tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10886928301155151852024-02-08T05:03:02.844-08:00Avatar's Garden of PandoraGreg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-33082549128913801582011-05-23T16:00:00.001-07:002011-10-12T14:41:18.541-07:00An Open Letter To James CameronMr. Cameron:<br />I just wanted to tell you that I thought the movie Avatar was a fascinating blend of fantasy, adventure, and spirituality. Avatar was clearly a financial success and it clearly stated that the issues you spoke to in the movie resonated with a large number of people in all cultures around the world. I hope that you found it rewarding to produce this movie and I hope that as you ponder new movies you will remember the things that worked in this movie.<br /><br />As I was reading about your film history I noticed that you did a TV special “The Exodus Decoded”. This special would indicate that you have spent a considerable time in Bible study, especially in Exodus and the Old Testament writings. In addition, your use of Bible symbolism in Avatar would indicate that you have spent a significant amount of time in the prophetic portions of the Bible like Daniel and Revelation as well. Assuming that my observations are correct it leads me to ask you a question. The question is since you are intrigued by the Bible, and your spiritual gift appears to be that of making movies, and doing it very well, then why don’t you make a movie about the real things of life and do IT very well? <br /><br />It seems to me that you are clearly financially set now so that if you chose to produce a “real” movie you would not be in danger of losing your financial footing in life. A “real” movie might endanger your position in the Hollywood community but you seem to be strong enough to deal with that kind of adversity if you chose to. So I wonder if you have read enough of the “real” to give you an experience like Jake Sully had in the movie Avatar? When God calls you would you be willing to move to a different world to have that experience with Him and undergo the rebirth that you told about in Avatar?<br /><br />Since I had these questions I thought I would write them to you, at least on the internet. I am acquainted with a series of books, that you may or may not have been exposed to which tells the Bible story in such a manner that you might enjoy them. The parts of the books which I think you would especially like are the expanded scenes of heaven where Jesus and Lucifer interacted before sin came into the picture. I think you would find the interactions of war in heaven fascinating because you have depicted those interactions so well in your movies, for as the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1:9 “…there is no new thing under the sun.”<br /><br />If you are interested in those stories I would like to connect you to those books written by a lady by the name of Ellen G. White. She wrote a five book series covering the Bible from before the fall of Lucifer until the final resolution of sin and the recreation of Earth. The five books are:<br />Patriarchs and Prophets – from the fall of Lucifer to King David<br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/pp/pp.asp<br />Prophets and Kings – from King Solomon down to the time of the return of Israel from Babylon<br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/pk/pk.asp<br />The Desire of Ages – tells about the life of Christ and is of course at the center of the five books.<br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/da/da.asp<br />The Acts of the Apostles – Tells the story of the followers of Jesus from His ascension into heaven unto the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.<br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/aa/aa.asp<br />The Great Controversy – the story of God’s people from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Second Coming of Christ, the Millennium, the final judgment of evil, and the recreation of the Earth.<br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc.asp<br /><br />I hope that if you read them you will find them as exciting as I did and that they will be a blessing to you as they were to me. <br /><br />Thank you for taking the time to listen to these thoughts and I hope that you will take these thoughts seriously.<br /><br />In Christ Jesus<br />Greg GoodchildGreg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-76201554731186866082010-07-13T01:24:00.000-07:002010-07-13T01:28:41.200-07:00Avatar and the Pandoran RulesJake Sulley first arrives on the planet Pandora and meets with Colonel Quaritch while the Colonel is explaining the Pandoran Rules to all of the new people. The Colonel is trying to impress on the minds of each person that Pandora is dangerous and that certain rules are required to be obeyed if they plan to live and return to Earth. The primary rule is that the wildlife on the planet can be very dangerous and that many people have died when forgetting that life is dangerous on Pandora. I am sure that the Colonel would have told people about the large predators, and the big animals that while not carnivores can still hurt people. Then there was the indigenous peoples the Na’vi who were much bigger than Earthlings, and while having bows and arrows the arrows were coated with a neurotoxin that could kill in two minutes. All together Pandora would be a dangerous place if not dealt with seriously. To forget the Pandoran rules, even for a short period of time would be very dangerous and very likely to end in death for those who forgot the rules and did not live in harmony with them. <br /><br />In God’s kingdom He has the same thinking. God knows that He has established the laws of life and all who want to live will keep His laws. God knows that His laws are not something He just made up to be difficult but He shared His laws which are the best things that He could possibly do for His people. God knew that His laws were to be life for His people (Deuteronomy 30:14-20) and that they were all based on love, for God is purely and simply love. I John 4:8 God knew that the world was a dangerous place after Adam had sinned and Satan perceived himself as the God of this world (II Corinthians 4:4). God knew that to believe anything that Satan taught was dangerous and would eventually mean the loss of the physical life of the person as well as the spiritual life of the person. So God gave us an interesting progression of truth. God identifies Himself as love, and then He states that all of His laws are centered in two laws – to love God with all your heart and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus claimed that these two laws are the central laws of God and that all of the other laws that God gave were to hang off these two laws. Matthew 22:35-40 so law is the basis of all of God’s laws. <br /> <br />In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy God gives us His laws. He gave us His ten commandments, written on stone and then He gave us many other laws to amplify and clarify the original ten. All of the rest of the books of the Bible show how these laws are to function, and are to be carried out, and lived out, by God’s people so that all of the rest of the world could see these laws and then decide if it would be worth their time and effort to learn these laws.<br /><br />God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel 50 days after they left Egypt. God wanted to use these laws to establish the foundation of God’s government for Israel as a nation, and to establish the foundations of God’s covenant with mankind – they were to obey God in all that He asked them to do, and God would support and care for them in all that He asked them to do. God spoke them to Israel at Mount Sinai and they were listed as follows:<br /><br />And God spake all these words, saying, <br /><br /> I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. <br /><br /> Thou shalt have no other gods before me. <br /> <br />Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. <br /><br /> Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. <br /><br /> Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.<br /><br />Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. <br /><br />Thou shalt not kill. <br /><br />Thou shalt not commit adultery. <br /><br />Thou shalt not steal. <br /><br />Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. <br /><br />Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.<br /><br />And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. Exodus 20:1-19<br /><br />These Ten Commandments are the simplest and most comprehensive testimony that God could give to mankind so that they would understand what He wants from them and what they can do for His children. For those who follow these laws blessing and life are promised and for those who disobey any of these laws, then chaos and death were sure <br />to follow. Like Colonel Quartich’s Pandoran rules, so we can listen and learn from truths of God as revealed in His law. If we follow them we will live and if we choose not to follow them we will die.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-37339052934438432012010-06-29T23:09:00.000-07:002010-06-29T23:10:09.254-07:00Avatar and the Mark of the BeastIn the movie Avatar Colonel Quaritch is the character considered to be the villain in the story. The Colonel was a very decisive individual and had a clear vision of what he needed to do. He had been given his marching orders by Parker Selfridge and he was ready to do all to accomplish his task including sacrifice any thing that was in his way. <br /><br />Colonel Quaritch had many admirable traits. He was clean, neat, kept himself in good shape. He was a stickler for detail and discipline and he would not hesitate to do the very things he was asking his soldiers to do. He had a vision, he was willing to pay the price, and he did not suffer fools lightly. He stated that “I take care of my own” to Jake and followed through with getting the corporation to ok the surgery necessary for Jake to get his legs restored. The Colonel was a man of his word and he had the fortitude and determination to make his word a powerful issue. The Colonel understood military issues and he was willing to get the information necessary to plan an attack and he was willing to implement the plan.<br /><br />Colonel Quaritch also had a few unusual qualities about him. Apparently when he first arrived on Pandora he was attacked by a beast and the beast left a threefold scar on his head, and apparently on his heart as well. As a result of this encounter Colonel Quaritch had the opportunity to go back to Earth and have cosmetic surgery but he chose to stay on Pandora and kind of liked the marks on his head. He appeared to see his threefold scar as a testimony of his character and he approved of his character.<br /><br />Another interesting, and symbolic, quality of Colonel Quaritch is that he employed the name of “Papa Dragon” when in combat. Not only did he use the name but his calm, cool, condescending behavior toward the Na’vi while in combat “And that is how you scatter the roaches”, signified that he was used to killing and saw it as a necessary evil especially to peoples that he did not respect nor like. Colonel Quaritch was a very powerful man and he used his power in a manner that fulfilled his visions of life.<br /><br />Since we have been looking at the symbolism in the movie Avatar it appears that Colonel Quaritch has many symbolic applications. One of the symbols is that of the mark of the beast. Revelation 13-15 has multiple comments about the concept of a mark of the beast. This is some kind of symbolic quality that shows that an individual has joined the ranks of the people devoted to the great red dragon of Revelation 12 who gives his power, seat, and authority to a beast that comes up out of the sea in Revelation 13. This sea beast then enter into a relationship with a land beast in Revelation 12 who creates an image to the sea beast and then demands that everyone worship the beast that came up out of the sea. Revelation 14-15 then describes a group of people who refuse to worship the beast and instead they choose to worship God only. This contrast between the two groups of worshippers is differentiated by the symbol of the mark of the beast in their foreheads or hands versus the name of the Father in heaven written in their foreheads. <br /><br />In the movie Avatar, Colonel Quaritch has the threefold scar on his head/forehead, and he also carries a special name “Papa Dragon”. Those who follow him have a spirit of cooperation with him, even if they do not think identically to him. So they have the spirit of the Papa Dragon even if they do not have the threefold symbol on their heads. <br /><br />The opposing group, Jake Sulley and company as well as the Na’vi, have different markings including that of war-paint. The spirit and goals of the two groups have markedly different goals and different ways of going about accomplishing their goals. Colonel Quaritch wants more military might, and Jake Sulley is willing to submit to a spiritual path and seeks help from Eywa, the goddess of Pandora.<br /><br />In the Bible the same issue is presented, two different groups with two different philosophies of how to accomplish their goals in life. The one group attached to the dragon and the beast is open to forcing people to agree and obey – worship, and if necessary they will kill to accomplish their goals. The other group, attached to the Heavenly Father, focus on following the Lamb of God – Jesus. They do not want to be involved with issues of force, but they clearly want to worship God and not the beast. The contrasts between the two groups is one of the major principles in the Bible and the primary focus on the issues of the last events in the history of Earth before the Second Coming of Christ occurs. <br /><br />So one of the goals of the Bible is to determine what this mark issue is how to get the right one and avoid the wrong one. In Revelation 13 the central around which the mark of the beast occurs is that of worship. Worship is basically defined as understanding and respecting a powerful figure, or source, and then submitting to and obeying that figure or source. So to obey the commands of a powerful figure is a form of worship, especially if one loves and respects the powerful figure. <br /><br />In the Bible the focus of worship is to obey the commands of God. God gave us a number of commands and humanity has played out its struggles regarding whether they want to obey God or not. All through the history of the planet Earth this struggle has been revealed in life. We have seen the results of evil that has been displayed in mankind. Most of the time humanity has been determined to rebel against such commands from God as “Thou shalt not kill” or “Thou shalt not steal” or “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. We all readily identify that it would be good to obey these three commands and if we did obey them much misery and suffering would be removed from the lives of people. <br /><br />But as we all know there are ten of these commandments, not just three. Most of us can figure out, and agree with the benefits of the last 6 commandments regarding how we should treat one another. Whether we do them or not we can at least philosophically agree that the last six of the Ten Commandments would be good if implemented. <br /><br />The part we seem to get into difficulty with is the first four commandments. These commandments are focused on the worship of God. In commandments one He commands that we do not obey any other powerful person out there that would attempt to counter one of His commandments. <br /><br />The second commandment is not to make images of God and then worship those images. God does not want this because any image of God will not properly reflect the grandeur and magnitude of God and thus lessens our appreciation of how great He is. Any lessening of the wonderful qualities of God reduces Him in our minds and lessens our respect and adoration of His qualities. Many people state that God will understand that their heart is right and that they want to use images as a vehicle to keep their minds focused on Him. So they want to disobey Him and then want Him to accept their obedience as worship of Him. But God says that He wants their worship because they respect Him enough to obey Him out of love.<br /><br />The third commandment is to not take His name in vain. Most of the time we think of this commandment as an issue of not swearing by using His name, but this is a bit shallow. While this concept is true the larger meaning is that we are not to falsely claim to be a follower of His when we won’t live in harmony with His commands. If we don’t live like a follower of God, but live like a follower of the dragon then we are violating this commandment. God wants us to live in harmony with Him and obey Him because we have had enough experience to know that His ways are better than the ways of the dragon. <br /><br />God’s fourth commandment is the most interesting of them all. It is interesting because human logic and reason do not compute with this commandment. We have difficulty understanding a commandment based on arbitrary time. Often times we violate the 1st commandment by obeying our own thoughts rather than obeying God’s thoughts thus we place our own thinking higher than God’s thinking and we end up creating a god out of ourselves. <br /><br />But the fourth commandment, the Sabbath commandment, is viewed by God as a “sign” or mark of our surrender to His ways of thinking. In Exodus 31:12-17 God views His Sabbath as a sign that God sets us apart for His personal use. This sign/mark is a statement that we will serve God and no other. This sign is also a mark that we think that God is the original creator of the world and the universe, including any potential planets like Pandora that might be out there. This sign has a visible quality to it that God arbitrarily assigned. He wants us to worship Him on the 7th day of the week or Saturday. It is interesting that in our culture almost everyone knows that Sunday is the 1st day of the week but they have difficulty determining what day of the week the 7th day is. <br /><br />It is interesting to note that most of us think that any day of the week will do as far as God is concerned. However, when He personally expresses the idea that He wants us to worship Him on the 7th day of the week, in addition to our daily worship on every other day, we find that a bit demanding. We ask who does He think He is to command us to do something that we can not figure out in our own minds. God, of course, wants us to think of Him as God, higher than even ourselves, and He wants us to think of Him as our Creator and thus deserving of our respect and honor. <br /><br />To clarify this point of worship God has given us many stories in the Bible to testify of how He thinks about the Sabbath and of whether it is important to Him or not. We find in the Creation story that God created the Sabbath while making the first week of Earth. He wanted His children to join Him in celebrating the completion of His works of Creation. Genesis 1:1-2:3; Hebrews 4:1-11; Exodus 31:12-17. By the book of Exodus we see that mankind has already forgotten this concept and God has to restore the concept to His people who will be priests and teachers to the world in Exodus 5:5. He refreshes their minds again when He gave the manna and gave them manna each day for 5 days, doubled the gift on the 6th day of the week – Friday, and then gave them no manna on His Sabbath, so they would have time to spend with Him on His 7th day. Then He pronounced His will to His people at Mount Sinai and proclaimed His law, and His Sabbath day, as a sign of obedience to Him.<br /><br />In Jeremiah 17 God told Israel that if they insisted upon rejecting His Sabbath He would allow people to come to Israel and burn their cities down. This eventually happened because the people refused to worship and obey God and refused His protection from the powerful nations around them. I Chronicles 36. When God brought them back to Israel, after 70 years of captivity, God reminded them again of their need to refrain from disobeying Him and keeping all of His laws including the Sabbath day. Nehemiah 13. <br /><br />But Israel had a difficult time with all of these commandments and by the time that the Law Giver Himself, came to earth in the form of a man, Israel had so altered the Sabbath commandment, with all of the other commandments, that they were offended when Jesus lived out His commandments on Earth. Jesus, Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, showed Israel, and thus all of the rest of the world, how Sabbath was to be kept in Matthew 12 and John 5 and 9. The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus’ testimony and chose to reject His Sabbath and thus His special sign and mark. By the time that Jesus had completed His mission they were ready and willing to kill Jesus, reject His authority and choose Rome as their king and thus they chose Rome’s mark as well. <br /><br />After the time of Jesus the disciples kept all of His teachings and continue to live out all of the laws of God by faith in Him and His power through the Holy Spirit. They observed their surrender to Him by keeping His laws and displaying the sign of surrender to Him by obeying His Sabbath commandment. See Acts 13. By the time of Paul God was warning that people inside of the very church of God would seek to turn His people away from Him. Acts 20:27-31. <br /><br />In a few hundred years there were two churches struggling to reveal the commandments of God. Both of them claimed to be in harmony with God and both of them claimed to be worshipping God by obeying His commandments. For 1260 years this contest went on and the only way to tell the difference between the two was by their obedience to the commandments of God and the presence of the spirit of the dragon or of the spirit of the Lamb. One group attempted to keep all of the commandments of God, including the Sabbath, while the other group new and improved God’s laws by substituting laws of their own making, including changing the Sabbath from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day of the week. This will be the identifying mark and test in the end as well. <br /><br />God has said that the great issue in the Revelation 13 will be worship. One group will claim to be worshipping God, while changing His laws, and the other group will be claiming to worship God while maintaining and obeying the revealed laws of God. Colonel Quaritch revealed His character by how he treated those weaker than himself. He also had the three scars to testify of his toughness. Revelation 14 states that God’s followers will have the three angel’s messages to testify to their relationship with Him, and that they will keep God’s laws by faith in Jesus. <br /><br />God will have a group of people who will follow Him to death if necessary. The Dragon, and the beast, will have a group of followers that will do the same. We know how Colonel Quaritch ended up. God states that His curse (Revelation 14:9-11) will be upon those who refuse to worship Him for they will have no protection from the deceptive miracles of power that the beast will do. Revelation 13:12-16. Just as the battle between the Colonel and Jake became inevitable so this last battle will happen on this Earth, and each one of us will have to take a decided stand. We know it will happen because of the ability of God to know the future. I hope all of us can learn from the experience of the Colonel and not be on his side. Choosing the side of the Colonel will lead us to acting like him and thinking like him. God would like us on His side but to do that we must decide to worship Him and obey Him. We get to decide which mark we will have.