upward & inward

I wrote in an earlier post about my response to the recent movie, Dark Knight. Since then, I've spoken with others of their reaction, specifically, to the character of the Joker. It's easy to minimize this character as an anarchist or even a sociopath or psychopath. However, if we seek to understand our lives as that which is lived on a spiritual battleground - battling for our souls and the souls of others - then maybe we can this opportunity to learn from this character as much as we can about how we are to be aware of and react to that which is evil. What prompted this post was two reactions that tested my reaction to the movie. One of the folks on staff and my oldest son observed that they found themselves liking the Joker. The testing for me came with my deeper response that I, too, found myself wanting to like this guy. For example, in one scene, the Joker painted this picture of an abusive father who scarred a smile upon the Joker's face. However, later in another ...

The boys and I went to see Dark Knight, the new Batman movie. If you haven't seen it, you may not want to read this as I might give too much away. Having warned you, here are my observations: Lewis, who had already seen it, warned me that it was a dark movie. He was right. The Joker, most excellently played by the late Heath Ledger, epitomized the evil described in Romans 1 where God allows us to wallow and drown in our sin such that our calloused hearts increasingly know no bounds with regard to selfish desires. Like most action flicks, it stretches credulity beyond reasonable doubt. Batman's struggle to keep his moral compass steady was strongly evident and reminded me that we never know how easy it is to let the storms (or pleasures) of life tear away our moral moorings, if we're not careful. One of the more interesting quotes was from the Joker to Batman: “madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.” Taking that quote and bending it a little, I...