Synths and Meekness

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!

Found on IMDB.com

Have you been watching "Humans" on AMC this season? This show is about androids gaining free will and emotions of their own in our present world. I am 4 episodes in to season 3 and it is getting interesting. Spoilers ahead. If you remember from the season 2 finale, the code allowing Synths to gain their own feelings and will was released into the open. Now, hundreds or even thousands of Synths are trying to make it through life, of some sort, with distrust and anger around them from others. Some have turned violent while others are seeking peaceful initiatives to handle the situation.

At one point Max, played by Ivanno Jeremiah is talking with a small camp of Synths that he is leading. He tells them:

"To human eyes we are all guilty. We are all killers. That is how they will see us now so we must be beyond reproach. We must stay open. Show them mercy when they extend none. Forgiveness when they deserve none. And when they strike us down, we must reach out to them. Some will reach back, not many. But those that take our hand will not let go. Believe me."

"You mean to surrender."

 "No, to appeal to what is best in them."

Have you heard similar discussion before? Martin Luthor King said similar things when he was leading the peaceful protests of the civil rights movement. Gandhi had similar views for his movement to gain freedom for India.  Jesus also taught such ideals.

You have heard that it was said 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,' but I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.                        Matthew 5:38-42

 Jesus goes on in the next few verses about loving our enemies. Not he does not say that we do not have enemies, but that we should treat them as anyone else. At one point he says. "If you only love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" (Matt. 5:46).

Keep in mind that meekness is not weakness. It is controlling your power and trusting God to handle it. Essentially, it means allowing God to decide when and how you use your power.

There is no scripture that says that vengeance is never earned, In fact Romans 3:23 tells us that "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But we are also told in Romans 12:19 to "...leave room for God's wrath..." It is not our job to dish out punishment. That job belongs to God alone. Instead, we are encouraged to offer friendship and peace. This is not always easy and is not always "cuddly" either. There will be disagreements and we must work together in spite of them rather than try to push on each other. You don't have to be a Carebear or a Pony, but you do need to treat others with respect. Sometimes the most powerful thing a warrior can do is to take a hit and not hit back.

In our social and political climate right now we need these skills more than ever. I am not perfect at all of this myself but fortunately for all of us there is grace and help from Jesus if we accept it.

Doctor Morbius and Hidden Attitudes

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.

Found on IMDB.

Last week sometime I sat down to watch a classic 1950s film on TV: "Forbidden Planet". The film features Leslie Nielson as a commander of a space crew that comes to check on a colony many years after it had landed. Walter Pidgoen plays Doctor Morbius, who with his daughter Altaira (played by Anne Francis), are the last survivors of that expedition. He claims the others were killed off by some unseen monster but he is happy to stay with his daughter and a robot, named Robbie. He prefers that the crew leave but they need to contact Earth for new orders.

Spoilers ahead.

As the crew stays and tries to build a comm setup that would reach Earth, since apparently they have traveled to far for their ships equipment to do so, they come under attack. Something comes into their ship leaving damage as it came, but no one who was on duty at the time saw anything. Another time it does kill/injure some of the crew.

While going to see Morbius about this, the Commander learns that he has become somewhat of an archaeologist and is studying a race of creatures that is long gone but left a rather large facility with highly advanced technology. In one of the labs, there is a device that works with a persons mental capabilities. It can create images of what you imagine and Morbius has used it to train his mind. In fact, the reason they have the robot Robbie is because of the tech and knowledge left by this long dead civilization.

Morbius is rather arrogant. After years of this mental work, he feels he is the only person who can decide when or if any of this technology or knowledge gets out to the rest of mankind. He tried to kick the commander out off the planet right away when they first met. He is a man who wants to be left alone to study. He does not value companionship, aside from maybe his daughter, and thinks his work is more important than anything else.

I think Doctor Morbius would be a good pharisee. When Jesus was doing ministry he had a lot of arguments with them. They were arrogant and felt they did not need this man who could do miracles. They thought they should decide what people knew about God and that they held a monopoly on how to interact with Him. They had ancient knowledge and they were fine without the Son of God.

In reality, the system was never meant to work without the Son of God. All the sacrifices the priests made were temporary. It was a system that kept man in constant red tape; always having to atone for this and for that. No sacrifice could change out hearts, except one, that of Jesus.

In the end, Morbius found that his own "Id", or his own inner mind, was responsible for the monster that kept killing everyone. His own selfishness came out through the machine he had used to train his mind. It created this invisible force that would attack anyone he did not trust. Just as our own sin put Jesus on the cross.

How does your selfishness affect those around you? Do you ever try to do things alone that are meant to be done in community? Sometimes as humans we are blind to our own sin. We don't see how it affects others but just like an invisible monster, our attitude comes out.

Jesus warned us about this. "You have heart it said, "Do not murder" but that anyone who does so is subject to judgement. I tell you, anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement. (Matthew 5:21-22). Yet, He also took our sin upon Himself. Romans 8 tells us that in Christ we are freed from this law of sin and death and given over to the law of life.