Avatar and the Sabbath

In the movie “Avatar” there is no particular mention of the Ten Commandments. It is clear that the Na’vi respect certain of the commandments. They certainly honored their parents and maintained strong family bonds. They appear to bond for life and adultery is not an acceptable form of behavior. The Na’vi appeared to be honest and were not into telling lies or bearing false witness against anyone. There was not indication that the Na’vi stole from one another and did not kill frivolously but only in the context of the safety of the tribe. The Na’vi did not steal from one another and apparently did not covet one another’s possessions. So it would appear that they kept the last 6 commandments focused on family relationships.

Regarding the first four commandments it would appear that they knew only of the One God in their belief system, and they were faithful in worshipping Eywa. From the movie it did not look as though they practiced any kind of idolatry nor did they take the name of Eywa in vain. As for the fourth commandment it did not appear as though they had a Sabbath day or any specific time set aside or the worship of their God.

In the Judeo/Christian community the Sabbath day is an important time. God declared over and over again that the 7th day was a special set aside day to be used to focus on worshipping God. This day was to be honored as the memorial of the week that God took to create the world. Thus the Sabbath is a memorial of the Creator creating the Earth and all of the things that were placed therein. This time was to be used to turn away from the normal 6 days worth of activities focused on survival and on Sabbath was to be used for special communion with God or with one another.

In the Bible the Sabbath is unique as a timekeeper. All other sections of time are dependent on an astronomical event. The day is one rotation of the earth on it’s access. A month is dictated by the rotation of the moon around the earth and, the year is dictated by the rotation of the Earth one time around the sun. But the Sabbath was entirely dictated by the Creator. He set aside the day, sanctified it, set aside for religious purposes, and blessed and hallowed it.

God commanded that we keep the Sabbath because it would help us to stay focused upon spiritual issues. We are to keep from doing our daily work activities on the Sabbath day and keep the focus on God and His relationship with us. In addition the Sabbath was to be a blessing and not a curse upon man. We are to follow the example of Jesus and look for ways to bring the healing message to people on the Sabbath. We are to teach people about Jesus on the Sabbath and be genuinely interested in their spiritual life and well being.

Whenever Israel turned away from the Sabbath their awareness of God began to deteriorate and their focus on each other began to dissipate. They eventually got to the point that healing on the Sabbath day was against the Pharisee’s human laws and they went so far as to criticize Jesus for His desire to heal and to teach people about God and His Creative powers. As they continued in rebellion they began to pick up thoughts and behaviors that were like the heathen tribes around them that did not profess the worship of the Creator God. Eventually, Israel began to practice sun worship with their neighbors and to turn away from all that was of God. See Ezekiel chapter 8.

Whenever Israel turned away from the Sabbath God sent His prophets to instruct them to come back to a relationship of faith with God and to re-establish the law of God as the sign of their surrender to Him as their God. See Jeremiah 17, Nehemiah 13, Exodus 5:5 and Exodus 16. When Israel rebelled against God’s prophets He allowed Israel to be taken into captivity and their city and temple were destroyed.

When the people suffered sufficiently that they were ready to listen to God again He would send a deliverer to restore them to the old ways of truth. God sent Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, Ezra, Jesus and Paul to help turn back to God and get these things straightened out. Jesus has many conflicts with the Pharisees and Sadducees over the Sabbath. Jesus made it a significant part of His ministry to connect worship to God, healing of the people, and overcoming sin as essential components of the true gospel of God. John 5, 9, Matthew 12. Paul came along and assisted with these activities as well. Acts 13

In the end it appears that the worship of God will be the final test. When God’s people are surrendered to Him they will worship Him on the Sabbath in compliance to the commandments of God. See Revelation 14:6-12. In Revelation 13 God says that the image to the beast will pass a law that unless one worships the beast, God’s enemy, they will be killed. This will create a final test environment as to whether we will worship God in His way, or whether we will worship God’s enemy. Faith and obedience will dictate how we resolve this.

On Pandora the Na’vi did not appear to have the Sabbath, and apparently Eywa did not have this requirement for the people. On Earth Yahweh require Sabbath of Israel. Jesus, who was the Yahweh of the Old Testament, see Exodus 3:1-14 and John 8:58, requires us to worship Him who created the heavens and the earth, and any real time Pandoras that are our their in the universe. Let us ponder these issues and surrender to His will.