I’ve been a little shocked at just how fearful and hateful some people who claim to be Christians have responded on Facebook pages and blog posts discussing or relating to the video. I actually responded to one guy who posted on the Facebook Event page for the upcoming live stream with Rob Bell discussing the book. I think, ultimately, I’m beginning to think that Satan is in the business of fueling the fire that powers the theological discussions and arguments over doctrine. If we spend all our time arguing over pre-millennialism vs. post-millennialism, pre-destination vs. free will, baptism by immersion vs. baptism by sprinkle, etc, etc, when will we have time to love?

Here’s a bit of what I responded to the guy on Facebook with:

Weren’t religious leaders of the time calling Jesus a heretic? Where did Jesus command us to know our doctrine and make sure that everything we say is theologically sound? Book, chapter, verse? I do know that Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

A few verses further down in Matthew 23, after Jesus has given these commands, he rips the scribes and Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and talks about how they neglect justice, mercy and faithfulness; how they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders; how they preach but do not practice. Isn’t this a recurring theme in the church? Wasn’t Martin Luther thought to be a heretic at one time?

If Jesus commanded me to “Love”, then that’s what I’ll do. In His Name. If my understanding of theology isn’t the same as other more studied Bible teachers and scholars, so be it. But if I practice love, imitating Christ, I’ll take my chances.

I’ve been playing with a service called Storify that let’s you pull together links, pictures, social media, etc. from across the web to tell a story. Look for the next post that provides the “story” behind this post.

And check out Snowflakes by Jeremy Fisher over at iTunes. Special thanks to Jeremy for letting me use his song.

Neal is a sensitive kid and he has always shown great concern if someone is hurting, but I was a little taken aback with his reaction to the final moments of the movie. Specifically, when Vader made the choice to toss the Emperor down the shaft in order to save his son, Luke, even though it cost him his own life, Neal became quite distraught, to the point of tears. We asked him what was wrong to which he replied, “Darth Vader made a good choice and he still had to die!?!?”

Hmmmm…how to respond. We’ve been trying to make the point with our boys that they are responsible for the choices they make. Good choices have good consequences and bad choices have bad consequences. My soon-to-be six year old just discovered a flaw in the parental logic, or at the very least, an exception to the rule. On the one hand, I truly believe that he understood the sacrifice Anakin/Vader made and he was moved by the demonstration of a truly sacrificial love. But on the other hand, I think alarms and sirens were going off in his kindergarten mind warning him that what Mommy and Daddy have been telling him wasn’t adding up. Where’s the good consequence in this case?

Being sympathetic to his feelings, Steph and I took the opportunity to chat with him about perspective, even though we didn’t use that word. We talked about the good things that happened because of Vader’s choice. In the Special Edition version (I know, but it’s all I have on DVD) you see celebration break out on several different planets and in different cities. We explained that everyone was celebrating that peace had been restored and that the Emperor could no longer hurt anyone else. That’s a good consequence of the good choice Vader made.

Neal was also concerned that Luke would never see his father again. For a six-year-old, Neal’s already been exposed to death and is keenly aware of the concept. He is also not too fond of the idea at this time. Who can blame him, right? But as a parent, I believe a moment like this deserves a little discussion. As the movie ends, and we see Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin standing together as spirits, observing the festivities, we talked about the hope of Heaven, though like I mentioned above about “perspective”, not in those terms. We did point out, and emphasize, the fact that Luke got to see not just his father, but his friends Yoda and Obi-Wan, too, because it was only their bodies that had died. Their spirits, just like our spirits, will live on forever.

Love. Failure. Hope. Sacrifice. Redemption. Love. Isn’t this our collective story? Haven’t we all experienced these things because of both good and bad choices we’ve made? We told Neal that God loves us like Darth Vader, Luke’s Father, loved him. And that He loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice everything in order to save us all and restore peace so that our spirits would live forever. Together. He seemed relieved.

As we tucked in and got ready to say our prayers, we decided to thank God for our fun time together and for loving us like Darth Vader loved Luke.