Star Wars vs. Christianity?

[keyla_dalee]

My father is a minister currently deployed in Kuwait. I sent him an email the other day, and my signature was a quote I thought was cute:

'Duct tape is like the Force, it has a dark side, and a light side, and holds the Universe together.'

I got a VERY upset email in return. My father believes that the Force is not Christian because it goes against what God has told us; that something as good as God cannot be one with something that's Dark (The Devil). He thinks the concept of the Force is like saying that the 'other side' of God is evil, but evil cannot exist where good is. (Like

I understand where he's coming from, but if we are going to interpolate something like that, one could say that a spoon is evil, because on one side, you see yourself right side up and on the other you see yourself upside down.

*A little side note: I am CRAZY about StarWars, and have been for a while...I am also a big fan of duct tape; I made a ball gown and purses out of it last year...*

Any ideas?

 

[keith99]

It depends a lot on how a reasonable person would take the quote.

If your father had good cause to take it seriously then his responce makes sense. As a serious level Jedi philosophy sucks.

But I for one lacking other evidence would consider the sig as more about duct tape and not to be taken seriously about anything other than duct tape figuratively holding the universe (e.g everythign) together.

 

[superdog]

God is the only force. I LOVE Star Wars but The force is not real but its fun to think you can move things without touching them.

 

[Sketcher]

Lucas did the Force and all of that because he's a Buddhist. Yes, it's non-Christian. Yes, I still like the movies and I don't believe in the Force or anything like the Force at all.

 

[superdog]

I did not know that

 

[TemperateSeaIsland]

The force (in the context of SW) is a tool and like all tools can be used for good or ill.

 

[SUNSTONE]

I always looked at The Force as the Holy Spirit.

The dark side as devil and his forces.

Luke is a person who fights for God's side.
Darth Vador fights for the devil's side.

 

[70x7]

I think thats a little much, but thats my own opinion.
Its a sci-fi movie. Anyone can come to any reason about anything. In order to discover the true meaning, you need to look at the motive. In this particular case, I think the motive was quite frankly a funny anecdote about duct tape.
.02

 

[Sketcher]

I always looked at The Force as the Holy Spirit.

The dark side as devil and his forces.

Luke is a person who fights for God's side.
Darth Vador fights for the devil's side.

But the Holy Spirit is all good and all God. The Force is this nebulous . . . force with both a good side and a bad side.

 

[Speculative]

I usually don't spend a lot of time trying to relate entertainment to my faith. I like Star Wars because it's entertaining. I don't watch it to try to get some kind of spiritual guidance. I go to other sources for that. On the other hand, I don't get all upset when the spiritual philosophies in movies disagree with those that I hold. It's just entertainment and not something to get worked up about.

God Bless and may the Force be with you

 

[superdog]

things like The chronicals of Narnia is a better spiritual movie

 

[WalksWithChrist]

People do awful things in God's name all the time.
This could be viewed as the "Dark Side" in a way.

But still...The Force is just made up.
If anyone gets in a tizzy over it they need to take a chill pill for real.


And if you're into the whole Star Wars lore (books, etc.) you'll know that anyone that tampers with the Dark Side gets mangled up at best and destroyed at worse.

 

[superdog]

true

 

[WalksWithChrist]

things like The chronicals of Narnia is a better spiritual movie

Narnia for the win!

 

[RocknRollRadio]

The force is a very pantheistic concept on paper. Seeing the existence of an "essence of a higher power" in all things in different ways is pretty much the definition of pantheism, and it's unlikely that Lucas believes in a monothestic or more specifically Judeo-Christian concept of God because of that. Moreso than the idea that God wouldn't have a dark side, various things stand out that might throw up a red flag. I hate to reference the prequels, but in "Revenge of the Sith", when Obi Wan has his final battle with Anakin, Obi-wan informs him "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

Seems to be a mounting pile of evidence that Lucas's concept of God is very loose. Of course, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's perfectly fine to seperate the auteur from their art. Even if Lucas doesn't believe in the same God (or even god in a physical sense), there's nothing wrong with loving Star Wars.

Well, nothing wrong with loving the Original Trilogy anyway.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

'The Force' isn't a very Christian concept and is clearly inspire by Buddhist and Taoist thought. Like the Yin and Yang, the force has two sides; one is the ''dark'' side and the other is the ''light'' side. The whole concept is that the Star Wars universe, much like our own, works on a kind of balance (much like the Hindu concept concerning karma) and that dark is just the other side of light.

Hating the Star Wars films because it doesn't conform to your own belief system seems intolerant and ignorant; Star Wars isn't real, the Force isn't a real belief system and enjoying the made-up mythology of the Star Wars universe isn't going to destroy your faith. Also, you have to learn that not all non-Christians are corrupt and evil! George Lucas put many admirable lesson into his creation such as the triumph of good over evil, the idea of helping others and self-realization.

George Lucas is a Buddhist just as I am, however, the Force isn't Buddhism but a piece of fiction with Buddhist inspiration. Infact Palpatine and Darth Vader are actually inspired by the Christian concept of the Devil.

Just enjoy the films! ;-)

 

[SSior.27]

Double-post. Please see below.

 

[SSior.27]

I'm not going to get into the spiritual aspect of this because many here seem to forget what the Force truly is. Let's start with Yoda's explanation:

The Force is my ally, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

It is a singular energy, neutral, natural. The Jedi use it as a means to further understand the relationship between things, and thereby manipulate it to an extent to protect others. The Sith use it in a separate manner to obtain selfish ambition and further corrupted not so much by the Force, but by their own greed and lusts.

The Force is not an entity with good and bad aspects, simply two paths to follow it created by the desires of mankind (human and otherwise). It is not about following a good or bad deity, but based upon how one uses their talents: For others or for selfish ambition. Anakin Skywalker sought to better himself to save someone else, but blinded by anger and fear of himself, of his own weakness. So he fell to the selfish desires of his power. Luke Skywalker struggled straight through everything to continue with selfless use of the Force, protecting others. But even he fell to selfishness in nearly destroying Vader before catching himself and reigning in his emotions, in ignoring the Jedi belief of detatchment and marrying a former-Sith. His nephew, Jacen Solo, struggled with the selfish aspects of the Sith beliefs to save the galaxy, constantly checking his own actions so he did not go the way of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker.

The only spiritual aspect I put on this is simple:
It's not so much of good and evil as much as it is perversions of a single belief. This applies to Muslims with actual believers and extremists who blow things and themselves up. This applies to Christians with actual believers and those who participate in Crusades. This applies to the dangers of extremes, absolutes, and selfish ambitions.

 

[KGirl]

Actually I would say the force is like the Holy Spirit. It causes us to sense things of the dark side and we should stay away from the dark side as much as possible because of it's possible ability to pull us in. Though God is good and there's no dark side to Him, we as people deal with both sides.

 

[SparkyMaddie]

numero 3!