Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 22

Thread: Christianity and Star Wars

  1. #1

    Default Christianity and Star Wars

    Last Sunday my there was a sermon at my Church where the reverend said Star Wars was sacriligiouse. I dont really know what to do, my Youth Minister has seen all my SW stuff nad he even asked if he could use the lightsaber in a lesson. I personally think that it is nonsense, but what does everyone here think about Star Wars and there religion?


    Heres the best commetn Iv recieved on the other board.
    Originally Posted by JediG60racer
    Wow, just wow. All I can say is that preacher did an incredible disservice to all followers of Christ by making those statements about Star Wars. I question his theological education in making remarks of that nature.

    I'm a pastor, been serving in ministry for 15 years. I've acted as youth pastor, music pastor, outreach pastor, teaching pastor, police chaplain, navy chaplain, marriage and family counselor, college/career pastor, young adults pastor, young marrieds pastor, connections pastor (lengthy boring description for that).

    And I've been president of one of the most active Star Wars fan clubs in the nation, served in that capacity for 4 years. It's a movie with a lot of fans, myself included. Entertainment. If that preacher only entertains himself by sitting in a room by himself praying, then maybe he has a foot to stand on as far as condemning other people's methods of entertainment. Maybe. But if he so much as watches a football game or any sporting event, or watches TV, or reads books other than the Bible, than he has no place to make such remarks, for all of those fall into the same category he just placed Star Wars into.

    All that to say, as far as orthodox Christian beliefs go, the Bible speaks very clearly that believing in Christ revolves in FREEDOM from having to follow rules (Galations 5:1) and there are plenty of guidelines about how one is supposed to not judge other people, but love other people. Matt 22 pretty much sums up the whole of the Bible and the main guidelines to follow: love God and love people. Period. If you do those things, then everything else falls into place.

    1 Cor 6:12 does say that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial -- Star Wars has been beneficial, not otherwise. It's brought me into friendships and relationships I would otherwise not have the pleasure of, and opened avenues for ministry in people's lives for me as a pastor. When I look at Jesus' example of how he lived, the person whose example I'm supposed to follow, I see that he hung out with all the people that the religiously self righteous people said not to. So I can say without any hesitation that with Star Wars fans, now that a religiously self righteous person has said to avoid, is exactly where Christ would want me to be spending time.

    And yeah, you probably want to go find another church if that sort of teaching is run of the mill there. Christianity is about freedom and living life abundantly, not about rules and regulations and do-nots. Lots of good, authentic churches out there where it's okay to be a real person and be imperfect. I encourage you to find one.
    My response was
    I really aree with what you have said here, our Pastor has had many sermons on "evil" things. I really wish I could just go to naouther Church but I have a strong bond with the other Youth there and I am still young enough to be in the Youth Group for the service so I dont have to listen to his sermons. Alot of other members think hes a tad crazy, almost like when you see a show hacve someone do a sermon where they say "DO ___ AND YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!" (I know everyone here has seen a show that has done that).
    To sum up the sermon her basically said the Jedi were the Pharasies, the Costumes were Muslem and Budist.

    My question is, If Jedi are the bad guys, is Darth Vader God?!

    Please note: I dont want to start a Religiouse debate
    Blue 4 "Im hit!"


  2. #2
    Council Member Novastar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    San Jose / San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    4,082

    Default

    I will speak about this, as I have absolutely no political "alignment" nor any religious one as well.

    Ok, are you ready? If you are reading--hear me out... COMPLETELY first! If you stop reading too soon, you will entirely miss an important point about a simple fact that I doubt ANYONE can disagree with...

    Religion boils down to "in what do you believe"... about a great many things.

    But to me--belief... is irrelevant. Thought is also irrelevant. Group belief is something that comforts people--in that they feel less alone if they all share "the same" ideals, concepts, or knowledge. Whatever those concepts are, as long as they are similar, people feel more comforted. That is also mindless and meaningless.

    The reality is... ACTIONS dictate what the world is and is not. Those who take action and DO things... are remembered, and have impact. Those who "believe" in something (without actually helping to perpetuate it)... are not remembered, and have very little impact... and they really don't "believe" in that something at all... as they do not stand up and defend or improve that in which they "believe".

    Examples: If I "believe" in protecting children... but I never DO anything about it... I never take ACTION to help further that cause... then my belief is meaningless, and irrelevant--as good as it might make me feel. Dreaming or thinking about "buying nachos" does not equate to actually DOING it. Further, it wastes precious time and energy during the course of your life.

    If anyone wishes to draw religious paraboles to Star Wars--you'll find that there are plenty that can be drawn. Just as some made interesting comparisons of The Wizard Of Oz to many "relevant" issues during the book's time.

    But in the end... none of that matters. Nor will it ever, especially years from now. What matters... and what matters SOLELY... is what you DO with your beliefs. What causes you to take action in life, and what impact will you have?

    Many people I know have absolutely no "religious" alignment... and they have done, aided, constructed and contributed far more... than some so-called "religious leaders" whom I have met, heard of, or seen.

    In the end--I hope those who are reading will choose to be more of a DOER rather than simply a "believer". It is up to you. I'm positive all of us know what line from ESB actually sums my entire point up in that small line. There is barely a hidden message here.

