V for Vendetta

If you haven't seen this movie...you should. I have seen this movie twice now. I must say I genuinely enjoyed it. This movie had the key elements that I just truly enjoy in a movie: meaningful violence, revenge, love, natalie portman, action, sacrifice, drama, mystery, intrigue, and adventure. However, I found myself (especially the second time around) correlating so much of the movie to Christianity it was crazy.

The basic premise of this movie was that all of England had, because of fear, allowed a political party to come into power that took away every imaginable freedom, right, liberty the people. Restrictions on the very food they ate, how late they were allowed up, the things they could have, etc. The hero in the movie, V, mission was to dismantle the corrupt government and to wake up the people of England to see the injustice for what it is and to stand up for freedom once again, and to reclaim the country they gave away because of fear.

The entire time I kept on seeing the Church we have created in the west. The church that was so similiar to this make believe england. The church that because of fear, has fled the inner city and the people in it. The condition of the "church" today is no secret in America. We are losing influence in the culture. We are losing influence among each other. We are losing influence in the community.

V said to the people of England, when referring to their loss of freedom and who's to blame, "Look in the mirror". The same is true of the church in America. Look in the mirror my friends, we are to blame! It wasn't our leaderships fault (well entirely), nor the worship team, nor the big buildings, nor the fancy lights, etc.

In the movie, V, accused the people of forgetting major words....words like Freedom. Words that were not merely words, but symbols. It was at that moment, that I had an eureka moment. The same is true of us! Except our word is....the gospel.

The gospel in our day I am sure has lost its meaning. Don't believe me? Ask any Christianto you know what it is then. Chances are you might here....A admit your a sinner, B believe in Jesus, C confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord...and now ur saved and thats the gospel. Or you might hear the Romans Road. Or the four spiritual laws. Nor was it just about the cross! The gospel, the good news that Jesus brought, can not be put in a box of our understanding, to be put up on our shelf of knowledge.

Now, for the record, I'm not a fool. I see the good in all those things. Truth in all of them even, however, why did we feel the need to make the gospel...simple and easy? Why did we make it into a teaching and not a dialogue?

The gospel, the news Jesus brought about the "kingdom of God", desperately needs to be "re-thought" in our time. We must remember his message and the life his message brings! His way of living life might really be the best way...imagine that. The master teacher, God himself, (who became a man by the way), might actually have some good things to say about how to live our daily lives. I wonder, why he never boiled it down to a simple formula? He had the perfect platform to tell us what the gospel was didn't he? Was it never meant to be so simply explained? I think so. I think he explained the gospel in parables precisely because he knew if he had given us a formula we would bury into the ground until it had no meaning... kinda like today.

In the movie...V blew up the parliament building to get his point accross. I wondered to myself, what will it take for us to remember?