The Portrait of You and Dorian Grey

I have been listening to a lot of politics lately and one of the main themes coming from everyone seems to be deception. It made me think of the the movie The Picture of Dorian Grey. When I was young, I watched the 1945 film version of this story. Basically, a young man desires to always be as beautiful as he is at that moment. He makes a deal with the egyptian gods for the portrait to age. Little did he know that the portrait he kept hidden in his room would show all his sins as well.

Inside his private world, this portrait hung. He could take it out and look at it. He could see his past mistakes, the passage of time and who he had become. Dorian was deceptive and uncaring the whole of his painted life. His heart and mind had grown cold and selfish. What he needed was a change of heart and mind. Ultimately the way to fix the problem of Dorian and of the world is to radically change the wills and hearts of those who live here. From desiring selfish things, to desiring good and freedom for our neighbor.

This can only be done with faith in Jesus Christ. Why is this? Because he is the one who can see the paintings of our heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7 it says, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." His love changes our desires. Instead of deception, truth. Instead of desire for what others have, we desire more of Him and good to others. Instead of the must haves in life, a greatful heart blooms for what we do have. Jesus is the one who can see the portriats of us all, place your trust with him and he'll lead you to freedom every time.

A Brothers Death

J. Michael Straczynski put out a tweet that changed my life for the next 2 months. Namely the place you can watch, probably, one of the best sci fi shows ever; Babylon 5! There are many parrallels that are easily made in this show to the long history of the world wars, but the parrallel that stuck out in my mind the most is in the episode, "Comes The Inquisitor". In this episode Delenn is tested, but not only Delenn. Her fellowship of shadow fighters must prove they have the willingness to go into the great night unknown. To die for what is right and never attain glory or rememberance for it.

The inquisitor makes this statement as he is leaving:
"No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother. Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame--for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see. I have been in service to the Vorlons for centuries, waiting for you: Diogenes and his lamp looking for an honest man willing to die for all the wrong reasons."

The Bible says something very similar in John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I've never really given this idea much deep thought. It seemed self explanitory. But I think the inquisitor lays it out for us better in this episode toward the end of the first part, "for one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see." Would we die for someone knowing the selfless act would never been seen by anyone but God? Can we, those who cannot get rid of our stuff to help others, sacrifice our lives for someone we do not know? Would we die for all the wrong reasons?

I don't know. I do know that this sacrifice is part of what makes Christianity so special, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3:16. God gave his life for us on the cross, he was willing to do so for just one person, not for millions, not for fame, not for glory; but to bring us closer to him. He was willing to die for all the wrong reasons, for all the reasons that don't make sense to us. Are we willing to do the same? Something to ponder.

Flash of Faith

I was catching up on The Flash, namely the episode Invincible. In a scene Barry is consoling Caitlin after her escape from Zoom. He says the line, "if the universe is with us, how could we possibly lose?" It sparked a memory for me of Romans 8:31, "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?"

What happened in the rest of the episode also brought home something very true to the Christian life as well. Once we have this faith that gives us unwaverying confidence, people will immediately try to shut it down. Throughout the episode the team doubted his faith and came to be worried that he was over reaching. That not giving into fear, meant he had none. As he explained; it's confidence. He understood the task at hand was seemingly insurmountable, he forged ahead in faith instead. What Cisco describes as "walking on sunshine", is the simple faith that Barry has in the higher power of the universe/speed force.

As christians we have this same faith in Jesus Christ. When evil taunts you with being good (as Zoom did with Flash towards the end of the episode), when people doubt the abilities of God, when it seems that things in life are insurmountable; stop and remember that God is for us, who can be against us? Then move forward in faith.

A gender short, the roles we play

In the Charmed episode called "Battle of the Hexes" the new sister witch they have found is attending a college course and says the line often heard, "The only way there can be any balance is if women get the chance to rule." The teacher goes on to say that history does not support her theory and that behind every great man there is a great woman and vice versa. She doesn't believe him and there begins the lesson of the episode.

The whole episode is about the balance and harmony that is created when men and women work together. The new sister finds a belt that gives her great power to defend women, but the price of power is steep. She creates chaos and disaster wherever she goes. Even when she sees the unbalance and recognizes that it's not right, she listens to the voices that encourage her to keep going.

