Sovereignty in Media

"I don't think she's alive because God changed his mind." -- Fringe, Peter Bishop

"I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidences." --V for Vendetta, V

"God didn't have anything to do with this" -- Flash Forward

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" -- Gen. 5:20, Joseph

I am a firm believer that there are some hard-hitting philosophical and theological ideas and truths / lies that come up in many movies and TV shows: especially those shows that show humans as the frail, but uniquely special, beings we are.

Now, I'll start with an example I didn't like: In the show Flash Forward, which is about an event where the entire world went unconscious and saw the future, one of the main characters states that "God didn't have anything to do with this." Their reaction to death, destruction, pain, was that God must have looked the other way. They could see no further than human plans. They could see no further than chance and human failures. But that's not the message we get from all entertainment:

For one, "V for Vendetta" went up a few notches in my liking the very second V said "I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidences." Though I must mention that the similarities between V and God end right about there, that is a hard-hitting statement.

Do you agree? Does God "play with dice?" Is there anything to which God says "Hmmm, interesting coincidence?" He wouldn't be much of a God if He did, would He? No, No He wouldn't. God is someone who, like the inspector guy in the same movie, "Can see it all together"… However, unlike the inspector, it's not "just a feeling," and He knows right from the beginning not just 2/3 of the way through the movie (if I remember correctly on that fraction).

Another of these juicy tidbits I found in the TV show "Fringe." It's kind of a freaky show, weird things always happening and the cast trying to figure out what in the world caused yet another pseudo-scientific event. But one episode, one of the main characters, Peter Bishop, says about a girl who died and came back "I don't think she's alive because God changed his mind." Now, in the show it's easily forgotten, because they very quickly brush it off and move on to something else, but really, what does this mean?

What does it mean for God to change His mind? Is that what some people think miracles are? When someone says "I don't know why I'm still alive" do they assume God doesn't either? Too often we think that if there is a plan to life we should be able to see it. Does this even make sense? I mean, in any construction site I've seen it takes a while before anyone but the designer himself has any idea or image of the final splendor of the design. If God, who is infinitely greater than us, is working things out in His way, then isn't it logical that this should be beyond our capabilities to perceive? If a human inventor's invention is unsearchable to many, I find it sensible that that God's plan is unsearchable by all.

In Biblical history the account that comes to mind is that of Joseph. Now, Joseph, as almost everyone knows, was sold into slavery by his brothers, but then from the position of an Egyptian slave eventually made it to second-in-command in Egypt (with a detour through prison). Now, there is a wonderful point in the account where Joseph's brothers, who just realized who the Egyptian guy they were talking to was, beg for him to have mercy on them. His reply? "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Gen.50:20)"

This is the kind of thing that God does. He lets many people do evil things, but it is not because He enjoys or even can stand evil; on the contrary, it is because He knows the outcome. He knows the end of all things.

I really should pay more attention and find some more examples of these… Tell me, do any come to your mind? Any places where some media brings some heavy-hitting Christian doctrine without even meaning to?