This is, despite all the debauchery, delusion, and silliness one has to wade through, a significant issue. The reason I am responding to this television show is because it encroaches upon a reality I live in, and such popular disinformation cannot but harm multitudes. It is an axiom that deception is a prime weapon in warfare. And there is a spiritual warfare really going on.
There is an Apocalypse, and we are in it now. But who rightly depicts it — at least in an understandable manner?
This is what Michael tells Dean, when Dean doubts the supposed plan "God" has in store,
"And you think you know better than my father?" Michael asks. "One unimportant little man? What makes you think you get to choose?" "Because I gotta believe that I can choose what I do with... my unimportant little life," Dean says. "You’re wrong," Michael says. "You know how I know? Think of a million random acts of chance, that let John and Mary be born. To meet. To fall in love, to have the two of you. Think of the million random choices that you make, and yet each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it's not random. It's not chance. It's a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will is an illusion, Dean. That's why you’re going to say yes . . . You can't fight City Hall."
This "yes" pertains to Dean having to give consent before Michael can possess him (the same true for Sam and Satan).
So the "artists" behind the show — the script-writers — have set up a straw man they're going to knock down: humans don't have free will, they're just puppets. I am reminded of something Dostoevsky said; Nicholas Berdyaev, in his little volume, Dostoevsky (Living Age Books – Meridian, 1968), shows how Dostoevsky also was greatly wrought upon over the matter of human freedom. In Letters from the Underground, Dostoevsky's hero says of a human being,
All he needs is an independent will, whatever it may cost him and wherever it may lead him…. In only one single case does man consciously and deliberately want something absurd, and that is the silliest thing of all, namely, to have the right to want the absurd and not be bound by the necessity of wanting only what is reasonable…. for at all events it will have safeguarded our dearest and most essential possession—our personality and individuality…. If you say that everything, chaos, darkness, anathema, can be reduced to mathematical formulae, that it is possible to anticipate all things and keep them under the sway of reason by means of an arithmetical calculation, then man will go insane on purpose so as to have no judgment and to behave as he likes. I believe this because it appears that man's whole business is to prove to himself that he is a man and not a cog-wheel. [Italics Berdyaev’s] (pages 52, 53)
It is a real and very important matter, this business of free will, and relatedly, what it is to be human! So I'd like to talk about it a little here. In relation to God — the true God — what is the status of our wills?
It is obvious we have free wills. I can choose what kind of computer I'll buy, what kind of hiking shoes I'll get, what I'll eat in my next meal. I have all manner of choices, and I am free to make them. Of course I can not choose what is beyond my ability, such as producing $1,000,000 by tomorrow, as that's beyond what I am able to get. Nor can I choose to grow two inches, or to become twenty years younger. You get my point. Where our ability to choose becomes limited — whatever the cause — our free will is bound and cannot attain its desire.
But in relation to God, which is how the plot of the story is going, is it true that "free will is an illusion"? Is it true, as this supposed angel says with regard to willing, "You can't fight City hall"? In other words, you can't exercise your will but are a puppet to the divine decree? This is what Dean is being told, and he is also being told what exactly this decree is: "You're going to say yes" and allow yourself to be possessed by this "angel". And you will be the vehicle for the power that will destroy the vessel of your brother, Sam, and the evil spirit, Satan, who is possessing him. Dean is just a puppet in the hands of "God" — or his unsavory henchmen "angels" — in a cosmic war where humans are expendable "unimportant little" creatures, no matter they love and suffer, they are but pawns in a bigger game. And this Dean will not have, nor will we if we value our humanity.
But what about the true God? Granted, this show does not depict Him or His angels or the demons with any semblance of truth. but what about the real spiritual world, what gives there?
It goes like this: there is a history of the human race, believed or not, that makes this issue clear. A quote from the ancient man of God, Augustine,
"It was by the evil use of his free will that man destroyed both it and himself."
In a nutshell, The destruction of the primal man and woman's partaking of the divine nature through siding with the (actual) devil against God led to an alienation so profound that he became a spiritual child of Satan, under his control and in bondage to a nature corrupted and limited by sin, unable any longer to approach God or in any way please Him. He was an utter alien to God, utterly hostile to Him, even as his new ontologic father the devil is. R. C. Sproul has well said,
"Man's will is free to follow his inclinations, but fallen man's inclinations are always and invariably away from God."
