Jun 3, 2019
What You'll Hear:
- Jim was baptized in the church as an infant in the Catholic Church.
- They moved to Wisconsin and attended a Lutheran Church. They met an Evangelical Christian family in the neighborhood who invited them to a Bible Study in their home and Jim made a personal commitment to Christ
- He went to Seminary after college, did some full-time ministry, then returned to get his PhD and now is a part of the Catholic church.
- Those who are blessed to have jobs to talk about God as their day job, on one hand is easier because people expect us to behave and talk a certain way
- It can be a temptation for those in full-time ministry to let that be enough and not take their spirituality to the next level
- No matter what your day job is, it's important to be intentional about, not let life pass you buy but be proactive and ask how you are going to be engaged
- For those who work in the church or academia, there are just as many temptations to waffle on their ethics as those in the business world
- Jim's most recent book is a historical fiction novel called "A Week in the Life in Rome", which includes a back story to real characters in the New Testament
- Jim had 2 goals for his book "From Star Wars to Superman: Christ Figures in Science Fiction and Superhero Films" 1) make the case that the story of Christ is hardwired into our psyche 2) Use science fiction stories to teach about the real Christ
- Since we're made in the image of God, our brains are hard-wired to receive the reality of the incarnation. The proof of that is the way these stories are written even by unbelievers
- The question is how well the heroes in these stories line up with the real hero, Jesus Christ
- At the end of the day, these heroes are all about salvation.
- Depending on where you are in your journey, you perhaps should only consume Christian movies and music
- There are some movies that no Christian should ever watch, there are other movie you shouldn't watch with your family, and there are other movies that have a subtle message that it's important to recognize
- There are anti-Christian common themes in a lot of movies that are driven by the atheistic beliefs of those who wrote them
- Sci-fi often comes with atheistic assumptions, like "Religion is somehow holding us back from our true potential", like on Star Trek. You need to have your eyes open to this so it doesn't sink in
- The big misconception is that Christianity is against science and the example they use is Galileo, which is a myth
- Most of the great scientific discoveries were by Christians and funded by the church
- Orthodox means correct belief, our Christian beliefs as defined by Scripture and by the History of the Church
- Science Fiction includes some type of technical explanation even if it's not proven now, Fantasy is like magic, there's no explanation other than a different set of laws or physics. The line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy is become blurred
- Something like Lord of the Rings is more Fantasy than Science Fiction
- Anthropology is what we believe about humanity
- Christology is what we believe about Christ the Savior
- Incarnation is when God comes into human history, when the 2nd person Trinity acquires a human nature and he's both God and man
- Soteriology is what we believe about salvation
- 2 heresies are salvation by example and salvation by enlightenment
- Only salvation by divine intervention is consistent with Christianity
- The orthodoxy score chart in Jim's book rates movie characters as to the degree to which they are similar to Christ using the elements in the Nicene Creed
- Sonny from IRobot is very high on the orthodoxy chart, because of Christ's 2 natures. He has 2 brains, one where his head should be and the other where his heart should be. Heresies include modalism which minimizes the differences between the 3 persons of the Trinity, and patropassionism, which puts the father on the cross instead of the son
- Wonderwoman and Superman were higher on the orthodoxy than the other Superheroes because they start out as divine and become one of us, rather than starting out as one of us and becoming divine (as with Batman).
- In Terminator movies, both Kyle Reese and the Terminator are the Christ figures because they sacrifice themselves
- In Planet of the Ape, written by Rod Serling an atheist, the Christ figure is Taylor in the original movie. Dr. Zaius is the Chief Defender of the Faith and the Chief Scientist, who knows the truth that he doesn't want the people to know.
- The Matrix has many overt references to the Bible, but scores lower in orthodoxy, proving the point that unbelievers can use Christian beliefs and symbols to promote a skewed view of what salvation is and what is needed from a savior
- Salvation in the Matrix is not about atonement, it's about enlightenment
- George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, said he hoped his movies would encourage young people to believe in God, but not a particular religion, but the movies do present a specific religious view
- Star Wars is adoptionist or arionism, salvation by example, combined with salvation by enlightenment
- Obi-wan-kenobi is the Christ figure. The balance of good and evil is more important than good overcoming evil
- God can't be manipulated by evil, so God is not the Force.
- If balance of good and evil is the goal, then that means that evil is necessary
- Some new age cults come close to the beliefs in Star Wars
- Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, believed religion was good to keep people in line but ultimately humanity will grow out of religion
- The episode that dealt the most with religion is from Star Trek: Next Generation about Kahless. They present a human only savior and they say it only matters that we listen to what he teaches, "perhaps the message is more important than the man"
- There is a Klingon proverb referenced "questioning is the beginning of wisdom", a rip-off of "the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"
- These Sci-Fi stories are a great conversation starter, allowing you to talk about the Gospel through these movies
- www.JimPapandrea.com or www.DrJimsBooks.com