From Neo's conversation with The Architect it seems that when the matrix was created the architect considered it perfect but the one factor that had led to its imperfection was simply the human one. (That in itself creates a problem. Were there still some free people who were missed? Did Zion already exist - otherwise how could humanity cause so much difficulty?) Interesting that he's called The Architect - an architect is someone who designs, never actually builds (never mind create!). Isn't it also interesting that up to that point the Matrix has been reloaded 6 times - presumably the seventh was intended to be perfection (maybe ultimately it was - I got a bit confused by the ending?). (I also find it interesting how religious a place Zion is - it's not exactly Christian (!) but it's certainly very religious with its temples etc.)
Compare this to the biblical account of creation. God created man innocent and perfect and if conditions had remained the same then presumably the human race would be perfect today - but just mechanically so - just like the machine world, neither good or bad in itself. But it's plain that both Adam and Eve were created with the possibility of rebellion. On the surface this seems quite a risky move by the Creator. Could it possibly be that the last thing that God wanted was a closed mechanical world which was entirely pre-determined and where human beings would be little more than automatons? But to allow them to make a genuine choice - effectively either to continue to acknowledge God as Creator and Sovereign or to rebel i.e. to become disobedient - to make themselves the centre rather than their Creator.
This was the great pressure point that Satan sought to exploit. The command that God gave could have been many things but ultimately the whole future of mankind turned on a choice. Would man believe God or Satan? Well we know the outcome - not only did man rebel and elevate himself to the place of God (i.e. self rules OK; the “de-goding” of God; I am the master of my fate etc.). there are many aspects to the temptation - the temptation to the senses; the temptation to be like God; the temptation to think that God was holding back something good from mankind. Adam and Eve made their choice and so the perfection was marred and the whole created cosmos was put out of joint and remains so to this day. But the amazing outcome of this is that God didn't do what to us must seem the obvious (Matrix - style) thing - wipe out Zion and start again - although it came close in the days of Noah when evil had almost entirely snuffed out good. The point about the history between the fall of Adam and Eve and the Flood is to illustrate the infectious nature of sin and evil and its spread in the world when it is unchecked. In the very first generation we find Cain murdering Abel and from that it was totally downhill until we read these words in a modern translation / paraphrase - God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, "I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I'm sorry I made them”. But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah (AV says simply that Noah found grace in God's eyes). This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core." (The Message)
Like Noah, in every generation there were those (sometimes a handful) who freely chose to worship the true Creator and live in accordance with His character and design. Those who chose to own Him as their God did so acknowledging their rebellion and disobedience and trusting in His promises of mercy and grace. An important aspect of their worship and praise was that it flowed from hearts that are free to worship - they were not automatons nor did they live in a deterministic world ruled by fate. They lived in a world which they know has a great future in which they will play a part. They have a solid hope and a purpose. They leave this world confident in the One who said "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall never die."
Not only did not God wipe out His creation and start again but neither did God abandon this fallen and marred world to destroy itself but rather chose to enter it in the person of His Son. The Gospel of John tells us that "He came to His own.... He became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the One and only full of grace and truth." - God entering His marred and now imperfect creation in order to redeem it - to literally buy it back by His death. He didn't send a powerful being or angel, but came Himself in the person of His Son. In doing so he didn't merely act at a distance but bound himself to the fate of mankind. If He (the Bible describes him as the second Adam) succumbed to the power of temptation and evil then mankind would have no hope or future. The good news is simply that he did not and so ensured the glorious future of all who would put their trust in Him.
The true Neo - Jesus, God with us, the One, the Saviour of the world entered into the realm of time. He didn't use violence to do battle with evil but overcame evil with good. In the greatest battle of the cosmos He withstood the onslaughts of evil and died in apparent weakness. But in that dying He conquered death and hell and the forces of evil. Weakness turned out to be the greatest power in the cosmos. The scriptures call Him “The Second Adam” for, in contrast to the first Adam, in spite of all the temptations that he faced, He never weakened. The key to His resistance lay in His absolute obedience to the Father who had sent Him. Every choice set before Him was resolved in the same way -obedience to the Father's will and purpose. So where Adam failed, Jesus triumphed.
