By: Jason Barwick
For those of you who have read my bio on the site, you may already know that I am a Christian. I made the decision to accept Jesus as my savior in middle school and since then everything that I experience is viewed through the lens of God`s Word, the Bible. As a huge fan of all things that reside in the Geekdom, I also view those things through that same lens. Quite often, I will read a comic book or watch a movie and see a strong biblical message within. The reality is that many of the attributes that we love about our heroes/villains and situations they get into can be found in the Bible. For example, we like our heroes to be honest, bold, and courageous. The Bible encourages all of us to be those things, not just those of us that are "super". That is what this regular article will focus on, the biblical ideas and lessons that I see within my favorite comics, TV shows, and movies. I would love to write an article on anything that you guys suggest I read or watch.
The subject for my first article was an easy choice for me. I was immediately struck by a strong biblical theme in a great movie, 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' Guardians is about a group of unlikely "heroes" thrust together to accomplish an impossibly huge task. The Guardians were a team of individuals who had convinced themselves that they had nothing to offer the universe, that they were nothing special. Peter Quill was a human man far from home clinging to the memory of his mother to push him forward. Gamora was a woman who was trying to make right the wrongs of her past. Drax was a deeply wounded man driven solely by his quest for vengeance. Rocket showed nothing but confidence outwardly but inside he felt like a freak. Groot...well he didn`t really say much.
From Left to Right: Gamora, Rocket, Quill, Groot, Drax
In the Bible, we see a story similar to the one we see in Guardians. When Jesus began his ministry he started gathering an unlikely group of men to help him accomplish something huge. Jesus chose ordinary men to be his disciples. None of these men were anything special. Much like the Guardians, these men seemed unqualified to accomplish the task at hand. We saw many moments where each of the Guardians had to battle their "inner demons" and each other to unite and save the day. The Guardians accomplished their goal of saving the universe by believing in something bigger than themselves, each other. Jesus` disciples were by no means perfect. We see many examples of their shortcomings in the Bible. One of the disciples, Peter, even denies knowing Jesus to avoid persecution (Matthew 26:69-75). Peter went on to make more mistakes but also he became one of the most influential leaders of the early church.
The lesson here is this: Much like the Guardians saved the day in spite of their issues with each other and themselves, God can use us for amazing things no matter what our story is. Don’t ever feel like you can’t do something because you are “unworthy” or “not good enough”. The truth is you were created by God for a purpose.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God, the creator of the universe, created you in his image (Genesis 1:27) to do great things while you are here on this earth.
This will be a recurring column by Jason touching on all points of the Geekdom. Give him some suggestions and follow Jason on Twitter: @JasonBarwick and get updated about the column by following Pop Gospel on Twitter as well: @gospel_geek