BEWARE WHEN YOU FIGHT A DRAGON, LEST YOU BECOME A DRAGON
- Friedrich Nietzsche
I confess I am an unashamed obsessive-compulsive 1950's sci-fi addict. What is really strange is I don't even believe in UFO's, extraterrestials, and the like. But I love the genre and the stories they tell. One 1950's sci-fi movie I have missed that I really want to see some day is "The 27th Day" starring Gene Berry. Since "War of the Worlds" has been one of my all time favorite movies, I would love to see this one with Gene Berry in it as well.
The plot of this movie is aliens give ordinary people (five to be exact) a box of capsules that are capable of killing millions. If humanity can refrain from using these weapons of mass destruction, after 27 days, earth will be saved or spared.
This all reminds me of debates among Christians concerning just war theories, nuclear weapons as deterents, and why Christians at times must use violence, even torture terrorists these days if it gets positive results. One influential Christian theologian in my life has been John H. Yoder. Yoder taught me how the politics of Jesus are often in conflict with the politics of the world and how violence and deadly force is not the way of the gospel of Jesus.
One of the ways this plays out is for people to ask trick questions like "What would you do if . . . and then fill in the blank with some impossible situation where one has to use deadly force for any kind of resolution to take place. So I going to ask my own what if questions. What if Jesus calls you to die, would you kill someone else to keep that from happening? What if you layed down your life for someone else rather than picking up the sword or gun (or put in your favorite deadly weapon of choice you prefer). What if Christians sacrificed everything for the kingdom rather than trying to hold onto what little of this world's property they have left? What if . . . ?
- Friedrich Nietzsche
I confess I am an unashamed obsessive-compulsive 1950's sci-fi addict. What is really strange is I don't even believe in UFO's, extraterrestials, and the like. But I love the genre and the stories they tell. One 1950's sci-fi movie I have missed that I really want to see some day is "The 27th Day" starring Gene Berry. Since "War of the Worlds" has been one of my all time favorite movies, I would love to see this one with Gene Berry in it as well.
The plot of this movie is aliens give ordinary people (five to be exact) a box of capsules that are capable of killing millions. If humanity can refrain from using these weapons of mass destruction, after 27 days, earth will be saved or spared.
This all reminds me of debates among Christians concerning just war theories, nuclear weapons as deterents, and why Christians at times must use violence, even torture terrorists these days if it gets positive results. One influential Christian theologian in my life has been John H. Yoder. Yoder taught me how the politics of Jesus are often in conflict with the politics of the world and how violence and deadly force is not the way of the gospel of Jesus.
One of the ways this plays out is for people to ask trick questions like "What would you do if . . . and then fill in the blank with some impossible situation where one has to use deadly force for any kind of resolution to take place. So I going to ask my own what if questions. What if Jesus calls you to die, would you kill someone else to keep that from happening? What if you layed down your life for someone else rather than picking up the sword or gun (or put in your favorite deadly weapon of choice you prefer). What if Christians sacrificed everything for the kingdom rather than trying to hold onto what little of this world's property they have left? What if . . . ?
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