There are many parallels between the first film of The Matrix and the life of Jesus - a kind of allegory. It seems that the writers deliberately chose names to echo biblical characters. There are lots of references to these online (a whole genre seems to have grown up around the parallels etc.). But there is only one real story and the allegory falls far short. It may not seem as exciting a story to today's generation but when someone sees it and understand something of the wonder of it, it is truly the greatest story ever told - and it's true. If there is a modern day problem of choice it comes down to the oldest one on record - self or God - who rules, who is in control. And this is an individual choice because though we talk of groups and nations and even civilisations and their destinies, ultimately each person lives as an individual before His Creator in His Creation.
It is interesting that the architect identified hope as the "quintessential human delusion". But if hope is based on the promises and word of the Creator then it is more than just a "hope against hope" which is no hope at all. If the Creator's revealed character and His actions in this world convince a person that in Him is to be found their highest good; that He is the Benevolent One in whom there is no malevolence; that He offers salvation and redemption to those who by nature want nothing to do with Him, then that hope is built on a firm, unshakable foundation. And if the Creator's action in this world in entering His creation and taking to Himself a real human body and soul and living among those who He had created and being willing to demonstrate his unfailing and unconditional love by giving His life for theirs, then again hope is not just a vain, futile fancy but built on the solid ground of the love of the Creator. Flash
Friday, July 23, 2010
Matrix - scene with the Architect
I understand the conundrum that the problem of causality poses. The whole issue of the freedom of the will and causality goes back to the simple question which has no easy answer. Do we live in a world which is wholly deterministic - i.e. everything that happens is always governed by circumstance and the laws of nature, or is there really freedom of choice - are we free to shape our own destiny. Most people prefer to think the latter if they ever think about it at all. There is something innate in us which hates the thought of being the product of time and chance; of blind fate; of being unable to shape our destiny; of living in a closed mechanistic universe. Early science would lead us to the conclusion that everything is governed by fixed laws - that the universe is a closed system - that is until the study of atomic physics began to look at the quantum world of the atom where simple physical laws no longer apply!
Neo is faced with the choice of either accepting the mechanistic world of the architect and effectively returning to what must prove to be the oblivion of the source or continuing to believe that his destiny is to live as a free man. The final words of the architect are significant. "Hope - the quintessential human delusion - at the same time your greatest strength and your greatest weakness." The architect views hope as a delusion, but to live without it is not to live at all. The opposite of hope is despair and nobody can survive long in despair. Yet the architect recognises that hope is a source of strength as well as weakness. To live in a closed, mechanistic universe is to lose all hope, all sense of destiny.
St Paul knew this when he wrote his epistles. He saw the importance of three essential human elements - faith, hope and love and also saw that love is the greatest of these three. Love is the true anomaly that lies at the foundation of human reality. It is the unexplainable element in all our lives. We encounter it; we are sometimes showered with it - unasked for and maybe even unwanted, but we cannot but be affected by it. It's illogical, unreasonable, unpredictable, and powerful. It springs up in us or upon us at the most inconvenient times. It forms us and shapes us and influences us and it is unquestionably the most glorious and puzzling aspect of our lives. To know that we are loved, to love someone, to be in love - what wonder, beauty and glory and grace is this! (It is a huge part of Neo's experience and a huge influence on his actions).
Hope is built on the foundation of love - "hope springs eternal in the human breast" someone wrote. Love engenders hope. Hope does not fix itself upon the present but it looks forward to the future. To become reality true hope as opposed to false hope must be built on a secure foundation. Neo refused to accept the mechanistic closed world of the architect. His love for Trinity and her love for him plays an important part in what he is and does and thinks. Hope is not a delusion to Neo - it's based on solid foundations and ultimately proves not a weakness but his greatest strength. It gives him purpose.