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-69454436627439226612010-06-12T08:26:00.000-07:002010-06-12T08:27:49.988-07:00Why Does James Cameron Use Bible Symbols In Avatar?During the discussions of various subjects of the movie Avatar it has been my assertion that James Cameron used Bible symbols in this movie. I have attempted to show these connections in a variety of ways. It will, of course, be up to each reader as to whether my assertions are correct or merely my assumptions and the apparent connections are merely happenstance. But a reasonable question does occur and that is why would Mr. Cameron use Bible symbols in a secular movie? I think that is a reasonable question and I would like to briefly address this concept.<br /><br />It is my believe that Mr. Cameron wants his movies to be successful in conveying his thoughts, for his ideas and beliefs to have the most powerful impact possible, and to have commercial success for himself and for his investors. In order to accomplish these ideas Mr. Cameron would have to use ideas, methods, symbols that have a positive effect on the audience he is aiming at, and that audience is humanity, worldwide humanity. Mr. Cameron has been in the business of selling ideas long enough to know that one can have an idea but if only a few people see it or hear it there is not much impact. He has refined his craft to the point that he knows what sells, how it sells, and to whom it sells. So Mr. Cameron has been willing to study the most effective ways of communicating his ideas and has settled on movies. Movies are powerful tools because of the truism “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Mr. Cameron also knows that the picture is better if it can communicate a thought in the context of a story that moves the audience to a response, and the response that Mr. Cameron is looking for is repeated viewing of his movie, an open mind and heart to the message, and a willingness to share this thought with others. To accomplish this, the movie, and the message, must contain thoughts that will accomplish these tasks. To accomplish these tasks, on a worldwide basis Mr. Cameron must get to points that every human being can respond to. The best place to look for such things is again to the Bible.<br /><br />The reason the Bible is so powerful is that God wrote it. Since God created mankind one must assume that God knows human beings pretty well. He knows what makes them tick and He knows the things that block thinking, feelings, and decision making and He knows what opens the hearts and minds. God knows how to make people decide and He knows the boundaries of fairness and freedom to choose. God has a perfect understanding of self-control, and He has the requisite understanding of the time necessary to accomplish any undertaking that He decides to do when interacting with mankind. God also has an understanding of sin and of how sin blocks all of the above issues. <br /><br />With these thoughts in mind let us discuss briefly Mr. Cameron’s goals. We have stated a brief list above of some of the reasons that Mr. Cameron wants his movies to be commercial successes. In order to accomplish His task Mr. Cameron has been willing to study the methodologies that successful sales people have used to accomplish their goals. The greatest sales person is God. <br /><br />In God’s sales program He is trying to sell us the idea that we have a problem – sin. He wants to sell us on the idea that this sin problem has been problematic for 6000 years on Earth plus the time in heaven when Lucifer fell. He wants us to understand that this problem has a time limit and will self destruct. In addition He wants us to know that there is an implacable enemy that is encouraging us to self-destruct in a thousand ways. He wants us to know that this enemy started his career in heaven as the closest created being to God in the entire universe. God wants us to know that this being – now called Satan – will use every positive thing that God has initiated and twist it enough to cause death and destruction to mankind, and in principle, to any other living organism in the universe. To communicate these ideas God has used creation, mankind, angels, and the Bible. Each of these entities has a special role in communicating the above ideas, while maintaining freedom to choose to respond to His messages. God knows that these messages are difficult to understand because of the effect of sin on our nervous systems, our bodies, and our awareness of data. God also knows that unless He helps, through the power of His Holy Spirit we can not get certain information, nor make certain decisions without His help. This entire process is called the Plan of Salvation. <br /><br />As James Cameron has studied out God’s plans, and methodologies, he has seen that God wants to affect us at the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels. God has chosen to reveal His truths to mankind at a story level for this level allows us to receive His messages at all three levels at the same time. Mr. Cameron is also aware that God has left certain prime directives in each heart and mind. One of those prime directives is the need to worship. Every human being worships something on a regular basis. This worship can be as simple as following the steps of a movie star and trying to replicate that person’s power, persona, and appearance in our own lives, or it can be a destructive worship of trying to copy the lifestyle of a favorite criminal or gang members. But however the worship is done Mr. Cameron recognizes that worship is a principle that all people respond to. Thus in the movie Avatar Mr. Cameron has placed on display a variety of worship scenarios. One of the worship issues is the veneration that the Na’vi has for Eywa. They also show the worship that Parker Selfridge has for money, and of course the worship that Colonel Quaritch has for power. Mr. Cameron knows that the audience can respond to these forms of worship for they are universal in all human beings. <br /><br />One of the interesting things about Mr. Cameron is that he also has an awareness that there are other prime directives in the hearts and minds of people. In Avatar he has displayed his awareness that people have an innate calling to return to their Edenic home and he has created a little sample of what the Garden of Eden may have looked like by his rendition of the planet Pandora. Many viewers have gone into a state of depression in their longing to return to Eden but do not know how. <br /><br />In addition Mr. Cameron is aware that to get back to the Garden of Eden God has laid out a process. He reveals this process in the changes in the life of Jake Sulley. As Jake goes through his various stages of change, the audience recognizes these steps and they are hoping that he makes it for they also are aware that they have a similar process to go through. Thus the audience can identify with Jake and they encourage him to be successful in his endeavors. All people like a success story that they can see is similar to their walk in life.<br /><br />A final concept Mr. Cameron uses is the idea of victory over evil. He has displayed in Avatar the greed and avarice of mankind. All people recognize these traits in others, as well as themselves. Most everyone can recognize sin at this level and are happy when the little guy, in this case Jake Sulley and the Na’vi, wins a victory over these sins. The audience can relate to these concepts and they enjoy the vicarious victory over the villains.<br /><br />A tragedy in the movie, that is not addressed, is the idea of how each person in the audience will have victory in their lives over the villains that they have addressed. Mr. Cameron does not show how this is to be accomplished for the audience in real time. Mr. Cameron recognizes that not everyone in the audience is a hero type like Jake Sulley. The audience recognizes this as well. The audience wishes that there was a real hero that could help them in their walks of life that could deliver them from external villains as well as internal villains. This hero is not revealed in Avatar because Mr. Cameron is also aware that if he reveals That Hero he might lose the majority of his audience because That Hero is willing to tell the whole story and will openly and freely communicate to the audience what they need to do in order to be saved and to have all the things that they want in reference to returning to their Eden home. That Hero, by the way, is Jesus Christ of Nazareth – the True Avatar – The very Creator of the Universe who came to Earth, in human form, to communicate with His estranged people. <br /><br />I will be asking Mr. Cameron, in a future article, to communicate these issues in a more comprehensive manner to his audience. But for now I just want to conclude this article by stating that Mr. Cameron has used the principles that God had granted to us in a marvelous manner. Mr. Cameron has studied the communication patterns that God has left us and has incorporated them in many of his movies, and especially in the movie Avatar. If Avatar turns out to be a trilogy, we will see these principles on display again. We have benefited by the efforts of Mr. Cameron but we also can study out these principles directly by studying the Bible ourselves. If we truly would like to go to Eden we can get there. God has given us the plan. He has revealed the principles to us. We can learn them just as Mr. Cameron has learned them. We personally can live out the Jake Sulley story in real time and have real time results. The symbols revealed in the Bible and in the movie Avatar, can be lived out and experienced in this real life, not just in a movie theatre. Make the decision today. Ask God, the One greater than Eywa, to come to you and to teach you the symbols that He has given to us. Ask Him to teach you, and to help you to participate in the plan of salvation. Tell Him of your desire to go to the Eden Home promised to us in Revelation 21-22. Allow the symbols to become reality for you.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-57802694031121594812010-06-10T00:40:00.000-07:002010-06-10T00:42:32.457-07:00Avatar and the Warrior PrincessOne of the central themes of Avatar is the feminization of the Pandoran Government and Religion. Mo’at is the spiritual leader of the Omaticaya Clan, Eywa is the feminine goddess of the planet and the Neytiri is the warrior princess of the clan. Eytukan is the leader of the clan as long as he maintains the blessing of Mo’at. Tsu’tey is also a leader into battle, or the hunt, but is not the leader when it comes to spiritual things which is the basis of leadership in the Na’vi system. Thus the male is the figure head ruler of the clan but the female is the true leader in this culture. But in this article I want to focus primarily on Neytiri and the role as a leader in the clan.<br /><br />Neytiri was to be the successor to Mo’at as the spiritual leader of the clan and the interpreter of the will of Eywa for various activities that the clan participated in. Neytiri was responsive to the will of Eywa in not killing Jake in the beginning of the movie and of being willing to take him to the home tree. This would indicate that Neytiri was very sensitive to the spiritual issues of her clan and her willingness to suppress her desires for the good of the clan and to accomplish the will of Eywa. In addition Neytiri was a warrior princess and when necessary she was able and willing to use physical force to take care of a problem. Neytiri was going to shoot Jake when the seed of the holy tree rested upon her arrow and she was willing to not kill to be obedient to the will of Eywa. She delivered Jake from the animals attacking him. She recognized that a special message was being communicated about Jake when all of the seeds landed upon him. She was willing to disobey her father’s command to not bring any Avatar to the clan’s home, and she was willing to save Jake from Tsu’tey’s attack. Neytiri was a warrior and a servant to her goddess, she was a warrior princess.<br /><br />As we have discussed before James Cameron appears to have used the Bible as his original source of symbolic issues. The warrior princess symbol is also expressed in the Bible. This concept is first expressed in Genesis 3:15 where God says that He will put enmity between the woman and the serpent and between her seed and the serpent’s seed. This text gives us some clue to the conflict between the great serpent Satan, and the woman – mother Eve. <br /><br />The next literal example of a warrior princess is that of Jael in Judges 4-5. God has allowed Israel to be subservient to Jabin king of the Canaanites because of the sins conducted in Israel. God has raised up a judge and a prophetess by the name of Deborah. She alerts a man by the name of Barak that God has called him to deliver Israel and he will get the glory of defeating the general of the Canaanite army. But Barak states he will not fight this battle unless Deborah goes with him to the battle. Deborah agrees to go with Barak in Judges 4:8-9. Deborah also prophesies that if she goes with Barak, Barak will not get the glory of defeating the opposing general Sisera but that the glory will go to a woman who will kill the general. Barak is willing to not receive the glory to be sure that he wins the battle. So in fulfillment of the prophecy Sisera, the Canaanite general flees from Barak because the Lord had delivered his armies into the hands of Barak. When Sisera flees providence directs him to the home of Heber the Kenite because there had been peace between Sisera’s king and the house of Heber. When Sisera arrives he meets Jael Heber’s wife and asks for sanctuary. She offers to give him something to drink and to hide him n the tent and if any man comes looking for Sisera Jael was to tell them that she had not seen anyone. After lying down to rest Sisera falls asleep and while he is sleeping Jael kills him by hammering a tent stake through his temples. She thus has the honor of killing the opposing general in the time of Israel’s great tribulation. <br /><br />The next part of the symbolism of the warrior princess is spoken of in Romans 16:20 “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly…” This text states that God will subdue Satan through the efforts of His church. In Bible symbolism a woman always represents a church. A good woman represents the church of God, and an evil woman the church of Satan. See II Corinthians 11:2; Jeremiah 6:2; Revelation 12; and Revelation 17. God says that He will use His church to win His great war against Satan and even refers to His church as His battle horse. “…for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.” Zechariah 10:3<br /><br />So in the Bible God’s church, symbolized by a woman, is described as a warrior princess, a suitable bride for Jesus. Jesus as the Warrior king, has a bride who is able to fight as well. Thus just as Jake and Neytiri are suitable for each other on several planes, so God and His church are united as husband and wife, and are a warrior couple as well.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-67981436566639167622010-06-07T15:24:00.001-07:002010-06-07T15:24:41.320-07:00Avatar’s TsahikIn the movie Avatar one of the main characters is Moat, Neytiri’s mother. Moat is the Tsahik of the Omaticaya Clan. Moat, as the Tsahik was to monitor and facilitate the will of Eywa – the goddess of Pandora. <br /><br />Moat is introduced in the movie when Neytiri, in response to the “signs” given by the clustering of the seeds from the holy tree on Jake, brings Jake Sulley in his avatar to the clan home. Moat comes out to investigate hears from Neytiri, the next Tsahik, that Eywa has spoken of and approved of Jake. She conducts a judgment by taking a sample of Jake’s blood to analyze it and to see if there is any treachery being conducted by Jake, and his fellow humans. Not much detail is given as to how and what Moat was judging but the end product was that Jake was granted trainee status and was allowed to become a part of the clan if he could pass the training that Neytiri was commanded to grant him. <br /><br />Moat is also presented as the one with enough spiritual common sense to release Jake after he is taken a prisoner for confessing to be a spy for the Earthlings. Moat also supervises, and facilitates the attempts to heal Dr. Augustine by transferring her consciousness to her avatar, and conducts the successful transferring of Jake’s consciousness to his avatar, on a permanent basis.<br /><br />Moat seems to be the High Priestess of the religious activities for her tribe and the spokesperson for Eywa. All religious activities are led by her, and all activities are sanctioned by her as god’s representative. Moat is the spiritual leader of the tribe and even the tribe leader would submit to her decisions since she is the spokesperson for God.<br /><br />In the Bible women play many roles but none are as forceful as that of Moat. The story of Deborah in Judges 4 probably comes closest to the role of Tsahik. The Bible clearly states that Deborah is a prophetess – a female prophet. She also plays the role of a judge, the final arbiter of legal issues in the nation. She can claim to be the spokesperson for God for that is the role of a prophet, and the Bible states that several women were prophets. But one thing Deborah is not recorded as doing. She does not go into the temple to offer any kind of sacrifices to God. This role seems to be an exclusively male role in the Bible. But the role of spokesperson for the will of God, as a prophetess, seems to be an event that is used frequently. <br /><br />Two other examples of people being prophetesses would be that of Hulda in II Chronicles 34:19-28. She receives the message from the king of Judah and communicates the will of God to the king. Miriam, Moses’ sister, was also a prophetess and led out in various spiritual activities. Exodus 15:20-21. In the New Testament one of the disciples had daughters who prophesied. <br /><br />So there are similarities in the Christian religion to the role Moat displayed. God’s ideal was for a man to be the spiritual leader of His people. God wanted Adam to perform this function in the beginning and to have the first born son to be that spiritual leader after Adam. In the time of the Exodus God expanded this role and gave it to the High Priest. <br /><br />After Israel came to the land of Canaan the role of spiritual leader was altered in an unusual way. The people did not want God to be their spiritual leader, or their king, and they pleaded with God to give them a king just like all of the other nations. They wanted someone that they could physically see and hear and they wanted someone to watch over them in a standard way. In this story God allowed them a king, and the king God chose was King Saul. King Saul fulfilled all of the issues that the people wanted – he was tall, handsome, powerful, big, and had some leadership qualities. But his heart did not stay right with God and he led Israel away from God. God countered King Saul with a King of His own choosing and raised up King David – a leader, and a prophet. <br /><br />God’s goal was to have a spiritual leader, a prophet, and a priest all mixed into one person. Eventually that Person came and He was Jesus the Son of God. Jesus was the Tsahik, as well as the Toruk Makto, as well as the Clan leader. All of the spiritual issues in the Bible were to lead our minds to the One who fulfilled all of concepts of the Bible. Jesus fulfilled every spiritual model in the Bible. He was not only was king, prophet, priest, and man; Jesus was God in the flesh – the true Avatar. <br /><br />So in conclusion, Moat gives us some ideas of what God is like in her role as Tsahik. But God wanted a larger picture to be presented. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the son of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth was the true Tsahik.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-75622393926375972002010-05-19T21:17:00.000-07:002010-05-19T21:19:44.525-07:00Avatar- "I can See"One of the constant metaphorical themes in the movie Avatar is the saying “I can see you”. This is a statement often used in the Na’vi clans as a statement of recognition when greeting each other. Norm, Jake Sully’s Avatar driver co-worker, spent a great deal of time trying to get Jake to see that this statement is not only a greeting but it is a statement of spiritual awareness and emotional sensitivity, toward the person you are “seeing”. “I can see you” is one of those all purpose, multi-level greetings that go as deep as the relationship of the people will allow it to go.<br /><br />This statement is also a Bible concept. God uses this phrase, this concept, in many different ways as well. God states that when people are in a state of rebellion they cannot “see”, or hear, or understand spiritual things. This statement is made when the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him why it is that He speaks in parables. They are questioning why He does not just come out and say certain things to people? Jesus answers in the following way:<br /><br />“Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Matthew 13:13-15<br /><br />Jesus, Himself, says that people, who are religious, conservative, state that they want to know the will of God, but they cannot and will not see spiritual things that disagree with their preconceived ideas. Therefore, God Himself has to use special teaching methods to communicate ideas to them in a way that hopefully their preconceptions will not interfere with the truths that need to be heard and then they will turn away from truth before faithfully and honestly evaluating the thought. <br /><br />God also says that people, in a non-converted state cannot process spiritual thoughts. He says the following:<br /><br />“Which things also we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, but which <br />the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Corinthians 2:13-14<br /><br />God teaches that when a person is spiritual, having had a conversion experience from a personal relationship with God, then they can hear spiritual truth and then respond logically and reasonably for they have a spiritual understanding of truth. But without this spiritual understanding then spiritual things sound just plain old <br />foolish. So, for example, Colonel Quaritch could hear the statement “I can see you” and he would evaluate it from the purest form of logic. Yes I can see you physically, or yes my satellites say you are there, but if it came to seeing a spiritual quality, Colonel Quaritch would “see” this as soft and unimportant and thus block off an avenue of awareness that could be helpful.<br /><br />Probably God’s ultimate statement on the issue of “I can see you” is recorded in the Love Chapter of the Bible in I Corinthians 13. In this chapter God says the following:<br /><br />“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” I Corinthians 13:9-12 <br /><br />God says that when we are in a state of spiritual love – fully in harmony with the mind of God – then we will see things and hear things and will understand many of the things around us. <br /><br />These concepts especially apply to the movie Avatar. I have talked to many people about the spiritual symbols in the movie. The people look at me blankly and say “I didn’t see any spiritual symbols in the movie.” I am totally impressed with that statement because they didn’t see anything, they saw a movie about blue people on another planet and they saw it as a movie of entertainment. They did not see the spiritual principles. They did not see the potential for truth or error, they just saw a movie. <br /><br />On the bright side of the picture, when I shared with them some of the observations I had on the movie, a little light began to dawn on them. They said “Really, I didn’t see any of that by myself, but now that you mention it, there could be some ideas like that. I think I will look at it again and maybe I will see something.” This is one of the major principles of the Bible, one shares thoughts with another and then if they are willing they may go back and look again. Then they may be able to share with God “I can see you.” If that happens to even one person, it will be well worth all of the time of writing to allow someone else to see God, and His truth, in a movie like Avatar.