The Internal Vendetta

I've recently seen the movie V for Vendetta. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a movie review in the normative sense of the term. From a purely cinematographic standpoint, the movie was good. That is, it was exactly how the creators wanted it to be. You are drawn into the character of the "terrorist hero" "V." That's really all I care to say for now, but you can read a review here.

I've come to find that people learn things from the arts both actively and passively. This movie would cause many to actively reflect upon justice, when it is right to overthrow oppressive government, and by what means this should be done. However, my concern isn't so much this active lesson that is learned from V for Vendetta. Rather, this movie appeals to something that, unless the recipient is self-aware, will be received passively. One of these is the obvious platform taken to propagate the homosexual agenda (in case you haven't seen the movie, no, V for Vendetta is not another Brokeback Mountain. But homosexuality is a small part of the plot, that small part where the protagonist is inspired and has her fear removed because of the example of a certain woman, happening to be homosexual, who stuck through the oppression until her death). Perhaps, the makers of this movie, or the novelist Alan Moore (I have not read the book and am unaware of how faithful the movie is to it), simply used this topic as yet another mode of oppression. They, however, fail to see the irony of the homosexual agenda's oppression against basic freedoms such as the freedom of speech. Anyway, it goes without saying that this obvious agenda of the movie was to me terribly disappointing. If this agenda had been excluded from the story line, the movie would have been a hit in my book. Such a story line has such potential, yet sin is always there to ruin potential.

In any case, this movie caused me to ask a few psychological questions, questions to which I believe the Bible presents an answer. Here is a question: what is so intriguing to people about stories of massive government conspiracy cover-ups, the exposure of such cover-ups, and the overthrowing of the oppression? It is movies like these that have people believe that, no matter how things appear; the government is not what it seems. Such movies place people's minds into their own matrix: what if reality is not what we think it is?

1. The Cause of Oppression is Often a Satan-Propagated Lie

Why are governing authorities so often viewed as the cause of oppression? Is this a purely historical supposition? Have we experienced situations much like those found in V for Vendetta in history? Yes, we have. The setting of V for Vendetta is almost a modern holocaust. But do such historical occurrences warrant the fact that if a survey were to be performed which questions a sampling of people of what comes into their minds when they think of "oppression" that their answers would reveal that they consider the cause of oppression to be governing authorities?

And when I say "governing authorities," I don't just mean civil government. I'm talking as well of parents, of pastors, and ultimately of Jesus Christ. How many times have we seen parents as the enemies in movies? How many times have we heard about the "hateful Christian parents" who would supposedly no longer accept a daughter who became pregnant (of course, out of no doing of her own, right?), which supposedly ultimately leads to an abortion (notice how the victim and the oppressor are shifted. The victim is no longer a baby which has been murdered for convenience. No, the murderer somehow becomes the victim of the oppression of a completely-third party)? Sometimes parents are portrayed as the enemy even when their "opposition" is good opposition. Is it not right to oppose sin? Biblically speaking, is it not good for parents to oppose a teen's decision to "come out" (and I'm not talking about disownership here, folks. Let's not over dramatize the norm)? Or, we can remove the scenario from the exhausted topic of homosexuality. I simply use the scenario because 1) such a scenario was posed in the movie, and 2) such a scenario is so often a means of attacking parental authority by the media. But this could be about anything. It's just like the world to always make parents the opposition to the children (normally teens) who are seeking to "follow their dreams" (even if their "dreams" are sinful and dangerous).

But who is ultimately being made into the enemy? Whether it's governing authorities, who receive their authority to govern from God (Romans 13. This, of course, does not neglect the government's responsibility to act rightly and punish wrongdoing. A government that is truly oppressive in the real sense of the term is not a Biblical government), or parents or pastors, who also receive their authority from on high, it is the Person of Jesus Christ who is made out to be the enemy. The fact is, to sinners, Jesus is the enemy. A sinful mind is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7-8). It is at enmity with God. At the heart of the man's sinful, autonomy-seeking rejection of government (whether it be civil, parental, or pastoral) is a heart that seeks to overthrow the rulership of Christ. It is the same heart that sought to crucify the Lord of Glory. An unregenerate will detests the sovereign reigning of Jesus Christ.

2. The Solution to Oppression is Often the Direct Opposite of the Suppositions of the People

This is mostly because the cause of oppression has been misplaced. Why are people oppressed? Is it because Christ is an unfit ruler? Or does it lie in the sinfulness of man? You see, sinful man is so quick to blame Christ by blaming parents and governing authorities. But such a prideful heart is ever-so-slow to look at itself as the problem. Unregenerate hearts seek to blame others for the world's problems, yet all the while they neglect their own infinite contribution. Is the state of the world the result of governing authorities, or are governing authorities themselves the result and solution to the state of the world? Does not the Bible present, ultimately, Jesus Christ as the solution to the world's state, as well as those governing authorities which Christ himself has instituted (could you imagine what the world would look like if God removed his common grace that is given to government? What would the world look like if there were no governing authorities?)?

But, to recognize Christ as the solution necessitates that one recognize himself as the problem. The cross is not effective to those who do not think they are sinners. Realizing you are a sinner does not exclude you from being a recipient of grace. No, it positions you to receive grace. However, the failure to recognize your sin does make the solution impossible to achieve. Christ is the solution only when man is the problem; Christ isn't the solution when Christ has been perceived to be the problem.

3. The Desire for the Overthrowing of Oppression is a God-Instilled Desire

The desire to overthrow those who oppress others is a good desire. It is a desire that has been instilled in man by God. The Old Testament is replete with stories of God's people who by the faithfulness of God overthrew those who oppressed them. It was God who told them "I will deliver them into your hands." The New Testament more clearly portrays our enemies: the law of sin (the sin nature), the atmosphere of sin (the world), and the propagator of sin (the Devil). Romans 7:25 tells us that within us (Paul states "in my members") the law of sin is "waging war" against the law of God. You see, our "vendetta," if you will, is an internal one: "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do" (Galatians 5:17). This internal vendetta of opposition will be realized only after the cause of oppression is seen to be within man, and when the solution to oppression is seen to be outside of man (Jesus Christ, though through his Spirit he does indeed dwell within his regenerate).

Paul asks, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:24). We see that the desire to overthrow oppression is a godly one. However, Paul did not place his hope in man. His hope was elsewhere: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Rom 7:25).

Evan May.