HARVEY DENT, BATMAN, AND JESUS

Okay, so Stacey and I went to see The Dark Knight on Saturday. The movie was really good, really, really dark but good. So dark in fact that Stacey couldn't really enjoy it. I liked it however. But this post is not a review... it has nothing to do with the quality of the film, plot, or actors.

If you have not seen this movie and plan to do so. DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS POST. We're off the edge of the map mate, here be spoilers....



Joker is the Villain of this flick. He is an insane, mentally deranged fiend who helplessly warps Harvey Dent, Gotham City's white knight. Harvey is Martin Luther King in the beginning of the film, and a Klansman near the end. The whole movie he is trying to prove his acceptability to the masses by locking away criminals, but his actions have only produced more desperate and violent terror on the streets of Gotham. Half-way through the movie, Dent crosses a line. He wants to destroy the joker but seeks to do so by beating a schizophrenic man for information. Later his will and mind are broken when the love of his life is blown to bits as he is saved and listens to her. In the hospital Joker convinces him that his friends are really to blame and he goes on a killing spree on everyone involved in the death of his love. Harvey is killed in the end but rather than allow him to be condemned, Batman takes the blame for Harvey's crimes. All this even after Dent has tried to kill him. Dent, although it's not revealed, survives but lives as the infamous 2face, his white knight persona dies. Now Batman carries the blame for Dent's actions, Dent lives by reputation a saint, but actually a villain.

Isn't this slightly reminiscent of what Jesus has done for us? Our souls have been corrupted by the enemy of God, Satan. We are both victims and hopeless villains, but Christ will not let us die without making us as saints. So our old self dies, we live on with a flawless reputation and continually vile actions, always protected by the escape goat of Christ. Of course we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God who continually works in us to sanctify us until the day that Christ returns to claim us, where Harvey just denigrates further into madness. Thank God for the anti-curse! The Remedy of Satan's corruption, that is redemption in Christ for all those who believe.

On the Will of God

Romans 12.1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Herein lies a mytery, here lies that which no man may answer except by acts of forbidden divination and corhortation with the father of lies. 'What is the will of God for your life?' The cliche rings like a clear bell on a foggy day, pricking the ears of us who cannot see ahead. I cannot pretend to act as if I knew God's secrets, his plan for the individual anymore than I may pretend to understand fully, the tragedy in the world. As with the former, the latter: I must trust my God. He has written, "we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we may walk in them.(Ephesians 2.10)" It would seem that God's will for our life is a linear thing, a series, but are we alowed to see ahead? May we, as children peep in closets and attics for christmas presents, peer into the mind of God?

Yes, we indeed may do so, for he has revealed his mind in the person of Jesus Christ. It is written that "no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side has made him known. (John 1.18)" Another translation reads, that He has explained Him. The mind of God is revealed in the Son. Jesus we understand lived his life in perfect submission, even submission to death (Philippians 2:8), and we have him as our example (1 Peter 2:21).

If the desire of God in our lives is an observable, mentally tangible thing then we could very easily be outside of God's will by being in the wrong place. Am I out of God's will if I am at the counter at work, when God would have me in the back room? Is God's will for my life based on my location... or my action? Is it God's desire that I, in ritual din and clamour attend to guessing his desire for my location, or should I seek to act in accordance with my high calling as a Christian (Ephesians 4:1)? Perhaps Paul is correct in referring to God's will as that which is Good, Acceptable, and Perfect (Romans 12.2), instead of being in the correct place at the most beneficial time.

Lastly, I would contend that seeking to understand the hidden things of God is a divination in most modern regalia. We walk through life as one approaching a curve, we must not break our necks in a reaching for the future but trust the one driving the carriage. Let us revel in that which we know. God revealed will and desire for our lives, that of internal piety that manifests itself for others but is not seasoned by the praises of the same.... that of proclamation of the Good News of reconciliation with God by the blood of Christ!
Remember, Deuteronomy 29:29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.