This whole thing reminded me of 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 that says, "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God." By the end of the episode Billie learns this simple Biblical truth; that we need each other, we are made for and from each other.

It's a good reminder that God created us for Him and each other. That only through respect and recognition of proper roles, does peace reign.

A charmed choice

I'm going through my re-watch of the show Charmed. This witchy tele-novella can be a fun watch as it sifts through the many difficult choices that the chosen ones go through. Deep into the last seasons of the show I was watching an episode titled: Charmageddon. What I found interesting about this episode is it's answer to the questions, "Why do bad things happen?" "Why does God allow that person to do wrong/bad/evil if he has the power to stop them?" "Why do bad things happen to good people and vice versa?".

Once the sisters reach utopia they no longer feel conflict of any kind. This includes sadness, pain, anger and annoyance. Conflict can not be tolerated and those who create it are dealt with swiftly by a group of characters collectively called the Avatars. A loved one passes and they are just mildly concerned. They continue only with how they should happy because the other one has moved on to a better place. It is a world without free will. In the end they recognize that the way the world is set up, "The Grand Design" has to include all hardships or it's not living at all. It's a gilded cage. No longer can you decide your beliefs or destiny; it is chosen for you: the way of non-conflict. They realize that the battle between good and evil, the ability to choose; helps us understand who we are and what we truly believe. It helps us to grow in maturity and closer to God. It helps us to understand other people. To be a comforter to those who share our misfortunes and disappointments. When we are caged and stopped from this, we no longer have a concept of reality, we are robots only allowed to feel and act one way.

The shows answer, to allow conflict, pain, anger, sadness back into the world; is intrinsic to the nature of the world we live in. It's a world of guidelines and rules; a world created for a greater purpose other than having a great time and just doing what you want. In the bible God shows that we are warned and told of this reality often. Genesis 19 is a good example of this understanding. Two cities; Sodom and Gomorrah. Both dedicated to the idea of eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die; are destroyed after warnings for refusing to turn from that destructive ideal and follow God instead. In this same bit of world history, Lot and his family make a different choice: they choose to follow God and are warned to go out from the cities; thus saving their lives from this particular disaster. When I watched this episode it showed yet again how powerful choice is. That the choice to follow Jesus and believe in Him is something we all have so that it's real to us, so that it matters. Instead of being made to do it, we are allowed to choose which eternity we want, one with him or one without. Joshua 24:15 is famous for the last line, "but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.", but it is the beginning of that verse which holds also a key to understanding this design: but if you think it's hard don't do it. Do you think following God is harder than the eternal choice to live without Him? What doors will you open when it comes time to make the choices in life you must make? How will you live this life that God has given you?

The will to want what's real

*We had to take a hiatus while writing this one. As a result, it's a bit dated. Hope you enjoy anyway!!*

Happy New Year from Nerd Studies! All of us here hope that you had a great Holiday season. One of the new traditions of the year for us is watching the growing, How to Train Your Dragon series. We just enjoy it so much. Last years movie was the second one and among many other messages in that movie the message of Your Will is the largest.

There are so many examples from the way Stoic reacted to seeing his wife, to Hiccup learning that the will of some is unreasonable, to the babies who don't listen to anyone; the will of the characters themselves shows who they are and what they believe in.

In so many ways this is exactly what The Bible says about our will.

In Joshua 24:15 it talks about your will to follow God. The last part of that verse is the most quoted, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." It is the will of Joshua to serve God just like it's Stoic's will to be the best leader. It's Hiccups will that gets them into the messy battle that leads to the death at the end. It's the will of the dragons that eventually decides the Alpha.

In the end it's our choices that reflect our will. What are you showing people?

It's Everywhere

I currently attended a local comic book convention called X-Con. It was great and I can't wait to go back again. What I really loved about this year was they had Sam Jones, the 1980's Flash Gordon!

I didn't get my picture with him, but I was able to attend his panel. The thing that surprised me the most was his consistent reference to prayer and letting God be part of your decision making process. He told us several stories where he and his wife prayed over a job and their prayers were answered. He talked about being humble and it being important to have Gods' hand on things when you make decisions.

All of this talk about God being involved with decisions reminded me of Matthew 6:33, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Sam Jones ended up with a career in security that allows him to travel to conventions and do his acting gigs while maintaining full time status. That's not an easy thing to come by and is a reminder to me that God watches over those people who follow his commandments.