George Lucas, creator of the "Star Wars" saga "Revenge of the Sith," must feel the "force" is with him after it took $A158.5 million in its first four days of screening (www.theage.com.au).
"Star Wars" has its theme as the conflict between good and evil. While a Christian theme, it is more in tune with Hinduism and New Age belief.
Obi-Wan Kenobi says: "The Force is what vies a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together" Evil Darth Vader is the dark side of the Force. This is Eastern pantheism where god is not a person but is everything, including good and evil. The Bible presents God as a personal being who created us as persons. He made the universe, but is disctinct from it (Genesis 1:1-27).
The movie series stresses feelings rather than reason. In “Attack of the Clones,” Senator Palpatine says to Anakin Skywalker: “You don't need guidance, Anakin. In time you will learn to trust your feelings. Then you will be invincible.” Yoda (the little green man), in a training exercise with some children, says: “Don't think ...feel ...be as one with the Force. Help you, it will.”
Since the 1960s, there's been increasing emphasis on subjective feelings and New Age spirituality. However, Christianity isn't based on feelings but fact.
Cosmic Conflict
How does the Bible describe Star Wars?
Revelation 12:7-9 “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
The devil wanted God's position (see Isaiah 14:12-15). That we are God is the basis of New Age spirituality.
Who created and holds the universe?
Colossians 1:16, 17 “For by him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.... He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Jesus, as God, sustains “all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).
What does Paul say about this conflict?
1 Corinthians 4:9 “God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.”
Why do we need to rely on God's power?
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
What is the human condition as a result of Satan's leading?
Romans 3:10, 23 “There is no-one righteous, not even one.... All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Good News
In what way does God invite us to use our minds?
Isaiah 1:18 “Let us reason together.... Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
What has Jesus done for humankind?
Romans 5:6, 8 “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.... God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
What facts of the Gospel are of “first importance”?
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you.... By this gospel you are saved.... For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
Faith, Not Feelings
What does Paul say is “the gospel”?
Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
What do we receive by believing in Jesus?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
A poet wrote: “Be my feelings what they will, Jesus is my Saviour still.”
A Christian writer has said, “Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, ‘I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised'” (E G White, Steps to Christ, page 51). And Jesus promised: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), adding, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
So it isn't “May the Force be with you”—we need much more than a mere “energy field” for salvation—but “May God be with you.”
