Faith in Film, No Country For Old Men

I want to thank everyone who came out last night and who has participated in this class. This has been a real growth experience for me, and I hope that it has been a learning experience for you too. I think of this class as a chance to learn, fellowship, and grow together as believers by thinking about what we believe and how it compares to the beliefs of those we're trying to reach as reflected in the popular art form of the day, the world of motion pictures.

Last night's film was a chance to come full circle. "No Country For Old Men" won Best Picture in 2007 and was one of the finest films released in the first decade of the 21st Century. It is also one of the most challenging. There were many who were challenged by the ideas presented in the film and by the film itself. It is a violent film at times, but I think that violence is meant to emphasize the point that the filmmakers, and the author that wrote "No Country For Old Men," Cormac McCarthy, felt about the world.

There was also some confusion by those that saw the film regarding the artistic choices made in the film. I think you need a basic understanding of what the film is to really appreciate what it is trying to say. Though "No Country For Old Men" has a plot and a basic narrative, it's value really stems from the archetypes the central characters represent. What is also important to remember is that the film is really a story being experienced and seen through the eyes of Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). The opening narration sets the stage for that and it concludes with his confusion and dreams. He is the central character. He is the everyman who is trying to reconcile his belief in God and his belief in goodness with the evil he sees in the world.

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) represents the danger of sin and temptation in our lives. Moss is a normal man living his life the best he knows how when he is literally confronted with temptation in the dessert. There are several points in time when Moss is presented with the opportunity to simply give up that money and save his life and that of his family, but the more he gives into temptation the more he loses himself. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through his son, Jesus Christ." We are all confronted with temptation and sin, and will be until our dying day. But when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and work to give up those chains that bind us in this life, we receive a gift more precious than words. When we give into that temptation and believe the lie that we can follow that path and achieve all we seek, we start down the road to destruction.

Anton Chigurh represents the evil inside us all and the potential for society to lose its way. We have talked in the past about humanism — the idea that man is God, capable of good, and capable of creating his or her morality. Part of that is the idea of relativity. In relativity the idea of individual truth is promoted as fact. One of the reasons that humanism is at odds with Christianity is the idea of absolute truth, which we believe in as Christians. If there is one, universal, and absolute truth — which is what the Bible is all about — that changes how you view the world and your place in it. Those that subscribe to Humanism don't have a place in their lives for that kind of change. But relativity is a slippery slope, and if you follow that slope to its inevitable conclusion, you arrive at complete moral relativity. In other words, a person that creates a code all of their own that allows them to justify all their actions, even deplorable ones, if they meet the ends set for themselves. That is the space Chigurh occupies.

Many would view him as amoral, meaning without a moral compass. I don't think that's true. In fact, in several places he talks about his code, honor, and keeping his word. He doesn't kill indiscriminately, he chooses victims for specific purpose. He is driven and prizes honoring the code — his code — above all else. In that way, I think Chigurh serves as a cautionary tale for where our society can end up if we continue to deny the idea of truth. Jesus didn't equivocate. In John 14:6 he says "I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the father accept through me." There is no room for debate there. If we accept the Bible as the absolute truth of God that it is, then it MUST change the way we view our lives and our place in this world. If not, I fear where our society is headed. So did McCarthy.

Finally we move back to Bell. In this way, our class has come full circle. In the first week we looked at "Scrubs" and the idea of how we can reconcile our ideas of a loving God in a world with this much suffering. Bell, too, struggles with that. He has an idealized view of the past, an idealized view of God, and an idealized view of the way people should be. But everything he sees in his life challenges those beliefs. Bell simply can't wrap his mind around that and his response is to withdraw.

This should be a cautionary tale for believers as well. I think Bell represents many people who do not have faith in Jesus Christ and even some who claim to, because it is a sign to me they don't understand where their hope and strength comes from. It comes from Jesus Christ in good times and bad, and there will be bad. We all face tests, but the true test of our character is how we respond to those times.

That is what Job 36:15 speaks of when it says, "But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction." We are never alone, and our God is so much bigger than that which we face. It is in those moments of trial, however, that we must decide if we will stand firm in the knowledge he is there with us or if we will crumble. I pray that we will chose to stand.

In the first week of class I began with this verse from Romans 5:3-5, "but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Though we suffer and struggle, we do not do it alone. God is with us and he understands our suffering. For as Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." I can't think of anything more comforting or humbling.