel that the article is wrong, and i wish to put what is wronged
right.

Mok

Dear all,
If you do read my blog, thank you.
Below is an email that i received from a friend. while well meaning, i was rather apalled by the comparisons that this person drew and his substantiations.

This is possibly going to upset some of you so let me say this up front. I do no condemn the person nor the movie, i am entirely driven to right a wrong that has been stated and possibly widely spread.

Hopefully you all see this from my pov.

Thank you.
My response is in the next post.

THE SAGA IS UNCOMPLETED

A.W. Tozer wrote an essay entitled "Do you know about the next chapter after the last?". In it, he pointed out that the gospels were a revolutionary biography. Every other biography in human history had ended with the death of a great or terrible man, followed by eulogies and assessments of his life's work. But Jesus' story was different. There was a chapter to write after the tomb was sealed and everyone went home. Our hope and confidence for life rests on our knowledge that there is Something beyond the grave.

For months and weeks before Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith opened, ardent fans camped outside cinemas to watch this final capstone to George Lucas' storytelling genius. Around the world, when newspapers interviewed Jedi wannabes and Force fanatics, their anticipation was
tinged with sadness that "After this there is nothing to look forward to". The last great Sci-Fi legend had appeared, and the saga was to be complete.

Even more depressingly, this last epic would be the most tragic ever created by Industrial Light and Magic's studios. In Episode 1 we were charmed by a young boy's hopes of becoming a Jedi Knight. In Episode 2 we were thrilled by Anakin's fighting prowess and identified with his rebellious struggles over love, hate and mentorship. But in Episode 3 - arguably the most visually dazzling yet emotionally harrowing Star Wars ever - we already know that will happen. Hate and evil will destroy Skywalker's life, his body, his wife, his mentor, and the entire
universe. When the final shot fades and the credits roll and the lights come on, the sinister triumph of pride and corruption will linger.

And so the saga ends. But does evil win? We already know it doesn't. And here is where, by a strange quirk of movie-making history, we have an interesting parallel to Christian hope. Lucas originally wrote a 9-
part story, but chose to make Episodes 4, 5 and 6 first (parts 7-9 may never be made into movies). And so even while we watch the darkest moments of Episode 3, the experience is mitigated by our knowledge of what will happen in Episode 6. Someday another gifted young fighter
named Luke Skywalker will train to be a Jedi. Someday he will redeem his father from the power of the Emperor's darkness. His belief in the remaining goodness inside Anakin paves the way for Darth Vader to reject
the evil he once chose. The dark helmet will come off. The saga will end truly in a victory celebration, a marriage, and the re-institution of a righteous government for the universe. Anakin, no longer damned, will join his former mentors in immortality.

Everywhere I go, I meet people who have reached the same tragic conclusions about life. They have angrily thrown off their childhood dreams, innocence and naivety. They have tasted the corruption and prejudice and unfairness of the world, and have all reached the same inescapable answer: "The only way for me to survive is to join in this
backstabbing and heartlessness, and moreover to beat everybody else at their own game.". They proudly tell me that were is no final word beyond this. "The world is like this. It will never change. There is no way out."

Have you bought into this as well? Or, like Tozer and Star Wars fans, can you see beyond the moral carnage of Episode 3 to the bright promise of Episode 6? Some Star Wars fans are so caught up in this mythic story that they draw all their inspiration and spiritual guidance from it. But
we have something better: the historically undisputed fact of an empty tomb. Our story of a Hero, His Bride, His enemy is all more real than even our perception of reality.

We are all in the process of leaving childhood behind and forging into the tough world of adult life. It is our responsibility to live according to the most brutally realistic assessment possible of our world and universe. But what is the final word for you? Are you subconsciously stuck in Episode 3, mentally and emotionally defeated by
the power of evil to corrupt everything? Or have you seen the Next Episodes after the Last, recognizing that all evil is a temporary deformity, that its overthrow is both certain and coming?

Secular thinking today all assumes that the ways of the past are no longer relevant, that we must find a new truth and system of living to cope with the future. It legitamises rebellion and arrogance to former authority. The biggest movie sagas of late, however (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars), envision a salvation for mankind closer to what we believe. In these stories, perfection and order only comes through the re-institution of a former authority. Only when Righteous power is restored to pre-eminence shall wars cease and evil flee.

So for now, Evil will have its day, and not just at the box office. But we already know that Victory has been won a long, long time ago, in a galaxy not very far away. Our own galaxy.

yours
David

DISCLAIMER: This commentary is written with the posture of "Extracting the precious from the worth;ess" (Jer 15:19). I believe there are lessons and observations to be drawn from art and culture, even when produced by fallen and unredeemed man. I am fully aware of the New Age / Occult influences within the Star Wars philosophy of "The Force". Nonetheless for the mature and discerning an appreciation of secular culture can be an important launch point in reaching out to people. Needless to say the bulk of Hollywood's products are spiritually empty or negative and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and should thus not take up our time. For example every last Jennifer Lopez movie.

Final Trivia: Never judge anything or anyone too early. When the first Star Wars was released in 1977, 20th Century Fox believed nobody would see it, and signed away all merchanising rights to George Lucas. In the
end the film saved the studio from bankruptcy, and of course Lucas personally made millions from the merchandise.