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-76053810340007426902010-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:002010-05-18T12:48:38.698-07:00Avatar and the Providences of GodProvidence is one of those concepts that people use to try to figure out the mysterious workings of God. We can not process the idea that God can organize events in such a manner to have the right person at the right place at the right time to accomplish a wonderful event. Avatar is a story of such a series of events. The hero of the movie – Jake Sulley – is at the center of a series of extraordinary/supernatural events and this series of events is the story of the movie Avatar.<br /><br />The series of events goes something like this:<br /><br />Jake is wounded in combat and loses his ability to walk on his own.<br /><br />Jake does not have sufficient funds to get the required surgery so he is more open to a set of new events should they come.<br /><br />Jake’s identical twin brother goes through extensive training to be an Avatar driver and the mining corporation invests significant funds to train and to prepare an Avatar for Jakes’ brother.<br /><br />Jake’s brother is shot just a few days before leaving for the 6 years flight to Pandora.<br /><br />The Mining Corporation offers Jake the opportunity to go to Pandora to save their investment because he has the DNA requisite to use the Avatar and save the corporation all kinds of money.<br /><br />Jake is open to going to Pandora because he is totally dissatisfied with life on Earth. He is willing to do something new.<br /><br />Jake is assigned to Dr. Augustine’s program and has the opportunity to experience being able to walk and perform in a different setting than he has ever done before. <br /><br />Jake is attacked by the largest land carnivore on Pandora and survives.<br /><br />Jake’s survival exposes him to the denizens of Pandora and he needs help.<br /><br />Neytiri finds Jake and is about to kill him when Eywa expresses her wishes to save him by sending the seed to descend upon Neytiri’s arrow.<br /><br />Neytiri delivers Jake from the wolves.<br /><br />Jake sees Neytiri as a Savior and does not want her to leave him alone in the jungle lest he die by some other creature.<br /><br />While discussing issues with Neytiri, Eywa again expresses her wishes to Neytiri by sending a number of seeds to communicate the idea that Jake has been called by her to accomplish a task of importance to Eywa.<br /><br />Jake is taken to the village of the Omaticaya clan and after assessment, identification as someone who does not know it all, and identification as a warrior, Jake is allowed to train and the trainer is Neytiri the princess and potential love interest.<br /><br />Jake is accepted by Colonel Quaritch, Dr. Alexander, and Mr. Selfridge to go through the training process, and a time limit of 90 days is established. This puts pressure on all parties to move expeditiously. No time for fearful decisions, action is imperative.<br /><br />Jake gets so involved in the training, and in his new body, and his new relationships, that it is difficult for him to remember who he is. He can not remember what his old life was like especially in comparison with his “new” life. Change is occurring.<br /><br />Jake is learning and he likes what he is learning and when he is able to “see” life like a Na’vi would, Neytiri passes judgment upon Jake and declares him ready to take the final steps in becoming a man, a member of the tribe of the Omaticaya, and one eligible to become a mate and husband, and lover, to be fulfilled as a person.<br /><br />Jake accomplishes all of his tasks and is accepted as a full member of the tribe, and takes Neytiri as his wife. <br /><br />Jake is now confronted with the rapaciousness of the Mining Corporation when they bulldoze the holy tree on the morning of his marriage. He acts and is recorded as a rebel against the Corporation and against humanity.<br /><br />Jake is rejected by the Corporation and by the Omaticaya as a betrayer of both clans.<br /><br />The Home Tree is destroyed and his relationships are challenged at all levels.<br /><br />Jake is delivered by his friends and is able to get back to his Avatar.<br /><br />Jake recognizes that he must do something extraordinary and he chooses to become Toruk Makto and flies into the camp of the Omaticaya on the back of the largest flying predator on Pandora.<br /><br />Jake is accepted as the leader of the resistance and all of the clan leaders are willing to follow him into battle.<br /><br />Jake recognizes that he needs special help and he is willing to ask Eywa for help.<br /><br />Jake survives the battle and delivers the Na’vi from the Earthlings. <br /><br />Finally Jake is willing to abandon his Earthling form to be forever identified as a Na’vi warrior.<br /><br />Now that is a lot of events and circumstances and providential movings in the life of one man. It thus brings us to an interesting question. That question is whether Eywa is the goddess of Pandora only or the Goddess of the universe. If she is the Goddess of the universe then she would be able to foresee the needs of Pandora as well as the needs of Earth, and of every other planet in the universe. Whoever the God is that Eywa is modeled after is either the real God or not to be able to control all the variables in the story of Jake Sulley.<br /><br />Now all who have seen the movie Avatar, are satisfied that Jake, Neytiri, and Eywa are fictitious characters and are not real. But as we have discussed earlier, James Cameron came up with all of these spiritual ideas and he came up with them strictly from his imagination, or he got them from somewhere else. It has been the primes of the blog – Avatar’s Garden of Pandora – that Mr. Cameron got all of his true ideas directly from the Bible, including the greatest Avatar of all – Jesus Christ. The reason that the movie Avatar so resonates with people is that it tells the story of Jesus Christ symbolically. All of the issues of the movie Avatar are symbolic and are told in a fictitious story. The Bible tells the same intergalactic story but tells the truth about the real story of the great struggle and tells about the real experiences of people working with God and tells the real story of God Himself. In the rest of this article I will tell the story of Jesus in the same abbreviated way that I told the story about Jake Sulley. For the fuller, more complete version I would recommend reading the Bible for yourself.<br /><br />Chronologically the story of Jesus starts in the book of Colossians 1. Before there was a universe the Bible tells us that God existed alone. God consisted of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Remember that God is infinitely more complex than can be described in words but we will do the best we can to tell an infinite story in finite terms.<br /><br />God decided to create the universe and created all of the planets, galaxies, and all of the principles and powers involved in this creation. Colossians 1:12-17<br /><br />Among the things created was heaven and angels. <br /><br />In the process of time, the greatest created angel – Lucifer, chose to rebel against the revealed will of God and brought chaos and dissension into heaven.<br /><br />After working with Lucifer, and those who chose to follow Lucifer, to try to bring them to a point of repentance and reconciliation. When this did not work out there was war in heaven and Lucifer was cast out of heaven but not destroyed.<br /><br />Earth was then created and mankind was created on Earth to live out their lives and reveal the perfect will of God.<br /><br />Lucifer, now called Satan, – the Adversary – seduced Adam and Eve, and they chose to listen to Satan rather than to God. This started the sin problem on Earth.<br /><br />To give Adam and Eve another chance, and to fulfill their plans on Earth, God chose to reveal what is called the Plan of Salvation, of how God Himself would come to Earth as a man and redeem mankind, destroy Satan, and reveal His glory to all of the universe, so that none would ever choose to follow Satan or his ideas ever again.<br /><br />God informed Adam and Eve that God would come as a man, through the lineage of the church and through the people. <br /><br />All Bible history is a record of the lineage of the church people, the chaos and confusion of their lives, and yet there is a constant thread of how God watches over His people, and providentially continues to guide His true believers through the difficulties of a life of sin on this planet. <br /><br />All through this Bible history God gives little revelations of the fact that He is still here, He is guiding, and He is controlling events even in the context of freedom of choice to obey or rebel. These revelations are prophecies to show that God can see the future, long before it happens, and is able to guide and control without infringing on our freedom to surrender and obey, or to rebel. <br /><br />God promises that he will come as a man, and that he will come through the line of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah. This lineage is more clearly identified in the time of Abraham and a promise is made that of the seed of Abraham all the nations of the Earth will be blessed. Genesis 15:1-6.<br /><br />God again promises to come and more specifically He will come through the lineage of Judah. In fact Messiah will come by the time there is no longer a descendent of Judah sitting on the throne of Israel. Genesis 49:8-10<br /><br />God preserves Israel through all kinds of difficulty but still His hand guides and keeps that His prophecies will unfold.<br /><br />In Micah 5:2 God tells the city where Messiah will be born in.<br /><br />In Isaiah 53 God tells what the mission of Messiah will look like.<br /><br />In Psalms 22 God gives great details of how Messiah will die.<br /><br />In Daniel 8-9 God tells the time of when Messiah will show up and various details of His life. Daniel says that Messiah will be born around 4 BC, anointed in 27 AD, and crucified in 31 AD. <br /><br />Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell the story of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth – the Messiah of the Bible. <br /><br />Jesus, the Creator of Earth, comes to Earth as an Avatar in that He takes on the form of a man and to mankind is indistinguishable from any other man by appearance alone. But when one talked with Him and watched Him any honest open hearted person could tell that there was a significant difference between Jesus and any other man. Those who recognized this difference followed Him and became His disciples. <br /><br />Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies of the Bible to show that He was the fulfillment of the utterances that He Himself had given all through Earth history.<br /><br />Jesus then chose to gather all of the collected guilt of mankind, past, present, and future, and took it all upon Himself and was punished for all of mankind, and then crucified to fulfill all Scripture to reveal that sin brought death.<br /><br />Jesus then resurrected Himself to show that He had power over death for Himself and all who believe in Him.<br /><br />Bible prophecy states that from the resurrection of Jesus to His second coming there would be great warfare between His followers and the followers of Satan. God prophesied that there would be a people that He would reveal Himself through so that any who wanted to could follow Him by faith. God reveals all of these things in the Bible.<br /><br />God tells all of the major issues that would confront His people and warned them that life would not be easy, but that through His power all could overcome anything Satan would throw at them. <br /><br />Jesus tells us that when all is accomplished He will come a second time to gather His righteous ones, including those who have died all through history. <br /><br />When Jesus gathers His people He will take them to heaven and then after 1000 years He will return to Earth and resurrect the wicked. He will judge the wicked, for they have refused His gift of sacrifice and death, and then destroy the wicked and recreate the Earth so that it returns to the state of the original creation. <br /><br />God, and His people, will reign over the universe on Earth for ever. <br /><br />All of the above concepts are to be offered to any and all who want to have a personal relationship with God. All of the wonderful things, seen in the movie Avatar, will be fulfilled in reality in God’s kingdom. He will grant us new bodies, He will grant us eternal life, and He will grant us the opportunity of traveling through out the universe seeing the things that He planned for us in the beginning when He first created the universe. All of these things are available for any who will accept the Bible truths by faith and experience. The choice is ours and can be started today. To start today simply start reading the story of the Bible with the belief that this story is written for us to train us and to give us opportunity to work together with God Himself.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-49131186322136400382010-05-17T13:18:00.000-07:002010-05-17T13:20:31.526-07:00Avatar – You Don’t Dream in CryoIn the opening dialogue of the movie Avatar Jake Sulley, states that when you are in the deep sleep of Cryogenics you don’t dream. You are in a state of suspended animation and your brain processing is virtually at a stand still until you are brought back up out of this state of suspended animation. While you are in Cryo your body continues to function but you have no awareness of anything going on around you, not awareness of time, no dreaming, no hating, no loving, nothing, until awakened by an outside force. <br /><br />As I was meditating upon the subject of Cryo sleep, I thought that this was a great metaphor for something that the Bible calls “sleep”. In the Bible there is regular sleep that all humans do for some period almost every day. This sleep is the normal rest taken, usually at evening, and from which we all awaken every day to go about our duties; and then there is a sleep from which we do not awaken without the help of an outside force – the sleep of death. I Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51,52<br /><br />Death as a form of sleep is one of the more interesting concepts in the Bible. Jesus describes it in John 11. One of Jesus’ favorite people, Lazarus has contracted a fatal illness and the family calls to Jesus because He is the great healer. Jesus delays his coming to see Lazarus until Lazarus is dead. When the disciples ask about the delay of Jesus to respond He reports that Lazarus is “sleeping”. The disciples think this is pretty good for they think that he is sleeping in healing rest. Jesus clarifies this thought by saying that He is going to get Lazarus and wake him up from his sleep, because Lazarus had died. John 11:1-14 Jesus was the outside force that would awaken Lazarus and eventually will awaken all who are “sleeping” in the tomb today.<br /><br />As Jake Sulley stated from his experience, there is no dreaming in Cryo, so there is no dreaming when one is dead. God says that when a man dies that very day all of his thinking stops. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalms 146:4 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 9-10 states the following: <br /><br />“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. <br /><br />Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”<br /><br />Nothing goes on for the person who has died. He has as much awareness of things around him as Jake Sulley described about his ability to dream when in Cryo.<br />This concept of not thinking, feeling, loving, hating, communicating has some interesting ramifications on things we normally take for granted. One of those things that people accept quite freely are things like Vampires, Witches, Wizards, Ghosts, Zombies, etc. In each of the subjects listed there is a requirement to be dead and yet not dead or to communicate with the dead. The Bible clearly states that when a person dies they do not communicate with anyone living unless they have been resurrected from the dead – or brought back to living, thinking, breathing, sharing by the power of God. So a Vampire by definition can not be for a vampire is supposed to be a dead person who continues to live, thus violating the statement of God. Witches and Wizards get their information and power from communicating with the dead. Now according to the Bible this can not be for the Bible says that a dead person is totally unable to think, or communicate any thing. A Ghost is supposed to be the soul of a dead person who is still moving around due to some kind of unfinished business. And a Zombie is something that should be dead but is still moving around attacking people for some unknown reason. All of these things the Bible says can not happen. <br /><br />So the obvious question is that people have this belief, and have a variety of experiences of coming in contact with ugly, gruesome, violent, evil persons who appear to have died yet people see and communicate with something. The clearest Bible story we have on the subject is the story of King Saul and the Witch of Endor. I Samuel 28:3-25. In this story King Saul has through his rebellion shut off every normal avenue of communication with God. Since King Saul has not wanted to submit to the counsel of the prophet Samuel, and did not want to pray, or have anything to do with God, he is now in an experience that he wants some comfort and support. Since God is not willing to talk to one who is not willing to listen and obey, Saul decides to consult with a witch. Now prior to this event Saul has attempted to kill every witch, or wizard in Israel to follow the counsel of God in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Now that he feels desperate he is willing to go against his better judgment.<br /><br />When Saul goes to the Witch he disguises himself for he does not want people to see him and his activities, and he does not want to frighten the Witch lest she not give him what he wants from her. When Saul presents his case to the Witch the first thing that happens is that she is informed that her customer is Saul. She did not have that information on her own but was provided this information through her supernatural contacts. Saul is properly impressed that she has a source of supernatural information. Saul assumes that it comes from the person he is seeking to contact – the Prophet Samuel. Saul is not able to see anyone but he asks the Witch and she reports that she sees an old man coming up, apparently from the grave, covered with a mantle. She apparently assumes that it is Samuel, and Saul assumes that it is Samuel. She hears the message of condemnation from the apparition which she sees and she passes this message of discouragement on to Saul. Saul faints with discouragement after hearing the message. <br /><br />Now the great question is, was the thing which the Witch saw the real Samuel? My answer would be no, it was not. It was not Samuel for the following reasons. God says that the dead know not anything. So to attempt to communicate with Samuel would be as possible as talking to Jake Sulley while he was in Cryo. It can not be done. Secondly, God would not allow His dead prophet to respond to a person that God has already declared to be worthy of death. Thirdly God is not going to violate His principles to encourage people to violate His principles. To reward rebellious Saul, and the rebellious witch, would be to train, and reward, people to do exactly what He told them not to do. God does not function that way.<br /><br />The Second question would be, if the thing that the Witch saw was not Samuel then who was it? The answer is that it would be Satan, or one of his fallen angels, for they are the only supernatural beings who would attempt to contradict God. Angels are supernatural beings and can do many things that are wondrous and supernatural on our plane of existence. One of those things is that they can be invisible around us, they can take on different forms, and they can communicate information that is not readily available to the rest of us. So the fallen angels would, and do, encourage people to come to them for wisdom that God will not give, because it is not good for us. Satan can tell his witches information that is private to all else but Satan was there when an event occurred and can communicate that information to others. He displayed this by revealing the fact that the Witches customer was King Saul. He also can pretend to be something, or someone else to convince people that they are talking to their loved ones. <br /><br />The key concept is that one of the key factors of information received from demons, through what ever avenue they want to communicate, is that the information is never intended to bring the person into a surrendered obedient relationship with God. God’s intent, on the other hand, is to confront, if necessary, but to offer hope for a renewed relationship if the person is willing. His goal is never to discourage an honest hearted attempt to renew a relationship with God. <br /><br />In conclusion, God has clearly stated that when a person is dead, that person is totally unable to communicate information to anyone else, until they are resurrected. So any thing that attempts to communicate information, from someone who is dead, is not from God but from Satan. Any avenue of information that presents the idea that the information came from the dead, is from Satan, not from God. <br /><br />God wants us to come to Him to seek the answers to our questions. He will always help us to get the information we need, not always what we want. He wants to give us the truth in such a manner that it helps us to draw nearer to Him, the source of all information and wisdom. God will not help us to indulge in error, or something destructive. He will only help with the truth, especially that truth that helps us to come to Him. Let us therefore shut the door on that communication that is meant to destroy us and help us to open the door in our minds to that communication which helps us to find our way to God.