To End All Wars

July 23rd, 2004

Cindy took the kids to the inlaws tonight to give me some cherished alone time, so being the movie junky that I am, I rented a movie. I decided to rent something off the beaten path, a movie that would have only 1 copy, rather than 30 at the rental store. I like war movies, and I saw one that sounded interesting, so I rented To End All Wars. I was surprised to discover that the movie was based off of the autobiography of this guy Ernest Gordon, who actually was a POW and was later the chaplain at Princeton University. I’d recommend this movie. But be ready, it’s really violent. It left me confused. A movie that does that makes me glad I watched it.

Here’s an honest review from Christianity Today.

One thing I noticed, and here’s my rant, is that the movie’s message is all about forgiveness, but it seemed to me like it was calling us to forgive one another and live in harmony. All good, but that would miss the truth that we all need someone to forgive us outside of ourselves. We can’t just go around forgiving one another back and forth, and then feel better because we’re forgiven. That’s a humanist kind of salvation. It’s like doing good to outweigh all the evil in the world. If that actually worked, we’d be living in a utopia, but look around. My home town is beautiful, but it’s no utopia of love and forgiveness. Humanism is a false hope. It’s like that movie Pay It Forward. It sounds wonderful, like the salvation of humanity, but it doesn’t work.

I feel that for myself, I need a savior, someone who can save me completely. No human nor all of humanity can forgive me to the point where I am totally saved from the ugliness inside me, and if you’re thinking as you read this that you don’t have ugliness inside you, that’s great. I’m talking about myself though. I need a savior, not a super human but God - the only one who can forgive me completely. Ok, I’m done. Good night.

  1. One Response to “To End All Wars”

  2. By Dzerzhinski on Jul 23, 2004

    Even when you give it some thought, forgiving is still contrary to modern thought. Since we live in an age of Relativism, forgiving is an outdated concept. If everyone is okay and nobody is wrong, why should forgivness even be necessary? It only goes to show that again, the God-shaped vacuum shows up in unexpected places. Our God given sense of a concience dictates that we should forgive, but without the ultimate forgiveness given by God,as you so aptly put it, our human forgiveness is worthless. There again, events and even Hollywood movies point to the need of God for humanity.

    A humble brother in Christ.

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