Bridge to Terabithia

Greetings:

I was in the middle of cleaning my room on this Saturday afternoon when, at 3:16, I received a call from my friend Gene. He and his family were going to the movies to see "Bridge to Tereabithia" and then they were going to Atlanta Bread Co., and they wanted to know if I would go with them. I am not a huge fan of going to the movies, but I thought that it would be good to go and see what philosophy the Disney company was teaching in their modern films. I was also taken of the idea of going to Atlanta Bread Co. I could just see that warm Wy-Fi building as a shelter from the could. It was thirty six degrees outside with wind gusting up to twenty one miles per hour. And just the thought of that Caramel Macchiato was enough to send my taste buds into an ecstatic frenzy. So I said I would go.
We went to see the 4:15 showing which really started at 4:30 due to the previews and six different warnings to turn off all cellular phones before the movie starts. Now, there is several angles from which this movie can be discussed. I wish to look at the underlying Enlightenment philosophy of the movie and how the movie discussed Christ. The plot is a vary familiar one: a young boy has a large family that is agrarian and poor; he has trouble making friends until one girl comes in a changes his life. This girl, named Leslie, was the typical Indy: alternative, overdressed, and mis matched. She is the only daughter of two parents who are writers by profession. She has a vivid imagination and one could say that her basic maxim for life is, "Close your eyes, but keep your mind wide open." Now please do not mis understand me, I do not believe that we should be closed to everything and live in a shell with no imagination. The problem I find is how she, like most modern people, deal with Christ.
Jess and Leslie are coming home one day and she asks to go to church with him. Jess replies with, "Well, you have to wear a dress (something the Leslie is not prone to do) and it is not fun and you'll hate it." She has never gone and, out of curiosity decides to go. The scene opens with a white church on a country road. The only part of the service shown is the singing. The people all look like zombies and they are singing (if you could call it that) "The Old Rugged Cross". Later they are riding home in the back of a pick up truck and it is sunny spring day. The discussion turns to the service. Jess and his younger sister are not excited about the church: they think it is boring and something that is obligatory. Leslie disagrees with them saying that the story is beautify. Jess just says that God made Jesus die for vile sinners like us. Leslie responds in disbelief and Jess' sister says that if Leslie does not believe the Bible she will go to hell. Leslie spurns this idea saying, "I don't believe God damns anyone to hell for He is too busy running all of this."
The point of this story is what the philosophy of Leslie does to the Story of Christ. (The movie has more to do with Christ, but this instance has been arbitrarily chosen.) Her idea of keeping her mind open leads her to say that the story of Jesus is beautiful, but she will not accept an essential tenant of the Christian Faith: The justice of God. Granted, Jess and his sister poorly display the plight of man, but the fact remains that Jess accepts Christ in her own fashion. She takes the name of Christ and ascribes her own content to the name. What is the significance of a name? Nothing if then name stands for nothing. This is what our culture is doing to the Gospel. They are taking the name and religious connotation of Christ and inserting their own message into His mouth. By doing this they are turning the name of Christ into a content-less banner and making a god in their own image. We must be alert of this.

ReformationMan