The other day I watched The Invention of Lying. I'd been looking forward to it. So much so that on discovering that for some completely bizarre reason it was not being shown at the first cinema I visited I got into my car and drove to another. It wasn't like I had anything better to do with my day. The movie in all... Well I think it is the type that would have made a good bit of literature, a theorised culture almost utopian - I mean without lying the world would be perfect right? As a movie it was quirky and interesting but not the greatest movie I've seen.
However by removing lying it gave the occasional reference to regular culture which was often intellectually funny. Now I think about it... The problem with the movie? It is based in English humour but pitched at an American audience. I think had I thought of that sooner I may have been able to appreciate it a bit better. Slapstick goes subtle... the two humour styles are quite mutually exclusive. That is an observation I made post movie rather than during so it is probably a little exaggerated never the less...
Anyhow apparently from thinking it would make a better book than a movie. The 'reinvention' of the Christian religion was quite interesting. Firstly I am against any implications that Christianity is some grand lie. For a work of fiction I do not object to religion being invented. In fact I found the writers knowledge of how Christianity gets interpreted to be quite intellectual. I can't tell whether he sits as an atheist or a Christian but any way the relational stuff between the main character and his crowd is quite an accurate response of how I feel many people actually respond to Christianity... if they don't reject it for being 'unreal' without listening.
This is a Spoiler WARNING. I am going to talk through the scene. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE INVENTION OF LYING. You may not want to read it. Not that it gives away the ending - but I mean its a chick flick is that even possible?
Ok in the movie he tells a lie about the existence of any form of afterlife to his dying mother. Which of course others overhear, news spreads and uproar at his place. He is very distressed. So he puts in a substantial amount of effort into these ten things? Yes rather like 10 commandments you could say. He even goes to the trouble of making them 'tablets' to add significance.
As far as the 10 commandments go there isn't too much similarities between them and his 10 things. Number 1 is where it is truly interesting. That there is a 'Man in the Sky', this man just created the existance of God basically. However it his next statement that I found to be one of the most interesting.
The Man in The Sky is responsible for everything that happens on earth. Or basically something to that effect. Fair enough. That is a fairly well Christian belief. I believe that God is responsible for everything that happens. Most importantly the Good and the Bad. A distinction his crowd (these purely factual humans are very curious) makes quickly. You watch as members of the crowd digest the fact that this Man in The Sky is responsible for the BAD things (nobody has asked yet about the good things). One by one hands go up.
Did he give my mum cancer? Did he cause that earthquake that killed thousands of people? Is he why my cat died last summer? The main character (can you tell i can't remember his name?) answers truthfully... well consistently within the limits of his created lie... YES. The crowd gets more and more restless. Until it is practically a riot. People out to TAKE DOWN the Man in The Sky. Regretting this God person. He after all caused all this BAD stuff to happen.
I think this is something that Christians have to confront in modern society. It is an area of huge debate. It is one of those token objections that non-Christians pull out to explain why Christianity is stupid, why God isn't right. People don't like the fact that a God, particularly the God (i mean if you have multiple you might as well throw in a bad one right?) could do bad things.
And Christians, just like the main character, have to say yes. Yes he causes that to happen. This is the kind of thing that stonewalls a Christian. People aren't willing to consider that something exhibits control of the good AND the bad. So as soon as it controls the bad, its bad, even people that basically figure there probably is a God don't like this concept. They do the crowd thing and REJECT REJECT REJECT. Unfortunate for the Christian.
This is the suffering debate. Beyond even the debate Christian to non. The whole concept of the suffering stuffs with the heads of Christians new and old alike. Coming to grips that God is the reason for it. Its hard. So explaining it to a non-Christian? Its pretty close to impossible. You have to accept so many other things to accept that He does that to and that it is for the grand scheme good if not for the momentary inconvenience (on that compare your life to the age of the universe I mean... there's no beating it) it is in your life.
Back to the movie the crowd make the critical next realisation. Some bright fellow works out that the main has said that the Man in The Sky controls everything, he never explicitly said bad. Maybe... He is responsible for the good things? The main with quite some relief (he really would like the crowd not to tear his yard apart in revolt against the Man in The Sky) says 'YES'. So then he cured my mum's cancer? He saved my daughter from being hit by that car? He helped that person in the diving accident to be recover fully? YES YES YES. Now there is something that these people managed to think about that others often don't.
Just as is our culture people let the minority bad ruin it for the majority good. How many times have you felt ripped off because somebody did this last time and got hurt so now you only get to watch it get done. That's probably something you see more of as a young person but any way you look at it. Humans are pessimists by trade. We want to get the most dreary version of something possible. The trick is to remember than everything is from God... The good, the bad... the inbetween...
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