Alright, if you haven’t seen the movie “The Book of Eli” and you still think you might – don’t read this column. I’m going to talk about the movie and I don’t want to spoil the key plot twists for anyone. If, on the other hand, you’ve already seen it or you don’t intend to see it…read on. {I’ll apologize in advance – I had so much to say, this is going to take a while to read.}
For my birthday Piper and I went out to the movies and we saw “The Book of Eli.” It is a bloody movie with plenty of foul language, so I can’t recommend anyone see it. However, it had a couple of great messages that I thought I’d try to write about. First, here’s the basic plot to the movie:
Eli (Denzel Washington) has been on a journey for 30 years, walking west across America after a cataclysmic war that turned the earth into a total wasteland. The world has become a lawless civilization where people must kill or be killed. The barren roads belong to gangs of cutthroats who rob and kill for water, a pair of shoes, a lighter, or just for fun. Eli is a peaceful man who only acts in self defense, and becomes a warrior with unbelievable killing skills when he is challenged. After the war and the “Big Flash”, Eli was guided by a higher power to a hidden book and given the task of protecting the book and taking it to its final destination. Eli guards the book with his life, because he knows that the book is the only hope that humanity has for its future.
The book turns out to be the Christian Bible. After a nuclear catastrophe, the surviving world (for some unexplained reason) turns against the Bible and destroys every copy in existence. And the world spins into total barbarism.
The only hope for humanity
That’s my first point. Without the Bible, without the teachings God gives us in His Word, we are truly lost. In the movie we witness lots of killings, blood, rape, and decadence. At one point Eli recounts the world before the war saying, “We used to throw away things that we now kill people to have.” But would that really happen? Would the world really spin out of control without the Bible? Just read the newspaper. This morning I read an article about the shootings at a San Francisco area church. The article said this…
It was the latest shooting in the city of about 103,000 on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay that already has seen seven homicides this year, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman killed during a drive-by shooting while picking up her son from school. {The town has} garnered national attention after the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl outside a high school homecoming dance while as many as 20 bystanders watched without calling police. Seven people from 15 to 43 years old have pleaded not guilty in the attack. Police are also looking into a string of more than two dozen car arson fires that began last fall.
The movie says, “this book is the only hope that humanity has for its future.” I firmly believe that.
When there is no Bible
{Plot spoiler warning again} In the movie Eli has spent 30 years walking across the country to a destination God pointed him toward as the destination for the Bible. During that 30 years Eli had read the Bible every day. In the end, the bad guys – thinking that religion is power – steal his Bible to use in manipulating and controlling people. Even without the Bible, Eli continues walking. When he arrives at his final destination, he tells the people he has a copy of the Bible (I thought he was lying). Once inside Eli recites the entire Bible from memory, allowing the recovery of God’s Word for this society. Profound.
“Impossible”, you may be thinking. But it reminds me of story I read about Pastor Martin Niemoller, who stood opposed to Adolf Hitler during World War II. While interred at a concentration camp during the war Pastor Niemoller met an old rabbi. To Niemoller’s amazement the rabbi had memorized the entire Old Testament and worked every day from memory to do a daily recitation of scripture. Niemoller asked the man why he had done this, and the old rabbi replied, “The only Bible that you own is that which is in your heart.”
I know memorizing scripture is not easy. But if we believe the Bible is the only hope for humanity, then shouldn’t we do more with it than carry it around? When asked the condition of the Bible (which Eli had memorized), Eli says his Bible is ‘beat up, but will do the job.’ How’s your Bible? Mine needs a lot of work. I have a hard time memorizing verses, and particularly the address of those verses. Yet, when I am talking with someone about the deepest needs of life, my words mean nothing – until I begin to quote what God says. Then there is healing. Then there is change. Then there is hope. Try to memorize a handful of verses this month – it will be worth the effort. If you want some suggestions, come talk to me or Pastor Barry or Pastor Greg.
The 30-year walk
In the movie, Eli has been walking for 30 years to get from where he started to the west coast where God has sent him. 30 years of hardship. 30 years of struggle. During the movie I caught myself wondering if there wasn’t a faster way to get to the west coast. Particularly since the mission was so important. Shouldn’t God have given him a ride? Couldn’t he get there in less than 30 years?
Then, at the end of the movie, as Eli began quoting the Bible word-for-word to preserve the text, it became clear. God was doing a great thing by having Eli walk for 30 years. For in those years Eli memorized the text. In those years it truly became the “book of Eli”. And when I saw that I knew that the journey was part of the mission. God had not left Eli alone. God had given him a great gift so Eli would be equipped to give a great gift – God’s Word. Have you been praying for a faster route to get to where God has called you? Remember, the journey is the mission.
Now I’ve been on this Christian journey more than 30 years. Some of you have been on walking even longer. What have we done with the time? Are we equipped? “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15) I am called upon every week to give an answer – sometimes with my words, sometimes with my actions. Am I ready to give to people the Word of God? Are you ready? If not, what will you do differently with your walk?
Without Equal
In the end, the world recovers the lost Bible – the message of hope – the Word of God. Eli recites the Bible for someone to write down. At the end of the movie we see the completed Bible being printed. After all that work. After all that walking. After all that struggle. Finally. But, the movie had an interesting twist. The completed Bible is…placed on a shelf. Ouch. What a tragedy that after all it took to deliver God’s Word, it is placed on a shelf. And I’m not talking about the movie – I mean in our own homes. Take that precious book down and read it, read it every day.
The movie’s ending really angered me. (I personally think it was a “politically correct” change in the ending from what I would have expected.) When the Bible is placed on a shelf, it is placed among other religious works such as the Muslim Quran. The movie took great pains to say God had called Eli, protected Eli, and preserved His Word. But we treat it as just another religious book. Do you think the Bible is “on par with” other religious books? Man, you’re wrong. This is God’s Holy Word. It is the Hope of the world. It is the source of Spiritual truth. It alone points out the path to salvation and reconciliation with our Creator God.
The Journey isn’t over
The movie closes with the final words of Eli’s last prayer, saying he has completed his job, won the race, and kept the faith, as we see the traveling companion of Eli start off on her own journey… to spread the word of hope that Eli brought; the words of hope for mankind’s future… and shepherd them to where they can learn of the hope they almost lost.
Are you ready to go on that great journey? It starts with prayer. It continues with daily reading God’s Word. But it must continue out into the World. At one point in the Movie Eli said, “I spent so much time protecting the Word I forgot to carry out what it said.” Let us not be in that position.
Our church is going to start the mission with “Across Georgia-2010”. Pastor Greg wrote about that in his column last week. Please join in. Agree to spend extra time in prayer for our community. Agree to walk a neighborhood every week to pray for the lost ones living there. Join in outreach so every home may have this Word of hope. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. If you can say that, won’t you help other blind people find hope in Christ?
Pastor Bill
