It’s What We’ve Been Saying for the Longest Time!

I will spoil this movie so don’t read if you care about being spoiled.

So like all good American’s I went to see 2012. What drew me most to this movie was the special effects trailer. Amazing stuff though after the first two hours it became a burden to watch.

The film starts out quickly taking us to the deepest parts of India where it is discovered that the world is getting hotter…from the inside out! This is all the explanation we get from the plot and we are quickly driven off to build a relationship with John Cusak. Cusak’s character, Jackson Curtis, is written from popular fiction. Nice guy, has some flaws, but put him in the pressure cooker and see him rise above his flaws and save his family if not, the world.

Unfortunately we aren’t given enough time with Cusak to really get to know him and empathize with who he is and his situation (divorced, estranged from his children and having a pretty bad decade). We don’t have enough time to get to care before we are taken somewhere else, to lay the framework for the future events.

The movie felt that way too often, as if we were on a guided tour of a museum and the tour guide stopped and talked without end on the exhibits that she liked, but when it came for something we wanted to see we are hurried off.

I know people say that movies are “escapism”, a way to live another life from the safety of our seats. But underlying any good story is whether or not we could hope to believe that it could happen. Not only did 2012 fail at making this catastrouphe believable it had me silently cheering for the disaster.

Another problem, this movie was super long at 158 minutes. What movie deserves such a lengthy run time? Lord of the Rings? Yes. Harry Potter? Maybe. 2012? Nah!

My biggest question for Hollywood is how they could ignore spirituality or treated as secondary during such an incredible crisis?

There was no spiritual leadership except maybe from the scientist who challenged the humanity of letting people die without knowing why they were dying. There was also no noticeably strong leadership to rise up and take control of what was going to happen. It appeared that everything done was done covertly and the leadership that was present was the best (and they managed things poorly).

Danny Glover’s Mr. President was hilarious. Not only is Danny not President material (probably cast because of our current presidents complexion), but they wrote him out of the movie by having him make a terrible leadership decision to stay behind.

A decision that put the wrong person in charge and cost lives, but made for good suspense.

Woody Harrelson provides some needed comic relief as Charlie Frost, a local broadcaster of disaster in Yosemite Park (although he sounded like a nut and was crazy, he made the movie make sense…huh? How did that happen?). His broadcast has incredible range!

This disaster raised a question:

2 Peter 3:7—11 (NIV)

7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Pretty scary stuff from God’s Word. I highlighted some words so that they could stand out (there are no red letters in the original bible…though they do make finding Jesus’ words super easy).

I once heard someone say that this passage was metaphorical or a word picture, like Zephaniah 3:8 “…for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” (KJV) In Zephaniah its clear that the devouring of the earth shall be by God’s Jealousy pictured as a fire. (I still don’t want a piece of that action, metaphor, word picture or not).

But 2 Peter doesn’t sound like a spiritual picture or a use of speech to convey a message other than the Earth is in for a smack down. Since the time of the unleashing of the original Apostles on the Earth, a timer has been counting down. This timer, the time of it we don’t know (but never stop trying to guess), continues and will eventually reach the end.

But the question was: Why does God destroy the Earth?

By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7 (NIV)

and 2 Peter chapter 2

 ⁴For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; ⁵if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people…⁶if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly…¹⁰This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.

Ouch! God is going to destroy all the ungodliness from the earth. Who are the ungodly: Those that reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, i.e those that live a life in contrary to what God wants and those that follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Jesus saves us from SIN (living a life contrary to God’s desires) and He is our Lord (the authority of all).

Wait, There is Hope

The best part of this passage in chapter two is not that Peter is writing about the inevitable judgment to come but he is encouraging believers to trust that God is going to see them through their trials.

⁹if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.

God saved Lot from Sodom & Gomorrah, God kept Abraham from losing out on his Promise by scarying the wits out of the 2 kings that took his wife, God kept David alive despite war and attempts on his life…time after time, God saw His people through the toughest situations. And He will see us through right up to the very end.

If you are concerned about whether or not you are either going to be Rescued then there are some things you need to do.

Call out to the Rescuer: Jesus Christ.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”Romans 10:9(NIV)

This is just a start of God’s Rescue plan, to find out more about God’s plan for your life visit Kingdom Represent.