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Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105
(262) 763-3021
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Pastor Scott Carson
Grace Church of Burlington
July 6, 2003
“No one knows the one-hundredth part of the sin that clings to his soul.” John Calvin
This past week the blockbuster sci-fi movie opened, T-3. For those out of the cultural loop, T-3 is Terminator 3, the third sequel in the Terminator series. Like the Matrix movies, the Terminator movies have a nihilistic world view. Chuck Colson has suggested that "if you want to get depressed in a hurry, watch a lot of science-fiction movies."
While most of us don’t use words like nihilism or nihilistic in our everyday conversation, we do continually encounter this philosophy of life. Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is usually associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence.
The Matrix and Terminator are much more than popular movies, they are powerful philosophical statements. The future is bleak and hopeless in these films. Man has been supplanted by the machine. Devastation has ravaged the world because of sin. But it is devastation without any hope of redemption. It’s existential despair.
At a cursory glance, the worldview of many science fiction films resembles a Christian one. (Article after article has been written on the Christian elements in Matrix Reloaded.) In each, the characters predicament isn’t just the product of some malevolent force. Rather, it’s the tragic consequence of willful human action. In effect, mankind is being punished for its sins.
What is missing, though, is God’s love and providence. These films edit God right out of the picture. No where in these films is the idea that there is a God who loves, sustains, nourishes and cares for everything He has made. The absence of God makes sense when one recalls how naturalism, the belief that nature is all that there is, permeates science fiction. Without God, redemption is not an option. Interestingly, too, evolution has eventually produced a monster, even though the monster is a machine. And in these films the forces of evil and darkness are never defeated, at least not totally defeated. Obviously, this cracks the door for future sequels. But part of it is that, in a world without God and absent of His providence, evil can never be decisively defeated. Life is at best hopeless. And that’s the real tragedy, while the Martrix and the Terminator are nothing more than films being splashed on a screen, this sense of hopelessness and futility is all too real for many, particularly young people. Drugs, alcohol, sexuality, and even entertainment are often vain attempts to escape the hopelessness. For them the Matrix is all too real.
What an opportunity, though, for us as believers! We are looking for and anticipating the Blessed Hope, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that God is sovereign and on the throne. And we know that there is redemption because we have been redeemed.
As these films are discussed around the water cooler at the office, use those discussions for redemptive engagement. Graciously point out the faulty nihilistic worldview and then point your co-workers toward the Redeemer. Then, don’t waste your time and money watching faulty world views propagated by Hollywood. Instead get out with your family and enjoy God’s beautiful creation. Read a good book and do some musing (thinking) instead of parking your brains at the door while you are a-mused (not thinking).
Finally, determine to continually praise the Lord that He is in control. And praise Him that He has redeemed you from the hopeless world of darkness and has both a purpose and a plan for your life!