This is where the third element of St Paul's trilogy comes in - Faith. (Incidentally notice that science has no category for any of these three - as far as science is concerned they are just indefinable human emotional responses). To have faith in someone is to a) believe that they exist and b) trust what they say and c) act upon it. That is precisely what you find in the scriptures. In Hebrews chapter 11 the writer says simply "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In a different translation it says "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see." and also "It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." And in regard to the latter the major theme of the bible is that God is love and that he both created and cares enough to respond. His love motivates everything that he does.
So if we a) believe in God and b) trust what he says and c) act upon it then we truly have faith and to have faith is to have hope and purpose.
So what does God have to say? First and foremost, he created us and he loves us. We were created to be at one with Him and He at one with us - this is the position of greatest blessing / happiness / joy - to know that we love and are loved. How can this be when we are so totally 'other'? We don't really want him - we view him as being an inconvenient nuisance - why do we have to choose between believing Him or disbelieving Him? Why should it be such a point of importance? Isn't it better just to push the whole business to the back of our minds and live for the moment, the day, the immediate pleasure?
That's what King Solomon tried to do. He wrote a book called Ecclesiastes ("the seeker - one who is on a quest") and in one way it's a bit of an anomaly in the Bible. It doesn't have much to say about God - it's mostly about trying to live without God. He sees life as just being "under the sun" - in other words he's a materialist living in a closed mechanistic universe - fate rules and the conclusion is that everything is pointless - the product of time and chance. "I returned and saw under the sun that—the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all". And yet he acknowledges that "He (God) also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]" The implication is "What a nuisance that we have this sense of the divine and destiny and purpose - why can't we just be left to enjoy the moment - live for whatever pleasure we can get without having to worry about morality, sin, guilt, judgment, responsibility. If we party hard enough we can push it all to the back of our minds - but when we are alone with our thoughts...............
So the choice comes down to 1) accept the closed world of the machines and live in despair and no purpose 2) accept that there is a Creator and that he is pure love (not the dispassionate architect seeking only perfection of the matrix with no anomalies) and live in faith, hope and love. A Creator who is transcendent above his creation and yet cares enough about it to love all the anomalies and to do something about their plight - because he has entered his creation and demonstrated his love for those who accept their anomalousness (new word?) - Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us) demonstrating what God is like and faced with the ultimate choice of saving his own life or of giving it in order to save a world of God-hating, rebellious anomalies he chose to die. And his death was not in vain for dying in apparent weakness, seemingly at the mercy of the evil in this world, he conquered evil and death and its power and rose again triumphant to ascend to the throne of the universe.
This world is broken and marred in so many ways - and almost all of them because of man's selfishness and greed. But it has a glorious future! Even now we see hints of the glory of the Creator in the wonders of creation. Now we see the (imperfect but real) beauty and glory of what men and women were intended to be in those who have put their trust in their Creator and found their lives transformed by his love and power - men and women with purpose and destiny who have discovered the truth of God's love and kindness and live in its light acknowledging that they deserve nothing but guilt and condemnation but have found mercy and have not been dealt with as they deserve. Acknowledging that there is nothing about them which has in any way contributed to their peace and joy in believing but rejoice in the grace (the undeserved favour) that has been and continues to be shown to them by a God who loves them. This is what makes life in this world so wonderful. To be loved with everlasting love. Flash
Neo is faced with the choice of either accepting the mechanistic world of the architect and effectively returning to what must prove to be the oblivion of the source or continuing to believe that his destiny is to live as a free man. The final words of the architect are significant. "Hope - the quintessential human delusion - at the same time your greatest strength and your greatest weakness." The architect views hope as a delusion, but to live without it is not to live at all. The opposite of hope is despair and nobody can survive long in despair. Yet the architect recognises that hope is a source of strength as well as weakness. To live in a closed, mechanistic universe is to lose all hope, all sense of destiny.
