Anti-Christ & Christ
During a discussion of movies, my good friend Luke mentioned the Director Lars Von Trier's 'Anti-Christ'. Lars Von Trier works are rightly classified as very disturbing high art psycho-dramas (there are quite a few scenes in the movie where you'll want to close your eyes). The movie's title 'Anti-Christ' would almost seem a misnomer to the layman because the movie says nothing about Christ, but in that, it says much about how despairing life without His redemption would be.
The experience for watching 'Anti-Christ' was insightful to me because I saw the movie the morning of the 'Good Friday' just before before attending the traditional 3 hour 'Good Friday Meditaions' from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM in an Episcopal Church, St. John the Divine. Seeing this Christless movie and then attending the Good Friday service helped me experience back-to-back, the sharp contrast of two antithetical worlds, the central figure being Christ - absent in one, Savior in the another.
Anti-Christ is metaphysical presentation of how the Evil in human nature destroys a husband and a wife. The wife along with her toddler writes a thesis about the innocent women slain in the middle ages, while staying in their cabin in the woods. There she experiences the 'red in tooth and claw' nature of the woods - the animals killing one another, the acorns falling to the ground and dying... etc. She sees that nature kills itself and is Evil. Then she infers that if nature is Evil, then Human Nature is Evil too. Then she concludes that the innocent women that were subject of her thesis were Evil themselves and deserved Death. Then she begins to see her own Evil nature and selfishness. Psychically disturbed, she comes back to the city with her toddler.
Then one morning, she is aware that her toddler's life is probably in danger, but continues to enjoy the throes of orgasmic pleasure she is in. Toddler dies. This makes her deeply guilty and brings back her fears of the Evil in herself. Her husband being a therapist decides that since all this started in their cabin in the woods, they needed to go there to figure-out a solution. There, as he delves deeper and deeper into her mind, he realizes, like her, that Nature is Evil, that Human Nature is Evil too and that he is not exempt himself. He realizes there is no solution to the problem of Evil in Human Nature. The movie ends with his killing the wife. VERY Disturbing. :(
The movie deals with two problems...
1. Nature is Evil. So Human Nature is Evil too.
2. Death is the ultimate end and the ultimate Evil of all Evils. There is no solution. In fact, at one point, the wife tells her husband that one of them will have to die and tries to kill him.
If we look across history, we find many a mother killing her child and many a husband killing his wife. In 'Anti-Christ' Lars Von Trier draws a metaphysical portrait of such extreme Evil that is often swept under the rug of the amiable society, except if the media decides to sensationalize it (as in the case of Casey Anthony). The movie ends in despair because once one comes face-to-face with Evil, one is 'lost'. One realizes that there really is no way out. There is no redemption. Once they are lost, they spiral down until they kill each other. There is none to get them out of Evil. There is no Redeemer. In other words, the movie has no Christ-figure to sacrificially love the lost sheep and bring it back into the fold of righteousness. Hence the name 'Anti-Christ'.
After this intense horror movie, I went to Church for the Good Friday meditations where there were 8 sermons in 3 hours, and some really Awesome hymns. Given the context of the movie, the topics for the 8 sermons I thought, were amazingly providential...
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Pride of Knowledge
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Envy
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Inaction
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Anger
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Lust
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Fears
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Greed
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Deceit and Pride
The sermons dealt with the same theme as the movie 'Anti-Christ' - Evil and Death. But from a very different paradigm, one in which Evil and Death are defeated by Christ's sacrificial Love. The sermons though deeply convicting of Evil, were also comforting because there was a way out, there was a solution - the Sermons pointed to the Savior Jesus Christ, who had conquered Evil and Death. To the Christian Evil is powerful, but not all powerful. It has been defeated by the Crucified Lord. The Human being no longer needs to be enslaved to Sin. Neither is Death the end of All. Christ died on the Cross and Resurrected, thus defeating Death.
The goal of Christ's Death is to justify to us and pave way for Sanctification so that we would increasingly become Christlike - sacrificial in our love. Christ says that no love is greater than that in which one is willing to lay down one's life for another. Christ commands Christians to love one another as He loved us. Christ promised that we will not be alone in this struggle against Evil/Sing. We will not have to fight a losing battle against Evil, the Holy Spirit would be our 'Helper' in our journey to become Christlike.
By the time we were in the 8th sermon, I was kind of tired and wasn't quite listening that well, but the Rector Larry Hall's last few words of the 8th sermon stuck with me, "these are the Truths we need to live for", he paused and said with a smile, "and die for". Christianity has more martyrs today than in any other time in history. As we look through History and see the throngs of the Christian martyrs who Christlike, laid down their lives to spread the message of Christian sacrificial-love. We see that Christian Love is stronger than Evil/Sin and Death. Christ is conquering the World to Himself through Christian love depicted on the Cross.
A world without the Redeemer would indeed be a world that is overwhelmed with Evil and Death. It would be the Anti-Christ - the world without Christ. If the world we live in is any better, it is because Christ is the quintessential model for a Hero Redeemer who powerfully depicts sacrificial love that overcomes Evil and Death. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ helps us emulate Him. We needn't fear the anti-Christ world around us. We'll win it over by being Christlike, for Christ died on the Cross, defeating Evil and He is risen, defeating Death! Happy Easter!
