Twilight - Who Wants To Live Forever?

Adapting a book for screen must be a tricky thing to do.  I’m intrigued by the choices and changes that a screenwriter makes.  My question is always “why?” and often it’s said in a moan whilst holding my head – “whyyyyy???”  Haha ;-D

Breaking Dawn is an impressive adaptation that follows the book pretty faithfully.  The key omission that really stuck out and disappointed me though was in the process of Bella’s transformation.

The whole fascination with vampires encouraged by the Twilight series has concerned many parents and youth workers the world over.  The Cullens and certain aspects of being a vampire – immortality, perfect beauty, amazing athleticism, being virtually indestructible, etc. – are very enticing.  How many young people are seduced by the idea of this way of life and either become obsessed by it or try to find ways to explore the possibility of its reality (however crazy that seems)?

Stephenie Meyer tackles these concerns well by providing the graphic account of Bella’s trauma during her “conversion” from human to vampire.  After hearing about the effect of the venom as it works through her body, who would want to follow that path? 

“I wanted to raise my arms and claw my chest open and rip the heart from it – anything to get rid of this torture…The fire blazed hotter and I wanted to scream.  To beg for someone to kill me now, before I lived one more second in this pain.  But I couldn’t move my lips…Why couldn’t I move?  Why couldn’t I scream?….for a never-ending space, that was all there was.  Just the fiery torture and my soundless shrieks, pleading for death to come.  Nothing else, not even time…one infinite moment of pain…the endless burn raged on…I had just enough strength to lie there unmoving while I was charred alive.” [Breaking Dawn]

In the film, however, we only get a couple of seconds’ insight into this trauma and if you hadn’t read the books then you’d have no idea what those brief seconds were even about.  I expected more later in the process, giving a better insight into what was happening, but that one was it.

So why?  I think Stephenie Meyer wants to make it clear that becoming a vampire is far from fun and that as much as we love the Cullens, no one should try to become like them (if that were possible!).  However, I think the film-makers are more interested in continuing to present their heroes and their way of life as desirable and attractive.  A traumatic transformation makes it much less desirable!  It’s not as though they are shy of trauma having just completed a horrendous makeshift Caesarean, followed by a massive hypodermic of vampire venom straight to the heart!!

Immortality IS a fascinating thing though!

Humans try to fight death and the aging process in so many different ways from creams to plastic surgery and even as far as cryogenics!

It’s not really surprising because eternity has been set in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  It’s what we were created for!  We weren’t supposed to decay and die – that’s the consequence of sin in the world.  God originally designed us to live forever.

To be honest with you, for quite a while I didn’t much fancy the idea of heaven and living forever.  The problem came through a popular Christmas carol containing the lines - “when like stars, his children crowned, all in white will wait around” – which conjured up an image of a sterile dentist waiting room :-(  Now I don’t do white and I definitely don’t do waiting around!  Life is too short.  Even in eternity, life would be too short for just sitting around, twiddling my thumbs :-D

(To be fair to the carol, I don’t think that’s the meaning of “wait” it’s referring to, but you can see why as a teenager I got the wrong idea.)

Now that I have a more Biblical idea about heaven, I can’t wait!!  I love travelling and in heaven there will be a new heaven and earth to explore and a whole eternity to do it!  Woohoo :-)  I’ll be able to go and see all those amazing places on my bucket list and they’ll actually be even more amazing than they are now coz they’ll be perfect, as they were meant to be.  I’ll have work to do that will never give me a “Monday morning” feeling and will have an infinite amount of time to spend hanging out with amazing people!

This isn’t the immortality offered in Twilight though, which is about living forever in a messed up world.  The eternal life Jesus offers is about living forever in a glorious place free from suffering, sickness and death, with an awesome God who loves us even more than it’s possible to imagine.  

There’s only one real way to satisfy our desire to live forever and that’s by getting the gift of eternal life from the only One who’s able to give such a gift!  And thankfully we don’t have to go through anything like a cinematically deleted traumatic transformation to get there either ;-)

Harry Potter - Is Sacrifice An Unfashionable Concept?