St Paul knew this when he wrote his epistles. He saw the importance of three essential human elements - faith, hope and love and also saw that love is the greatest of these three. Love is the true anomaly that lies at the foundation of human reality. It is the unexplainable element in all our lives. We encounter it; we are sometimes showered with it - unasked for and maybe even unwanted, but we cannot but be affected by it. It's illogical, unreasonable, unpredictable, and powerful. It springs up in us or upon us at the most inconvenient times. It forms us and shapes us and influences us and it is unquestionably the most glorious and puzzling aspect of our lives. To know that we are loved, to love someone, to be in love - what wonder, beauty and glory and grace is this! (It is a huge part of Neo's experience and a huge influence on his actions).
Hope is built on the foundation of love - "hope springs eternal in the human breast" someone wrote. Love engenders hope. Hope does not fix itself upon the present but it looks forward to the future. To become reality true hope as opposed to false hope must be built on a secure foundation. Neo refused to accept the mechanistic closed world of the architect. His love for Trinity and her love for him plays an important part in what he is and does and thinks. Hope is not a delusion to Neo - it's based on solid foundations and ultimately proves not a weakness but his greatest strength. It gives him purpose.
This is where the third element of St Paul's trilogy comes in - Faith. (Incidentally notice that science has no category for any of these three - as far as science is concerned they are just indefinable human emotional responses). To have faith in someone is to a) believe that they exist and b) trust what they say and c) act upon it. That is precisely what you find in the scriptures. In Hebrews chapter 11 the writer says simply "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In a different translation it says "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see." and also "It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." And in regard to the latter the major theme of the bible is that God is love and that he both created and cares enough to respond. His love motivates everything that he does.
So if we a) believe in God and b) trust what he says and c) act upon it then we truly have faith and to have faith is to have hope and purpose.
So what does God have to say? First and foremost, he created us and he loves us. We were created to be at one with Him and He at one with us - this is the position of greatest blessing / happiness / joy - to know that we love and are loved. How can this be when we are so totally 'other'? We don't really want him - we view him as being an inconvenient nuisance - why do we have to choose between believing Him or disbelieving Him? Why should it be such a point of importance? Isn't it better just to push the whole business to the back of our minds and live for the moment, the day, the immediate pleasure?
That's what King Solomon tried to do. He wrote a book called Ecclesiastes ("the seeker - one who is on a quest") and in one way it's a bit of an anomaly in the Bible. It doesn't have much to say about God - it's mostly about trying to live without God. He sees life as just being "under the sun" - in other words he's a materialist living in a closed mechanistic universe - fate rules and the conclusion is that everything is pointless - the product of time and chance. "I returned and saw under the sun that—the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all". And yet he acknowledges that "He (God) also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]" The implication is "What a nuisance that we have this sense of the divine and destiny and purpose - why can't we just be left to enjoy the moment - live for whatever pleasure we can get without having to worry about morality, sin, guilt, judgment, responsibility. If we party hard enough we can push it all to the back of our minds - but when we are alone with our thoughts...............
So the choice comes down to 1) accept the closed world of the machines and live in despair and no purpose 2) accept that there is a Creator and that he is pure love (not the dispassionate architect seeking only perfection of the matrix with no anomalies) and live in faith, hope and love. A Creator who is transcendent above his creation and yet cares enough about it to love all the anomalies and to do something about their plight - because he has entered his creation and demonstrated his love for those who accept their anomalousness (new word?) - Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us) demonstrating what God is like and faced with the ultimate choice of saving his own life or of giving it in order to save a world of God-hating, rebellious anomalies he chose to die. And his death was not in vain for dying in apparent weakness, seemingly at the mercy of the evil in this world, he conquered evil and death and its power and rose again triumphant to ascend to the throne of the universe.