It is like a man in prison is free to choose within the confines of his lock-up, but cannot go outside it, unless a governor or president grant him a pardon.
God said through His apostle Paul,
"There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God . . . there is none that does good, no, not one." (Letter to the Romans 3:10-12)
So man is no longer free to make choices with respect to the will of God. He just doesn't have it in him. However, those who hear God's words, realize the truth in them, and — having been quickened inwardly by the life and power in them — turn and ask Him for mercy and a new heart able to love and obey Him, these find a new spiritual birth and entrance into His presence. Now they are able and willing to freely choose. Such "new creatures" (as Paul calls them) do indeed have the ability to choose to disobey God, but the new heart God has given them increasingly desires — effectually desires — to please the One who has done such good to them.
But back to the story. You see it is more nuanced a matter than the evil fairy tale Supernatural spins. Were Dean not such a wanton womanizer, but rather a true son of the true God who saved his heart and body for a woman he committed his life to in marriage, and who kept the commandments of God, he would be able to say to a demon — or to the devil himself — "Be gone, in the name of Jesus Christ" and the devil would have to flee from the power of God's Spirit in those words.
There is so much jive nonsense in this program that it clouds up the mind and heart as regards the truth!
To inject some reality into the show: In his default condition, Dean's will is in bondage to his fallen and darkened nature. In this state he is a slave of Satan and cannot fight or resist him; his desires control him, and Satan can manipulate these. Likewise with Sam; if he were a "new creature", born of God, partaking of the Spirit of Christ to energize, illumine, and liberate his own spirit, the devil could have no power over him. Only in union with the Spirit and heart of Jesus Christ is there the power and wisdom to regain the free use of our wills, and to resist that which ordinarily would overpower us, be it demons, Satan, or our desires.
I hear from the grapevine there will be a sixth season of this show. I'm greatly disappointed — I thought it would be done with this year!
The misinformation put out by it is significant. The "horsemen" depicted, such as War and Famine, are silly cartoons of that which the real horsemen in Revelation chapter 6 symbolize.
I realize this is an old post and given the contents I can assume you are a traditional christain... but being one who has spent almost the last ten years researching and studying the various religions, their origins and the different variations of the bible, I felt the need to point out that the show supernatural is in actuality true to form. Every issue they bring up has solid foundation. The angels are actually depicted quite accurately- maybe not so cold and callus however angels were warriors of the lord. And I hardly agree with the depiction of God as uncaring- because I do believe that God is loving and merciful... but I have a certain level of respect for the show because they do do their research regarding things. I mean no offense to you at all, but reading one version of a text that has been interpreting and translated a thousand times over is a lot different from taking the time to read over all the different aspects and origins and lore. Just sayin... you shouldn't say the show is inaccurate, you should simply state it does not coenside with the bible you were brought up to believe in. It's only proper, seeing as religion is a matter of pure faith and there is no way to prove anything. It's not like we could turn back the clock and go ask the people who wrote the books of the bible (who for all we know since we have no record of that time, could have been attention seeking drunkards.) ...In short, don't take a "my way is the only right way attitude," because you really don't know. It's just what you believe. And by the standards of modern christains taking that attitude in itself is a sin because God is the only person who has any right to pass judgement. I sincerely hope anyone else who stumbles on this page has the common sense to know that just because something is written in a book doesn't mean it's correct, and just because someone says it's the word of god doesn't mean it is either. ...Woman are superior to men! God told me to write that, it is HIS WORD you must obey!! ....see my point? Okay then. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteHello, Anon! Thanks for stopping by. I have a few comments on your thoughts:
ReplyDeleteSupernatural is "true to form" only with respect to their having done research into all kinds of occult, supernatural, and paranormal lore. Yet even there they don't stick to tradition, but add all sorts of weird stuff, as in how to kill various kinds of monsters, etc. And all these monsters are really figments of superstition.
With regard to the angels, I suppose it depends on what one's sources are for accurate information on them. Unapologetically my primary source is the Bible (more on that book in a moment), and any other of my sources are writings based upon that.
There are two classes of angels, those holy beings who serve God and manifest His attributes of love, power, righteousness, wisdom, and mercy toward His human creatures, and those unholy spirit beings who rebelled under the leadership of Satan and became implacable enemies of Heaven and all humankind, loathing both. The TV program in question blurs, mixes, and perverts their respective qualities to the point of inanity. One who takes to heart what they see on Supernatural becomes thoroughly deceived as to what goes on in the spirit-world, and to their great disadvantage when it comes to discerning truth from falsehood.
Other sources regarding angels, which contradict the Bible, are part of the disinformation campaign promoted by these very spirits of evil.
The "research" of the show, in the final analysis, is but Hollywood schlock designed to entertain at the expense of accuracy, putting it most mildly! As though to deal with a person possessed of a demon one must kill him or her! In the Scripture, the Lord Jesus exorcized such foul spirits with but His word, leaving the victims healthy and free, and His followers down through the years have done as He did. It is amazing that Jesus Christ is mentioned but once (in what I have seen of the episodes), and that in an expletive. But they couldn't depict Him in the show as too much accurate knowledge of Him is current, even among unbelievers. Even mention of His name would break the spell of deception. Though who knows what depths of falsity will manifest in the new season!
When you say I have been reading "one version of a text that has been interpreting [sic] and translated a thousand times" and is the Bible I was "brought up to believe in", you err, as I was raised pretty much a pagan (although a Jew by birth and blood), went through the sixties counterculture, and was a student of the religions of the world, especially the East. When I was converted to Christ at age 26 I forsook the Eastern paths of spiritual illumination, along with their sacred books, and began to learn the Scriptures of the Jews, Old and New Testaments. I have spent over 40 years studying the history and transmission of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible. Each of these two languages has a line of transmission of their manuscripts that was kept pure in its readings by the providence of God (who inspired His prophets to write them), so that we today, even in the 21st century, have an edition that is accurate and faithful to what the prophets and authors of the Bible originally wrote. It is quite a study, and one that garners confidence in the authority of God's word — in the written form handed down to us — so that we may trust Him with our hearts and lives.
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(continued from above comment)
ReplyDeleteYou say "we have no record of that time" — the time the Bible was written in — but your statement betrays a lack of knowledge of the historical, archaeological, and literary studies of that period. We have many records of the nation of Israel in the pre-Christ days, and also of the New Testament period when the Roman Empire ruled much of the world.
For example, the Gospel of Luke was written by an impeccable historian (that is, Luke himself), and no errors can be found as regards his statements of geography, chronology, history, events, or persons. Archaeologists and historians have tried to refute him, but have failed, and have conceded his remarkable accuracy.
No "attention seeking drunkards" — as you surmise the writers of the Bible were — could have written such morally sublime and historically reliable accounts as they did; accounts, I might add, which were confirmed by others very close to their own day — I refer to the ancient writers and historians of the young Christian church, as well as some attestation by secular historians as regarding the historicity of the person, Jesus Christ.
In sum, these things are not "just what [I] believe", but are founded upon historical events (unlike other of the world's religions) and actual historical persons, and the records we have of what they said are — in the New Testament — from first person eye-witness accounts, or investigative reporting (as in the case of Luke) and interviews of eye-witnesses.
Indeed, just because something is written does not mean it's true! And just because someone says this or that is the "word of God" does not mean it is so. You are right in that. But this Jesus, no one ever spoke as He did! Either He is a megalomanic deceiver, or He is what He claimed to be — and proved by many outstanding and attested miracles: the Son of God come into the world to break the power of the satanic world system, bring forgiveness of sins and eternal life to whomever would believe in and cleave to Him, and to procure that forgiveness by taking the just punishment due all His people upon Himself, that we might be made clean of all our sins. It is clear that millions of people CAN be wrong, but the Day of Judgment will show which they are — those who believe in and trust Christ, keeping His excellent moral precepts — or those who deny Him, and go their own ways, spurning the commandments of God.
As for women — or men for that matter — being superior to the other: the apostle Paul said (by command of his Lord) that before God men and women were equal, as were the classes and ethnic groups (see Paul's Letter to the Galatians, 3:28). Their roles may differ, but there is no partiality with God.
To be judgmental is one thing, and you are right that we are not to be so, but to judge (discern) between good and evil conduct or true and false teachings we ARE enjoined to do, and even in a family when one member steps out of line others in the family will correct him or her. Do you know the old saying, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men (or women) to keep silent"?
Thanks again, Anon, for your thoughts — and I hope I have given you cause to consider the "traditional Christian" point of view, and may — I do pray — you become one of us, possessing forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and a place in the never-ending Kingdom Christ shall institute on this earth when it is cleansed of all toxicity and evil, that we may live in a glorious new world, God Himself being with us, His beloved children, and Jesus our King, world without end. —Steve