Sacrifice is a theme that runs deeply through all the Harry Potter books, but really comes to the fore in “Deathly Hallows”.  So it seemed strange to me that it was almost non-existent in the film…

Granted, the film focused solely on the action of the story, rather than any of the motivations contained in the book.  That was the main reason I was so disappointed with the film – it had little of the rich depth of detail that made the story truly great.

Perhaps sacrifice is an unfashionable concept nowadays but there are tons of examples of it in the Harry Potter series.  The one we’ve known about the whole way through is that of Harry’s parents giving up their lives to protect him, particularly his mother who “cast her own life between them [Harry and Voldemort] as a shield”.

That alone would be enough to justify sacrifice as a major theme in the books.  But it’s far from the only example.  We finally discover in “Deathly Hallows” the truth about Snape – who’s side he is on and why.  And what a shocking twist!  The man who, along with Harry and his friends, we’ve loved to hate and who has been one of Harry’s main antagonists, has all the time been motivated by love and living a life of sacrifice!  

Having been a Death Eater and one of Voldemort’s closest supporters, he dramatically changed his life’s path on the fateful night when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry and succeeded in killing his parents:

 “If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear…You know how and why she died.  Make sure it was not in vain.  Help me protect Lily’s son [Harry].” (Dumbledore to Snape)

Throughout the books, Snape has been despised, maligned and mocked, yet his life’s purpose has unwaivered:

“I have spied for you [Dumbledore] and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you.  Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe.”

Harry’s mother had been the one great love of his life and, despite that love not being reciprocated, everything Snape had ever done was out of his love for her.  Amazing!!

Harry too undertakes an amazing act of sacrifice when he goes out to meet Voldemort in the forest – willingly choosing to give up his life for his friends.  He believes that to defeat him and save those he loves from any more destruction and death, he has to die and he accepts that.  So as he approached the clearing where Voldemort was “he pulled off his Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it beneath his robes, with his wand.  He did not want to be tempted to fight.”

Wow, this scene took my breath away!  The idea of sacrifice in our selfish self-centred world is so unusual.  Fighting for our lives and our rights is much more often the order of the day.

Now I’m not suggesting for one second that JK Rowling is intending to portray Harry as a Christ-like figure, but his actions echo Jesus’s sacrifice for us.  Jesus also chose to die for us, to save us from our enemies – the devil, sin and death. 

Jesus, like Harry, was motivated by love, BUT the mahoosive difference between the two sacrifices is that Harry gave up his life for his friends, whereas Jesus died for us while we were still his enemies and hated him.  I would give up my life in an instant for my kids, and I may even consider it for other people that I love, but there is no way that I would gladly die for anyone else, especially not my enemies!!!

Love is amazing!!! 

The Bible tells us that God is love.  It’s not just something He does, it’s something He is.  God can’t stop being love!

While the well-known passage about love in 1 Corinthians 13 reminds me of how mindbogglingly amazing it is, I personally love how its immense power is captured here:

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.  It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.  Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.  If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”  (Song Of Songs 8:6-7)

Something that’s always surprised me about Harry Potter is that in this magical world with its displays of deeply powerful spells, the greatest power of all turns out to be love.  Not having it or understanding it is Voldemort’s greatest weakness and ultimate downfall:

“…of love, loyalty and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing.  Nothing.  That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped.”

In Harry Potter love is most often demonstrated by sacrifice - a powerful and demanding act incomparable with easy declarations of “I love you”.  God tells us He loves us many times and demonstrates it in numerous ways, but the ultimate expression of His love is also through a sacrifice.  Jesus’ death on the cross pays for our sin, gives us eternal life and enables us to be fully reconciled again with our loving heavenly Father.   Awesome!  I don’t know about you but that makes me feel well and truly loved :-) 

Harry Potter - Good Versus Evil

The battle of good versus evil is the central theme of so many films and books.  Have you ever asked yourself why?  Is it just a fanciful literary notion or is it so pervasive because it actually rings true in the world we live in?

I’ve always loved the fact that Harry Potter reminds me of the reality of the battle I live in, because I forgot far too easily.  The battle throughout the Harry Potter series - but especially in Deathly Hallows - is undeniably real.  People are injured, people die.  It really begins with Cedric Diggory for whom we have limited affection, but the losses quickly become more personal and powerful – Sirius, Dumbledore, Dobby, Lupin, Tonks, Fred.

