♦ drawing Parallels ♦
~within context~

  August 2012

Hello, everyone. It is a glad night that I give a late yet hopefully timely addition to drawing Parallels within context. I'm confident that God's work has been done at Arrowhead Bible Camp this summer of 2012. The work He puts all of us to is never over until the end of the age. This consideration is what I'll cover within the context of a clip from the movie Blade Runner, compared and contrasted with the song "Lonely Man" by the band Audio Adrenaline, then brought to full light with applicable scripture.

Blade Runner

Blade runner is a movie relatively based on the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" written by Phillip K. Dick and published in 1968. In this particular scene, the illegally vagrant "replicant," Roy saves his would-be assassin bounty hunter from certain death by falling off the edge of a tall building. The replicant, or android decides to share the final moments of it's life with the "Blade Runner" Decker, giving profound realization of the thought of moments observed by oneself being lost by death to the overwhelming circumstance of overall existence.

"All those moments will be lost in time... like tears... in the rain..."

A drop in the bucket of seeking life beyond what has been given is what Roy ends up seeing himself as, simply for the fact that this is exactly how his life played out. The recognition that he is given so long to live compared to the ones who take credit for being his creator is enough to send him into a frenzy of anger and resentment towards the lot Roy was given. Without life beyond, there is no future to be seen. Without future to be seen, there is nothing left to hope for. Without anything left to hope for, meaning is searched for in the reason behind it all. Without finding reason, there is only pain. Without the comfort of salvation, there is only frustration and anger. Without control, destruction becomes the outcome of this anger. When destruction and fury is all that is the outcome, the very end is clearly seen as without meaning in regards to self worth. Moments of beauty discovered even in times of war and desolation are all lost in the turmoil resulting from the basic strife for life. The character Roy could very much be seen as the example of how realizing your days are numbered produces a sense of urgency bound for complete failure in self worth... when self worth is measured by the success of continued self preservation. Fighting against those credited for being the creator, then seeking vengeance against the creator at the discovery that they are doomed; that there is a limit to the days they have left to live. Desire for life, living more moments to seek out beauty and pleasure alone bring one closer and closer to the final day until such things are meaningless. Then whatever means are used to simply continue on life in a way to further carry out simple personal desires can be seen as meaningless. The pursuit of life in the way presented by Roy is all the more justified in this sense as unparalleled futility. He ended up saving the one meant to destroy him, and was destroyed in the process reliving the scenes he observed in his travels to the dismay that they would never again be relived as he saw it himself.

Lonely Man

Quite bold words are displayed in bold fashion. It paints a bleak picture at the cost of following Christ, considering the call of sacrifice. Loss of all for what the Father calls for us to live by, and carrying our cross as determined by his Son can make one seem fairly lonely. The sense of urgency to look for what is hidden, and uncover what has not been found plays a song speaking successful surrender of sanguine self-sacrament to one known as "the way, the truth, and the light." This surrender is then displayed in the practice of proclaiming loss for the gain of God's glory. What is this proclamation founded on? Loud grungy guitar? Rap singing? The bold mixture of the two? Simply making reference to the name of Jesus? Justifying being a lonely man for the sake of seeking after Jesus? Some people don't like loud noise, or rap, let alone the mixture of the two. Jesus is hardly seen as an enjoyable name to hear about for a good many when it comes to proclamation of genuine faith. Many people don't like the thought of being lonely by following Christ, either. But where is the point in just following the name alone? Christ said himself that there would be several (not just one) that are those who will come in His name... yet are false; seeking only to lead astray the flock God tends to on a day to day basis.

The question that arises from both these examples seems to be how might we see a path to find life beyond what we know, and live according to what is the way, the truth, the light and the only path that is justified by faithfulness He provides in truth, leading to everlasting peace beside the almighty, holy, LORD GOD?

John 14:15-19

       "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

       "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. Yet a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live."

So Jesus, the Son of Man, Lord most high states that if we depend on what he sent us from the beginning to follow in our knowledge of good, we keep the commandments of loving the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. Our example further plays out when we carry our cross, displaying the example of what it means to commit to this commandment and we are able to fulfill the command to love our neighbors as ourselves. We long to see God save us. We long to see him dwell within and without us at all times in the pursuit of holiness, and righteousness. How we get there is often the mystery as our desires play out in our commitments, and we are blinded in our pursuit of Him. Our identity in Christ is lost, and there is no hope because all we long for is the path, the undiscovered country, the future that Christ himself could not see... because he had no need to being God in the flesh. What part of the understanding behind the word future adds up with the fulfillment of the commandments? Is loving the outcome of our future more necessary than a clear and present devotion of love to God with our hearts, our souls, and our minds? Limiting just one of those parts loses the rest, and we fail miserably. Committing ourselves to fulfill it all in our imperfection gives the opportunity to dig up the past or make any way of tripping even the most established in righteousness in our own eyes fail in every way to bring about fulfillment of His work in this world. Blessed all the more we are though, because God still works wonders through the proclamation of His death and renewal of mankind by the resurrection; the miracle of redemption through the cross. It is something to be witnessed, and it is only given when asked for.

For by grace you are saved through faith. And it is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8

How else can we possibly have perspective of the future when everything that makes us so imperfect blinds us from the truth? The future is in the hands of GOD. The only real hope we have in looking to the future is by actually turning our eyes to Jesus, and recognizing that GOD is in control of everything. How much love for my Lord God should I have if I let him display his love for mankind himself rather than chance the sight of it with the failure to display such on my own?

How profound it seems, this mystery. Trying to see the future in simple self sufficient service supplying supple suggestion of the word in order to ease our minds and content the world with enabling pleasure seeking behavior... outside of bringing enjoyment to the teaching of the word. Considering the proverbs of Solomon, those who despise the word are bound for destruction. All the ways of man are right in our own eyes, but God weighs us in terms of righteousness. When we truly commit to Him, we find ourselves more and more dependent on Him... and Him alone. Thus, our desires plot our course through life, but God ultimately establishes what our commitment is pushing towards.

This is all I have for this month so far. Looking forward to more Parallels to make note of in the future. Everyone have a blessed end of the season, and carry on to the next justified by faith in Christ.

Have faith, God bless, and

~keep it real