The experience for watching 'Anti-Christ' was insightful to me because I saw the movie the morning of the 'Good Friday' just before before attending the traditional 3 hour 'Good Friday Meditaions' from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM in an Episcopal Church, St. John the Divine. Seeing this Christless movie and then attending the Good Friday service helped me experience back-to-back, the sharp contrast of two antithetical worlds, the central figure being Christ - absent in one, Savior in the another.
Anti-Christ is metaphysical presentation of how the Evil in human nature destroys a husband and a wife. The wife along with her toddler writes a thesis about the innocent women slain in the middle ages, while staying in their cabin in the woods. There she experiences the 'red in tooth and claw' nature of the woods - the animals killing one another, the acorns falling to the ground and dying... etc. She sees that nature kills itself and is Evil. Then she infers that if nature is Evil, then Human Nature is Evil too. Then she concludes that the innocent women that were subject of her thesis were Evil themselves and deserved Death. Then she begins to see her own Evil nature and selfishness. Psychically disturbed, she comes back to the city with her toddler.
Then one morning, she is aware that her toddler's life is probably in danger, but continues to enjoy the throes of orgasmic pleasure she is in. Toddler dies. This makes her deeply guilty and brings back her fears of the Evil in herself. Her husband being a therapist decides that since all this started in their cabin in the woods, they needed to go there to figure-out a solution. There, as he delves deeper and deeper into her mind, he realizes, like her, that Nature is Evil, that Human Nature is Evil too and that he is not exempt himself. He realizes there is no solution to the problem of Evil in Human Nature. The movie ends with his killing the wife. VERY Disturbing. :(
The movie deals with two problems...
1. Nature is Evil. So Human Nature is Evil too.
2. Death is the ultimate end and the ultimate Evil of all Evils. There is no solution. In fact, at one point, the wife tells her husband that one of them will have to die and tries to kill him.
If we look across history, we find many a mother killing her child and many a husband killing his wife. In 'Anti-Christ' Lars Von Trier draws a metaphysical portrait of such extreme Evil that is often swept under the rug of the amiable society, except if the media decides to sensationalize it (as in the case of Casey Anthony). The movie ends in despair because once one comes face-to-face with Evil, one is 'lost'. One realizes that there really is no way out. There is no redemption. Once they are lost, they spiral down until they kill each other. There is none to get them out of Evil. There is no Redeemer. In other words, the movie has no Christ-figure to sacrificially love the lost sheep and bring it back into the fold of righteousness. Hence the name 'Anti-Christ'.
After this intense horror movie, I went to Church for the Good Friday meditations where there were 8 sermons in 3 hours, and some really Awesome hymns. Given the context of the movie, the topics for the 8 sermons I thought, were amazingly providential...
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Pride of Knowledge
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Envy
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Inaction
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Anger
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Lust
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Fears
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Greed
Jesus Christ Died for... Our Deceit and Pride
The sermons dealt with the same theme as the movie 'Anti-Christ' - Evil and Death. But from a very different paradigm, one in which Evil and Death are defeated by Christ's sacrificial Love. The sermons though deeply convicting of Evil, were also comforting because there was a way out, there was a solution - the Sermons pointed to the Savior Jesus Christ, who had conquered Evil and Death. To the Christian Evil is powerful, but not all powerful. It has been defeated by the Crucified Lord. The Human being no longer needs to be enslaved to Sin. Neither is Death the end of All. Christ died on the Cross and Resurrected, thus defeating Death.
The goal of Christ's Death is to justify to us and pave way for Sanctification so that we would increasingly become Christlike - sacrificial in our love. Christ says that no love is greater than that in which one is willing to lay down one's life for another. Christ commands Christians to love one another as He loved us. Christ promised that we will not be alone in this struggle against Evil/Sing. We will not have to fight a losing battle against Evil, the Holy Spirit would be our 'Helper' in our journey to become Christlike.
By the time we were in the 8th sermon, I was kind of tired and wasn't quite listening that well, but the Rector Larry Hall's last few words of the 8th sermon stuck with me, "these are the Truths we need to live for", he paused and said with a smile, "and die for". Christianity has more martyrs today than in any other time in history. As we look through History and see the throngs of the Christian martyrs who Christlike, laid down their lives to spread the message of Christian sacrificial-love. We see that Christian Love is stronger than Evil/Sin and Death. Christ is conquering the World to Himself through Christian love depicted on the Cross.
A world without the Redeemer would indeed be a world that is overwhelmed with Evil and Death. It would be the Anti-Christ - the world without Christ. If the world we live in is any better, it is because Christ is the quintessential model for a Hero Redeemer who powerfully depicts sacrificial love that overcomes Evil and Death. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ helps us emulate Him. We needn't fear the anti-Christ world around us. We'll win it over by being Christlike, for Christ died on the Cross, defeating Evil and He is risen, defeating Death! Happy Easter!