I was terrified before reading Deathly Hallows about how many of my favourite characters would be killed.  JK Rowling had hinted that there would be many deaths and said that one in particular had reduced her to a sobbing wreck.  I was so convinced that it would be Harry, Hermione, Ron or Ginny and should have been relieved to discover it was Dobby, but was shocked to find myself balling my eyes out as well!  The death of such a small innocent thing, who had rescued them at a very low point, made it seem all the more painful.

And his death, like all of them, is painful but Voldemort doesn’t care.  Similarly humans have a very real enemy who wants to steal and kill and destroy.  It’s so easy not to believe that or dismiss it because our comfortable existences cushion us from it and our physical existences can cause us to doubt the notion of a supernatural spiritual realm. 

In films and books the battle is often a fairly straightforward one between the goodie and the baddie.  Although the Christian battle of good versus evil is God versus the devil, it doesn’t play out in Hollywood style.  Our battle is against spiritual forces not flesh and blood - although it can manifest itself in that way.  At the beginning of “Half-Blood Prince” Dumbledore declares that they are “in a state of open warfare” whereas the Christian battle is a lot less obvious, unless you know what you’re looking for!

The Bible doesn’t tell us to get out there and pick a fight with the forces of evil.  Surprisingly for a battle situation we’re mainly commanded simply to “stand” against the assaults that inevitably come to us – “take your stand against the devil’s schemes”, “stand your ground” and “stand firm then.”  To go out actively looking for trouble is always foolhardy and dangerous.  Ephesians 6 tells us that Christians have a full complement of armour to put on to enable us to stand against the onslaught.  We’re not motionless, just a punchbag taking the knocks that come our way though.  We have to actively resist…

In a way this is what Harry does in his final stand-off with Voldemort.  Throughout the books I’d always wondered how Harry was going to defeat Voldemort without stooping to his level by using one of the Unforgivable Curses.  It just wouldn’t have been true to who he was.  The spell he ultimately uses to beat him is a defensive disarming one, which causes Voldemort’s killing curse to rebound on him (with a little help from a clever but slightly convoluted issue about the transfer of wand loyalty!!!)

The only weapon in our armour is the sword of the Spirit (aka the Bible), which enables us to know the truth and resist the lies that the enemy throws at us.  Being realistic though, it doesn’t sound quite as exciting as duelling with wands and shooting spells every which way, does it? 

However, real battle isn’t supposed to be exciting, even if Hollywood portrays it that way!  It’s difficult, costly, tiring and results in a lot of injuries and deaths.  While the battle in Deathly Hallows can seem quite thrilling to us, those actually in it aren’t finding it half so entertaining (with the occasional exception of Neville, lol!). 

And all our defensive “standing” doesn’t stop it being dramatic and exciting at times too!  The Bible tells us that the battle is the Lord’s and the outworking of that is seriously awesome :-)  God’s way of doing things is always much better than ours!  One example of this out of many in the Old Testament is when Jehosophat and the people of Judah are being threatened by a vast army (2 Chronicles 20).  They call out to God for help and He replies, telling them to march up against the army but not to fight.  Instead they’re to “take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you.”  So off they go, singing and praising God, and when they get to their positions and look “towards the vast army, they [see] only dead bodies lying on the ground.”  What?!!  To say they were completely gobsmacked would be a major understatement!  God had caused the three armies to rise up against each other and “no one had escaped”.  And it took them 3 days to collect up all the plunder!  God fought the battle for them because they’d trusted Him and done it His way.

The final battle in Harry Potter is exhausting, with one attack after another. Perseverance is essential, along with a constant reminder of why they are there, why they are fighting.  If they stop or give up then evil will triumph.  I can often feel overwhelmed when I remember the battle I’m in and wish I could hide or forget about it, but like Harry and his friends, Christians have to keep fighting to the end.  Only with God’s ultimate victory over Satan at the end of time will there be true peace where God “will wipe every tear from [our] eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4)  Hallelujah!!

