Clash of the Titans sermon

My mother used to have a saying when i was a kid. "This country is going to Hell in a hand basket". I never knew exactly what she meant by it, I mean, it's kind of a strange saying.. But I did get kind of the idea. We were headed downhill, and apparently enjoying it. I always kind of pictured Toto riding in Dorothy's picnic basket down the yellow brick road.

When I was a teenager and my mom would say things like this, she was usually commenting on the state of music in those days or movies or television. My mom graduated high school in 1957, so I always compared her teenage years to mine by comparing things like the A-Team to Leave it to Beaver. I felt sorry for her because her life must have been so boring.

Having gained an extra 20 years of perspective, I find myself looking around and kind of thinking the she knew what she was talking about.

Last semester I took a class called Freedom of Speech. We studied many of the landmark cases in the last century concerning freedom of speech. What was considered pornography and what wasn't. What was considered vulgar language and when it was appropriate to wear it on a T-shirt or button or sign to a protest things like Vietnam or the draft. We talked about how the Westboro Baptist Church, who really have no affiliation with any church we would consider "Baptist", can protest the funerals of soldiers and hold up signs saying things like "God hates soldiers" and "Thank God for dead soldiers".

It got me to thinking that many of these "wins" protecting free speech were actually losses for morality in this country. Protecting some of the earlier speech left the door wide open for much worse things to creep in. It's laughable to see what kinds of things were taken to the Supreme Court, considered pornography 60 years ago. You can see worse on a typical weeknight sitcom.

All of this kind of came to my mind again a coupe of weeks ago when I went to see a new movie. Its a remake of a movie that I had seen as a teenager many many times. It was one of those movies that was always on one of our cable channels. The movie is called Clash of the Titans. The essence of the story is that the hero, Perseus, the son of Zeus, is trying to defeat a monster. Both movies have that, and some other story points in common. But the underlying message in the newer movie is very different, and it was very disturbing to me.

In the original, Perseus was, well, he was kind of a klutz. He kind of accidentally found himself getting into all these adventures. The gods gave him cool gifts, which he gladly accepts... a sword, a shield, a helmet that makes him invisible and other things, and he pretty much loses or ruins them all by the end of the movie. He barely kills the Kraken at the end, and it's kind of a miracle that he doesn't turn himself into stone in the process.

The new movie however is very different.

Perseus does not know he is the son of Zeus. He doesn't find out until his adoptive family is killed by Hades. He accepts the challenge of defeating the Kraken, not to save a town or a girl, but to get revenge. When he is given a sword from Zeus, he refuses to use it, saying that he is going to do this "as a man". He refuses to acknowledge that he is a son of a god. There is a scene where he is poisoned and dying and one of the soldiers tells him to pray to his father and he would be healed, and Perseus refuses, preferring to die rather than acknowledge his father.

Now, there is a trap that's easy to fall into when you're watching a movie. And that is the "man, is guy is dumb!" trap. Because we see this and we say, dude Zeus is your father, he's given you this awesome sword that you could've saved all those guys with you and all you have to do is ask him and he will heal your arm that's about to fall off... What a dummy! It's easy to say when we are sitting there in our comfy seats, munching on overpriced popcorn. But how often do we find ourselves in a situation where we wrack our brains, trying to figure out... What am I going to do, what am I going to do, what am I going to do??? When our Father, who isn't a made up god is just waiting for us to ask him.

We may not say the words: "I'm going to do this by myself, with no help from God", but are we inviting God along for the ride? How often do we find ourselves in a sticky situation and then want to blame God for putting us there when it was ourselves who put us there?

It's worth noting, that, Perseus wouldn't pray to his father for healing, but he does accept help from this weird guy with a wooden face, who catches his arm on fire with this blue flame while chanting strange things over him. How often do we see in our world people who refuse to ask God for help, but they will wear special crystals or magnetic jewelry, or go to a Tarot reader or even crazier things that are about as helpful as a magic 8ball?

The thing that bugs me in this movie is that this is what he does, and he is celebrated as a hero because of it.

In the end, when all of his friends are dead, and he himself is about to get killed by another monster, he finally pulls out the sword given to him by Zeus and uses it. He then climbs on a winged horse, sent to him by Zeus, to get back so he can kill the Kraken, which he does in the last second, and then he also uses the sword, together with Zeus' lightning to send Hades back to the underworld.

Now, if the moral of the story was, look, you really did need Gods help, then that would be one thing, even though in this case it's a little g god. But that isn't it. In the end, Perseus and Zeus have a conversation and Perseus still rejects Zeus' offer to accept what is his as an heir of a god. The message is clear. It's better to live as a man than to accept aid from a god.

Then Zeus says something that literally blindsided me. After pointing out that Perseus kinda did accept his help, He said "I wanted the worship of men, but I did not want it to cost me my son". Perseus says "well, that's very human of you" i suppose as a joke. But it really struck me that HERE was the biggest difference between this little g god and our Father and God. Because to bring us to Him DID cost him his son.

Now, I don't want to leave this sounding like a rant, and I'm not condemning the movie or entertainment industry as a whole, but there is a question out there begging for an answer. Jesus says in today's gospel that his sheep recognize his voice. And the question is this... Are we giving God His freedom of speech? Are we listening to his voice? Do we recognize it when we hear it?

I'd like to challenge you with this: are you listening to Gods voice more than all the others out there? Is what your reading in line with his Word? Are the movies your going to running counter to his teachings? If so, do you recognize that and stand firm on your beliefs or allow your thinking to be adjusted? I'm not one of these guys that thinks listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd is going to send you to Hell, but if its pulling you away from God, its gotta go... I believe it's critical to self-evaluate on a regular basis, where am I? How close am I to God? When was the last time I read my bible outside of a church setting? Do I even know where my bible is?

Cause the yellow brick road might be pretty, but I'm not ready to be carried anywhere in a hand basket yet. I'd much rather be led beside the still waters where his rod and his staff will comfort me.