Dropping in uninvited into people's homes and giving rise to his demigod progeny. Or maybe like Athena: someone's after you, you get shamed and hurt, and you run into the temple asking for help. Next thing you know, you have snakes hissing where your hair used to be, and you're dragging your scaly belly and twenty-foot reticulated tail around.
For the price of movie tickets (and with my husband right next beside me, to boot), I got fresh insight into just a few of the things that make God, well...God.
For instance, this uninvited thing.
Jesus talked about knocking. Calling out. And being given the chance to decide, upon hearing His voice, whether we want to let Him in or not.
And in His perfect Holiness, God would never, ever want -- or could -- defile you with the slightest blemish. In fact, this is what He specializes in...
Dealing with our sinning, shameful selves. And making sure we end up spotless in the end.
The woman who was caught in adultery caused the Holy Hand of God's own Son to write on the sand. Perhaps, conjectures one Bible scholar: a list of sins of each member of the angry mob? But most telling äre His own words:
"...neither do I condemn you..go now and leave your life of sin."
Instead of turning her into a scaly horror, He lets her undergo a spiritual molting like no other. She starts out as a serpent-like creature, the object of scorn, wrath and a death sentence. With His declaration, she sheds the life of sin, and becomes a new creation alive in the Son.
And let us not forget the sacrifice thing.
While most other beliefs, such as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, usually involve the concept of deities demanding human sacrifice, true Christianity is founded upon the concept of God sacrificing His own Son to redeem us.
When I first learned that Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson would be in Clash of the Titans, I knew then that I wanted to watch. The effects, the story, the action, the actors, the acting!
Instead I came home extremely, indescribably grateful that it's just another Hollywood moneymaker. And that the Real God isn't hungry for our worship (deserving, yes; lusting after, no), or up to some mischief, or capable of being baffled, beaten or deceived.
So go ahead, release the Kraken.
But remember to grab hold of the Truth.