It Alls Ends - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It all ends on July 15^th, don’t you know?!  No, it’s not another end of the world prediction thankfully, but the final Harry Potter film!  Woohoo :-D

I was so eager to read Deathly Hallows and find out how it all ended that I pre-ordered it from Amazon and actually paid for the postage for the first (and last!) time so I could receive it on the publishing date!  Then I practically snatched it off the postman when he delivered it at 8.30am, sat down and read it non-stop until I finished it at 5.30pm!!!!! 

Quite apart from being a big fan of the Harry Potter books, I’m an absolute sucker for endings in general :-)  They’re my favourite bit of a book by a long way and, to be honest, if a book really grips me then I rarely make it halfway through before I have a quick look at the last few pages to see how it’s all gonna end, lol! 

I have friends who think I’m insane as they’d rather pluck out one of their eyeballs than know the ending before they get there but not me!  If I’m rushing too fast through a book to find out if it ends how I want it to, then knowing something about the finale (and who survives!) takes away my anxiety.  Once I know the ending then I’m calm again and I’m simply fascinated by how the story will meander and develop to get from where I am in it to the end.  I can enjoy the ride rather than worry about where it’s heading :-)  

Bad or unhappy endings are always a HUGE disappointment to me.  They make me feel like I’ve wasted my time and I regret reading the book.

Fortunately for me, in another book I’m a big fan of I’m actively invited to look ahead and read the ending!  Better still, it’s not a fictional tale but the true story of human life (including me!)  In Revelation, the last book in the Bible, we have an incredible insight into the end of time through a vision experienced by John, one of Jesus’ disciples.

It’s a serious understatement to say that initially it’s not a pretty sight :-(  There are massive difficulties to be faced by humanity which the Bible doesn’t gloss over or pretend won’t happen, followed by an epic battle of good versus evil.  But after all that’s done, the ultimate ending for God’s people is an amazing eternity!  We get to go to the ultimate wedding feast - aka a BIG party - in a new heaven and earth (better than the original ones) which we can enjoy forever!!! 

It’s such a beautiful place that when John tries to describe it the best he can do is use exaggerated images of gold and lots of precious stones, but it still falls short of portraying it completely accurately!  We’ll also be fully in the presence of the amazing God who loves us and “He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev 21:4)  Woohoo!!

Knowing this ending takes away any worry I have about the future.  I don’t know the exact detail of what will happen to me and the rest of humanity between now and then but we live it out each day in the same way we read a book a page at a time.  It means that whatever happens – even when bad things happen – I know it will all be well in the end.

This may count as a bit of a spoiler…but I LOVED the ending of Deathly Hallows so much that I nearly wrote to JK Rowling to thank her for writing it so well :-)  I hadn’t been convinced that she’d be able to bring together so many different strands successfully and in a way that was realistic rather than contrived.  But she totally did, apparently because she’d plotted out all seven books carefully when she first began writing them.

God is the author of so much more than seven excellent books and therefore He will bring everything together at the end of our story even more successfully and satisfactorily!  He sees and knows everything in all of eternity (not just our finite existence) and understands how it all fits together perfectly.  He is the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev 21:6) and I am so looking forward to His amazing ending…or is it really a whole new beginning ;-)

Derren Brown v. Faith-Healers - "Miracles for Sale"

According to Derren Brown, in his recent programme “Miracles For Sale”, faith-healers are are operating a wicked and “highly dangerous scam” where “greed and deceit raise their ugly heads” as they deliver a “systematic and manipulative exploitation of the vulnerable”! 

While I agree with the issues he highlighted about the potential for deception, I felt he wasn’t clear enough about whether all faith-healers are frauds and all healings are fake or hype, or just some of them.  

Despite his disclaimer that this is “not an attack on sincerely held beliefs or decent churchgoers…this isn’t a comment on faith” he didn’t clearly say that it IS possible that some healings can be genuine.  This therefore casts doubt on the authenticity of any healing – suggestion by omission!  That omission made me feel that Derren is actually attacking belief and undermining faith because his programme will have thrown many believers and non-believers alike into doubt and confusion about whether or not they can ever believe an example or testimony of healing. 

