Who are the Real X-Men?
Though I am not a fan of the X-men movies, I enjoyed the last one - 'X-men First Class'. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/ It is a captivating prequel that delves into the origins of how the X-men club came into being. I would surmise that the X-Men movies as being about a bunch that says, "Hey, we are cool 'good' folk, there are some 'bad' people out there. Lets go destroy evil and make the world a better place". What makes 'X-men First Class' interesting is that, it goes one step further and shows the complexities of the battle between good vs evil.
Most movies depicting battle between good and evil are fantastic, in the sense that finally the good guys eliminate the bad guys. 'X-men First Class' is a real movie in that, in the end, after the good guys destroy the bad guys, the good guys actually become a new brand of bad guys. This accurately reflects some of the spectacular good vs evil battles in real life. When the 'good guys' who perpetuated the French Revolution destroyed the 'bad guys', the 'good guys' took power and became the new group of bad guys paving way for Napoleon's monarchy resulting in untold number of deaths. Same with the Russian Revolution, the 'good guys' overthrew the Tsars and created a regime of brutal communists who ended up killing millions. History repeats.
X-Men First Class is no different, Eric and Mystique start off being a part of the 'good guys' team. But after the bad guys are eliminated, they become the new villains. Eric, turns into the evil Magneto. A deep hurt from his childhood turns him into a vengeful megalomaniac unable to love anyone. Eric is a Jewish boy with X-men powers. His Nazi captors kill his Mom to experiment on Eric's savant capabilities. Eric woes revenge on the Nazis responsible for his family's death. Once he is done with them, he then directs his anger at anything that smacks of authority. He trusts none. Loves none. He inexorably becomes the evil Magneto.
Mystique realizes that people find her blue body unattractive. She craves for love, but none accepts her with her blue body. She has the ability to change appearance so she passes her off as a beautiful brunet. She becomes a 'poser' and the insecurity that she develops, defines her. When the evil Magneto finds her attractive in her blue body, she gives him her heart. Both Eric and Mystique are victims in the first place, but they end up becoming victimizers themselves.
This is the problem of the 'fallen' world. We get treated badly by other people, and in order to protect us or show ourselves strong or become more acceptable, we end up becoming a part of the same system which abused us. Every man is fallen and in the vast network of fallen beings. We end up hurting each other as broken people and it becomes a viscous cycle. The movie 'Black Snake Moan' too depicts the same pattern of victims becoming victimizers - the girl is abused by her step-dad and she in turn can't help but abuse her boyfriend. The problem of this viscous cycle of victims becoming victimizers has to do with the 'fallenness' of the world.
The redemption out of this vicious cycle has to come from Someone from outside this 'fallen system' who has enough 'capital' to pay for the hurt put an end to this viscous cycle of being victimized and then becoming victimizers. This Someone needs to be victimized by this 'fallen' world, but shouldn't become a victimizer, thus break this vicious cycle. Then He has to pave way for others to reflect His likeness. That is what Christ accomplished on the Cross. He entered the 'fallen' world from the outside, became the victim, but did not turn out to be a victimizer. He battled evil not by destroying it but by subjecting himself to it.
By setting the PERFECT example, He 'draws' to Himself those who will follow Him and emulate Him to break the vicous cycle of the fallen world. He will give these Followers of His a NEW heart and the help of the Holy Spirit to 'comfort' them when they are hurt by others and 'counsel' them in times of crisis. These new born persons will have the assurance of having been TOTALLY forgiven and will be able to forgive others too, thus making this fallen world into a better place than it currently is. The name of this group of followers is, Christians!!!
Graham Staines was an Australian missionary who was working with his family among lepers in Orissa in India. Graham and his sons were burnt to death by some religious fundamentals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Staines The Nation stood flabbergasted when Graham's wife Glady Staines made a public statement she had forgiven the killers. Below are her words to the commission setup to investiage the brutal killings.
"The Lord God is always with me to guide me and help me to try to accomplish the work of Graham, but I sometimes wonder why Graham was killed and also what made his assassins to behave in such a brutal manner on the night of 22nd/23rd January 1999. It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were responsible for the death of my husband Graham and my two children. But it is my desire and hope that they would repent and would be reformed."
It takes more than 'good' person to say this. It is impossible for a mother and a wife to say this without the 'comfort' and the 'counsel' of the Holy Spirit. A friend of mine who visited the place where the missionaries were burnt said that the villages around this place were transformed. The villagers were shocked at how forgiving Glady Staines was. They realized they had killed a man much better than themselves. The blood of martyrs brings change in the 'fallen world'. It brings and end to the vicious cycle of hurt and cruelty.