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-53451949067513488252010-05-11T23:40:00.000-07:002010-05-11T23:45:07.857-07:00Avatar and the Garden of Eden RestoredOne of the wonderful things about the movie Avatar is that it seems to tap into a racial memory about the Garden of Eden. Numbers of people have become depressed over the fact that they cannot go to a planet like Pandora to see the beauties and wonders of nature as depicted in the movie. It is this writer’s perspective that God intends for man to have this very thing. God wants us to have the reality of what Pandora and the movie Avatar have intimated about what we need. <br /><br />As I have studied the Bible over the years I have found a few signs of the Garden of Eden and what God plans to do with it, and what He wants to do to reunite it with His people. First of all God has sent His angels to watch over the gate way to the Garden of Eden and kept His angels on guard that no unconverted person enters into the Garden. This of course implies that a converted person would have access to the Garden at some time. For this to be true would imply that the Garden of Eden is out there somewhere waiting for God’s timing to allow us to come back into the Garden and to have access to the Tree of Life once again. <br /><br />In Ezekiel 47:1-12 is a scene described that is similar to that of Genesis 2:1-15 where there is a river of pure water coming out of the Garden and watering the Earth. Around the headwaters is a tree whose fruit comes out monthly and the leaves of the tree have healing qualities. This scene is similar to that of Revelation 22:1-2 where the Tree of Life is very close to the River of the water of life that proceeds out of the throne of God. This Tree is very similar to that of the tree in Ezekiel 47. This Tree, and this River, and this Throne are in the New Jerusalem. It is almost as if this section of the Garden of Eden was preserved by God in the New Jerusalem for us to see when we are taken to heaven for 1000 years. God tells us that the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to Earth and then God will recreate the heavens and the earth and restore it to its Edenic beauty for us to enjoy forever. <br /><br />This scene is spoken of in the writings of Ellen G. White – a woman whom the Seventh Day Adventist Church considers to be a prophetess. She wrote of the Garden of Eden being removed from Earth and taken to heaven as a token of the wonders that God wanted us to have. She also talks about Adam seeing the Garden after taken to heaven. The story goes as follows:<br /><br />“Before the ransomed throng is the Holy City. Jesus opens wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the truth enter in. There they behold the Paradise of God, the home of Adam in his innocency. Then that voice, richer than any music that ever fell on mortal ear, is heard, saying: "Your conflict is ended." "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." <br /><br /> Now is fulfilled the Saviour's prayer for His disciples: "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." "Faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24), Christ presents to the Father the purchase of His blood, declaring: "Here am I, and the children whom Thou hast given Me." "Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept." Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! the rapture of that hour when the infinite Father, looking upon the ransomed, shall behold His image, sin's discord banished, its blight removed, and the human once more in harmony with the divine! <br /><br /> With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes His faithful ones to the joy of their Lord. The Saviour's joy is in seeing, in the kingdom of glory, the souls that have been saved by His agony and humiliation. And the redeemed will be sharers in His joy, as they behold, among the blessed, those who have been won to Christ through their prayers, their labors, and their loving sacrifice. As they gather about the great white throne, gladness unspeakable will fill their hearts, when they behold those whom they have won for Christ, and see that one has gained others, and these still others, all brought into the haven of rest, there to lay their crowns at Jesus' feet and praise Him through the endless cycles of eternity. <br /><br /> As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the City of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race--the being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour's form. As Adam discerns the prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been exiled. <br /><br /> <strong>After his expulsion from Eden, Adam's life on earth was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain upon man's purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Terrible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abounding, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of transgression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man's failure and fall; and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his first dominion. <br /><br /> Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once his delight--the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the scene; he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him and beholds a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the Paradise of God. Then he casts his glittering crown at the feet of Jesus and, falling upon His breast, embraces the Redeemer. He touches the golden harp, and the vaults of heaven echo the triumphant song: "Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and lives again!" The family of Adam take up the strain and cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet as they bow before Him in adoration. </strong><br /> <br /> This reunion is witnessed by the angels who wept at the fall of Adam and rejoiced when Jesus, after His resurrection, ascended to heaven, having opened the grave for all who should believe on His name. Now they behold the work of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in the song of praise.” The Great Controversy pages 647-648<br /><br />http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc.asp<br /><br />I personally want to be able to go to heaven, and to see the wonderful events spoken of in the above quotation. I want to see the Garden of Eden and I want to taste the fruit of that wonderful tree. This great opportunity awaits every single person who is willing to explore the truths of the Bible with an open and humble heart. I hope to see you there as well.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-6319800431060860042010-05-11T22:27:00.000-07:002010-05-11T22:29:09.968-07:00Avatar and the Removal of Adam from EdenIn the closing scenes of the movie Avatar is an interesting scene. The remaining people from the Hells Gate camp are being escorted out of the camp into a shuttle to return to Earth. In the judgment of the Na’vi, with Toruk Makto being the intercessor, have concluded that the majority of the people are not safe to retain on Pandora and must be sent away lest harm come to Pandora as a result of their presence and their potential interference with life. This judgment is a result of the Investigative Judgment and is a result of the evaluation that came as a result of Eywa winning the war between the Na’vi and the people from Earth. <br /><br />This scene is reminiscent of the events that came about from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had created a special place for His first two children and God called the place the Garden of Eden. Eden means pleasure or delight in Hebrew, so the English translation would be the Garden of Delight or the Garden of Pleasure. In every way Eden was the picture of perfect peace, safety, and the fulfillment of righteous pleasure. Nothing killed one another in Eden and everything communicated with each other, in a way similar to the communication qualities of the plants and animals as represented on Pandora. <br /><br />In the center of the Garden were two trees – the great tree was called the Tree of Life and Adam and Eve were to eat freely of the fruit of this tree for it would perpetuate life. God wanted Adam and Eve to never die but to live and enjoy the pleasures that He had designed for them. Near the Tree of Life was a tree to test the trust of Adam and Eve. God created a tree called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God had forbidden Adam and Eve to eat of this tree for it would expose them to evil, the evil of not trusting the good will and care of God. God allowed this tree to be in the garden to allow Adam and Eve to decide whether they would trust God or would they put their own wisdom above His.<br /><br />In Genesis 3 the story is told that Satan, the great dragon and the great serpent of Revelation 12:9, came to this tree and started to talk to Eve, who had separated herself from her husband Adam. Eve apparently felt that she was strong enough to handle any kind of emergency by herself and did not feel the need to have her husband with her. When the serpent began to speak to her she was shocked but attracted to this new thing. She listened to the words of the serpent and when the serpent told her his reason why God did not want them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of God and Evil, it made sense to her mind. The serpent told Eve that the reason that God did not want them to eat of this tree is because it would make them like gods and they would know good and evil and implied that they would not have to be dependent upon God any more but could judge things accurately on their own. When Eve heard this she thought that that made sense. The serpent also told her that when God told them that they would surely die if they ate of the tree, that that was not a true statement. The serpent told them just the opposite of what God had said. God said they would die if they ate of the tree and the serpent said that they would not die. Now Eve had to decide whether the Creator knew what was true or whether the serpent knew what was truth. She was not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and had not even tasted of the fruit. After weighing the data, as she understood it, she concluded that the serpent was correct and God was in error. She apparently concluded this, because the serpent could speak, and she apparently concluded that he was able to speak as a result of eating the fruit, a very erroneous conclusion. She did not know that a fallen angel can take on many forms, and do many supernatural things, that she did not understand fully. See II Corinthians 11:13-15 A fallen angel is, after all, an angel who had chosen to rebel against God, just as he was trying to get Eve to do. <br /><br />After evaluating all of the data available to her, she decided that she was wise enough to eat of the fruit and be as wise as the serpent. After all she did not see, hear, smell, or sense any evil from the tree or its fruit. So Eve decided to eat of the fruit. Again she did not detect any evil and she decided to share this fruit with her husband Adam. When Adam saw Eve with the fruit he decided that she was going to potentially die, and since he also could not sense any evil, he chose to join her without talking to God about this event. After eating he noticed that he was naked as was Eve. To care for this he made clothing out of fig leaves to cover their nakedness. They began to notice that something had changed, but they did not know exactly what it was but they began to have a sense of dread and fear, especially of meeting with God.<br /><br />It appears that God came to visit with Adam and Eve in the morning and evening of each day. That evening God came to visit his children as He had always done. But this time Adam and Eve did not come to Him. He called them and asked where they were. They said that they had heard his voice but they had hidden themselves from His presence. Adam told God that he was aware that he was naked and that was the reason he hid himself. God then asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree that He had instructed him not to eat of. Instead of answering this question directly Adam told God that it was God’s woman that made him eat implying that he, Adam, was not to blame. God asked Eve about the fruit and she responded it that it was God’s serpent that beguiled her. Then God turned to the serpent. God knew who the serpent was, God knew that the serpent was being used by Satan to be the medium of communication and that it was Satan who had deceived Adam and Eve as he had done one third of the angels in heaven. Revelation 12:4 Satan had deceived the angels and now he had deceived God’s children on Earth. <br /><br />God condemned the serpent and used it as a symbol of deception and evil. God also made the serpent to crawl upon its belly when once it was a flying serpent, in some ways similar to the flying dragons of Pandora. Isaiah 30:6. God also makes a prophetic statement to the serpent that his seed, his descendents, will fight against the descendents of the woman – the church. But there will be One seed that will strike a death blow to the serpent directly, yet the serpent will wound the Seed of the Woman.<br /><br />God then tells of the suffering and the changes that will come as a result of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. But inherent in all of these issues is the promise that the Son of God will come and die for the sins of Adam, Eve, and all of their children. <br /><br />God then offers an exchange. He is willing to exchange the clothing made by Adam and Eve for clothing made by His hand. In order to get the skins necessary to clothe Adam and Eve God informs Adam that the sacrificial system will be instituted and that the animal sacrificed will be a symbol of the death of the Son of God in the future. In addition this death will provide the covering made by God to cover the nakedness of man. These sacrifices, and this clothing, are both symbols of the experience of salvation – provided for man by infinite God.<br /><br />The last event to take place is that Adam and Eve must leave the Garden of Eden. God did not want sinful man partaking of the Tree of Life to perpetuate a life of rebellion and sin. So God sent them out into the world to be tillers of the ground. They would now have to work for their food rather than just pluck and eat. But again the promise of God was that the way to the Tree of Life was to be preserved. Satan will never be able to block our awareness of our need for this tree. The flaming sword of the Word of God was to ever keep Adam and Eve, and their descendents, aware of the Tree of Life and the original garden. It has been God’s plan to restore humanity to the life that He had originally made for them. This plan will be fulfilled. It is our opportunity to work with God to fulfill this goal. May we choose Him now.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-69011494244089947402010-05-11T15:53:00.000-07:002010-05-11T15:54:03.609-07:00Avatar and the Jar Head ClanIn the movie Avatar, Jake Sulley, the hero is asked by the Na’vi to identify himself. He stated that he was Jake Sulley of the Jar Head Clan. The Na’vi could relate to clan hood and they could also relate to the fact that Jake identified himself as a warrior rather than a scientist. The Na’vi stated that they had not met a sky people warrior and they decided to allow Jake to spend some time with them so that they could learn what this warrior was like and how it could help them. <br /><br />All of the people, the scientists, and the military people were all shocked that Jake, in only one day, had been accepted into the Na’vi clan while many “brighter” people had not been allowed in. But in life, when God calls, and when He wants something done, then things get moving and doors open that might not have been opened at any other time. The movie allows certain things to happen and Jake took full advantage of the opportunities to become a tribe member.<br /><br />In the Bible this same phenomenon happens. In the Bible one of the major threads of discussion is that of becoming a part of the children of God. To become a part of this national clan would identify one as a part of the family of God. Anyone could become a member of the children of Israel if they chose to be a follower of the ways of God. But there were a few restrictions. In Deuteronomy 23:3 and Ammonite, nor a Moabite, was allowed to come into the congregation of the Lord for ten generations – virtually meaning that no one from Moab or Ammon would come into the camp. Yet, the Bible states that one Moabite came into the camp in less than one generation and was incorporated into the lineage of the Messiah. That individual was a woman named Ruth.<br /><br />In the book of Ruth the story is told that Ruth married a Hebrew husband and was married to him for several years before he died. After a few years Ruth’s mother in law Naomi was going to go home to Bethlehem of Judah and Ruth declared that she would not leave Naomi and would go back to Israel with her. Not only would she go back but she chose to adopt all of the ways of the Israelite nation, and would accept Israel’s God and that nothing would separate her from Naomi but death. This testimony of Ruth’s, recorded in Ruth 1:16-18 is the testimony of all who would follow God and God will treat each and every one of them, who testify like Ruth, as a true follower of God. Ruth became a full member of the Jewish nation – the followers of God.<br /><br />This theme of becoming a true Jew – a follower of God, is followed all through the Bible and was one of the major points of contention by the time of John the Baptist. In Matthew 3:9 John attempts to correct the Jewish people from making the claim that blood lineage to Abraham makes one saved. John protests this idea and wants people to produce the same fruit as Ruth did – a commitment to the God of Israel and a willingness to follow God’s counsel given to the prophets of Israel. If they would do these things they would be accounted of the tribe/clan of Israel. If they did not do these things they would be resting on a false promise and God would, and will, reject them at His second coming.<br /><br />Paul restates this issue in Romans 2:28-29. Paul claims that being a Jew by circumcision and by doing Jewish things does not make a person a true Jew. Paul claims that to be a true Jew is a matter of the heart relationship that bound Ruth to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. That circumcision is more a matter of the heart than it is a matter of the flesh/genetics. Those who accepted God by faith, and who walked in God’s ways, would be considered by God to be a part of His clan. Talk alone does not make it in the Christian world.<br /><br />Paul again restates this issue in Romans 9:3-8 and Galatians 2:6-8, 29. Paul claims that just as Abraham received children by faith so one becomes a child of Abraham, by faith. When we accept the God of Abraham we are considered by God to be of His family. Our actions will also show that this change has occurred. We will start to act like the heroes of the Bible and especially that son of Abraham – Jesus of Nazareth. And if we accept the Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth – we will be accounted children of Abraham. We will become Jews – the true clan of God. <br /><br />A final statement on this clan issue is stated in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9. Many claim to be Jews but since they have not accepted Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Christ – the son of Abraham, by faith and they do not act like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Christ, they are really of the synagogue/clan of Satan. <br /><br />When Jake accepted the Na’vi ways he wanted to become a clan member. To do this he had to submit to the rites and ways of the Na’vi including riding one of the dragons of Pandora. Jake had decided that he would go to any lengths to become a clan member and felt fulfilled in doing so. When he had completed all of the requirements then he was accepted by the clan leadership and the rank and file leadership as well. So when we come into the Christian clan we must do all of the things that God asks of us as well. In addition God promises to do all of these things with us and to come into our hearts and minds and do them in us. This promise, when accepted by faith, allows us to become a part of His clan. This promise awaits each and every one of us in the here and now. All of the joys implied in the fantasy movie of Avatar are awaiting a greater fulfillment in the reality of the Christian walk. What choice will you make?Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-65102411829735448802010-05-09T01:05:00.000-07:002010-05-09T01:06:18.063-07:00Avatar and the Investigative JudgmentThis article is very similar to the article on Avatar and Probationary Time. This article covers much of the same material with one great difference. This article will focus on the issue of judgment rather than time. In the movie Colonel Quaritch gives Jake 90 days to infiltrate the Na’vi and then will come a final confrontation over the relocation of the Omticaya Tribe to another home tree so that the mining company can dig out the Unobtanium from under their current home. In the process of the 90 days each and every character is revealing more of their focus, desires, and intents. When the probationary time runs out each person will have made their decision as to whose side they will be on and then in the Armageddon that occurs afterward each party will act out their decisions in combat. <br /><br />In the Bible the issue of judgment is a complicated affair. In virtually every major judgment scene in the Bible there is a predictable process that is revealed. A probationary period of time is given, sometimes in hundreds of years, and sometimes in thousands of years. But in any case when the probationary time is nearing the end God Himself comes down from Heaven to Earth to explore the situation and to make his final assessment and decisions regarding the thoughts, decisions, and actions of the parties involved in the judgment. <br /><br />In the first judgment scene God assesses the decisions of the angels in heaven. When God created the angels He crated them perfectly with no desire to sin, or to rebel against God. Ezekiel 28:14-15. But somewhere in the process of time, Lucifer, the covering cherub concluded that he wanted to be like God and made a decision to sin against God. Isaiah 14:12-14 Lucifer, and his fellow angels decided that they could take over heaven but Michael, the Son of God – the Head of the Angels, contested with Lucifer and his angels and won the battle/judgment in heaven, and Lucifer and the angels that sinned with him were cast out to the Earth. II Peter 2:4; Revelation 12: 7-13<br /><br />The next judgment scene is that with Adam and Eve. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, He came to see them. When they did not come to him in the evening He called out to them asking where they were at. Being the all knowing God, He knew where they were at but He questioned them so that they would know what happened to them. He asked them if they had eaten of the tree which He had forbade them to eat of. Their responses revealed that sin had already affected their thinking and they were already blaming each other and God Himself for their sins. As a result of His investigation God initiated a plan of salvation, and a judgment scene of escorting them from the Garden of Eden.<br /><br />Another judgment scene is when God comes down to Earth to check out the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11:1-9. He had heard of the sins in the Tower of Babel but decided to give it His personal attention. He came and judged that indeed there was a problem at the Tower and as a part of His judgment He confounded the language in an attempt to slow down the evil that was taking place at the Tower. After he confused the language the people separated from each other into language groups and distributed themselves all over the Earth. <br /><br />In Genesis 18-19 God again comes to Earth to check out the next major problem. This problem was that the cities of the plains were growing increasingly corrupt. God came to investigate it for Himself and He would pass judgment on it and decide whether the cities would continue to live on in their behaviors or to be destroyed. God shares His plans with His friend Abraham and Abraham intercedes for the people because he has family who live in the city – his nephew Lot, and his entire family. God allows Abraham to whittle Him down to the position that if there were 10 righteous people in the city of Sodom that God would not destroy it. It turned out that there were only 4 righteous people and one of those chose to stay with Sodom even when she had left it. God sent two angels into the city to check it out and when the men of the city sexually attacked the angels the final decision was made for the cities of the plains to be destroyed. God removed the righteous and destroyed the wicked. <br /><br />In the next judgment scene God comes to Egypt to demand that His enslaved people – Israel – should be released. When Egypt refuses to allow Israel to leave God begins the judgment process by sending various plagues on Egypt until He ends up destroying all of Egypt’s armies in the Red Sea and delivers Israel. Exodus 12-15.