Derren raises some valid points and is right to reveal any deception taking place.  No one should ever “charge” for healings.  There are undoubtedly “healing” meetings which hype people up and some would-be healings which are little more than hysteria and the power of suggestion.  Derren’s tricks of hypnosis, identifying suggestible people, giving a misleading description of the problem and using a repetitive phrase or one that creates an adrenalin rush are potentially used in some “healing” meetings, deliberately or otherwise.  There’s no denying that there are people in the world who are claiming that they have power from God to heal when they have no such thing at all :-( The bottom line is that God’s gift of healing to people is good, but the devil will seek to corrupt it, exploit it and cause people to doubt it.  We have a very real enemy who wants to damage us as well as spoil our belief in and relationship with God.

Jesus’ miracles and those of the early church as recorded in Acts were never done as stage shows or performances.  Many were done in private situations, with just a handful of people present.  Jesus often told people to keep quiet about their healing and didn’t ask for anything in return.  In most of the narratives where Jesus heals people, the word “compassion” is used, as this was the main motivation for his healings.  In one example, “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matt 14:14)  He then goes on to feed them, all 5,000+ of them – not the other way round!

When Jesus sends out his twelve disciples he gives them clear instructions about how to do his work saying “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.  Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matt 10:8, my italics)  He goes on to tell them not to take provisions for their trip, because “the worker is worth his keep.” (Matt 10:10)  Jesus is talking about their needs being provided for by the communities they go to, which clearly shouldn’t be extrapolated into having a fleet of fancy cars, several mansions (or even one), luxurious clothes, etc.

Perhaps the most powerful Biblical story to shed light on this situation though is found in 2 Kings, chapter 5.  Naaman, “commander of the army of the king of Aram…a great man…a valiant soldier” goes to see Elisha, the Lord’s prophet, to ask for healing because “he had leprosy”.  Elisha sends a messenger to him to instruct him to “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be clean”.  Initially Naaman is angry and doesn’t want to do something so simple.  He expected a bit of a show – “I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy”!  Lol, I love his indignation :-)  Fortunately, he eventually relents of his pride, washes in the river and is healed.  Returning to thank Elisha, he offers him great riches for the gift of his healing but Elisha refuses to “accept a thing” because he knows that Naaman was healed solely by God’s divine grace not by his power.  Not everyone agrees with his way of thinking though…

Leaving to return home, Naaman is stopped some distance away by Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, who feels that this is far too good an opportunity to miss out on gaining a few riches!  Gehazi tells Naaman that Elisha has changed his mind about his gifts and is given two talents of silver and two sets of clothing.  Returning to Elisha, he lies about where he’s been and what he’s done, but Elisha knows.  He condemns what he’s done saying ““is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? [Substitute modern day equivalents here!]  Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and your descendants for ever.”  Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.”  God’s judgement on those who seek financial gain from his free and gracious gift of healing is unequivocal, severe and far-reaching.

While there may be a place for healing meetings, God’s real plan for mankind is through building His church – a body, a family, of people.   Prayer for healing should be a natural part of the everyday life of God’s church, not flashy or hyped or staged. 

It’s easy to see healings on TV or the internet or on a stage and question what you’re seeing (especially because we know that the camera often lies and our eyes can play tricks too!), but it’s completely different when you know people who genuinely have been healed.  I have friends who have been miraculously healed by God including one suffering from brain injury and other serious injuries caused by a fatal car accident, one with severe endometriosis that was about to be operated on and another with cancer.  With all these examples (and there are more!) medical professionals have stated that the change in their condition as a result of God healing them is nothing short of miraculous!  Hurray!!  None of these healings happened as the result of powerful suggestion, hype, sleight of hand or slip on shoes!  The majority of the prayers - at the weekly church prayer meeting, within small groups or personally and privately - called on God to heal without the person who needed healing even being present.