This world is broken and marred in so many ways - and almost all of them because of man's selfishness and greed. But it has a glorious future! Even now we see hints of the glory of the Creator in the wonders of creation. Now we see the (imperfect but real) beauty and glory of what men and women were intended to be in those who have put their trust in their Creator and found their lives transformed by his love and power - men and women with purpose and destiny who have discovered the truth of God's love and kindness and live in its light acknowledging that they deserve nothing but guilt and condemnation but have found mercy and have not been dealt with as they deserve. Acknowledging that there is nothing about them which has in any way contributed to their peace and joy in believing but rejoice in the grace (the undeserved favour) that has been and continues to be shown to them by a God who loves them. This is what makes life in this world so wonderful. To be loved with everlasting love. Flash
The Honesty of Old Testament Bloggers
If you can just remain simply honest in what you write then it will be of value both yourself and others.
It has always been of great personal interest and comfort to me that the bloggers of some 3,000 years ago (the psalmists) poured out as much (if not more) complaints to God as they did praise. Their blogs are still a comfort and inspiration to many. Men and women who have shaken their fists in the face of God have ultimately found peace and hope in believing.
Some examples..........
Psalm 69
Save me, O God,for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,looking for my God.
(Blog by King David)
Final example of many - Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
(By an Anonymous Blogger - but feel free to put your name in wherever you read "Israel")
You are not alone!
Flash
It has always been of great personal interest and comfort to me that the bloggers of some 3,000 years ago (the psalmists) poured out as much (if not more) complaints to God as they did praise. Their blogs are still a comfort and inspiration to many. Men and women who have shaken their fists in the face of God have ultimately found peace and hope in believing.
Some examples..........
Psalm 69
Save me, O God,for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,looking for my God.
(Blog by King David)
Final example of many - Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
(By an Anonymous Blogger - but feel free to put your name in wherever you read "Israel")
You are not alone!
Flash
LOTR - The Ending
IMHO, one of the mega failings of the film compared to the book is the ending. In the book after the happy ending in Gondor etc. the hobbits return to the Shire to find that its been ravaged by ruffians and half-orcs and the inhabitants of Hobbiton are living in fear of 'Sharkey', who turns out to be Saruman still accompanied by the still enslaved Wormtongue. His interference has completely upset the peace and tranquility of the shire. Sam says "This is worse than Mordor - much worse in a way. It comes home to you as they say, because it is home, and you remember it before it was ruined." The hobbits have fought in the greatest battles of Middle Earth and now they must fight an equally (if not more) important battle to rid the shire of the evil that has disturbed its peace. But now they fight as those who know that good must overcome evil and as those who have been energised by victory.
But Sam's words have even deeper significance because whether we believe it or not there is within every one of us a distant echo of a memory of what this world as a whole was like before sin and evil marred its beauty and peace. We too are called to battle for its return but we can never do this without the knowledge and assurance that the greater battle, the defining battle and triumph of good over evil has been fought and won. Like the shire, in the absence of good, evil will corrupt and spoil and disturb and mar. As Frodo says to one of the ruffians who are causing trouble, "I see that you're behind the times and the news here... your day is over, and all the other ruffians'. The Dark Tower has fallen and there is a King in Gondor. Isengard has been destroyed and your precious master is a beggar in the wilderness." That should speak volumes to all who know that there is a King upon the throne of the universe who has triumphed over evil once and forever and as for those who perpetuate evil in this world - their days are numbered. Flash
But Sam's words have even deeper significance because whether we believe it or not there is within every one of us a distant echo of a memory of what this world as a whole was like before sin and evil marred its beauty and peace. We too are called to battle for its return but we can never do this without the knowledge and assurance that the greater battle, the defining battle and triumph of good over evil has been fought and won. Like the shire, in the absence of good, evil will corrupt and spoil and disturb and mar. As Frodo says to one of the ruffians who are causing trouble, "I see that you're behind the times and the news here... your day is over, and all the other ruffians'. The Dark Tower has fallen and there is a King in Gondor. Isengard has been destroyed and your precious master is a beggar in the wilderness." That should speak volumes to all who know that there is a King upon the throne of the universe who has triumphed over evil once and forever and as for those who perpetuate evil in this world - their days are numbered. Flash
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