<br /><br />Another great judgment scene is when Israel rejects the counsel and correction of God through His prophets and He finally declares that they must go into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. II Chronicles 36:11-21<br /><br />In the next judgment scene God pronounces that He will set a probationary period of time for Israel of 490 years – starting in 457 BC and going to 34 AD. This period of time would give Israel sufficient opportunities to return to a right relationship with God and if not they would be removed, or cut off, from a relationship with God. Daniel 9:24-27. This period of 70 weeks, or 490 years was cut off from a larger period of time called the 2300 day prophecy which states that there would be 2300 years from 457 BC to the start of the judgment scene in 1844 AD. Daniel 8:14; 7:9-14.<br /><br />The first facet of this judgment scene is when God Himself, incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth, comes literally to Earth to explore the thinking and behaviors of His people on Earth. While Jesus is investigating His people, they are deciding that they do not want Jesus to reign over them and they reject God as their King and choose a criminal as their Saviour and King, as well as choosing Caesar to be their King. God eventually allowed Rome to come in and destroy the Jewish nation, and its city Jerusalem in 90 for they were judged to be wanting.<br /><br />In the end of time, God will investigate Earth one more time. He will start the judgment in October of 1844 AD at the end of the 2300 day/years prophecy of Daniel 8:14. This time of judgment started at a later time than what Paul had expressed about “judgment to come” in Acts 24:25. In the end of the 2300 days the “time of judgment” would have come as spoken of in Revelation 14:7. When this time is thoroughly investigated and each person is evaluated as to whether they have accepted Christ as their Saviour, then the end will come and Jesus will come to Earth literally, and take all of his loved ones to heaven for 1000 years. At the end of the 1000 years of Revelation 20:5 then Jesus will return to Earth for the executive judgment and will resurrect the wicked, all those who did not come with Jesus at His second coming, and will burn them up in the lake of fire. Revelation 20:7-15.<br /><br />When God is finished with this last judgment scene, then He will recreate the heavens and the Earth and restore Earth to its Edenic purity and man will live in a land more beautiful than that of Pandora where there will be no great beasts to endanger one’s life but only peace, safety, and eternal joy. Revelation 21:1-8; Isaiah 65:17-25. The beauties of Pandora will be far surpassed by the newly created Earth, after the final destruction of the wicked. This promise is available to all who will explore these things in the Bible and will allow the real Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth – to forgive them and to help them avail themselves of the promises of Jehovah – Jesus of Nazareth.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-81941495045836018582010-05-02T00:28:00.000-07:002010-05-02T00:30:34.049-07:00Avatar and Probationary TimeIn the movie Avatar Jake Sulley is given a probationary period of 90 days to win the confidence of the Na’vi and to win the confidence of his superior officer Colonel Miles Quaritch. This probationary period of time will also be sufficient to allow each other person on the compound the opportunity to decide whether they want to view the Na’vi and Pandora as people and resources to exploit or opportunities to share. In either case people will come to a point where their thinking is clear, they will have had opportunity to make decisions, and then would come an opportunity to act upon that decision. <br /><br />After the 90 day period is completed Jake wants a little more time to go through the final acts of becoming a part of the Na’vi tribe and becoming a man. He also wants to complete his opportunity to choose a mate in the tribe he has selected – Na’vi over human. Jake completed his probationary period of time and he chose which side he wanted to be on and was willing to commit his all to the tribe he had selected.<br />After the 90 day period Colonel Quaritch had received enough data from Jake to make his decision that he could strong arm a response from the Na’vi or use military force and make the Na’vi comply with his perceptions. <br /><br />The leader of the Mining Corporation – Parker Selfridge – also completed his probationary time, and decided that whatever it took he would force the issue to accomplish his political, and his own personal, goals to move the Na’vi out of their home and mine the Unobtanium that he was looking for. He had enough information about the Na’vi and he decided that corporate approval was of much greater value than sensitivity for the Na’vi.<br /><br />When the probationary period was completed the Na’vi had decided that Jake was a worthy member of the their tribe and had passed all of the tests necessary for Jake to be a solid man in the community and would therefore be eligible for all privileges of a man in the community, including that of choosing a wife. <br />Neytiri had also had sufficient time to evaluate the personality and qualities of the man she was training. After he had completed all of the tests of being a man, she concluded that Jake would be a good mate, and she chose Jake when the opportunity availed itself. <br /><br />Each other member of the Na’vi, and of the Earthlings, had to choose what they wanted to do and whose side they would be on when the decision was made to force the Na’vi out of Home tree. Norm Spellman, Trudy Chacon, Dr. Max Patel, and Dr. Grace Augustine also chose and decided to be on the side of the Na’vi in case of hostilities.<br /><br />The last group to decide would be the audience. The audience had to decide in their hearts and minds what they would do if they had been on Pandora and could choose to actually be involved in the final confrontation. The essence of a good film requires the audience to become involved in the decision making and to commit to a response. Avatar was a good film and each audience member chose their side. But in a fantasy world one can make a decision and still live to tell about it. Reality is often much harsher, and as in Trudy Chacon’s case, as well as Dr. Augustine, they paid with their lives, as did the Na’vi, and the Earthlings in Hell’s Gate.<br /><br />The concept of probationary time is a common theme in the Bible. God sets a time and allows all parties to make their decisions and then acts accordingly. One of the primary differences between Avatar and the Bible is that the Bible deals with reality and finality. It also deals with the issue that God can read the heart and mind of each person, and of each angel, that is involved with any decision or any event. With this information in hand God works to save as many people as He can and still preserve their freedom to choose. God only wants true decisions made from a heart and mind convinced of the truth. <br /><br />In the Bible there are several probationary experiences that are samples for all probationary experiences. In Genesis 1-3 God establishes probationary time in Eden as Adam and Eve can stay as long as they do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. On the day that they disobey God and eat of this Tree they will initiate a death sequence and as is revealed in reality, they are demanded to be removed from the Garden. So the time sequence is open ended but when it happened it was carried out and Adam and Eve received the consequences of their decision. <br /><br />In Genesis 6:3 God gives mankind a probationary period of 120 years to repent and reform or He would send a flood and wipe out all people on Earth. This message was communicated to man by God’s prophet Noah. In addition God was to give an escape clause. If the people would not repent, God would allow anyone who wanted to get on the Ark and escape the flood. If they would not get on the Ark then they would die in the flood. As in the first probationary experience God demanded that each person make a decision based on faith in Him rather than the event itself. So seven days before the flood, God informed Noah that he, and all of his family, needed to get on board. Anyone wanting to get on the ark would be informed by this movement and could come with Noah, or stay behind but the decision would be based on faith. Only 8 people got on board and when God closed the door, 7 days before the flood, the decisions were irreversible. All of the rest of mankind died in the flood.<br /><br />The next probationary period was the time given to Abraham that his descendents would be captive in Egypt for 400 years and then God would deliver them. Genesis 15:13-16. When this time came to fulfillment, God sent plagues on Egypt via His prophet Moses. In one of the final plagues Moses is instructed by God to alert the Egyptians and the Israelites to put blood on their doorposts as a sign to protect them from the destroying angel. If they put blood on their doorposts their firstborn child would live. If they did not their firstborn child would die. God also alerted Moses that after this plague Egypt would let Israel go. When the morning arrived God’s warning had come true. All who did not put blood on their doorposts had lost their first born children and Egypt pleaded with Israel to leave lest a worse thing happen to them. One of the side effects of this was that many Egyptians came out with Israel for they had had sufficient information to recognize God and to obey Him. A secondary issue was that three days later Egypt changed its mind and attacked Israel at the Red Sea and when they did that they lost their entire army in the middle of the Red Sea. Exodus 12-15.<br /><br />The message of the experience of Egypt was spread all through the then known world. Although Israel was to go into Canaan within 2 years time they did not arrive for 40 years. None the less the nations in Canaan had time to ponder what they would do if and when Israel arrived at their doorstep led by the invisible God – Jehovah. When Israel arrived at the Jordan River and God opened the Jordan for Israel to walk over it on dry ground during the flood times of Jordan, the nearest city Jericho got to decide what to do with Israel and Israel’s God. Rahab, and her family, chose to follow God and were saved. Jericho, given a probationary period of the original 40 years, and an additional time of 7 days, decided to not follow God, and were destroyed.<br /><br />Israel itself was given a probationary period of time to decide whether they would submit themselves to the God who brought them out of Egypt. God sent them into Babylon for 70 years, Jeremiah 25:1-14, and then brought them back out to alert them that God would discipline Israel as well as all other nations. While in Babylon, God raised up a prophet to alert Israel that God would give them 490 years, the 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27, and if they decided not to respond to Him He would bring them to an end as a nation devoted to God. This probationary period of time was decided in 31 AD when Israel chose to reject God Himself in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, and chose Caesar. John 19:14-15. This was culminated in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus and all of the Jews were scattered throughout the world. <br /><br />Another probationary period was granted to the church of God after the destruction of Jerusalem. The original prophecy, from which the 70 week period was cut off from, indicated that from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, in 457 BC, until the final judgment time was set, would be 2300 day years. This period would end in 1844 AD. At that time a prophet, Ellen G. White would be raised up to give instructions for the final probationary period of time. Those events happened just as prophecy indicated, and now the people of earth are in their final probationary experience. Just as God directed in the past, He has done so in this final period of time. Each of us has the opportunity to read God’s word, the Bible, and each of us has the opportunity of deciding whether there is a probationary time and if God will follow through with it as He has done in all of His probationary experiences with mankind here to for. God has not given us a specific time period but He has given us specific warning issues, all through the Bible, to alert us to when the time would be completed. See Matthew 24 and Revelation 13-14. When we see these issues occurring we are to know that His second coming is at hand just as it was in the time of Noah. Mathew 24:36-39. It is our opportunity to study these things and to know the reality of this situation. <br /><br />God is alerting us to the principles of His Word through many avenues including the movie Avatar. We can see how the issues of probationary time played itself out in the movie. We can read the Word of God, if we choose to, and see how probationary time has played itself out in Bible history. Now, each of us must determine whether God had changed or if He will stay the same and act the same as He has in the past. The primary difference between the Bible and Avatar is that what the Bible teaches is reality and that it really will happen just as expressed in the Bible. I hope that we will make our decisions about whose side we will be on and that we will make that decision, and follow through with it before our probationary period of time closes. The choice is ours, make it today.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-91487171701475967922010-04-26T00:09:00.000-07:002010-04-26T00:11:20.520-07:00Avatar and the Sinful Nature of ManIn the movie Avatar one of the major contrasting situations is between the corporation representative Parker Selfridge and the leader of the Na’vi Eytukan, as embodied by his daughter Neytiri the future spiritual leader of the Omaticaya clan. In the movie Mr. Selfridge is entirely focused on mining Unobtanium – a super conducting mineral. He is impressed with the multi-millions of dollars that are involved with the sales of this mineral. As a result of this focus Mr. Selfridge is willing to rape the land through strip mining, and to destroy the home of the Omaticaya clan – the Home Tree, and to kill off any and all who would interfere with his task of maintaining the bottom line for the corporation. <br /><br />On the contrasting side of the process we have Eytukan and Neytiri who are appalled at the insensitivity of the corporation people toward the land, trees, animals, and peoples of Pandora. The Na’vi are totally in harmony with the biology of Pandora and the idea of killing anything to get a mineral out of the ground is almost outside of their range of belief. The Na’vi have developed a religion that emphasizes the natural harmony of life and they were obedient to their religious beliefs.<br /><br />In the movie Avatar the bad guys area the corporate raiders and their focus on the monetary aspects of their mining operation. The good guys are the indigenous population who are focused on their way of life and do not feel a need to participate in the Earth corporation and do not feel that the corporate peoples have anything realistic to offer them that will further their experience with the planet Pandora or any facet of their lifestyle. Both groups see reality through their belief systems and are not interested in changing to accommodate the other party. Thus the dramatic tension is increased in the movie, and all who watch the movie side with corporate barbarians as they rape and pillage the land to get a substance that Earth needs to continue to function, or they side with the Na’vi who are living in peace and harmony and want to be left alone with their planet and their way of life of being in harmony.<br /><br />A third group is introduced as well the Scientists, as represented by Grace Augustine. The scientists are aware that there is another greater goal on Pandora, and that is to become aware of the Biological “Mind” that is on the planet symbolized by the Tree of Souls and its ability to connect with all life forms. The problem that the Scientists have is that they are unable to present their findings in a commercially acceptable way to the corporation, and in such a way as the Na’vi do not feel another assault on their planetary resources. <br /><br />The interesting part of the movie is that there are sufficient causes that each person watching can get fully immersed and desire to defend their perspectives and root for the party the most represents their emotional conviction. Each proponent of a perspective will tend to load the opposer’s of their position with negative qualities so that they can feel justified in the officially acceptable position – the one favored by the individual viewer. These issues build with the dramatic tension of the various parties as the movie progresses to the inevitable final conflict in which each party is willing to shed blood and to have their blood shed to protect their position. <br /><br />In the end the Na’vi, with supernatural help from Eywa, prevail and are able to stop the corporate raiders from destroying the Tree of Souls. The Na’vi send the remaining survivors of the corporation back to Earth and try to reestablish their lives in accordance with their history. Of course, we watchers are aware that there are greater forces that will come back to Pandora with a greater desire to mine Unobtanium, and if the scientists can communicate their findings in a commercially acceptable vernacular Earth may even want the biological insights from the Global mind on Pandora. The Na’vi will be stuck in between these forces and will try to live out their lives while the external forces will force upon them change in many ways. Jake Sulley will end up having to be the moderator for all of these forces aided by Eywa to come up with a position that can satisfy all of the parties involved. <br /><br />Assuming that the above is a semi-realistic perception of the movies philosophy it brings us back to another party. It has been this writer’s attempt to compare the symbolism of the movie Avatar to that of the Bible. The Bible sees the above issues as a multi-faceted display of human nature that has been separated from the mind and will of God. In the beginning of God’s creation mankind, and all of the plants and animals did not harm each other and all life communicated through the mind of God. In this case it was similar to the biological network of Pandora but with no death or harm, and no balance of good and evil in nature – there was no evil on Earth in the beginning. Each insect, plant, animal, or person, had an awareness of the needs of those around them and strove, in their own sphere of influence, to be of help to all around them. This was God’s Edenic state of life that He wanted for all of His created creatures. As long as everything obeyed God this state of peace would be maintained, however, if anything chose to disobey then this Edenic peace would be shattered and man and animals would then strive to maintain themselves instead of others. Selfishness, and personal motives would supplant the whole and evil and death would affect all things on Earth.<br /><br />In Eden God created two primary trees – the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God instructed Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Life, but not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told Adam and Eve that in the day that they disobeyed Him they would set in motion forces that would bring about a radical change in life, as they then knew it, and that all things would begin to die and much suffering would take place on all living things. <br /><br />As the story proceeds, Satan, disguised as a speaking flying serpent, tempted Eve, who had separated herself from the side of her husband. Satan spoke to Eve in a manner that created a desire to satisfy her curiosity of wondering what made the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil so unique that it could cause death. In the process of the story Eve decides to brave the experiment and eats of the fruit of the Tree. Feeling no harm from it she takes some of the fruit to her husband Adam. Hearing what she did he feels that he will lose her and without consulting with God, he chooses to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil under the heading that he loves Eve so much that he will share death with her if necessary. Soon after Adam eats of the fruit God comes to spend personal time with Adam and Eve, His children on Earth. When God comes to talk a unique event occurs. Adam and Eve run from God and hide in the Garden. The very act of disobedience has established a principle – that guilt that comes from disobedience, causes a distancing between man and God. As distancing occurs between man and God then distancing also occurs between man and man, and eventually between man and animal and nature. When God tries to speak to Adam, the first thing he does is cast blame on someone else. When asked if he had eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Adam blames Eve and blames God for giving Eve to him. Eve manifests the same thoughts and behaviors as Adam had displayed when God asks her about her disobedience. Thus the Knowledge of Good and Evil has started to spread and those who professed to love each other unto death were ready to blame one another to avoid accepting responsibility for their actions. <br /><br />In the Bible, God allows us to see the ever spreading impact of sin by recording the history of man as he has become more numerous and spread over the Earth. God allowed us to follow the life of Cain, the first murderer, and to follow the lineage of the Sethites and Shemites, which would bring us down to the time of Jesus of Nazareth. God revealed to us that without His presence in our lives, we will naturally be selfish, the spinoff of Parker Selfridge’s name. That selfishness will go to any lengths to accomplish the goals of caring for self. <br /><br />All of us have seen extreme cases of selfishness and evil. We are even used to seeing the end product of selfishness – death. But God says that our hearts, apart from Him, are naturally and readily evil and desperately wicked. That our human nature, unaided by God, will always go in the direction of taking care of self at the expense of others. This mind set was never God’s plan for us. He does not enjoy any of the qualities of the selfish heart. Romans 3:9-20 describes in gory detail many of the wicked things that the selfish human heart is capable of. <br /><br />“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”<br /><br />Romans 3:21-24 tells us how to deal with this massive problem and that is to come to God and seek help with this problem. <br /><br />“ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”<br /><br />God declares, in His Word – the Bible, that without Him in our lives we will naturally be selfish. Just like in the Na’vi religious experience, anyone without Eywa will not be able to function properly. They will not be able to survive and the animals of Pandora will end up killing the person. In God’s kingdom He did not want anything to die. Only when selfishness came into the world, and bore its natural fruit, death, did any harm come to anything. God wants us to see our selfishness, especially in contrast to the complete unselfishness of Jesus of Nazareth. When we can see this quality in our lives we can trust that God has been working in us and through us to allow us to see this problem. Once we see this then we can ask God for the help that we cannot grant ourselves. But once we ask God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. <br /><br />Avatar allows us to see ourselves and to see our selfishness acted out in the lives of imaginary people. We all say that if we were on Pandora we would act in a non-selfish manner to all peoples and all things. Yet we all know that if we were on Pandora we would choose sides and see the side we had chosen as the good side. Jake learned the lesson that he needed help to rescue those whom he loved. He was willing to pray to Eywa the imaginary goddess of Pandora. God wants us to see our selfishness and to pray to the true and living God of the Bible – Jesus of Nazareth. If we have a need and if we seek Him to help us we will have victory over our selfishness and God will banish it from our lives. The choice is ours; the power to accomplish this is His. Let us choose today to get that help.