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Truth is Stranger than Fiction!

As many of you are aware I’m a science fiction fan and collect both books and movies devoted to the genre. Yesterday I watched one of the recent releases in the “Star Wars” saga named “Rogue One.” One of the characters in the movie is blind and on occasion would chant “I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me” as he encountered dangerous situations.

As usual I see parallels with Christianity in everything so this rather quickly brought my mind around to thinking on the privileged position we experience as born-again Christians. At the point of the new birth, we are joined for all eternity by the Holy Spirit who becomes one with us so in a very real sense we are one with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not only with us but in us.

Just to be clear let us recall the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity and is eternal God who has always been and will always be; it is this eternal deity who is now one with us.

I suspect most of you are familiar with the general storyline behind the “Star Wars” movies; the conflict is between those who align themselves with the Rebel Alliance and those who are part of the “Evil Empire.” Both factions have fighters who seek to use the power of the Force which is defined as “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” The Star Wars Force has a light side which is good and a dark side which is evil.

This humanistic concept of a universal force is reasonably predictable but infinitely inferior to the reality experienced by Christians who are born again. I’ve discussed the Biblical concept of reality in an essay “What is Reality? and am amazed how distinctive the Bible is from literature written from a human perspective.

A more Biblical definition of the Force might be the creator of all living things which surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together. The Triune God is the Force which has created all things and by whom all things consist.

The Bible teaches all creation is held together by the power of one, the Lord Jesus Christ by whom all things consist (Colossians 1:15-17); it is by His power all things are bound together. In the Trinity’s deity all three persons share the same divine essence which includes omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. While we have been made a temple by the third person (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) we are used by the second for service (Galatians 2:20).

It Gets Stranger Still

In addition to the amazing things that have been done to the born-again Christian there is yet another that is even more unexpected, full adoption into the family of the Trinity! In Romans 8:15-17 it is written:

^“15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”

I find it of great interest to note the particular Aramaism used for father by Greek speaking Jews, abba, Ἀββᾶ; is an affectionate term that “was also used as the term of tender endearment by a beloved child.” God thinks of you as a beloved child; how do you think of God? As a born-again Christian you are now a very real part of God’s eternal family and always will be; there is no way we can even begin to comprehend how enormous that is but we can and should let it be a source of great joy and comfort as we face the trials of life.

May the Force be with You!

As a science fiction fan, I have encountered a wide variety of worlds and universes as devised by the mind of man. While some of them have been entertaining and a few of them highly imaginative none of them have even begun to approach the totally incredible universe in which we actually live. The true reality in which we find ourselves is vastly more unexpected and alien than anything devised by the writers of science fiction and fantasy.

While I have read many volumes of science fiction and fantasy, I have never encountered anything that even begins to compare to the Bible. Whereas I have found it easy to spot the human mindset in fiction I have found it to be absent in the Bible. In the most respectful sense possible the Bible is non-human in its perspective on life and living; this is one factor that has made it easy for me to believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible. The Bible is a divine book, not a human book!

We do ourselves a shocking disservice when we neglect the truths revealed in the Bible; we do ourselves a further disservice when we fail to apply these truths to our lives each and every day. Let us learn to faithfully observe the commandments of the Lord and apply them to our lives; by doing this then we can affirm with complete confidence and joy:

“I’m one with the Force and the Force is with me!”