"You’re watching Star Wars and when they say "May the force be with you," if you reply, "and also with you."
—You Might Be a Lutheran If... (OldLutheran.com)
This year, December marks the long-awaited release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For me the appeal of Star Wars saga is two-sided. On the one hand, being a 20-something male and a huge dork, I can't get enough of the fantastic locations, the aliens, the laser swords, and the spaceships. On the other hand, as a Christian, I've always appreciated that Luke Skywalker's spiritual journey so strongly parallels the journey of many Christians new to the faith.
Luke, a normal teenager anxiously awaiting an opportunity to move away from home and see the world (or in this case, the Galaxy), has a chance encounter with an elderly neighbor who happens to be a retired pastor (Jedi) named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Having grown up in what appears to be a nearly 100% secular galaxy, Luke has no concept of God (The Force), and immediately prods his new mentor with questions about the very essence of what God actually is. Obi-Wan's reply even echoes Scripture: "(The Force) surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together," (Eph. 4:6).
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Shortly thereafter, Luke's new friend passes away, but leaves him with two important bits of information.
Firstly, he again echoes Scripture, telling Luke that "The Force will be with you, always," (Mt. 28:20). Secondly, he offers Luke advice on how to contact the Galaxy's foremost Christian scholar and Obi-Wan's former seminary teacher,
Yoda. With Yoda, Luke moves from the innocent questions of the early Christian ("What is God?"), to questions of what it means to be a Christian, and how The Holy Spirit interacts with us in our daily lives. Yoda explains that through faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed, Luke can literally move mountains. Luke is skeptical. Yoda replies: "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is...Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you.” Eventually, having studied his new faith for some time and confident in his knowledge and devotion, Luke experiences temptation at the hands of the Devil himself, Emperor Palpatine. He urges Luke: "Use you aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you" and your "journey towards the dark side will be complete!" Rather than comply, Luke passively drops his weapon, showing compassion for his enemies and banishing the hate and aggression from his heart. So many of our classic stories—The Lord of the Rings, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Star Wars, etc.—all show these Christian influences. Perhaps through the lens of these fantasy words we can discern a greater understanding of our own faith and our relationship with God in our every day lives. Dear Lord, help us to see your influence in all things, to appreciate the relationship we have with you, and to serve your will as all Christians should. Amen Contributed by Michael Monday January 4, 2016 Liturgical Year: C Week 7 Liturgical Color: White Sunday Gospel reading: cChristmas2 Second Sunday after Christmas
Luke goes through many initiations during his journey. He is initiated to the loss of loved ones with the deaths of his Aunt and Uncle and eventually Obi-wan. He is initiated to the way the world really works by spending time in the Mos Eisley Cantina. He is also initiated to battle during the groups amazing escape from the Deathstar. The final step in Luke’s journey is the return.
The “Star Wars” franchise is familiar to most, and may be the easiest in which to discover the hero’s journey. In “Star Wars,” we find young Luke Skywalker, a rebellious youth, living on a farm on the isolated planet of Tatooine, taken in by his aunt and uncle following the death of his mother and father. Luke grows up with dreams of flying through the stars, only dreams until his chance meeting with Ben Kenobi. Kenobi informs Luke of his real past: that his father was a Jedi knight and that Luke was destined to become great. Though Kenobi’s guidance and Luke own adventurous spirit, he finds himself pushed into an intergalactic quest to become a valiant Jedi in a galaxy controlled by the evil Empire.
Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power.The play is believed to have been written between 1603 and 1607, and is most commonly dated 1606. It is a timeless classic and its themes resonate within some of the most common movies and books of modern times. Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. The film series, consisting of two trilogies, has spawned an extensive media franchise called the Expanded Universe including books, television series, computer and video games, and comic books. The franchise depicts a galaxy described as far, far away in the distant past, and it commonly portrays Jedi as a representation of good, in conflict with the Sith, their evil counterpart. Their weapon of choice, the lightsaber, is commonly recognized in popular culture. It is arguably a cinematic masterpiece, holding in rank two of possibly the greatest trilogies the world has ever seen. It is a timeless epic which embodies within it an allegory for the history of the world; the rise and fall of empires and their emperors; the pursuit of power; the melting pot of cultures; the struggle for survival; the advancement of human technology; and most importantly as a whole, the history of humanity. Steven D. Graynus declared, “Ultimately, what the Star Wars films offer is….rousing storytelling suffused by themes of moral struggle and transcendence” (Decent Films Guide). The franchise's storylines contain many themes, with strong influences from philosophy and religio...
John MacArthur is a well-known and sometimes controversial pastor that holds a strong conservative viewpoint of the Scriptures. As a graduate of Talbot Theological Seminary, MacArthur’s ministry has covered a wide spectrum of Christian fields including pastor, author and radio host. MacArthur currently serves as the Pastor of Grace Community Church in Sunny Valley, California. For over 45 years his pastoral ministry at Grace Community Church has given evidence of a deep abiding love for the exposition of the Scriptures. Beyond his role as pastor, MacArthur serves as the president of the Master’s College and Seminary, which functions to train men to work in various areas of Christian ministry. As a successful author, MacArthur continues to write many books ranging from culturally and theological relevant issues to New Testament expositional commentaries and study guides. Macarthur also serves as the lead teacher of Grace to You, an everyday radio and television ministry, which centers on verse by verse exposition of Scripture. MacArthur is not known for shying away from controversial topics that Christianity struggles with. He seeks to use scripture to help modern Christians think through these topics.