    So get out there. Stop thinking so much, stop fearing what MIGHT happen, and instead... GO DO IT. Make "it" happen--that which you believe. Surprised you might be--how things turn out they do...
    ~~ GREYTALE NOVASTAR (Writer, Director, Choreographer, Sound Designer, Actor, Saber Designer, Vocal Artist)
    ~~ Balance of Power, EP I: "Into The Lion's Den"
    ~~ Balance of Power, EP II: "Ashes of The Phoenix"
    ~~ The Crystal Focus Sound CD Compendiums... are HERE! ~~
    ~~ Nova & Caine's Staged Combat System... comin' SOON!
    ~~ Crystal Focus Wiring Guide

  3. #3

    Default

    Okay, okay, okay.
    We need to stop this thread before it goes any further.
    The only other Christianity/religion thread we had on here turned into an all-out brawl between myself, DesertScorpion, and Ultra.

    As long as we can keep the discussion on the intended topic (whether or not SW is sacrilegious) and not insult each others' beliefs, we'll be fine.
    TCSS Red Squadron - The most kickawesome fighting force in the Galaxy.


    Which Blue Luxeon is movie-accurate? Find out here.

  4. #4

    Default

    I fail to see how Star Wars is sacriligious. I am a Christian, in my systematic theology class at school we discussed the whole idea of "the force" that there is a force which controls everything. While I agree that there are definite Good and Bad Sides, I disagree with the idea that they balance each other out. Because I'm a Christian, I believe that Jesus' death on the cross defeated the Devil and that through faith in him, my sins are paid for in full.

    Super Bowl XLII Champs.

  5. #5

    Default

    i personally dont think star wars is sacreligous. i think that people who say things like that have nothing better to do besides try to figure out things that are evil. i think jesus's message was to do good things. not that star wars is evil.

  6. #6

    Default

    While Iam not religious I do have faith in something.

    Persionally I think the guy is a lunatick. SW is just that a fantacy movie story.

    Dont listen to him hes the kinda person that would be at a meating burning our fantacy.

    Also Does that one person impact your fath? is he the one that should stear your fath? no only you can do that.

    Its your fath in god or who ever else you want to beleave in. you got a bible be your own preacher. and dont listen to other people preach about whats right and whats wrong, you know whats right and wrong.
    Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. - Albert Einstein

    Reaganomics not Obamanomics


  7. #7

    Default

    I'm agape and aghast.
    Actually I'm not that surprised at all.

    A lot of books and movies have had this levelled at them.
    Harry Potter springs immediately to mind.

    Ultimately everything in this world comes down to each individual person's perspective.
    I've seen points of the saga used to promote Christianity, I've seen it used as a parallel for the bible.
    I've also seen segments of it used to promote other religions.
    All because different people have different perspectives of things.

    Whilst to the guy who delivered your sermon it may make sense that Star Wars is heresy or sacreligious, it obviously doesn't to you.
    If you hold strong to what you believe, and keep your perspective, your following your Christian beliefs while still enjoying star wars.

  8. #8

    Default

    Nightwing, it appears from your response that you took offense to Novastar's response, and I don't believe he has or was trying to insult your beliefs.

    But back on the subject, the original question was:

    If Jedi are the bad guys, is Darth Vader God?!

    My answer to this is no. Comparing the Jedi to the Pharises is oranges to apples. While they did have the same belief of a Messiah coming, the Pharises pressured Pilate to crucify Jesus as a false prophet, while the Jedi did no such thing to Anakin as they believed he was the Chosen One. The Jedi can't even be held responsible for his death or the actions that led up to it. So while I would agree with you that the Pharises were the bad guys, the Jedi were not making the argument of Darth Vader being God moot.

    As for the question of SW being sacreligious, I don't see how that is possible unless you take offense that your religion wasn't the one solely used, which would be a loose definition of sacreligious. The Force and the actions taken in the movie reflect portions and aspects of numerous religions, the entire concept as displayed is very spiritual but not limited to what we would see as a single belief system.

    Remember that SW is what it is. I liken it to the 20th century version of Homer's Odyssey, an epic tale that was shown on film instead of scribed onto parchment. SW has, like the Odyssey, influenced countless individuals like you and I, but it is a work of fiction.

  9. #9
    supertrogdor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Strongbadia Field, next to the tire
    Posts
    553

    Default

    In my humble and biased opinion, StarWars is a classic Hero Story. All classic hero stories have similar key points from which you can draw religious principals. The thing is that individuals draw the principles based on thier experience. You can draw as many or as few of them as you see fit for yourself, but it all comes down to how an individual reacts to something they see based on what they have done in thier life. It works this way not only with StarWars but every hero story, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, even Rodion Raskalnikov in Crime and Punnishment. Pick any story, real or ficticious, where someone has even a slightly heroic act and religious connections can be made.
    FSM What's on your belt?

  10. #10

    Default

    Star Wars has several instances that I can point to as a Christian and say, that lines up to something biblically. The first case that comes to mind is Obi-Wan laying down his life for that of Luke, Han, Chewie, 3P0, R2 and Leia. This would line up to Jesus dying on the cross to make a way for everyone to escape eternal damnation, IF they put their trust in him. The big way I like to look at the conflicts in star wars rather than there being a force that has to be 'balanced'. I see Jedi as being SWAT and the Sith as criminals. You could also look at it like Jedi being Special Forces and Sith Lords being Terrorists. If you think about it, Sith Lords and Terrorists are basically the same thing, it's just they kill innocent people for different reasons, Terrorists often kill because they either hate america or because God told them to. Sith Lords just kill because they think it's fun.

    Super Bowl XLII Champs.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •