Film Comment: The Box

The premise of The Box (2009) is simple. A nice couple's world is going nowhere. They (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) are not poor but are having money troubles. Norma and Arthur Lewis are comfortable but not satisfied. They are in careers which do not bring them personal fulfillment. Then Mr. Steward, the always creepy Frank Langella) arrives with The Box and the proposition.

The box is just that, a wooden box, otherwise totally empty. On the top of the box is a red button. Mr. Steward explains the offer being made by his "employers." He opens a briefcase and shows the couple the $1,000,000 carefully stacked inside. All the couple has to do is to push the button. These are the conditions of the offer:

1. When you push the button someone whom you do not know will die.
2. Mr, Steward will hand you the briefcase and walk away.
3. You are not allowed to ask any questions.
4. If you say no, Mr, Steward will simply walk away with the box and the money.
5. If you tell anyone else about the offer, the offer is terminated.

Of course, the couple decides to push the button, not really believing that anything will happen.  Then Mr. Steward delivers the money.

When Norma and Arthur try to give back the money, Mr. Steward tells them, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lewis, the button has been pushed." And later, he says, "If you didn't want anyone to get hurt, you shouldn't have pushed the button." It is obvious that the only way to pass the test is by not pushing the button.

There are numerous ideas invoked by this film.

1. Mr. Steward can be seen as a type of the Serpent and Norma and Arthur of Adam and Eve.
2. Eternal damnation and the possibility of redemption are mentioned but there is no mention of Jesus.
3. Arthur and Norma are being held personally responsible for their actions but their actions also have global consequences.
4. The belief that "we" are somehow superior to some unidentified "other person." If we profit by their death but are not personally involved in that death are we in some way guilty? What if they were a "bad" person?
5. Is there any way we can undo the bad things we have done?

There are many criticisms which can be leveled at this film. One which bothered me very much as a Southerner was the totally awful attempt at a Southern accent by Cameron Diaz. James Marsden does not seem to have even tried to sound Southern.

This is not a Christian film. It is not even a very good film. Parts of it border on incoherency. The name of the polite and friendly "villain" is Mr. Steward, who is faithfully working for his "employers." The film hints at control of the Earth by an extraterrestrial group with the compliance and assistance of the American government. There is a hint that the Earth may face destruction if we are judged to have failed in this "experiment." This is somehow tied to a very amorphous and numinous idea of the afterlife. The idea actually works better in the original short story written by Richard Matheson.

Existence is Futile

When I saw Pastor Steve Griffin’s post, "Existence is Futile,"on his blog, Just Thinking (and Writing), I immediately thought of the Borg, a fictional alien race featured in the Star Trek series of films and television programs. The Borg are a frightening race of living beings who have been forcibly enhanced with cybernetic implants and assimilated into a group mind culture. All individuality has been erased. 

The Borg are frightening because your only value to them is what your forcible assimilation can add to the collective. Their ominous trademark phrase is "Resistance is futile." The Links below exhibit the menace of the Borg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yokaRFrTIic

Many people see the world to be like the Borg. The individual does not matter in any way. The hopes and dreams of the individual are meaningless, there is ultimately no meaning to existence. The individual will be crushed. This is the philosophy of nihilism, that there is utterly no meaning to existence. The grafitti artist in Pastor Grifffin's post seems to be trying to express this philosophy.

Pastor Griffin and all other Christians know the real truth. We are of infinite value, bought with the Blood of Jesus. Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus, who was present at the creation. Jesus, the Lord and Sustainer of the universe.

The Blood of Jesus, the most valuable thing in the universe, was given as a totally free gift and is offered to each one of us as if we were the only one.

Are You "Picky"?

This video shows a person throwing pieces of turkey to Gemma, a pit bull. Gemma eagerly grabs the turkey out of the air before it hits the floor. When the person substitutes a broccoli floret, Gemma declares "That is not food!" We laugh at such a "picky" dog.

The Bible instructs us to be just as "picky" as Gemma. We are to use our powers of discernment. We are free under the Blood of the Lord (Romans 8:1) but not all things are useful to us and some things are positively harmful to us or to our witness. These things are to be rejected as quickly as Gemma spit out the broccoli.

Was Bill O'Reilly Divinely Inspired to Write Killing Jesus?

The Fox News Channel political commentator Bill O’Reilly was a high school history teacher before he embarked on his television career. He has written numerous books such as Killing Kennedy, Killing Lincoln, The Last Days of Hitler, and Killing Patton.   He is a Roman Catholic believer and has said that he thinks he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write his excellent Killing Jesus. This set off a firestorm of criticism with some people saying that they think he is insane or blasphemous. I think he is probably correct that he was inspired.

I know the implications of what I am saying. I also think that this blog is inspired by God. Of course, it is not inspired on the same authoritative level as Scripture. That idea is the core heresy which led to modern Mormonism. The canon of scripture and doctrinal interpretation is closed. 

The Bible clearly states that each of the Saints (us, not a special class of extra-holy people) is divinely inspired. We  have the Mind of Christ. We have a direct link to the Holy Spirit who indwells, leads, instructs, and counsels individual believers.

Of course He leads us. Of course He inspires us. If He does not, then the problem is with us. We are not listening.

If you do not feel the Holy Spirit moving in your life, now is the time, today. If you are a Christian, ask Him, then listen.

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Are People Afraid of the Truth?

I was walking in to my workplace when a fellow employee whom I did not know spoke to me.

"Is that a murder mystery? ... That book you are carrying."

In my hand was The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel. I planned to do some reading in the book during my lunch break from work.

As we walked, I explained that the book was a work of apologetics. It responds vigorously to the numerous modern attempts to discredit the historical accuracy of the Bible and, more specifically, its depiction of Jesus.

A strange look spread across the face of the woman. She backed away and said, "It's because of all the translations and all the edits. That's why it doesn't have any credibility." The same unsupportable, incoherent, historical fact denying, vapid popular culture, anti-intellectual charges that we hear over and over and over!

She sped up and walked quickly away, probably to escape from the crazy religious person. She never looked back. Perhaps she feared for her life.

My thought was, "Wow! You really do need to read this book." Perhaps she was afraid that she might hear something which challenged her shallow postmodernist views.