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During the present pandemic, I’ve been watching the whole Star Wars series of movies. At this point, I’ve finished episode four, the first one that was made. I’m watching them as research for writing my next novel.
- I find the emphasis on the Force to be fascinating. For example, the Force has two sides, the Jedi on the good side and the evil, dark side with the Sith and Darth Vader.
- In Star Wars II, the observation is made that when Jedi die, they merge into the Force. That idea is confusing until we reach Star Wars IV.
- There, Ben explains to Luke Skywalker that “the Force is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.”
- He continues, “The Force has a strong influence on the weak-minded…. A Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him…. Stretch out with your feelings.” That last advice was the time when Luke was making his final attempt in bombing the Death Star. As a result, he turned off his computer to depend on his feelings instead.
What can we say about the Force? Is it just another way to describe the God of the Bible?
- Let’s take each description one at a time. The God of the Bible does not have an evil side as well as a good side. He is all-good. One of the angels whom God made, Satan, rebelled against God’s rulership and dragged humanity down along with him and other angels when Adam and Eve joined him in his rebellion.
- In the Bible, when believers die, their souls go to be with Jesus in heaven, but they don’t “merge” with God. They remain individual human souls. When Jesus returns, he will bring with him those souls to be reunited with their resurrected, perfected bodies to live forever with God in a new and perfected universe.
- The God of the Bible is not merely an energy field. Instead, he is a personal God, who is both three Persons—Father, Jesus, Spirit—and one God. Thus, he is mysterious and yet revealed in his Book, the Bible. One similarity with the Force is that the Father holds the whole universe together through Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s power; but he is not identical with the universe, which he, instead, made.
- Since we humans are far from perfect because we are born as rebels against God’s rightful rule, we can’t depend on our feelings to guide us, as the apparition of Ben advises Luke. However, we can always depend on God through prayer to be our guide. He never leads us wrong when we constantly pray to him in Jesus’ name.
Conclusion: The Star Wars films present an alternate “god” to the God of the Bible. Those films follow the New Age beliefs that Hinduism and Buddhism also have, which identify their main God, Brahman, with the universe. You can recognize this set of beliefs when people talk about Karma, the Universe, and the One influencing them. I hope to say more about Karma in my next blog post.
What value do I see in Star Wars? It clearly presents a biblical theme that weak good can overcome strong evil. Of course, in the Bible, we weak people can have God’s power through Jesus to overcome strong evil.
Do you want a personal God with whom you can talk and from whom you can receive constant support and strength to live each day? Or do you want an impersonal God like the Force which is the same as the universe’s energy but with whom you can’t have a personal relationship? The choice is yours. Let me know your thoughts.