Derren claims he just wants to expose frauds and hypocrites, but he does so by being – and by making Nathan into – a fraud and a hypocrite.  I felt incredibly sorry for Nathan!  At the beginning of the show he seems to be a happy-go-lucky guy, with a genuine smile and great charisma.  What could be described as brain-washing begins with the persuasive multi-media video that he is shown describing his “mission”.  He’s being offered fame and fortune as well as an opportunity to make the world a better place, by a significant and compelling celebrity.  Who would refuse?  During the six month project, Nathan is aware at times that he is their puppet, their “monkey” as he says, but he is also a victim – while in theory he can walk away at any time, he is hardly going to because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  By the end of the programme he looks exhausted and drained, the enormity of the deception and hypocrisy of being Pastor James Collins weighing heavily on him.  In the car at the end after his “healing meeting” he says he’s glad to have done it but lacks conviction and Derren’s jubilance. 

I found Derren’s disclaimers empty and insincere - given mainly to cover himself and attempt to avert some of the inevitable criticism - because his actions and explanations do attack belief and undermine faith (as detailed above).  Another way he does this is with the Christian parody throughout the programme, e.g. the image of him opening a neon outlined Bible with the words “on the second day” or “on the sixth day” (a reflection of the Genesis narrative); in his false and probably blasphemous invocations of God’s name in his examples of “healings”; in the creation of the fake website http://www.giftsofthespiritministry.com/; and with choosing the name James Collins for Nathan, so he shared the initials JC with Jesus Christ :-( 

Despite the doubts that Derren Brown raised – not just about the authenticity of the faith-healers he highlighted but about healings in general - the amazing reality I and many others have witnessed is that God can heal and does heal today. One of God’s many names is “Yahweh-your-healer” (Yahweh-rophe, found in Exodus 15:26) and so healing is not something He does, it’s something He IS - on a daily basis and not just at special events.  The Bible recounts many stories of God healing people - and if we collected together the stories of all the healings since, they would fill an even bigger book - but the biggest miracle of all is that God raised Jesus from the dead!  God isn’t just able to mend and restore our human bodies and defeat sickness and disease.  He has also defeated death - perhaps the ultimate “sickness” - through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  He offers us the opportunity of defeating death and receiving eternal life as well – infinitely better than any healing on this earth – and that really is something money can’t buy!!

Glee's "Grilled Cheesus" episode (post 3 of 3) - Sue's story

Sue Sylvester was another key player in “Grilled Cheesus” and her character seriously deepened this episode!  We learn that she’d prayed for her sister’s healing when she was younger and then prayed harder, before deciding that because God didn’t answer and make her sister “normal” He obviously wasn’t there.  How familiar is that situation??  So many people pray and because God doesn’t act in the way that they want Him to, they conclude that He isn’t there or doesn’t listen or doesn’t love us.  God is so much bigger than us and we have to remember that He can see all of time on earth in one glance, understanding every situation and action and how they interrelate in a way we never could.  He doesn’t cause bad things to happen but sometimes He allows them to happen (for reasons we may not understand).  He so often brings amazing good out of tragedy or hardship and improves our characters in a way that could never happen with the adversity.  I know that it’s the difficult times in my life that have really shaped me for the better, not the times when things have gone easily and well.

God always answers prayer, just often not in the way that we want or expect Him to.  If He’s God though and knows more than us (not difficult!) then we can be sure that His ways of doing things are ultimately better.

Sue’s conversation with her sister near the end of the episode is very profound and powerful, yet easy to overlook.  Jean is clearly happy, despite her disability, and believes that “God doesn’t make mistakes.”  Sue clearly still wants to be able to believe and when Jean offers to pray for her, she says “that would be nice” in a genuine way that is surprising for her, knowing what an old cow she normally is!  At the very end she has the opportunity to report Glee Club for singing “One of Us” but chooses not to, instead seeming to consider the lyrics of the song.

To me, the underlying message of “Grilled Cheesus” is that people want to believe.  The problem is that they don’t know how to or what to believe in.  As Mercedes points out when they’re praying for Bert in the hospital “we’re from different denominations and religions, so we figure one of us is bound to be right!”  There are many different religions, different groups within those major religions and then allsorts of pick-and-mix-make-your-own religions.  The amount of choice adds to the confusion and uncertainty.  How can anyone be sure they’re making the right choice?