X-men is a movie about otherwise normal people having some extraordinary capabilities, which when put to good use would make the world a better place to be. In a sense, the Christians are the real X-men. We are the otherwise normal people with an Extraordinary Gift - the Holy Ghost living in us, who'll change the world through us. The question is whether we are intentional about our X-men Gift, or if like 'Mystique' we feel insecure and try to hide and pose, or if like Eric we make it all about ourselves and end up colluding and conforming to the patterns of the fallen world system.
Most movies depicting battle between good and evil are fantastic, in the sense that finally the good guys eliminate the bad guys. 'X-men First Class' is a real movie in that, in the end, after the good guys destroy the bad guys, the good guys actually become a new brand of bad guys. This accurately reflects some of the spectacular good vs evil battles in real life. When the 'good guys' who perpetuated the French Revolution destroyed the 'bad guys', the 'good guys' took power and became the new group of bad guys paving way for Napoleon's monarchy resulting in untold number of deaths. Same with the Russian Revolution, the 'good guys' overthrew the Tsars and created a regime of brutal communists who ended up killing millions. History repeats.
X-Men First Class is no different, Eric and Mystique start off being a part of the 'good guys' team. But after the bad guys are eliminated, they become the new villains. Eric, turns into the evil Magneto. A deep hurt from his childhood turns him into a vengeful megalomaniac unable to love anyone. Eric is a Jewish boy with X-men powers. His Nazi captors kill his Mom to experiment on Eric's savant capabilities. Eric woes revenge on the Nazis responsible for his family's death. Once he is done with them, he then directs his anger at anything that smacks of authority. He trusts none. Loves none. He inexorably becomes the evil Magneto.
Mystique realizes that people find her blue body unattractive. She craves for love, but none accepts her with her blue body. She has the ability to change appearance so she passes her off as a beautiful brunet. She becomes a 'poser' and the insecurity that she develops, defines her. When the evil Magneto finds her attractive in her blue body, she gives him her heart. Both Eric and Mystique are victims in the first place, but they end up becoming victimizers themselves.
This is the problem of the 'fallen' world. We get treated badly by other people, and in order to protect us or show ourselves strong or become more acceptable, we end up becoming a part of the same system which abused us. Every man is fallen and in the vast network of fallen beings. We end up hurting each other as broken people and it becomes a viscous cycle. The movie 'Black Snake Moan' too depicts the same pattern of victims becoming victimizers - the girl is abused by her step-dad and she in turn can't help but abuse her boyfriend. The problem of this viscous cycle of victims becoming victimizers has to do with the 'fallenness' of the world.
The redemption out of this vicious cycle has to come from Someone from outside this 'fallen system' who has enough 'capital' to pay for the hurt put an end to this viscous cycle of being victimized and then becoming victimizers. This Someone needs to be victimized by this 'fallen' world, but shouldn't become a victimizer, thus break this vicious cycle. Then He has to pave way for others to reflect His likeness. That is what Christ accomplished on the Cross. He entered the 'fallen' world from the outside, became the victim, but did not turn out to be a victimizer. He battled evil not by destroying it but by subjecting himself to it.
By setting the PERFECT example, He 'draws' to Himself those who will follow Him and emulate Him to break the vicous cycle of the fallen world. He will give these Followers of His a NEW heart and the help of the Holy Spirit to 'comfort' them when they are hurt by others and 'counsel' them in times of crisis. These new born persons will have the assurance of having been TOTALLY forgiven and will be able to forgive others too, thus making this fallen world into a better place than it currently is. The name of this group of followers is, Christians!!!
Graham Staines was an Australian missionary who was working with his family among lepers in Orissa in India. Graham and his sons were burnt to death by some religious fundamentals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Staines The Nation stood flabbergasted when Graham's wife Glady Staines made a public statement she had forgiven the killers. Below are her words to the commission setup to investiage the brutal killings.
"The Lord God is always with me to guide me and help me to try to accomplish the work of Graham, but I sometimes wonder why Graham was killed and also what made his assassins to behave in such a brutal manner on the night of 22nd/23rd January 1999. It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were responsible for the death of my husband Graham and my two children. But it is my desire and hope that they would repent and would be reformed."
It takes more than 'good' person to say this. It is impossible for a mother and a wife to say this without the 'comfort' and the 'counsel' of the Holy Spirit. A friend of mine who visited the place where the missionaries were burnt said that the villages around this place were transformed. The villagers were shocked at how forgiving Glady Staines was. They realized they had killed a man much better than themselves. The blood of martyrs brings change in the 'fallen world'. It brings and end to the vicious cycle of hurt and cruelty.
X-men is a movie about otherwise normal people having some extraordinary capabilities, which when put to good use would make the world a better place to be. In a sense, the Christians are the real X-men. We are the otherwise normal people with an Extraordinary Gift - the Holy Ghost living in us, who'll change the world through us. The question is whether we are intentional about our X-men Gift, or if like 'Mystique' we feel insecure and try to hide and pose, or if like Eric we make it all about ourselves and end up colluding and conforming to the patterns of the fallen world system.