Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


The other day I went with some friends to watch an epic story that was polluted with bad writing, too much green screen, and added details that weren't in the book. If you disagree, that’s fine. We’re all entitled to our own opinions.

But I’m not here to talk about the story itself, I want to talk about the truth within the fiction.

If you haven’t seen The Hobbit yet, it’s about a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, and a bunch of dwarves, whose names I won’t say because they all rhyme and sound too much alike, and a wizard, Gandalf the Gray. They’re journeying to a mountain to get a royal awesome gem, but a few things stand in there way: orcs that hate them, elves that are mad at them, a Darkness that’s tracking them, and a dragon who wants to eat them. There’s fighting, magic, wearied creatures, a powerful ring, and a lot of short, stubby dwarves and a frizzy haired hobbit. If you want to watch the trailer, click here.

During the film, I found myself asking God if I could go into that world of adventure and magic.

“You are,” God said. And you know what, He’s right.

We are all in a world full of adventure, darkness, wearied creatures, and power (not necessarily magic but a paralleled form to it). There are unseen creatures, crazier than Hollywood could ever imagine, who track us, just like the orcs, or protect us, like Gandalf. There are powers in this world, not always in the form of a magic ring or wizard’s staff, but it is there none the less. A good power, the Light, God’s might, and the Creator’s superiority. And, where there is good, there is evil; a darkness, the Devil’s schemes, and Satan’s tactics that infection of our sick world.

But there are defenses.

One scene from the movie reminded me of this fact. Gandalf, a powerful wizard, was fighting The Darkness; it looked like a bunch of black mist that had a deep, creepy voice. Gandalf made a force field and The Darkness could not enter. With God, we can have a force field and a defense against the evilness of our time. But we must stand firm and not give in, unlike Gandalf. He was captured and put into a cage. We, too, can be put into cages, our armor and weapons stripped from us. “So stand firm then” (Ephesians 6:14a).

How? You will need:

·         The belt of truth (just as belts hold up pants, truth holds up our lives)

·         The breastplate of righteousness (to keep the knowledge of our cleanliness in our hearts)

·         Shoes of peace (as to walk in peace daily)

·         Shield of faith (because Satan had a hard time penetrating us if we fully rely on God)

·         Helmet of salvation (so we can have a sound mind and are firmly confident in being set free)

·         And the sword of the Spirit (which is the Bible)

Read Ephesians 6 for more details.

And that’s what makes fiction true because not all of fiction is real fiction. Some parts are truth.

You see?

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