Jesus’ message is unequivocal and I always struggle to see how anyone can say he was just a prophet or even a good man.  He claims that “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  He did say a lot of generally good, wise and helpful things, but about half of what he said was about himself and who he was, i.e. God.  If that’s not true then he’s definitely not a prophet or a good man, he’s a complete fruitcake!!  There is no middle ground – he’s either Christ, the Son of God who died to take away our sin and enable us to have a wonderful direct relationship with Father God, or he’s a total lunatic and everything he said should be disregarded (because even the occasional wisdom of a lunatic can’t be very wise)!

Some people felt that “Grilled Cheesus” mocked Christianity/God/Jesus but I thought there were lots of positive aspects in the episode.  As well as those already mentioned, Mercedes song, “I Turn To You” and Rachel’s “Papa” both speak about vibrant and strong belief in and relationship with God.  Rachel prays that God “gives Bert back to us”, which happens at the end, when the writers could have chosen to kill him off instead.  Quinn shares that she’s “had a hard year and has turned to God a lot for help.”  As the President of the Abstinence Club who became pregnant she exposed the hypocrisy that is sadly present in many religious people.  However, through her experience and despite her huge mistake, she seems to have matured and come to a better understanding of grace and redemption.  The writers could just have easily have had her turn her back on it all and written out that part of her character.  We all make mistakes but God is quick to forgive when we’re truly sorry and want to sort it out.

I loved that the Glee Club sang “One of Us” at the end, as it’s one of my favourite songs and so thought-provoking.  If you believe in Jesus then you know that he was “one of us”, although he obviously didn’t ride on a bus!  I’ll finish these posts on “Grilled Cheesus” with one of the questions from the song lyrics - “If you were faced with Him [God] in all His glory, what would you ask if you had just one question?”

Why not ask God your question and see if you get an answer?  If you’d like to ask a whole load more questions then why not chat to any Christians you know or check out if there’s an Alpha course near you that you can go to sometime - http://uk.alpha.org/  It’s a non-pressurised opportunity to hear stuff about Christianity, bring your questions and arguments and perhaps even get some answers :-)

Glee's "Grilled Cheesus" episode (post 2 of 3) - Kurt's story

Kurt is another central character in “Grilled Cheesus” but his view and journey is strikingly different to the others’.  Kurt is the only character to vocalise that he doesn’t believe in God at all and the rest of the kids are incredulous when he says it.  His main reason seems to be tied up with his sexuality:

“Most churches don’t think very much of gay people…”

“[God] makes me gay and then has His followers go round telling me it’s something that I chose, as if anyone would choose to be mocked every single day of their life.”

This would become an unreadably long post if I open up the can of worms that is homosexuality and the church, so apologies but I’m just not going to go there right now, suffice to say that God loves everyone and that’s not dependent on their sexuality!

His other key reason for his lack of belief seems to be that you can’t prove God exists, although Mercedes points out the equal and opposite truth that you can’t prove God doesn’t exist.  I’m sure I’ll go into more detail about “proving” God in future posts but just consider this for now – how do you know the wind exists?  You can’t see it, right?  You can’t hold it or really touch it.  But you know it’s real!  You can hear it, feel it and see its effects, can’t you?  Well, those are also ways that I know that God exists – I see things that He does, I can feel His presence and I hear Him (as in I talk to Him and He talks to me – that possibly sounds freaky, but isn’t two-way communication normal in any relationship?!).

I was thankful that Kurt didn’t change his position during the episode and suddenly “see the light”.  So many of the other characters were suddenly coming out with a faith – Christian, Jewish, grilled cheese, etc. – that he was an important representation of people who don’t believe in God and I appreciated his honesty.  While there was a slight softening in him towards church/prayer, his journey was much more about realising the value of family and friends.  At the beginning of the episode going to see The Sound of Music is more important than having a family meal.  By the end he’s painfully aware of how precious his dad is, declaring “I don’t believe in God, Dad, but I believe in you and I believe in us, you and me…I’m so sorry I never got to tell you that.”

