You can’t turn on the TV or go online today and not see the computer generated faces of the Na’Vi. Avatar is everywhere – it is a cultural phenomenon. Everyone is talking about it- good, bad, or indifferent, people who had never previously heard the computer game term “avatar” one month ago are now well versed with the story of Marine Jake Sully and his adventures on the intentionally symbolic land of Pandora.
For starters, let me say that I loved the film. It has its flaws as a movie, and is merely a 3-D retelling of the Disney film Pocahantas, but it is a beautiful movie with a clear message.
But what should we do about that message?
If you do an Internet search on “Avatar and Christianity” (later, not while you’re reading this blog), you’ll notice uproar in the Christian community of the idea of pantheism (the worship of nature) present in this film. There appears to be such disgust at the ideas promoted in the movie that even the Vatican has spoken out in condemnation of the film.
Make no mistake about it; Avatar is promoting a religion - a false religion. So what?
Are we really afraid that after watching this film, that thousands of Christians are going to jump ship with Jesus and begin worshiping Ewya, the “all-mother” god of the fictional Na’Vi people? Likewise are we surprised that an ungodly world (I am speaking about our world now) would promote such an idea?
False religion should be discussed in our churches, and all believers should know the truth. But why are we so quick to seclude ourselves in an “us versus the world” camp in regards to theology?
My problem isn’t with Christians choosing to boycott the film, although I do think it a bit foolish. My problem is with Christians ignoring the unique opportunity to share their faith that this movie presents.
Here’s what I mean to say- why is that we condemn practitioners of nature worship, the basic tenant of the New Age mysticism so common in our world, rather than acknowledge their need and show them the real God of creation?
Here’s what I saw when I watched Avatar: a disheartened American soldier who gets fed up with the dream of “more” and turns to a god he meets in nature.
I can work with that.
But how? Is there a way to meet the pagans, like the Na’vi and James Cameron (the film’s director), and show them our God using their tools and their beliefs?
Perhaps the answer can be found in a three-leaf clover.
Like the Na’Vi, the ancient Celts were Mother Earth worshippers. They believed in a pagan god and worshipped their god through various rituals and practices. By all accounts, they were the sorts of people that Hollywood would love to make a movie about.
But unlike the church today, the Ancient Church (coincidentally the same Catholic church that is speaking out against Avatar) responded differently. They did not condemn or ignore, they responded with Saint Patrick.
Patrick’s story is particularly insightful in how we (as Christians) should approach the views presented in Avatar. His story is helpful if we are to understand how best to relate and minister to a world that believes in a false religion.
So what did Patrick do? He organized the biggest and most successful missionary campaign outside of the New Testament. He so effectively planted Christ in a pagan culture that he is now celebrated in an international holiday. Not even the Apostle Paul has a holiday.
But the key to understanding Patrick is not in the results of his missionary journey, but in his techniques. Unlike modern evangelicals, that lambast and criticize the popular religion of our time, Patrick used the native religion to point to Christ. He chose religious symbols of the Celts and adapted them to Christianity. The shamrock became a symbol, not of the earth god, but of the Trinity. Unlike other ancient missionaries, Patrick did not ride into a colony with a legion of soldiers and build a church on native soil. He met in tents, travelled with tribes, and found a connection between what they believed and the God he served.
And Patrick was not the first to do this. In Acts 17, upon his visit to Athens, Paul used Athenian pagan statues to advocate Christ. He studied the native religion, and when pressed, responded to their questions about his faith by using what he had learned about their beliefs. "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22-23)
Paul and Patrick provide a model for us on how we should deal with the religion and philosophy in Avatar. They recognized that in most every false god exists the ability, either through comparison or contrast, to show the true God.
If we (Christians) are to make any difference in our world, we must stop condemning non-believers for their earth worship or New Age philosophy and start recognizing that what they see in nature is our God. Yes, they worship the creation and not the Creator, but how can we criticize them if we refuse to show them the Artist behind the art?
The Na’Vi aliens in Avatar are on the right path. Yes their worship is misguided, but they see what we see- the thumbprint of a beautiful and loving God on all of his creation. Is Avatar just a movie? Yes, but it reflects the longings and feelings of so many in our world. It reflects a longing for beauty and truth, a beauty and truth they see in the creation around them.
The church needs to find new three-leaf clover. Perhaps Avatar is a start.
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