The Novum presented in Starship Troopers is the rule of the Veterans and the resulting primacy of the military. This Novum sets the novel up as a utopic pandering to a readership demographic that the author himself is a member of. This is a normative sci-fi construction. Starship Troopers deviates in that the true target readership is the young man who has not yet been given a chance to join up. He is meant to gain a favorable understanding of the military man by sharing in his dream. The dream then - the world created – is the persuasive device.
In typical Southern fashion, he was referred to as “Brother Akers” (Grisham 87). His sermons were angry tirades against sins, real or imagined that the people of his flock may or may not have been guilty of committing (Grisham 87). He prayed “long and windy” prayers and gave the congregation “verbal beatings” each Sunday (Grisham 84, 92). When the pastor preached about more pleasant subjects like love and charity, he gave Luke the impression that he did so without much conviction (Grisham 136).
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.. Episode VIII MY WEDDING TV ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ has taken the world by storm and everyone here at MyWeddingTV.com is obsessed with the epic space opera franchise. Whether it's the mystic Jedi, the power hungry Sith, or Queen Amidala's amazing costumes, the Star Wars universe is rife with creative inspirations. With our help, you'll be able to plan the perfect Star Wars themed wedding in less than twelve minutes!
During the late 80’s, Phil Alden Robinson developed a sensational story that revolved around a real life account of a sport tragedy. The viewers were immersed in a touching account of how sport, a social interest, can play a powerful role in human bonding; thus becoming a very spiritual component of life. It in itself has a profound effect on the societies’ spiritual experiences; and just like religion can respectfully be considered a form of spirituality for a modern society, as exemplified in Robinson’s movie ‘Field of Dreams’. This story resonates far beyond the power of dreams, its appeal lies in a vision of a perfect sport and the love for which can inadvertently resolve issues no matter how grand. The plot at first presents itself as a complex; or maybe even a strange series of events, but somehow its scenes string themselves into a moral about redemption and deep interpersonal bonds.
Luke Timothy Johnson uses Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church in order to make a strong point that when studying both Luke and Acts as a unit, rather than reading the canonical order in the Bible, gives us one of our best prophetic looks at the Church for all ages. By presenting this point Johnson hopes to light a fire in our churches of today by using the prophetic works of Luke, so that we as Christians will attend to the ways that Christ intended the church to be. In Johnson’s introduction he states that it is not wrong to study Luke and Acts separately as there are many ways to study the scripture, nevertheless it is wrong to look at Luke and see the prophetic ways of Jesus, and then looking at Acts as non-prophetic. Through seeing Luke’s
In Luke 4: 18-19 it says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
Quite possibly one of the most iconic openings in cinematic history is “A Long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” Of course, I am referring to Star Wars. It is such a fascinating and great movie going experience. There have been a total of seven Star Wars films, but in this essay I am going to be focusing on Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge of the Sith. This film was written and directed by George Lucas and of the science fiction genre. Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters on May 19, 2005.
The Centurion heard about Jesus Luke: 3a b. The Centurion sends Jewish Elders Luke: 3b c. Jewish Elders respond and sincerely appeal to Jesus Luke: 4a 2. Introductory Formula: “Saying” Luke: 4b 3. Speech Proper Luke: 4c-5b a. “He is worthy of having you do this for him, Luke: 4c b. “for he love...
The plot is extremely straightforward and powerful almost reading like a climax of an action novel. Jesus, the hero of the writings has been betrayed and is about to be wrongly executed by his enemies. It is an ironic plot as you can read it a thousand times and each time Luke makes you think that Jesus just might show the bad guys who’s boss and save himself from the cross.
J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of too much power is summed up by Lord Acton when he once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Tolkien's first book of his fantasy based trilogy, Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings tells a story of a quest to destroy a powerful ring throughout Tolkien's created "Middle Earth". This quest was headed by a "Hobbit" named Frodo Baggins who, in the end, becomes corrupted by power himself. This corruption begins when Frodo uses his ring to become invisible over and over again to escape certain situations. The quest to destroy the powerful "Ruling Ring" forms the basis for this story.
Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, in the movie the whole solution to the problem was to cause Ragnarok. In “reality” things went a little differently and there was a lot more death. Ragnarok was easily the one most impressive battles in ancient mythologies, more impressive than the Greek battle Titanomachy; since It was a war without winners, had only eight survivors, along with the destruction of all that is known and unknown. Ragnarok or Day of Doom was the battle from Norse mythology, which took place in Vigrid. Titanomachy or the Titan War was a series of battles raging over a period of about ten years, The Titans vs The Gods, The gods won.