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-13593955836855752362010-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:002010-04-22T14:19:15.383-07:00Toruk Makto – The Pandoran MessiahIn the movie Avatar the greatest hero was the Toruk Makto, one who could ride the great Leonopteryx. This status had been granted to five heroes in Pandoran history. In the process of the movie Jake Sulley became the sixth Toruk Makto. He did this because he had successfully become a man among the Na’vi, the Pandoran indigenous population but had become disgraced because of his connection to the human population who destroyed the Home Tree of the tribe he had entered. To allow a new start in the “people” Jake felt he needed to do something that would grant him credibility and a renewed status among the “people”. To get there he had to connect to the largest, and most dangerous, predator on the planet of Pandora.<br /><br />To accomplish the task of becoming Toruk Makto, Jake needed to be able to get close enough to the Leonopteryx and be able to get on its back, and then connect with its queue before it could turn on Jake and kill him. Jake concluded that because of its size the Leonopteryx was not going to be attacked by anything and it had no need to be alert. So Jake flew on his Ikran and approached the Leonopteryx from above. As he approached the great dragon he flew low enough to jump off of his Ikran onto the back of the Leonopteryx and connect with his queue. When he had control of the great dragon he flew to the meeting place where the Na’vi were weeping over the destruction of their Home Tree, and the potential loss of the Tree of Souls. When Jake saw the “people” he flew into them in such a manner as to cause the greatest amount of respect and awe that could be generated. The symbolism was sufficient and the people received him as the Toruk Makto. Jake had become the Pandoran Messiah and thus had the authority of leading all of the Pandoran tribes against the Earth peoples. <br /><br />In addition to being the military leader of the Pandoran peoples, Jake also felt a need of being the spiritual leader as well. He knew what the Na’vi did not know and that was that the Earth military forces were still too much for the Na’vi to handle. To win the fight not only would the Messiah need the military forces of the Na’vi, but would need supernatural help as well from Eywa. Therefore, Jake came to the Tree of Souls, the connecting site between the Na’vi and their goddess Eywa. Jake prayed for special help and was submissive to the goddess of Pandora.<br /><br />As the movie continues Jake, Pandora’s Messiah, leads the collected representatives of the tribes of Pandora and although fighting furiously are being relentlessly massacred. At the crucial moment when all looks lost the large animals of Pandora suddenly join the fight and with the help of Eywa, and the animals, the battle is won and the Na’vi are victorious. Thus Jake’s position in Na’vi history is secured – the Toruk Makto had accomplished the task that Eywa had raised him up to do.<br />Again, it is remarkable that the symbolism between the theology of Avatar and that of the Bible is so strong and so clear. In the Bible the phrase of Toruk Makto is not present, but the concept is clearly there. In the Bible there is a clear need, and a clear promise of the coming of the Messiah – the hero sent by God to deliver the people of Earth from the evil enemy of Satan, and his forces. <br /><br />In the Bible the Messiah, as with the Toruk Makto, must be one of the people. The Bible records that Jesus, the True Messiah, was born of the flesh of Abraham and of David. Hebrews 2:9-18; Romans 1:3. He came to live among men and to be a man Himself. This Messiah had to feel the needs of the people and to be able to lead the people as well. <br /><br />In the Bible there are a number of people who are considered Anointed ones. We know that Aaron was an Anointed one and he served as Priest in Israel. King Saul was the first Anointed King of Israel, and he was followed by King David who functioned in the position of a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. We also know that Cyrus, King of Persia was considered an Anointed one in Isaiah 45:1. Of this group David was the individual most connected with the concept of the Anointed One. As we see above, David was the great grandfather of the Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth.<br /><br />One of the things that is unique about David as the Anointed one is that he fulfils all of the prerequisite issues of the Messiah. David was clearly born a man. He grew up simply and he experienced a personal relationship with God at a young age. One of the unique components of David was that he was Anointed by Samuel after being hand selected by God Himself. David was then brought by the providence of God to a unique testimonial experience. In I Samuel 17 we are told the story of a battle between Israel and the Philistines. The then king of Israel was Saul who had been officially rejected by God as being the Lord’s Anointed. When the Philistine champion came on to the battle field, no one dared to fight with him. The Champion of Israel, the King of Israel should have come forth to fight the greatest opponent. When it was clear that no one in Israel would dare to fight Goliath, God brought forth David. David was small compared to Goliath’s height of nine feet. David had no armor other than faith in God as compared to Goliath’s armor of Brass. David had no fear of this giant and strode out onto the battle field in the name of God Himself. When David defeated the Giant all Israel accepted David as their king in their hearts. Most of Israel did not know that God had already Anointed, as well as chosen David, to be their king. David was the type of the Messiah to come – his great grandson Jesus of Nazareth.<br /><br />In the process of time, God also revealed Cyrus as a type of Messiah as well in that he used this king as the deliverer of Israel from Babylon. Cyrus responded to the instructions of Daniel and he chose to follow through the instructions given to him by God a hundred years before his birth. Cyrus, when he had conquered Babylon, gave directions and financial support to allow Israel to return to Canaan and reestablish their nation and their city in accordance with Isaiah 44:27-45:13 and Daniel 9:24-27.<br />But the focal point of all of the prophecies of the Messiah as of that of Jesus the Christ (the Anointed One) of Nazareth. He is the unique and comprehensive Messiah. Jesus is the I Am of the Bible as clearly stated in John 8:58. He was the One who spoke to Moses in Exodus 3. Jesus is also referred to as the Creator God the One who created the whole earth, and the universe. John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:13-17. This Creator God promised to come as the Seed of the woman spoken of in Genesis 3:15. As time continued He was incorporated in many other prophecies including that of Abraham and of David. He would come as God, and He would be fully man, a concept that is beyond our understanding. Yet when He came He was announced by an angel, and given the name of Jesus – the Saviour, and the name of Emmanuel – God with us. Matthew 1:21-23<br /><br />Jesus’ life was marked by many unusual things but especially that of being so humble and loving that no one could identify anything physically unusual but that His Spirit was that of God. When He was about 30 years old He was baptized by the prophet John and when He came up to the banks of the Jordan River, He was Anointed by the Holy Spirit and was blessed by His Father. Luke 3:21-23. This happened in 27 AD in fulfillment of the 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. In accordance with the 70 week prophecy Jesus was to be Anointed in 27 AD and then after a three and one half year ministry then He would be cut off from His people. During this ministry Jesus would meet His Goliath – Satan. He would have to defeat this giant the same way His great grandfather had done by the weapons of God. He would conquer the great dragon of Scripture that great Serpent Satan. Revelation 12:7-13 Jesus was the One who bound the strong man of Matthew 12:22-30 and thus won back all that was lost by father Adam. <br /><br />Jesus won the great battle against Satan in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus also won the battle in the grave and came forth from death in His own power. In the end Jesus will win the battle again when He returns to gather His people whom Satan is seeking to destroy. Jesus will win each and every battle for He is the Messiah of God. <br /><br />One of the interesting themes of the movie Avatar is how many symbols the movie borrows to move the hearts and minds of the people. But what Avatar borrows in order to tell an imaginary story, the Bible tells of the true story. We are involved in the fight with the great dragon Satan to this very day, and Jesus, the great Messiah is preparing to come again to gather His people to Himself and take them to heaven, and then return to them to Earth a thousand years later. The difference is that Avatar is pretend, and the Bible is real. The Toruk Makto of Avatar is a wonderful hero, but none the less he is a pretend figure, but the Messiah of the Bible is not only real but He offers all of the wonderful gifts spoken of in the Bible to all who will honestly seek Him with a heart open to truth. This offer Messiah will confirm when He returns in the very near future. This gift is free to all who want it today.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-44796097055476114252010-04-22T00:52:00.000-07:002010-04-22T00:54:05.042-07:00Avatar and the Balance of LifeIn the movie Avatar, it appears that the philosophy of life is that there is to be life balanced with death. If there is too much life, then there must be enough death to compensate and keep things balanced. This appears to be the requirement on the planet Pandora the imaginary dwelling place of the Na’vi and all of the exotic wildlife of the planet and all of the exotic plant life of the planet. In one scene in the movie Neytiri attempts to explain to Jake that Eywa, the goddess of Pandora, only answers prayers in the sense of keeping a balance of life and she does not answer any prayers that would cause an imbalance to life. So Neytiri does not expect any answers to prayers that would “favor” one element over another. So Neytiri is shocked to see the wild life join in the battle in the end of the movie to save the Tree of Souls, and to save the Na’vi.<br /><br />In the Bible God presents a plan of life for the Garden of Eden. On the Earth God wants all things to live in harmony with no loss of life. God writes about it in the following text:<br /><br />“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9<br /><br />Notice in the text that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, or in any part of God’s kingdom. In the text it reveals that God’s intent in the original creation, and in the new Earth Isaiah 65:17-25, was for no animal to kill or harm another animal. There was to be no sin, and no death, and no harming. God had arranged for all created life to live in harmony with each other. Thus God would produce a balance of peace and harmony without the use of death. In the Bible, death – the function of harming one another – was a by-product of sin. Without sin there would be no death.<br /><br />A major element in the philosophy of God was that He was able to maintain ecological, as well as spiritual, harmony. He would limit the numbers of people and animals to that there would not be so many creatures that the food supply would be insufficient to care for everyone and everything. God would not need, nor use, death to be the stabilizing force. God would be the stabilizing force and thus love, rather than death, would maintain the balances of life. <br /><br />A question comes up of where then did death come from? God told Adam that in the day that he ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then the issues of death would start to function. On the other hand, if Adam, and Eve, remained faithful to Him there would be no death, and thus no destabilizing forces, no curses on the land or on Earth, or on the people.<br /><br />A scenario is presented in Matthew 13:24-28<br /><br />“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?”<br /><br />In the Bible, the reason that there is death or suffering is because of the work of an enemy – Satan. God’s purposes have always been life and love. Satan brings death and suffering to all things. So the Bible encourages us to come back to God, receive of His gifts of love and to allow Him to bring us back into harmony with Him. In order for this to happen our thinking, as well as our perspectives must change. We must see God as a God of love. When we can see this we can allow Him to adjust our thinking to the point that any vestige of sin, and thus any vestige of death, will be removed, and we will think like God thinks. We will find that God does not need, or want, anything to do with death, or sin. <br /><br />It is an interesting thing that we are so accustomed to death that we see a strange sort of beauty in the stark qualities of life. We see rocks, dead trees, waxed colored leaves, as sort of having a distinct beauty. This indicates that God has left some awareness of beauty even in these things, but rocks with no covering of soil and grass, trees dead, fallen, and without leaves, and the colored leaves showing the changes brought about by the death process, all are manifestations of an alien process. God did not want any of these stark reminders of death. God did not want us to have to see these things for to see these things meant that sin had come into the world, something that God did not want.<br /><br />Yet even here, God, knowing all of the future, recognized that when giving mankind freedom to choose, must take into account the possibility of sin occurring. When it did occur, God initiated the plan of redemption – to eventually restore His natural balance, a world without sin. To get there God Himself was willing to come to die to save not only the human beings, but to restore the Earth to its original beauty and purity. This is briefly described in Isaiah 65:17-25.<br /><br />One of the strongest features of the movie Avatar was the emotional movings of being able to see a planet of such beauty as that described on the imaginary planet of Pandora. This primeval calling to return to home was the emotional hook for many of the movie goers. Yet God wants to far surpass the beauties of Pandora. He wants to redeem His planet, remove the disease of sin, and restore His people to their rightful position of ruling the planet in a manner that will be totally in harmony with His thoughts and His plans. This return to Eden restored, is offered to each and every human being on this planet. If you have a desire to experience the wonders of Eden, the purity of an unsinful, undying planet, God calls for you to choose Him today. All you need to do is to start seeking Him and you will find Him for He is not far from you. Ask Him to communicate with you and He will seek you out and start that relationship with Himself. He offers you more than what Avatar and Pandora offer. He offers you the opportunity to go to the restored Earth that will have no death or any suffering. Please accept this offer today.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-78711365683075678242010-04-12T00:23:00.000-07:002010-04-12T00:27:23.678-07:00Avatar and God’s Use of NatureIn the movie Avatar one of the emotionally charged scenes is where the Na’vi are getting slaughtered by the more sophisticated weaponry of the soldiers of Colonel Quaritch. Earlier Jake, knowing that he was going to be outgunned, had prayed that Eywa would help him to win the battle. Jake did not have a full understanding of what Eywa would be able to do but he did recognize his helplessness and he was going to ask help of anyone, and anything, that would deliver his people, the Na’vi, from sure slaughter. In the final moments of the battle, when disaster appeared to be sure, there was a significant movement on the horizon, that could be picked up by the Colonel’s instruments on his ship. The Colonel could tell that something was moving but he could not tell what it was. Then, all of a sudden, the large land animals, and the Ikran, sent by Eywa, attacked the soldiers. The overran the soldiers on the ground and destroyed all of the robots. The Ikran attacked the helicopters, and Jake used the Leonopteryx to halt the air battle. Even Neytiri was able to mount a Thanator and carry the fight to Colonel Quaritch. The Sacred Tree was saved and the battle turned for Jake and the Na’vi. <br /><br />The concept of a god, getting involved in the affairs of men, and doing something substantial is an awesome thought. It is wonderful to think that some supernatural entity would want to assess and then get involved with resources that we do not have to offer and hopefully to do the right thing for us at the right time. <br /><br />Again, it is intriguing that Mr. Cameron would be able to utilize the concept of divine intervention through animals to save the people. I believe that Mr. Cameron is aware of the many Bible stories that tell the story of God getting involved with the affairs of men and helping man in various ways regarding animals, and chose to incorporate this story into the movie Avatar. I would like to share just a few stories of animal involvement through the interventions of God.<br /><br />1. In Genesis 6-9 God calls the animals out of the forest to enter into Noah’s Ark – two by two for the unclean animals and seven by seven for the clean.<br /><br />2.In Genesis 6-9 God also uses nature to cleanse the Earth and He effected nature in such a way as to overflow all of life, that was not on the Ark, and to destroy all people and animals through the flood.<br /><br />3. Exodus 7-14 tells the story of the various plagues that God sent on the then greatest nation in the world, the Egyptian nation. He sent frogs, lice, flies, locusts, and used many of the natural elements including the Red Sea to conduct warfare on Egypt.<br /><br />4.In Numbers 11 God sends flocks of birds to feed the Israelites in addition to what He fed them each day through the Manna and supplying water from a Rock.<br /><br />5. In Joshua 10:10-14 God uses hail to kill the enemies of Israel and stops the sun and moon, to allow the warfare to continue without obstruction.<br /><br />6. In I Kings 17:3-7 God uses Ravens to feed His prophet Elijah.<br /><br />7. II Kings 2:23-25 God uses two bears to kill 42 teens who were mocking the prophet Elisha.<br /><br />8. In Daniel 3 God displays how He is able to control fire when his servants are cast into a fire without being burned.<br /><br />9. In Daniel 6 God controls the lions in the den from harming Daniel.<br /><br />10. In Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus controls a storm and brings it to a close.<br /><br />11. In Matthew 14:15-21 Jesus feeds 5000 men, plus women and children.<br /><br />12. In John 11 Jesus resurrects a man who has been dead for 4 days.<br /><br />13. In I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Jesus resurrects all of the righteous of all ages.<br /><br />14. In Revelation 16 Jesus uses plagues again to destroy the earth.<br /><br />These 14 stories tell just the surface of the many ways that the God of the Bible, the God of the universe is able to control nature and use it in any way that He needs to in order to accomplish His Holy Will. <br /><br />As Jake was thrilled by his deliverance from the Colonel, so we are to be thrilled by all of the resources that Jesus has to accomplish our deliverance from Satan. When we read the Bible we have the opportunity to have our hearts go out to Jesus and trust that He is interested in us and He can care for us in a 1000 ways of which we know nothing. It is our privilege to get to know God and to learn how to trust Him and interact with Him while we help others. This is our gift from heaven.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-58523541087362327492010-04-08T11:51:00.000-07:002010-04-08T11:52:20.456-07:00Avatar and Gaia WorshipIn the movie Avatar there are many scenes that communicate the idea of the plant life and animal life of Pandora being in a unified relationship. Each animal is equipped with an antenna, or a queue, that allows the animals to communicate with each other and that the whole would be the planet Pandora. This unified communication theme, and all of the ecological issues that go, with it are very similar to the Gaia hypothesis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis In the Gaia hypothesis it is thought that the Earth is in many ways similar to Pandora, that all ecological systems are entwined and are reactive and supportive to each other. The whole Earth is viewed as a singular ecological system and that this whole system can be regarded as a singular entity – Gaia. When this thought is combined with a theology of ecology one is confronted with the spiritual worship of the Earth or Gaia – the earth mother. This process is expanded and enhanced through the Gaia mythology system as described in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(mythology)<br /><br />In the movie Avatar there were several scenes in which the science of the Gaia hypothesis was presented. Dr. Augustine attempted several times to communicate to Mr. Selfridge about the communication potential of the planet and even stated that the real treasure of Pandora was not Unobtanium but the communication abilities of the flora and fauna of the planet. Several scenes are presented in which Dr. Augustine is attempting to process the idea of the interconnectedness of the trees and how it matched, or even surpassed, the connectivity of the brain. Dr. Augustine wanted to get to the Tree of Souls and take samples of the tree to complete here analysis, but was killed before she could do this as a scientist. Other scenes were presented that when one of the Na’vi died they were buried in the earth with one of the seeds of the sacred tree planted with them. This was the normal course of life and death on the planet Pandora.