From Nothing to Everything

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.

I feel like it has been a while since I posted. It probably has. This weekend is GrandCon! I am excited to play games, hang out, and have the chapel service there Sunday morning. I hope you can join us!

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/justice-league-for-the-man-who-has-everything-98453

Well, today I watched an episode of Justice League Unlimited, specifically episode 2 of season 1 "The Man who Has Everything." You see, Superman gets stuck with a plant that feeds him a simulation of his hearts desire and leaves him standing there caught up in it. Batman and Wonder Woman come by for his birthday and find him in this state and have to free him from it while fighting off Mongo.

In this simulation running through his head he is fully convinced, for a time, that he is back on Krypton with a wife and son. He owns a farm and has a dog. He isn't fighting anyone and has a simple life. But it isn't real. None of it is.

Lust is similar. It offers us fake ideas of life with sex or stuff or attention from others, but it isn't real and it isn't helpful either. It takes you away from the real life and from what God has for you simply by distracting you. I have struggled with this a lot and it simply does not fulfill me or anyone.

Consider the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapters 5-7. Jesus told us that lust is the same as committing adultery. He also said that hate is the same as killing. Basically, our attitude toward others is important even if we think it won't affect them. God wants the attention we give others to be honorable, even if it is just attention in our heads.

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41

I find that prayer helps me. It takes my attention from something that is not mine to my Creator and Savior. Batman didn't save Superman with weapons. He had to call to Superman and start pulling the plant off of him in order to get him out of it. Superman had to realize how fake his situation was by himself, but Batman helped him. It was communication that brought Superman to reality and it is always communication with Christ that brings us to freedom.

The Doctor Forgives

Greetings Scholars and Warriors!

Spoilers ahead if you are not kept up with our favorite timelord. 

Well, that was one amazing episode of Doctor Who that aired this last weekend. We find the Doctor out to deal with a separatist faction of the shape shifting Zygons who are upset about the deal with U.N.I.T. You know, the deal made in the "The Day of the Doctor".

He eventually gets their leader, who has taken the form of Clara. She has this box in front of her that might let all Zygons reveal themselves, or might be more harmful. U.N.I.T. also has a box, one that might let out a gas that will destroy all Zygons. What does the Doctor say? Well, here it is in this nice meme:

Sorry, I have forgotten who made this meme! If you find out, please let me know! Anyway, the Doctor asks her to do one amazing thing: forgive. He asks her to forgive all of the transgressions she feels are coming at her and to live in peace. "Bonnie", the lead separatist Zygon, says she can't do that. That the humans would never let her go after what she has done.

The Doctor's response? "That is what all of you always say...but guess what, I forgive you." You see, the Doctor is able to forgive because he has been there. He has participated in a huge war that ravaged a universe and he has come so close to pushing a button himself. Then, he wipes some memories of those around them, but not Bonnie. He wants her to remember. She is stuck as "one of them" now. Oh, and he makes a comment at one point about the "other 15 times" the cease fire has been in danger.

Will you break the cycle around you? Will you forgive others? Forgiveness is an attitude and it takes work and time to live it out, but you can get there. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us that God will forgive us only as we forgive others (see Matthew 6).

I am not hitting all of the nuances of this scene. You really should watch it for yourself if you can find it online or catch a rerun.