Is the Force Really With You?

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.  This week’s item is from Religious News Service, May 2002, and a news release from the American Tract Society with a headline: “Star Wars: a cultural phenomenon and evangelism opportunity.”Motion picture trade magazines predicted that Star Wars would become the all time top grossing picture in box office history and indeed it did.What the trades did not predict was that Star Wars would become the cultural phenomenon that it has.“Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” are episodes four, five, and six in a planned six part saga according to George Lucas, the creative force behind the series.Episode one, “The Phantom Menace” was released in 1999.Episode two, “Attack of the Clones” is a 2002 release with episode three yet to come.George Lucas said that people love Star Wars, because it allows them to live out childhood fantasies.But fantasy is only a pretty wrapper around the real gift of Star Wars for these films deliver more than fantasy.They teach about morality, good, evil, virtues and values.The stuff real life is made of.Star Wars is at once an all new experience and yet familiar.It is new because it deals with a time and place far distant from our own.It is familiar because its characters and plot, good versus evil, are borrowed from our favorite stories and fairy tales.Beyond the shear entertainment, there is another reason people see these films again and again.Star Wars has a deeper meaning that speaks to our inner most needs.We want a sort of “force” in our lives and we want to know its ways so that we can surpass our mortal potential.The central supernatural figure in Star Wars is of course a deity called “The Force”.But what exactly is “The Force”?What is Lucas trying to show us?George Lucas seems to have genuine concern for people, particularly young people and a deep commitment to what he believes God wants him to do.Lucas says, “I am simply trying to struggle through life trying to do God’s bidding.However, threaded throughout his films is the story of “The Force” an impersonal entity with a dual nature, a good, and an evil side.The good side of “The Force” responds when those who have adequate faith call upon it for power to do their own bidding.The dark side however, is forbidding and can tempt people into doing evil.“Beware of anger, fear, and aggression, the dark side are they,” Yoda warns Luke in Jedi.“Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.”Because the Force can be manipulated for good or evil purposes, it possesses no morality of its own.God of course, has only a good side.He is holy and righteous and Jesus never committed a single sin.While Lucas’ force is a composite God of many religions including Christianity it does not clearly represent any one deity.It is certainly not the true force, the holy and personal God of the Bible.The Bible tells us there is one true Force who is God.He is the Creator of all things, John:1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
See All..., revealed to man in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit, 2 Corinthians:13:14The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (The following was added by editors of the KJV:The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas)
See All....“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” John:3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
See All....“God is light, in him there is no darkness at all,” 1 John:1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
See All....“For our struggle is against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil,” Ephesians:6:12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
See All....“For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” Colossians:1:13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
See All....God’s Son, Jesus Christ is the light of this world.Jesus said, I have come into this world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness,” John:12:46I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
See All....A person is not a Christian merely by being religious, moral, doing good things, or intellectually acknowledging that God exists.A Christian is one who by faith believes in Christ as Savior.You can tell Christ through talking to him through prayer that you believe he is God and that he died for your sins and a rose again.Receive him as your Savior, invite him into your heart, either in your own words, or through this suggested prayer: “Jesus thank you for loving me and giving your life on the cross in my place.I now receive you as my Savior.Thank you for forgiving my sins; for sharing with me your eternal life and for making me a new creature.Amen.”May the true force be with you.

Tom:

Dave, one of the reason I put this in the news alert is this was a press release and this was produced, this is a tract and this was produced by the American Tract Society.The encouragement here is you are standing in line to get into the Star Wars movie and you give it out to people in line and so on.But I want to evaluate this.The Star Wars films have been around for a long time.Just about everybody knows the stories.They are aware of the force and so on.We have a generation here who grew up with the Star Wars force.Now my concern here is although you want people to be encouraged to witness and give out tracts, but this is confusing in many ways.

Dave:

Very confusing.The man says this is an impersonal force.The force is amoral.Well it has a good side and a bad and it says you can manipulate the force for good or for evil and the force can also manipulate you.And then he claims that God is the true force.What do you mean true force?A force being impersonal cannot give us any picture whatsoever of the true God who is personal, very personal.A force couldn’t create the world.A force couldn’t create human beings.The God who created us must be in every part as personal as we are.In fact, this is where we get our personhood from, our sense of purpose and meaning and right and wrong and so forth only because we were made in God’s image.But this is as you say, very confusing.

Tom:

Dave, the force—I would think the interest in it, the excitement about it is that it’s something you can control that will do your will and that distinction is not made here.Why would somebody be attracted to a God that they have to submit to when you have all of this?These films show you that you can be in control that you are the one calling the shots.

Dave:

It’s totally amoral.It does not present morals.There’s no basis for morals in Star Wars.You have an impersonal amoral force.Why not play the dark side? Why not?Darth Vader has all the friends, he has all the power, why not?

Tom:

It doesn’t seem to work out that well for Darth Vader and others.

Dave:

Well I don’t know but Obi won got killed didn’t he?Apparently by the dark side of the force and Vader was doing really well.Now of course, Vader dies and what do you know, he turns out to be one of the—

Tom:

Good guys—

Dave:

Good guys, because after all deep down inside he’s good.So we really get confused about good and evil.What is good?What is evil?Well we seem to determine it ourselves.How can some power be both good and evil at the same time?That in itself is an evil concept.The force could turn its dark side on you.No, it’s total amoral and Tom when this first came out, I took Robbie Maharajah whom you know very well.

Tom:

Right.Death of a Guru.

Dave:

A converted guru who once claimed he was god and was worshipped as god.And we went there seeing this as a brand new film for the first time and we just sat there poking one another.Look at that, look at that!This is witchcraft, black magic, white magic.You’ve got communication with the dead.Obi won is the spirit guide for Luke Skywalker and he becomes the guru, the voice that’s guiding him and so forth.You have to go into an altered state of consciousness when they give him this laser sword.That’s not a weapon, that’s a divination device.He’s trying to hit this little thing that was jumping around.No Luke, let the force take over, going through the altered state.This is I would say, evil and when these kids walked out of there they had one thought.It replaced anything they learned about God from Sunday school.“May the force be with you.”

Tom:

And Dave, this was what in the 80s?I don’t remember when the first one came out, but we have a generation that this is their God, this is what they believe.So I don’t know who’s speaking to them.Who’s encouraging them to be discerning.But that’s our prayer and our cry that people would speak the truth to these young people.

Dave:

And please preach the Word from the Bible, not from Star Wars.