<br /><br />There were several other scenes that communicated the spiritual nature of Pandora. One of the scenes was when Jake seeks to take the wounded Dr. Augustine to Mo’at the Tsahik, or Shaman, of the tribe. She takes Dr. Augustine to the Tree of Souls and attempts to transfer her "soul” into her Avatar body. In the event itself the Tree of Souls sends forth fine root like tendrils to enter into the body of Dr. Augustine to facilitate the process. But the attempt failed due to the weakened condition of Dr. Augustine and the lack of time to complete the process.<br /><br />Another scene shows Jake coming to the Tree of Souls, as the gateway of speaking to Eywa, the goddess of Pandora, to pray for help in the coming battle. Jake is aware that 2000 warriors is not enough to take on the weaponry of the mining encampment. So he ask Eywa for help. Neytiri replies that Eywa only helps to maintain the balance of life, and does not interfere with such things as warfare. None the less, Jake prays as the best that he can do. In the ensuing battle the Na’vi warriors are being destroyed systematically and have no functional chance to win the battle. But then Eywa sends all of the large animals of Pandora to attack the Earthlings. Through this direct involvement of Eywa the battle is won. Neytiri is excited that Eywa had responded directly to Jake’s prayer and that good had triumphed over evil<br /><br />The third scene is after the decisive battle Jake asks Mo’at to again attempt a transfer of a human soul from a body to the Avatar body, but this time he asks it for himself. Jake’s human body is brought to the Tree of Life, as well as his Avatar body and this time the transfer works out properly. Jake is now integrally united to his Avatar body and will never go back to the human body. Jake is once and for all Na’vi.<br /><br />All of these scenes are wonderfully symbolic of things that are spoken of in the Bible. The greatest of all is that of Jesus. Jesus came to earth, as Jake came to Pandora. Jesus came, however, as a decision on the part of God to become a human being, once and for all. In this process the Holy Spirit implants Jesus into the womb of Mary. Jesus grows up, in harmony with the laws of human growth and becomes Jesus of Nazareth – the Anointed One – The Christ – The Messiah. Jesus became a part of mankind forever. He is now in heaven working in our behalf to help us become prepared for the Earth made new.<br /><br />The Bible does not view the planet Earth as a goddess. The Bible clearly declares that Jesus is the Creator of not only the Earth but of the universe. He is the Creator of everything in the universe living or not. Colossians 1:13-17 He is the One with all power and He is the One to Whom we are to pray and seek for help in times of peace as well as in times of crisis.<br /><br />On the other hand, the Bible clearly indicates that the Earth, as well, as people, are fearfully and wonderfully made. Every system of life on the Earth was designed by the infinite mind of God to be interdependent and interlocking. See Genesis 1 and 2. He made the Earth to be a perfect habitation for His most wonderful creation – Man. Man was unique in that Man was designed to be able to enter into the spiritual things of God. All other things were made to support Man, on Earth and for Man to watch over and nurture on Earth. Earth was a perfect place to give honor and glory to God. <br /><br />God warned Man not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but to eat of all of the trees of the Earth but to especially eat of the Tree of Life. If they would do this then no death would ever come to the planet. Yet Man sinned and turned away from God and listened to Satan – the one proved to be the enemy of Man and of God. When Man sinned against God, He initiated the plan that He had already planned out and that is that Jesus, the Everlasting Son of God, would come to the Earth to become a Man. Through His efforts all who chose could come to Him and He would effect a change of nature so profound that Man would be able to again come into harmony with God and to be able to live in the presence of a Holy God, whose very brightness was deadly to sin of any kind. When God was finished there would be a transfer of His life and power into the follower of God which would accomplish the miracle of being able to life the Christian life. This process is called salvation, and when it is done all evil will be removed from the world, the planet itself will be cleansed and restored to it’s Edenic beauty and Man will be able to live on this planet forever. <br /><br />So again the issues of the concept of Gaia are true in its limited manner. But the concepts involved in the worship of God are true in a comprehensive manner. God is not limited to one planer but is in charge, as the Creator, and Ruler of the entire universe. God can be talked to at any time though the miracle of prayer. God is always willing and interested in His children and any thing that effects them. Through His power God wants to change us from the effects of the disease of sin to that of living a life without sin, or it’s negative effects. When we become so aware of our limitations God will assist us in victory over sin, and will change us and bring us into harmony with Him and to be able to live in His presence for ever. All of this God offers us if we will but allow Him to communicate with us. All of this story is told in larger degree in His Bible. It is wonderful that Mr. Cameron has allowed God to lead him to present His truths in such a creative manner. Yet, God has more to offer than what has been presented in movies such as Avatar. God will come and communicate to you personally if you will but ask.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-60631011543816609602010-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:002010-04-07T13:57:34.823-07:00Avatar and the GospelThe gospel is one of those words that people use and they are often not very familiar with the theology that goes behind it. In the movie Avatar the gospel is revealed through the experience of almost every significant figure in the movie. Both bad and good responses tell the story of the gospel, of opportunities slighted and opportunities taken advantage of. But for simplicity’s sake let us focus on Jake Sulley and Colonel Quaritch.<br /><br />The movie starts with Jake leaving earth due to the death of his twin brother. Jake has decided to take the offer of the mining corporation who want Jake to fulfill the obligations of his brother whose DNA was used to make an Avatar for the mining corporation on Pandora. Duet to the DNA match Jake would save the corporation and would give Jake a new start. Jake could make good money and perhaps get the operation that would allow Jake to regain the use of his legs which he lost due to a spinal injury during his time as a Marine.<br /><br />When Jake made the final decision he was willing to leave his old world and head out for the new. With the death of his brother he no longer had any emotional attachments to Earth and could leave Earth and not look back. Pandora offered distance and the opportunity for a new life.<br /><br />When Jake arrives at Pandora he has spent several years in suspended animation while traveling to Pandora. Jake arrives at the mining station of Hell’s Gate and is able to ignore all of the comments that people make about his disability and is interested in learning about the new things in his sphere of influence. Jake meets Colonel Quaritch and they feel a mutual respect for each other due to their military activities on Earth. <br /><br />Soon, after this experience with the Colonel, Jake is able to have his first experience “driving” an Avatar body. Jake is overwhelmed by being in the Avatar for he can feel his feet again, although those feet belong to the body of the Avatar, rather than his own real feet. Jake runs out of the awakening room, and experiences running for the first time in years. Being in his Avatar body is an awakening to a new way of life and Jake enjoys it thoroughly.<br /><br />Soon after this Jake goes on a mission with the rest of the Avatar crew and we are shown Jake experiencing the newness of life in his Avatar body. He is able to do, to move, and to experience life at a level that he has almost forgotten about. While moving around in the field he encounters the larger life forms of Pandora and gets separated from the rest of his team. During this time he meets Neytiri who saves his life from Viper-wolves. Neytiri attempts to send Jake back to the Earthlings, but Jake asks for help from her. During the interchange the Tree of Souls communicates to Neytiri that Jake is different and something special. She decides to take Jake to meet the Shaman of the village, her mother. When Neytiri’s mother finishes her examination she allows Jake to stay and commands Neytiri to train Jake in the ways of the Na’vi. Jake is thrilled and passes this information on to the rest of the team when he returns to his real body during the time of rest for his Avatar body.<br /><br />Upon returning and sharing the information about the Na’vi accepting him and training him, Quaritch offers Jake a new life if Jake will get him pure data on the living arrangements of the Na’vi. For this information Quaritch will “take care of my own” by having the corporation grant Jake the funds sufficient to get the surgery necessary to restore his legs. Jake is willing to enter into this new opportunity for a new life. The Colonel is willing to give Jake 3 months to learn how to be a Na’vi and get the information and then the Colonel will have sufficient information to be able to properly attack the Na’vi. This is what is referred to in the Bible as an Old Covenant gospel the good news of a new life by working out an arrangement usually at the expense of other people and usually by some human method of change.<br /><br />For 90 days Neytiri trains Jake about the ways of life in her village and with her people. During this time Jake grows stronger as an Avatar, while his human body grows weaker. In the training process Jake has to wrestle with many new ideas of love, life, death, and the ways of a spiritual person. At the same time Jake is exposed to the ways of Colonel Quaritch and his views of life. Colonel Quaritch is a very simple and straightforward man. He is loyal to the corporation and he will do anything to accomplish his mission – not to save people but to fulfill the quota that he promised to assist with. The Colonel will do anything to fulfill his promise and nothing of the heart or of the spirit will change his direction. <br /><br />As the time draws near for a final decision Jake is torn between the new feelings he has develop for Neytiri, and her family and way of life, and those feelings for his earthly connections including Colonel Quaritch, and the science team that he has been sharing his observations with. Jake has been making great progress with Neytiri and she feels that he has made enough progress to take the final step of bonding with an Ikran – the flying dragons of Pandora. If he survives this final step he will be a man, in the eyes of the Na’vi, and will be accepted into the village as a man. <br /><br />Jake is allowed to go through the experience of bonding with his own selected Ikran and survives the harrowing process. As a result Jake is admitted into the fellowship of the Na’vi. As a result of this step he is allowed to accept a mate from the people and he chooses Neytiri and she chooses him. That very next morning Colonel Quaritch, and company, sends a bulldozer to start the mining process near the home tree and Jake decides to defend one of the sacred trees, as well as rescuing Neytiri. His loyalties are growing more and more distant from the mining company and the ways that they use to accomplish their goals. <br /><br />In the process of defending the sacred tree Jake attacks the bulldozer and takes away their sight – they can not see the literal forest, and they can not see the spiritual forest that surrounds them. Jake goes back to the home tree and attempts to warn the people of the coming of the mining camp. The people are distressed for the damage that the miners have done to the planet, and now to a sacred tree. While trying to explain what happened Colonel Quaritch sees Jake as a traitor and brings him back from the Avatar body to face the judgment. <br /><br />Colonel Quaritch accuses Jake of betraying the company for the sake of the native. Jake pleads with the company boss who gives him one hour to warn the Na’vi to leave the home tree area for that is where the company has come to mine the minerals under the home tree. Jake is rejected as a traitor by the Na’vi as he has been by the Earthlings and the Na’vi fight and end up losing their home in an attack by Colonel Quaritch in home tree itself. For a time he is persona non grata to both sides. Again Jake has to face his feelings and has to make decisions that will affect his destiny in life.<br /><br />After being rejected by the Na’vi, and by the Earthlings, he is given an opportunity to flee to the mountains with the Avatar crew. He decides that he will help the Na’vi come what may. He is able to regain his Avatar body and is granted an awareness of a plan of how to become the Toruk Makto, or the Messiah, of the Na’vi. He is able to link with the giant dragon of Pandora and when he arrives at the meeting with the Na’vi he is granted the opportunity to share the plan of saving Pandora that he has thought of. He rallies the other tribes and they have enough warriors to try to take over Hell’s Gate.<br /><br />Colonel Quaritch is also aware of the gathering of the warriors and initiates a plan to destroy the Tree of Souls and make a spiritual scar on the people so that they will never again attack the Hell’s Gate camp. The Colonel gathers his troops and sets out to attack the Na’vi. During this battle Eywa comes to the aid of Jake for Jake came to recognition that he would not be able to defeat the Colonel even with the help of the warriors. Jake is willing to surrender to the point of praying to Eywa, Pandora’s goddess of nature, to ask for help in defending the planet and the way of life of the Na’vi.<br /><br />In this great last battle Eywa sends the large animals to assist Jake and the battle is slowly won. During the battle Jake and the Colonel have a final encounter. Both Jake and Colonel Quaritch are in artificial bodies – Jake in his Avatar, and the Colonel in his robotic external suit. In the battle Jake decides that he wants to be with the Na’vi forever. When he wins the battle with the Colonel Jake asks if he can be transferred into his Avatar body forever and Eywa grants this request. Jake becomes a Na’vi forever.<br /><br />In the above brief description of the events of the movie Avatar, many different concepts were expressed. In the movie Jake finds his true love and is allowed, by the movie, to find true happiness, justice, and success. It has been this writer’s goal to reveal the gospel of the Bible in the various articles written about the symbolism incorporated in the movie Avatar. <br /><br />From the Bible’s perspective the movie tells the story of the gospel in a twisted way. God would have each person see the gospel of the Bible so that the joys displayed in the movie can be acquired in the way that God has intended for it to be acquired. From the Bible’s point of view Jake Sulley both Messiah – the Toruk Makto, and he is an individual in the process of accepting the gospel of Christ. Colonel Quaritch represents both the role of Satan, and the role of a sinner trying to decide to either follow God or to follow the things of the world. The interactions of these two figures – Jake, and the Colonel summarizes the story of the gospel<br /><br />Jake makes the decision to follow his heart and the Spirit of God. So each of us on Earth can follow the movings of the Holy Spirit and can respond to God when He reveals Himself to us on Earth. At the very same time there is a Satan and Satan wants to interfere with our relationship with God. As Jake discovered that there was a plan that was unfolding for him he was willing to let go of his old world and embrace truth as it came to him. So for us each of us we have to let go of the old and accept the new revelations granted to us by God. Jake had to accept help from one whom he could not see, so we have to accept help from a God that we can not see but that has provided abundant evidence of His presence and His power. When we are willing to see that the things of this world have little lasting value then we will make those final decisions that God requires in order to make a change in us.<br /><br />In the Bible each person can have a personal acquaintance with God. God will unfold events in such a manner that each individual will recognize that God, and no one else, is talking to us. Based on our decisions, in light of the information granted, God will work for us to draw us closer and closer to Him. When the final decision is made God has promised to give us a new body one like the one originally given to Adam – tall, powerful, intelligent, and immortal. We can have that body if we are willing to accept all of the gifts of the one true God – Jesus of Nazareth. If we accept God’s gifts then we will have the opportunity of going to heaven, and then will return to this earth to participate in the judgment scenes of the symbolic Colonel Quaritch – Satan. When Satan and all of his people are judged, then God will recreate this Earth and make it again like it was in the time of Eden. Then all of mankind will live in an environment much more glorious than that of Pandora.<br /><br />The story of the Bible is the offer of the gospel – the good news of total restoration to an open relationship with God. Each person will have the opportunity to receive this gift or to reject it. What will you do?Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-41044787164953288692010-04-07T09:31:00.000-07:002010-04-07T09:32:26.385-07:00Avatar and PrayerIn one of the pivotal scenes of the movie Jake recognizes that unless something supernatural happens, he, and his warriors have no chance of winning a battle against a seasoned and well armed Earthly military force. So with this thought in mind Jake goes to the Tree of Souls and submits to Eywa and asks for her help. Jake is not sure what it is that he is doing, or if it will be successful, but he asks from the perspective of one who has nothing to lose and everything to win.<br /><br />Neytiri was watching Jake in prayer and approved of the fact that he was praying at all but counseled Jake that Eywa only gets involved with supernatural support to maintain the balance of life. But she was happy that Jake was at least asking in the Na’vi manner. <br />Jake’s prayer was simple, heartfelt, and to the point. He needed help and he was willing to get help any way that he could even if it meant to pray.<br /><br />In the process of the movie, Jake, and his warriors attack and get soundly defeated. As the casualties mount Jake is discouraged and is wondering if he did the right thing to rally the warriors to fight knowing that they were no match for the advanced weaponry of the company. When everyone’s hope was lowest and Neytiri was contemplating sacrificing her life with one last attempt to kill an enemy, the sound of much movement is heard and what is seen is all of the larger animals of Pandora have been sent by Eywa to fight against the company. With the land animals fighting the ground troops and the Ikran fighting the helicopters all of a sudden the odds of winning the war increase for the Pandorans and Neytiri cries out that Eywa had heard Jake’s request and had answered his prayer. Eywa gives Jake, and the Pandoran warriors, the victory.<br /><br />James Cameron used the issue of prayer in a very successful manner in his movie – Avatar. He gave a wonderfully touching rendition of prayer through Jake and Neytiri. The Bible also tells us that prayer is an essential part of the relationship between man and God. God wants us to come to Him in faith trusting that He will answer prayers, and He will even prompt us to pray for things. In Romans 8:26 it says that the Holy Spirit, one of the three member of the Godhead, prays for us for we know not what we should pray for. <br /><br />Prayer, in the Bible, is a communicating link between God and man. God is all knowing, and foreknowing as well. God knows what we will pray about, what will happen, and He even prompts us to ask for specific things so that He can help us, and still keep us focused on the small tasks of life. <br /><br />In the Bible, God has prayers of all kind taking place. He encourages communication with Him at all levels and in all ways. The following are references for a variety of different prayers and communications:<br /><br />Genesis 3:8-19 Jesus comes looking for Adam and Eve to find out what happened to them.<br />Genesis 4:6-15 God’s communications with Cain about Abel.<br />Genesis 5:24 God’s interactions with Enoch were of such a nature that the Bible records it as walking with God, and God took Him.<br />Genesis 15:1-21 Interactions between God and Abraham.<br />Genesis 17:1-22 More interactions between God and Abraham.<br />Genesis 18:1-33 God informing Abraham about his son to be, and discussions about Sodom and judgment.<br />Genesis 21:1-20 God’s discussions with Abraham about Hagar and Ishmael and then God’s discussions with Hagar.<br />Genesis 24:1-27 Prayers about getting a wife for Isaac.<br />Genesis 28:10-22 God’s communications with Jacob and Jacob with God.<br />Genesis 32:24-31 Jacob wrestles and prays with God.<br />Exodus 3:1-22 God’s communications with Moses just prior to leading Israel out of Egypt.<br />Exodus 15:1-21 Israel’s prayer to God in song.<br />Exodus 20:1-26 God speaks to Israel and they become afraid and want an intercessor to speak for them rather than directly to God.<br />Exodus 33:9-34:28 God and Moses communicate with each other.<br />Joshua 2:1-21 Prayer between Rahab the Canaanite and God’s messengers.<br />Joshua 5:13-15 Prayer between Jesus and Joshua.<br />I Samuel 1:9-18 Hannah’s prayer for a son and God answer her through Eli.<br />II Samuel 7:1-29 David’s prayer of thanks to God for allowing him to have success and to have a son who will build the temple for God.<br />Psalms 51 David’s prayer of repentance for taking his friend’s wife and then for killing the friend.<br />I Kings 3:5-28 God and Solomon discuss spiritual gifts and then Solomon applies the spiritual gift in judging Israel.<br />II Chronicles 5:11-7:3 Solomon’s prayer to God to bless the temple and all of the worship activities that would be there and the various ways God responded to the prayer.<br />II Chronicles 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat’s prayer and God’s answer.<br />Daniel 9:1-27 Daniel’s prayer of repentance for Israel and God’s answer to the prayer.<br />Luke 1:26-56 Mary and Elizabeth’s prayers of thanksgiving for the births of God’s forerunner and the Messiah.<br />Luke 1:67-80 Zacharias’s prayer of praise for the Messiah.<br />Matthew 5:1-7:28 Jesus, the Son of God, communicates His holy will to His people.<br />John 17:1-1-26 Jesus’ prayer to His Father in Heaven for His disciples.<br /><br />The above list is a small sampling of a variety of prayers that shows how God speaks to His people and how they speak to Him. All through the Scriptures God shows how He handles difficult situations and how He chooses to take care of His people. II Chronicles 20:1-30 is one of those crisis situations similar to the experience that James Cameron attempts to reveal in the movie Avatar.