It’s far too easy to take people for granted, especially those who are closest to us.  Our family and friends can be some of the most precious gifts God give us.  He “sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6) and He created marriage as the best way to protect people physically and emotionally, as well as provide stability for a couple and their children.  (Sadly marriages and families don’t always work as they are designed to though and can be places of terrible heartbreak and abuse.)  Also, on the night before Jesus’ death (when you’d expect someone who knew they were about to die to say what they felt was really important) he said “as I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

People have the idea that a church is a building, but the Bible talks about church as a people, a body, a family.  You don’t “go” to church, you “are” church!  Mercedes demonstrates this when she says “Hi Church” at the meeting she takes Kurt to.  Obviously churches, like families, aren’t perfect but they are meant to love and support one another.  People shouldn’t go to a meeting, they’re supposed to meet with each other!

Kurt’s song – “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” – was the least spiritual of all the “spiritual” songs in this episode, only apparently talking about holding his Dad’s hand and how important that’s been to him.  However, the truth is that God is our heavenly Father and can do the equivalent of an earthly father holding our hand, as the writer of Psalm 73 acknowledges, saying “I am always with you [God]; you hold me by my right hand.”  And unlike Bert, Kurt’s dad, who will one day die and leave him, God promises us that He “will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

Glee's "Grilled Cheesus" episode (post 1 of 3) - Finn's story

“Grilled Cheesus” was a Glee episode that completely took me by surprise!  A whole hour of a thought-provoking and realistic look at faith and God wasn’t the usual superficial and shallow Glee I’m used to!!

Having said that, I groaned out loud when Finn made his Grilled Cheesus and dreaded where they might go with it, but that part turned into a fascinating look at the absurdity of superstition.  Finn treats Grilled Cheesus (aka his personification of God) like a “3-Wish Granting Genie”.  He believes that his god is like a prayer slot machine – you put your money (prayer) in and you get what you want out.  It’s an exchange – for example, he asks to get back his quarterback position because “I’ve dedicated a week of my musical life to you.”  Wow, amazing sacrifice Finn! 

The bottom line is that God doesn’t owe us anything.  Why would He?  Also, we can’t make Him do certain things.  He alone sees and knows all things – when we pray He understands the far-reaching and complex implications of granting our requests in a way that we couldn’t possibly try to.  God always answers prayer – yes, no or wait – but not always in the way we expect Him to.

While it seems crazy to us that Finn would believe a grilled cheese sandwich could have any power, people actually do that sort of thing all the time with a statue or ornament, a crystal, a picture, a memento from a “holy” site, etc.  God is so much bigger and better than that!  He knows that we’re inclined to do that sort of thing, which is understandable because we like things we can see and touch.  However, He warns us against it saying “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Deuteronomy 5:8)  He knows how easily we are distracted from Him by other things.

There is no power in a created god.  How could there be?  And what good is a god you’ve made yourself anyway?  It can’t be any greater than you or have any more power than you because you’re the creator and it’s the creation.  People struggle with God because He is so much more than us and they can’t get their heads around Him.  Hurray!  I love the fact that I can’t fully understand God, that there is always more to know about Him, that He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20)  It thrills me that through God I can be more than I already am, and expect to see and do more amazing things than I would ever be capable of myself.

So, Finn loses his faith when he realises that his cheese sandwich doesn’t have any power and is sad because he thought it was “cool to have a direct line to God”.  It’s such a shame he doesn’t know that we already have a direct line to God, without having to go through the medium of a cheese sandwich!!  When Jesus died on the cross He took our sin upon himself, offering us the opportunity of reconciliation with God and opening the way for direct communication with God.  There was a simultaneous and awesome physical sign which illustrated this truth because, as He died, the huge curtain in the temple which divided the normal people from the Holy of Holies (where only priests could go occasionally) was torn in two from top to bottom.  There was no longer any physical or spiritual divide between us and God!!

I was initially sad when Finn started singing “Losing My Religion” but then I realised that it was a good thing because his “religion” wasn’t worth having.  In fact, religion is pants.  To quote Bono from the band U2 “religion is what happens when God has left the building.”  Religion is man-made ritual and rules.  What God wants is relationship!  Jesus didn’t suffer ridicule, rejection, a near death flogging and a slow painful death on the cross for rules and rituals.  The only thing ever worth dying for is relationship!!!

So, in the end Finn eats Grilled Cheesus.  You might be able to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) but you definitely can’t eat Him, lol :-)