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Hubby and I watched “Time Changer,” 2002,  a Christian science fiction film written by Rich Christiano. First let me say, it was exceedingly cheesy, had some really bad acting,  and several looooooong moments of needless, repetitive dialogue. I rolled my eyes so hard a few times, they were in danger of getting stuck in the back of my head.  I almost turned it off.

Now let me totally go all erratic on you, complete split personality here, but I absolutely loved it. It was charming, stylistic, old fashioned like a good rendition of HG Wells “Time Machine.” I really enjoy a bit of steampunk, a bit of Victoriana futuristic science fiction. There is something about mixing those genres, merging time and space that I find quite endearing.

But I mostly loved it because it helped to settle and affirm some of my theological questions, worries, and concerns, specifically some ideas around morality, ethics, and “just being good people.” Is Jesus even necessary? Don’t yell at me, I believe Jesus is everything, He is central to our whole story, He is the reason our morality is “moral,” our ethics are “ethical.” But can’t we just teach people ethics, morality, values outside the context of Jesus?

Wouldn’t that be better than nothing?

That’s a real thing in my real world, whether it be the universalist church down the road that has taken the name of Jesus out of all their material so as not to be a stumbling block to anyone’s spiritual growth. Or the numerous non believers who like to tell me morality and ethics are just innate and for the good of all, no Jesus required. Or even a few Christians I know who really believe, “there are many paths to the Father, just be a good person, it will all work out.” Your own morality and good behavior will save you.

In the movie “Time Changers,” spoiler alert here, but the lead character wrestles with many of those same questions. He catches a kid stealing marbles and simply explains to him that stealing is wrong, in a lecture completely devoid of any mention of Jesus. Sure, it’s best if you know Jesus, but isn’t it more important to just have good morals and treat others well? If someone is stealing stuff, isn’t our first priority to stop them from stealing? It would be a wee bit odd to catch someone stealing stuff and just say, Hi there, have you met my Jesus? Did you know He loves you?

I won’t spoil the whole tale, but suffice it to say that Jesus provides the context to our morality, He is the authority behind our ethics, He is the “value” in our values, He is the “why” woven beneath all our moral dilemmas. It is the love of Jesus that empowers us to rise up and become who we are meant to be.

It’s a pretty terrible movie I’m so very grateful I took the time to really watch.

 

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