Movie Trailer

I saw 300 and Shooter over the weekend, and enjoyed both of them. Both were rated R, and the theater saw fit to include before each movie a trailer for an upcoming film, The Reaping. Simple plot as far as I can tell is professional sceptic gets involved in strange happenings in a Louisiana town where the plagues that fell on the Egyptians are happening again.

I think I can discuss this without falling into "It's a conspiracy against God!" tirades, but forgive me if I am close to that line.

This is not the first movie that has explored supernatural themes, and it won't be the last. But there is a curious trend in such movies, where the Almighty God is left either impotent or perhaps even cruel. In the trailer, after the final plague is named, you see a woman asking the heroine "Are you going to kill my baby?" When the heroine says no, the lady asks "Why not?" This is followed closely by the tagline: "What hath God wrought?"

In other movies, simple people of faith can be seen clutching at crucifixes and other relics as a ward against the onslaught of evil, only to find that they have no effect.

I realize that an omnipotent, good, God doesn't serve to heighten dramatic tension. And I further realize that it often seems that the work of God is questionable, in light of the atrocities around the world that happen daily. In the world, it often seems that God is silent... and silent gods are a scarce comfort against rampaging zombies.

But I am also reminded that the prince of this world thinks highly of himself, striving even to supplant God. And he is also bent on turning man agains God, too - relying on himself and his own efforts instead of trusting God to work. Such movies are a subtle lie about just who God is.

And remember that just because the evil of the world gets all the press, there is good, too. There are people loving their neighbors, tending the sick, feeding the hungry, freeing slaves, praying for their leaders, raking leaves, handing out batteries and drinks, and clothes, and doing countless other things.

That's the way that God works. Not in bellicose, flashy, attention-demanding ways. But in a thousand ways you'll never see if you don't look for them.