I watched Braveheart this weekend and realized that men should be required to watch a movie like this once a week. I used to feel guilty about loving these kinds of movies because William Wallace gets me so fired up, and christians are not supposed to get fired up. Mostly we are not supposed to swear. Or smoke cigarettes.
When I went to the legendary Liberty University I got yelled at to wear socks. And shave. I can’t remember the exact demerit system, but a certain amount of REPRIMANDS would result in a fine. REPRIMANDS were handed out for wearing jeans, having the wrong haircut, listening to the wrong music, watching the wrong movies, or doing almost anything else a normal NICE guy would have no trouble doing.
I do have respect for Jerry Falwell, I think he means well…but I also believe he would give reprimands to William Wallace. While Wallace is trying to unite people to fight for freedom, some of our well known christian leaders would be trying to make him wear SLACKS and a TIE. Jesus wouldn’t last a week in some of these established institutions of higher ‘christian’ learning. (I bet that chafes).
Ned Flanders (christian stereotype from ‘The Simpsons’). Now he would not offend a soul. That is supposed to be my goal? So as I try to come up with something nice to blog about, I realize how frustrating it is to understand love. The love Jesus preached got him crucified (there is another Mel Gibson movie that I wouldn’t have been allowed to see while at Liberty).
If my house were on fire how gentle would I be in trying to wake up my family? Would I gently shake them and give them an option, “I’m sorry, I know you are comfortable, but please, you might want to wake up, the house is on fire. Do you believe in fire? Oh, you want to sleep a few more minutes, OK.” Of course not, I would rip the person out of bed. I think the house is on fire all around us and we want to talk about how fire works. And if someone wakes us up we complain that it could have been done more gently.
It was so motivating to watch Braveheart. While the nobles argue and try to act tough, Wallace would not compromise and united a country and fought for freedom. Not for his own gain, not for his friends, or the nobles, not for fame, but FREEDOM for the sons and daughters of Scotland. Isn’t that who we are called to be like? To fight for the freedom of the sons and daughters of God?
Oh yeah, thanks John Eldredge for being an example here- his book ‘WILD AT HEART’ gives such great insight into this topic, and gave me freedom (permission) to be who I was made to be. Sorry Ned Flanders- you’re the hero Satan wants us to follow.
