Star Wars..is it good viewing for the church?

[Ed Edwards]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
A well-meaning family member bought the books for me that showed them as a biblical analogy.

A well meaning member of my family
did the same thing. Then he went and adopted
eight foreign children. Now he has ten teens
and one pre-teen. I use velcro to hold my shoes
on my feet. I don't have any electronic devices
that can receive/play internet music without
a tape or disk involved.

I like comedy

The Farce be with You!

 

[whatever]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
A well-meaning family member bought the books for me that showed them as a biblical analogy.

I think that's mostly just sad. I don't know of many Christians, whether they like the Star Wars series or not, who think of them as biblical analogy. For us they have been a good springboard for discussions about the differences between the worldview of the movies and that of Christianity.

 

[Boanerges]

I once observed George Lucas talking on television with a group of very bright young adults about the future. One of his comments was that the next generation would unite us all by devising a “new living language”. Anyone ever read the ten commandments of the new age? Here they are:


1.Maintain humanity under five hundred million in perpetual balance with nature.
2.Guide reproduction wisely, improving fitness and diversity.
3.Unite humanity with a living new language.
4.Rule passion, faith, tradition, and all things with tempered reason.
5.Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6.Let all nations rule internally, resolving external disputes in a world court.
7.Avoid petty laws an useless officials.
8.Balance personal rights with social duties.
9.Prize truth, beauty, love...seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on earth...leave room for nature...

For more about this interesting topic, go here:

http://home.sprynet.com/~eastwood01/geoguide.htm

 

[nate]

I enjoy SW, all six but I don't think there are to many Christian analogies in these films. In fact SW IMO has a great deal of NA type stuff. You know the force is in everything bla. But that said it's not wrong to watch it.

 

[Dr. Bob]

Since my son (an ordained GARBC pastor) was an advisor to Lucas and has featured interviews in Wall Street Journal, Time, People, Entertainment Weekly, etc, I have a tad of background. Lucas would "bounce" ideas, seeing if Christians would be offended by them.

Some were, some weren't. He NEVER wanted a religion or such. It was SCIENCE FICTION. Good eventually triumphing over evil, the white hats against the black (think it an ACCIDENT of Darth's costume?).

My son wisely mentioned that some Christians will see the devil behind every bush (quoting Martin Luther) and think "Hellywood Movies" in general are sin, so there is no pleasing all.

 

[Marcia]

Lucas also said, in an interview with Bill Moyers, that "all religions are true." Lucas studied Eastern religions and his Star Wars movies mostly showcase that. I remember when I saw the first 3 movies -- I was not a christian then -- how excited I was that a popular movie was including Buddhist and Taoist beliefs. Yoda sometimes talks like a Zen Buddhist, sometimes like a sorcerer, and sometimes like a gnostic, as when he says this:

"Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me . . . the tree . . . the rock. Yes, even between the land and the ship." Yoda

The concepts behind the light and dark sides of the Force very closely match Taoist views of yin and yang -- that yin and yang must be balanced. This is actually said in Episodes 1 and 3. In the occult, good and evil cannot exist without each other and the goal is to balance them, not overcome evil with good. The Force, like magic, is neutral.

In "Revenge of the Sith," the Chancellor gives one of the best explanations of occult magic when he tells Anakin that the Sith and Jedi use the same Force (magic), it's just that the Sith go "deeper" and use it more forcefully, This is exactly the concept found in magic (sorcery).

This is my evaluation of the Sith movie:
http://cana.userworld.com/cana_StarWarsSith1.html

I also have evaluations of some of the other more recent Star Wars movies on my site.

 

[Hope of Glory]

I think that's mostly just sad. I don't know of many Christians, whether they like the Star Wars series or not, who think of them as biblical analogy.

I agree. (BTW, I don't think, nor did I say that anyone claimed that Lucas did it intentionally, and I don't think it was done at all.)

I think that a Christian who is well-grounded can watch the movies and enjoy the adventure. I think that an atheist can watch them without a problem.

However, the problem comes in with those who form a legal religion called "Jedi". Those who think it's real.

These problems aren't only in Star Wars, but in sports, TV shows, etc.