"Stand in the place where you live, now face north. Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before." -R.E.M.

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Review: Children of Men

01/17/2007 12:33 AM Filed in: Reviews | Movies

There’s an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I feel like I’ve just been to hell and back, and the aftertaste is less than pleasant. I have seen a graphic depiction of the depravity of mankind, and it’s not pretty.

I just finished watching Children of Men. I could get into a long synopsis of the film to explain what follows, but you can find that here. Without some background, much of this article won’t make sense. If you haven’t seen the film and don’t want anything spoiled, you should probably stop reading right now.

I loved Children of Men, but not in a way that is easy to describe. I left the theater feeling awful and it wasn’t an easy picture to watch. Sure, the cinematography was breath taking, with extremely long single-shot takes dominating the film even during spectacular war scenes and car chases. The direction and acting are superb and the special effects, for a movie that is not particularly an “effects film,” work well. But technical excellence is not what makes good films great, and that is not the heart and soul of Children of Men.

At its heart the film is about the human condition, the significance of human life, and the degeneracy of humankind. There are quite a few biblical allusions and, though the film is not “Christian” by any means, it does cause a Christ-follower to reflect quite a bit on the state of the world and what our place is in it.

The main character, Theo, is charged with protecting the first pregnant woman the world has seen in almost 20 years. Her name is Kee, and she is certainly “key” to the survival of the human race. Theo is a Moses character, facing great adversity in order to lead Kee safely to the “promised land,” which is in this case is something called “The Human Project” that will hopefully analyze Kee and her child in order to help the world solve the mystery of its infertility and thus ensure the survival of humanity.

Children of Men paints a picture of the future that isn’t very distant from our present. The world has been overtaken by anarchy. Death is everywhere as people war and kill for no reason. Great Britain is the only standing government and for all of its danger, it is one of the safest places on the planet. There are no doubt allusions to the type of violence and senseless slaughter that is occurring in the Middle East right now, but it has become more widespread. This violence and depravity is displayed from the first sequence in the film until the bitter end.

People cling to life. Though they are in a depressing existence, a world without children, we see people mourn for the dead in almost every scene. They hold dearly to their dogs, cats, sheep and other pets. Even when humanity is at its worse, it longs for something, anything, to love…even if that something is an animal instead of a newborn child.

It is into this dark and dreary world that a child is born. Sound familiar? For all of its faults, this film more clearly and powerfully demonstrates the dark and mutilated world that Christ was born into than any other I’ve seen. Yes, the director portrays a depressing and bleak world, but he must in order for the light and hope that this child brings to shine that much brighter.

Highly recommended; in theaters now.

Tags: Children of Men, Clive Owen, Jesus, Moses, symbolism

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What Did Christ's Death Accomplish? Conclusion

05/14/2008 12:34 PM Filed in: Theology

Back in May of 2007 I started a series on what is called the Christus Victor view of the atonement. I got through 5 parts out of 6 (which, let's face it, is better than I normally do), but never finished the series up. Thankfully I didn't actually have much to write in regards to concluding remarks, so I've decided to go ahead and get this finished up today.

In my view, the incarnation simply cannot be divorced from the atonement in any way, whether in truth or in theory. The incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ must be taken together as the holistic way in which God defeated sin, death and the devil and freed us from the shackles we had willingly placed on ourselves. Christus Victor, as I have presented it here, is the only model of atonement that takes such a balanced and holistic approach to the relationship of the atonement and the incarnation. And, when taken seriously, it goes the farthest in detailing the Christ-like example that is best displayed when we, like him, choose to come against the demonic strongholds in this world with radical Kingdom of God love.

Far from a pure cerebral working-out of the work of Christ, Christus Victor invites us to join in the work that Jesus began on the cross. When we come against social injustice, evil, disease and poverty, we come against the very things that Christ battled. When we put our God-given love on display for the world to see, both receiving and reflecting the love that He has poured out on us, we are doing the very work of Jesus Christ.

In John 14 Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

"Greater things." Greater things than Christ did, we will do. How is that possible? Because through His death and resurrection He has defeated the powers and the principalities. Through His death He has made it possible for "the love you have for me [to] be in them and that I myself may be in them" (John 17). Through His death He has gathered a people for Himself that numbers in the millions. He is leading them to push forward and to come under other people in love and in self-sacrifice.

"Greater things." It's not Jesus' hope for the church: it's His prophecy. And though we often mess up and we don't always look like we're supposed to, like radical Kingdom of God citizens, God is using us to change His world and show others the path to Jesus Christ.

We are joining the work He started over 2,000 years ago in order that He may use us to accomplish "Greater things."

Full bibliography for the entire Six-Part series may be downloaded here in PDF format.

Tags: Christus Victor, Jesus, Satan, Sin, Death

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