<br /><br />It is this writer’s hope that as you meditate upon the events of the movie Avatar that you to would seek to have a prayer experience with the real God of the universe. As the people above prayed in faith to Him which can not be seen but whom we can experience, God answered those sincere prayers and revealed enough of Himself that they wanted to have a deeper experience. This opportunity He offers to you today. Read the prayers, and then read the stories and by reading them your faith will be strengthened and you to will seek God to have your own personal experience with Him. This is the promise of the Bible. That which was intimated in the movie of Avatar, can be experienced in reality through direct communications with God.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-30846206837751583462010-03-21T23:42:00.000-07:002010-03-21T23:43:15.595-07:00Avatar and the ResurrectionOne of the interesting themes in the movie Avatar was how often Jake’s Avatar appeared to die in front of the Na’vi. If something happened to Jake’s communication chamber, interrupting his connection with his Avatar it would appear that Jake died and then he would come back to life when reconnected with his Avatar. To me this was very similar to the Bible concept of resurrection – the process in which God recreates the body and reconnects the individual – his thoughts, memories, and awareness, with his body. The resurrection is one of the major themes in the body and explains how a person can die and then come back to life to face the judgment scene – either for good or for bad. <br /><br />The first resurrection story is in Genesis 22, where Abraham is to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Abraham understands from God that he is to take his son to Mount Moriah and there he is to kill his son as an offering to God. Abraham goes through the whole process and is fully prepared to offer his son. When he starts to put a knife into the chest of his son, God stops Abraham and Isaac is rescued from death and Abraham receives his son back from the “dead”. Hebrews 11:17-19 states the following:<br /><br />“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” <br /><br />The second story of resurrection is told in the story of Joseph. Joseph becomes Pharaoh of Egypt’s right hand man and is responsible for rescuing all of Egypt from death by starvation during the 7 years of famine spoken of in Genesis 40-42. After saving all of Egypt Joseph predicts that God will deliver Israel and when that happens, even though it is many years after the death of Joseph, he asks that Israel will take is bones with them when they leave Egypt. Genesis 50:24-26 This is another figure of resurrection.<br /><br />The first actual resurrection of a dead person is the story of Moses. God clearly describes the death and burial of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:1-7. He also comments into the process of Moses’ resurrection in Jude 9. We know that Moses was resurrected because he shows up in the story of Jesus, many years after his death, and is one of the two men that come to comfort Jesus in his time of distress in Matthew 17:1-4. <br /><br />We know that the Bible states that when a person is dead he is unable to communicate love, anger, hatred, revenge, or any human thought or experience. The Bible says that “the dead know not any thing…” Ecclesiastes 9:4-10 Since the dead know not any thing, then in order to communicate with mankind the dead must experience a resurrection, a returning to the world of the living. <br /><br />There are many more examples of the resurrection of the dead in the Bible. There are several in the Old Testament – II Kings 4:8-37; II Kings 13: 20-21 - and several in the New Testament writings – Luke 7:11-17; Luke 8:49-56; Matthew 27:50-53. Perhaps the greatest single resurrection is that of Lazarus in John 11. In this story John is dead for 4 days and has started to decompose, when Jesus comes to visit the family of Joseph and comfort them for the loss of their brother Lazarus. Jesus gives us the most detailed speech on the subject of the resurrection and then resurrects His friend Lazarus. This resurrection places a seal of God on Jesus<br /><br />The next major resurrection is that of Jesus Himself. All four of the gospels discuss the various aspects of the resurrection and how God conducts His business. The Bible states that Jesus was able to lay down His own life and then to pick it back up. John 10:17-18<br /><br />Finally God tell us that there will be two final resurrections – one for the righteous and one for the wicked. John 5:25-29 says the following:<br /><br />“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. “<br /><br />Each person will decide which resurrection he/she will be in. If they choose to accept Jesus as God, then they will be in the resurrection that comes about when Jesus returns for the second time. This resurrection is discussed in I Corinthians 15:51-58 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18. The resurrection of damnation occurs a thousand years later at the third coming of Christ. Revelation 20:1-15<br /><br />James Cameron was kind enough to give us the symbolism of the resurrection in his movie Avatar. God was kind enough to give us the reality. I pray that as we evaluate these things we will choose the reality over the symbolism and the fantasy. The choice is ours; the gift of the reality is God’s. He longs for us to be resurrected to live with Him forever.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-51450798222122954632010-03-21T00:26:00.000-07:002010-03-21T00:27:11.233-07:00Avatar and HellIn the movie Avatar, the name of the mining camp is “Hell’s Gate”. This apparently is a statement that when you leave the fenced camp you were entering into someone’s perceptions of hell – meaning a gateway to death. The basic understanding was that the planet'’ atmosphere was death producing to humans, the animal life was dangerous to humans, the plant life had some deadly components, and then the people of Pandora – the Na’vi were also antagonistic to human beings and would try to shoot them with poison arrows. All of these death-producing things were present on the planet, and thus the warning that the mining camp was the gateway to hell.<br /><br />In the Bible there is a similar story with some major differences. In the Bible story there was no death in the Garden of Eden. Nothing killed, and nothing harmed in God’s kingdom. Isaiah 11:9. God put only one warning sign up and that was that Adam and Eve were not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If Adam and Eve left that tree alone, there would never be death of any kind. On the other hand if Adam and or Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, then death would come. <br /><br />As the story unfolds Eve eats of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She eats because she accepts the thoughts of a speaking serpent/dragon. See Genesis 3:1-7, 14; Revelation 12:9. When she eats of the fruit, she then becomes the medium of temptation to Adam. When he chooses to eat of the same fruit, he concludes that he is naked and would be ashamed to come into the presence of God with no clothing. God comes at His normal time to talk to Adam and Eve and finds that they are now afraid to talk to Him. God asks if they had eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and they prove they had by their blaming one another. After discussing it, God offers them new clothing that is purchased by blood and death. Genesis 3:21 Thus, the first death that happens on earth is a symbol of the coming of the true Avatar – Jesus Christ.<br /><br />After God clothes them with clothing that He made for them, He then informs Adam and Eve that they must leave the Garden of Eden and they must leave the Tree of Life. Thus death is inevitable for Adam and Eve for they no longer can eat of the tree that brings healing and life. In time Adam and Eve will die. <br /><br />Shortly after leaving Eden, Adam and Eve come face to face with death again. In Genesis 4 death comes to their second born son at the hands of their first born son. Cain kills Abel over the struggle of whether to bring an offering of fruit and vegetables or to bring an offering that symbolizes the slain life of Jesus. Cain is upset that God did not accept his sacrifice while God did accept the sacrifice of Abel. This disagreement led to the death of Abel and the running away of Cain. <br /><br />This process continued with increasing frequency until by the time of the flood people were thinking evil thoughts continually and when people think evil thoughts all of the time they get violent. One of the concepts from the Old Testament is that when Israel turned away from God they practiced human sacrifice in the sense of offering up their children to their heathen but non-existent gods. They offered their children as sacrifices by making them pass through the fire. II Kings 23:10; II Chronicles 33:6. After 120 years God sent a flood to wash away the sins of the world, but in the act of cleansing there was death to all of the animals, and people on the planet Earth except for those animals and people on the Ark that Noah built by God’s instructions.<br /><br />After the flood, the same selfishness of people began to manifest itself again in the meanness of people toward one another. All of the things that people did before the Flood were repeated by their children after the Flood, which eventually led to God confounding the language of man. This would slow down the negative process but man still found ways to think of evil continually. Man seemed to love death while rejecting life. The selfishness of man seemed to know no bounds, yet God, through His people Israel, tried to offer man another way – that of life. Israel, as a nation, was raised up to show an alternate way of life through obedient connection with God. All who would, could, and eventually would live forever and return to a way of life that nothing was to die or to harm one another.<br /><br />Yet Israel did not do a very good job of revealing the life of surrender to God. They most often left their post with God and went to worship other Gods. They often ended up practicing the same behaviors as those who hated God. This went on for hundreds of years until the time finally came where God Himself came to be among the people. God lasted a few short years on Earth until He was hung on a cross and died. After His death Jesus Christ became the First to be raised from the dead. By this I do not mean that Jesus was the first to be raised from the dead, but that by His resurrection authorization had been given for all of those resurrected from the dead in the Old Testament times and those in the New Testament times. God revealed that there was a solution to the death problem and that solution was God Himself. <br /><br />This process of rebellion against God, as started by Adam and Eve, has continued all through time down to the year 2010. God has revealed that any rebellion against Him, and His law, creates death. With death comes the trip to the grave. But God’s goal is to remove death once and for all time. God plans to bring everyone to an understanding that to live means to surrender in love to God. To die means to enter into rebellion against God and the principles of life. God offers us freedom to choose, but all must choose and deal with the consequences of that choice. <br /><br />One of the interesting concepts in the Bible is that of death. One of the odd things that death presents is that all who follow death must end up in the grave. All through the Bible the name given for the grave was hell. Psalms 16:10; 86:13 marginal reference; Proverbs 7:27; I Corinthians 15:55 marginal reference; Revelation 20:13-14. Thus, Avatar’s Hell’s Gate is a way of stating that all who go through this gate love death and want the grave, or are willing to go to the grave. In the movie all of the people who had come to Pandora were willing to die because of the high potential reward. Pandora was supposed to be a very dangerous place to be but all that came were willing to take the risks. <br /><br />In the Bible the stakes are a little higher. God did not intend for anyone to die on Earth and He did not make anything evil or harmful. God says, “an enemy has done this”. Matthew 13:27-28. God did not want anyone to go to the grave. But when God warned man not to sin, He told them that in the day that they would sin then death would come to them and they would then go to “hell” or to the grave. <br /><br />But God also had a solution for all those who would go to the grave. God promised to resurrect them to eternal life, if they wanted it. God does not want to be separated from us. He wants us to live forever and to be with Him. All who will choose Him can have the gift of eternal life and to be resurrected to heaven, and then eventually to return to Earth. But for this to occur each one of us must have a personal experience with God. If we choose to do this He will resurrect us from the grave, and eventually He will destroy death and destroy the grave, because no one else will ever go there.<br /><br />This little study is a response to Avatar’s message of “Hell’s Gate”. God recognizes what hell’s gate means – that we have chosen to reject God and have chosen death over life. God wants us to live forever with Him, we can choose to reject eternal death today. Even though we may die, and go to the grave, yet the promise of God is available to us, He will come and resurrect us and we will live forever. What choice will you make today?Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-81005758031459835122010-03-10T23:45:00.000-08:002010-03-10T23:46:27.040-08:00Avatar’s DragonsIn the movie Avatar one of the right of passage experience is to go on a strenuous climb to find a dwelling place for the smaller of Pandora’s dragon species the Ikran. Jake is told that he is to find one of the Ikran and he will know if it has chosen him by the attempt to kill Jake. If Jake can subdue his Ikran then he can connect with his antenna, the queue, and complete the process of Tsahaylu. When Tsahaylu is completed then Jake would be able to control his Ikran and become a successful member of the clan. He would have proved that he was a successful man and have passed the tests of manhood and be a functional member of the village. Jake, on completion of subduing his Ikran, would be thought of as a successful hunter and warrior. When Jake completed his growth tasks he would then be considered eligible to mate with one of the females of the clan. All of these things Jake accomplished and in a positive manner. <br /><br />It is interesting that Mr. Cameron chose to use a flying dragon as one of the symbols of growth and maturity in the culture of the Na'vi. In the Bible a flying serpent, Isaiah 14:29, is used to communicate an evil messenger, someone to avoid if at all possible. The dragon, or the great serpent, is named Satan – the Adversary. Revelation 12:9. This adversary came to Adam and Eve and tempted them to rebel against the revealed will of God, and thus introduced sin into the world and opened Pandora’s box. Sin led to death and destruction. <br /><br />The use of a dragon in Avatar is an interesting mix of symbols. In the movie Avatar, friendship with a dragon is a function of becoming an adult in the Na’vi culture. There is a greater dragon – the Great Leonopteryx – that is so deadly that few make any connection with this dragon. But there is an occasional hero that is able to make Tsahaylu with the Great Leonopteryx and when that rare thing happens the hero is called Toruk Makto and he is able to lead all of the tribes of Pandora together. <br /><br />In James Cameron’s mind, the dragons of Pandora are used for positive purposes, to show maturity, courage, and to allow the warrior access to the air to be a greater hunter and thus a greater deliverer. In the Bible’s perspective contact with the Dragon is to open the door to being deceived and to be harmed in some way. God warns us to stay away from the dragon, in any of his forms, and to stay focused on Jesus. To not go through the rite of passage ceremonies by keeping your distance and not entering into a deep, personal, and emotional contact with a dragon would be good in the eyes of God. It would show a dependence upon God and trust in Him to care for all of the needs of the culture as well as the needs of the individual.<br /><br />In conclusion, God warns us to flee from the dragon and we will be blessed. Avatar encourages us to have contact with the dragon and that this contact leads to blessings and social advancement. Each person has to make these decisions for themselves. God has revealed His holy will to man through the stories He has told us. We have seen the impact of sin on people and we have seen the destruction of peoples, cities, and nations through their disobedience to the will of God. The concept of uniting with a Dragon in the mind of God is to commit sin and to turn against God and against your community; this God warns of and encourages us to stay faithful to Him so that He can do great things for us. Stay away from the dragons, in any shape, form, or culture. The True, and real God, has warned us to flee from dragons and enjoy sweet communion with Him. Today we can choose the fantasy or to choose the real and the true.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088692830115515185.post-49413221795200269372010-03-01T23:46:00.001-08:002010-03-01T23:46:58.891-08:00Avatar and the State of the DeadIn the movie Avatar there were several presentations of the dead. In one scene a dead member of the Na’vi is shown being prepared for burial and a seed from the Tree of Souls is placed in the burial place. Apparently this seed was to be a connecting link to the soul of the dead family member. <br /><br />In another scene Neytiri is presented as attempting to explain to Jake how the Tree of Souls keeps an account of each dead member of the tribe. The dead people, and their memories, are retained in the Tree of Souls and anyone can come to the tree and “connect” to this record of lives and thoughts. Apparently one could communicate with the record of the dead one but perhaps not to the person himself or herself. <br /><br />In the Bible the state of the dead is a complex set of concepts. God tells us in Genesis 2:7 that God made a living soul out of the dust of the ground and then God breathed into the person the breath of life and he/she became a living soul. This formula requires to parts to be a living soul – a body and the breath of life. Without either of these to parts the living soul does not take place. In Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 God tells us that when death occurs that the body breaks back down into dust, and the spirit, or life energy, returns to God. Thus the living soul comes to an end.<br /><br />Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 gives us some additional information as to what happens to us when we die. It says:<br /><br />1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. <br />2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. <br />3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. <br />4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. <br />5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. <br />6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. <br />7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. <br />8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. <br />9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. <br />10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. <br /><br />In this text God tells us that we will all die, unless we are translated to heaven without seeing death. Death happens to all people and if the normal process occurs we all will experience this death process. When we die, the Bible says that our love, hatred, envy, knowledge, and wisdom all stops. There is no communication with the dead for all mental, and physical processing, is terminated. God even goes so far as to say that all our thoughts perish (Psalms 146:4) and that we no longer can praise God. Psalms 115:17 So from the Word of God all cognitive processing stops and ceases to function. <br /><br />An interesting question comes up and that is many people claim to have communications with the dead, or tap into the memories of the dead, as in the Tree of Souls in the movie Avatar. If we use the Bible to guide our thoughts, since it is God who only knows all about life or death, then we are instructed not to seek wisdom from the dead. God wants us to seek wisdom and instruction from the living, He wants us to come to Him and He will grant us wisdom and truth. He does not want us to seek other avenues of information controlled by Satan, He wants us to come to Him and He will guide us.<br /><br />“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it I because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19-20<br /><br />“When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. <br />For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” Deuteronomy 18:9-14<br />(Necromancers are people who attempt to communicate with the dead, and familiar spirits are the supposed spirits of dead people dwelling in animals to communicate their thoughts to Necromancers, Wizards, and Witches. God forbids all of this.)<br /><br />God is aware that Satan has chosen to attempt to communicate his will through avenues that God has forbidden us. The reason He forbids this is because the information sent to us from Satan is based totally on deception, error, and sin. Satan attempts to use avenues that God has forbidden. All communication with the dead can not happen because God says that the dead do not think, feel, share, praise, or anything, for they are dead. The dead do not communicate. So any communications that supposedly come from the dead come from Satan, not from God. Therefore all “communications” with the dead come from Satan, not from the person that can not communicate until they are resurrected. God wants to communicate the truth, and only the truth, Satan wants to communicate error to prevent us from trusting in God.<br /><br />So God’s answer to the dead is to allow them to “sleep” until Jesus comes to awaken them again. I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18 When He puts the breath of life back into their bodies, they will then be able to communicate again. Until then they simply rest in God and are not aware of anything under the sun. <br /><br />Satan, on the other hand, wants to communicate with us his thinking. He wants us to distrust God and to disobey Him. Satan communicated this thought to Eve and through her distrust in God, and trust in Satan, she opened the proverbial Pandora’s box and introduced sin to Adam and then they disobeyed God and ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus they introduced death to the Earth, something that God did not want to occur. So all communication with Satan will eventually produce death if accepted, for Satan always wants to do anything and everything that God forbids. <br /><br />So, as in all things, God has given us a choice. We can obey Him and prosper or we can disobey Him and get into trouble. God wants us to have truth only. He does not want us to have error for error produces death. So leave the dead alone and allow God to watch over them until the resurrection takes place. Let us connect with God and get all of the knowledge we can possibly use and live a life that will help all around us.Greg Goodchildhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11316476372143868088noreply@blogger.com0