Kingdom of Heaven
In the evening, a few of us went to watch ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ on the silver screen. I enjoyed it thoroughly for the entertainment. It was cool to see thousands of warriors carrying Islamic banners with crescents marching head to head with crusaders with banners, robes and shields that have been adorned by red crosses. The truth is, I think the crusaders looked really awesome in their armor as they marched. The king especially, though a leper, looked cool with his metal face-mask.
On a deeper level, there are lessons to be learnt from the movie. Though it tries to avoid the real issues of the crusades, the movie does give us a glimpse of what happens when we have ‘bad faith’. ‘God wills it’ became an excuse for anyone to do anything they wanted, including slaughtering those of another religion. This makes me think about all the times when we would use this phrase or those with similar allusions. We should spend RM6 million on a new church building because it is God’s will, even if we don’t need it. We should sack this pastor because we prayed and God spoke to us. I should do this because it is God’s will. Deus Vault! I think I need to be more careful in the future whenever I used words like these. How sure am I that it is God’s will? What is God’s will anyway? Can we be sure of God’s will other than what has been taught us by Jesus Christ? Even that, how sure can we be about our interpretations of what Christ has said?
On the other hand, there are also examples of ‘good faith’, as portrayed by Godfrey and Balian, as well as their followers. They did not have all the answers about salvation. In one scene, Balian asked his father and mentor, Godfrey, if his sins could be erased in Jerusalem. Godfrey didn’t even pretend to know the answers. He simply answered, ‘We will find that out together’. They were far from perfect knights. In fact, they were murderers and adulterers. They were not afraid to admit their doubts about God and the uncertainties that surrounded their faith. Yet, they were on a spiritual journey. Still, they defended the helpless and protected the weak. Their concern was always about the people of Jerusalem, regardless of their race or religion. In contrast to the priests and Templars, Balian and Godfrey always appealed to ‘what is good’ rather than God’s will.
As Christians, we are far from perfect. We do not have all the answers about salvation, God, Heaven and Hell. Contrary to popular belief, I think salvation is not as simple as the 4 spiritual laws and the 3 steps to Heaven. We are all still on a spiritual journey of faith. Like the ‘heroes’ in the movie, we do not need all the answers to be able to have ‘good faith’ that is both compassionate and sincere.
On a deeper level, there are lessons to be learnt from the movie. Though it tries to avoid the real issues of the crusades, the movie does give us a glimpse of what happens when we have ‘bad faith’. ‘God wills it’ became an excuse for anyone to do anything they wanted, including slaughtering those of another religion. This makes me think about all the times when we would use this phrase or those with similar allusions. We should spend RM6 million on a new church building because it is God’s will, even if we don’t need it. We should sack this pastor because we prayed and God spoke to us. I should do this because it is God’s will. Deus Vault! I think I need to be more careful in the future whenever I used words like these. How sure am I that it is God’s will? What is God’s will anyway? Can we be sure of God’s will other than what has been taught us by Jesus Christ? Even that, how sure can we be about our interpretations of what Christ has said?
On the other hand, there are also examples of ‘good faith’, as portrayed by Godfrey and Balian, as well as their followers. They did not have all the answers about salvation. In one scene, Balian asked his father and mentor, Godfrey, if his sins could be erased in Jerusalem. Godfrey didn’t even pretend to know the answers. He simply answered, ‘We will find that out together’. They were far from perfect knights. In fact, they were murderers and adulterers. They were not afraid to admit their doubts about God and the uncertainties that surrounded their faith. Yet, they were on a spiritual journey. Still, they defended the helpless and protected the weak. Their concern was always about the people of Jerusalem, regardless of their race or religion. In contrast to the priests and Templars, Balian and Godfrey always appealed to ‘what is good’ rather than God’s will.
As Christians, we are far from perfect. We do not have all the answers about salvation, God, Heaven and Hell. Contrary to popular belief, I think salvation is not as simple as the 4 spiritual laws and the 3 steps to Heaven. We are all still on a spiritual journey of faith. Like the ‘heroes’ in the movie, we do not need all the answers to be able to have ‘good faith’ that is both compassionate and sincere.
posted by sojourner @ Sunday, May 08, 2005
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