In Your Anger...

Greetings Warriors and Scholars,

How goes the waiting for Captain America:Civil War? I am quite excited for this film, although I am also excited for a next weeks Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well (because of some blue characters making an appearance).

Last night's episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. was all about Hive and the brainwashed Inhuman group he is building. Also, it was about trying to find a way to rescue Daisy. They found that the parasite creates an addiction for being in its presence on a bio-chemical level. When Fitz came into contact with Daisy, it was not a reunion he could enjoy. She used her quake power to hold him against a wall, choking him. All the time she was saying she didn't want to hurt him.

I'm sure you have never done this. I mean, why would you? Why would any of us? But we do act like this. We cover our angry actions and our sin with our so called good intentions. Just today I feel like I could have handled some things differently as I was subbing at a high school. It happens to all of us.

Monday a class I was subbing in watched part of a documentary on stress. They had watched half of it earlier and we were just finishing it.In the study of stress one man has been using Baboons. One of the groups he watched went through a big change years ago. Baboons tend to be very angry and nasty creatures. The males that lead the pack tend to be violently aggressive toward other males and females. In this group, a bunch of the aggressive males found a dump of bad meat, tainted with Tuberculosis. It killed them all, leaving the group with gentle males. As time progressed and other males came to join the group, they would try to stay aggressive and mean. But within six months they learned that this group doesn't act that way. You change or you leave. The guy doing the study made this interesting evaluation: if baboons can change a whole culture like that, we have no excuse as humans.

Scripture warns us about our behavior in so many ways. One proverb takes a lesson from ants. James uses many natural observations as analogies. A different proverb warns us about sinning in our anger. James warns us about how our words can be dangerous weapons. Think about how all this can get bad as you are watching Civil War. I have a feeling "it is all connected" as Marvel keeps saying.

Superheroes and Morality

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!

A few days ago I read a Polygon article about why superheroes don't kill their enemies. This was well written and I think the author, Susana Polo, did a good job expressing her concern about the articulation writers use in saying why superheroes don't kill. You can read it here. Her main point was that superheroes, on some level, believe the system can still work. That the justice system can still solve crimes and protect the innocent.

I would say it goes far deeper than that, though. God has given us many pictures of Himself throughout creation and even life itself. Marriage is meant to be a picture of the relationship between Christ and His Church. Nature shows us different aspects of who God is. Romans 1 speaks of God's wrath and His speaking of truth to humanity.

"...since what may be known, about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:19-20

We all know that it is not our job to decide who lives and who dies. God placed this moral code in us. Unfortunately we also have a different moral code working in us. This is called sin and it is a code of selfishness that pushes all limits when we allow it to do so. Sin says "do what you want, consequences are irrelevant." Or, it says "you know what you are doing so why bother with listening to that other message?" This is why we have so many villains in life. Why some think it is ok to treat others with disrespect. To control everything. As you read further in Romans you will find Paul discussing the war of these two differing motivations.


I say that we don't allow killing because we know that God has a better punishment for them. Even if we claim not to believe in God, we know that He will hold each person responsible for their actions, including our own. Why doesn't Daredevil kill? Because he knows he's accountable to God for his actions. Daredevil is a catholic. He has gone to confession. Heck, the first person in the MCU to really know what Matt was doing at night was his priest.

Agents of SHIELD got into a similar argument last night. Daisy and Mac were discussing how to find out where the watchdogs were and she suggested "shaking someone down". Now, this is a strategy that Batman and Daredevil have used. Beating info out of someone who knows something. It works. We, as humans, will crack under those kinds of pressure. But Mac said something about it. "This is not about them, it is about us. We are supposed to be different." This is where things sometimes break down with superheroes. They take certain liberties the authorities can not take and it is not always a good thing. This is why The Flash sometimes gets on edge with The Green Arrow in the Arrowverse. The Flash does not accept fear tactics as legitimate or trustworthy. Instead, he goes to science for his info and he inspires people to get info from them.

The possibility of being able to win without changing gets argued often. When Elektra and Matt have this discussion about killing, he says this: "It's not hard. It's impossible. But it's a choice. I make it every day, sometimes every second. And you can to." When we are not capable of dealing with something without sin, we turn to Christ. He strengthens us and motivates us for righteousness. 

Do we as humans believe in a justice system? Yes, but not because of a societal system. We believe in a justice system because God has endowed it with rights. God has given us a deep seeded notion of justice but it isn't just about the system. It is about who we are both within and without that system. Not killing is a choice. Rather than an inaction it is an action of recognition; that God will decide the fate of this person, not you.

Theory about an MCU Character

Normally I do not talk only about fandom here on Nerd Chapel.  I like to keep Jesus in the front as He has been amazingly good to me.  Today I had a fun idea that I wanted to share with you.

I just had a thought about casting for an Marvel Cinematic Universe roll that I think is amazing but might be a bit unconventional and I would love to hear your opinion about this.  This is just a theory and may be fully wrong, so take this with a grain of salt. 

A few things we know about the MCU:

1.  Many new properties are being talked about, including Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and multiple others. 
2.  We know that they are willing to take many episodes on Agents of SHIELD to build up to a comic book character (take Deathlock as an instance).
3.  We know that they have a lot of time to lay ground work in Agents of SHIELD for phase 3 as well as for Avengers: The Age of Ultron.

Now, one of the surprises in the Agents of SHIELD that all the Whedonites loved was the casting of Ron Glass as a doctor in SHIELD ranks.  Ron played "Shepard Booker" on Firefly/Serenity, a character who became a mentor figure on the show.

SPOILER:

In the most recent episode of Agents of SHIELD Dr. Strange got name-dropped by Simmons while calling for help in taking care of Skye, but later she mentioned not Strange but Streiton (Ron Glass) while reporting to Agent Coulson.

WHAT IF......

the name "Dr. Strange" is a nickname or codename amongst SHIELD science staff for Dr. Streiton, who is played by Ron Glass and Ron Glass is actually cast as Dr. Strange?! 

To my knowledge this would be a different route than anyone is expecting.  I think it could work.  We have seen how frustrated Streiton is with medical technology and SHIELD's use of it from his conversation with Coulson a few episodes ago.  Maybe this is the beginning of his interest in other possibilities for helping people.  And he was involved with "T.A.H.I.T.I. the Magical Place". 

What do you guys think?  Am I off on this?  Do you like this idea or hate it or just not care?