As much as I absolutely hate when people ruin a good movie by trying to make it theological...I must make a comment that came to my last night when I was watching Spiderman 3. My wife made a remark regarding these thoughts before I said anything to her, so it is possibly worth a mention. Oh, if you are really interested in seeing the flick, and haven't yet...don't read this. I will give away part of the ending.
When Spiderman is fighting off the black "goo" and freeing himself from the poison of revenge, he does so in a church's bell tower. When he kills Venom in the end, he does it using the sound of the bells. (sort of) Please pardon the theological leaps that are made here, I understand the church is a community of believers, etc. I could not help but think of the way that we must get to the church, we must find our way to God to really become free from the things that poison our lives. There was still quite a struggle on the part of Peter Parker because of the way he had let it take over his life. It wasn't until it had cost him everything that he was able to recognize that it needed to go. It is so true of us as well. Sin does take us farther and cost us more than we are willing.
There is one other thing that stood out to me as well. Another sad truth. As Eddie Brock (later Venom) stood at the bottom of the tower and watched this hero, Spiderman, struggle, he fell victim too. How many times do we get caught looking up to people, only to have our own lives ruined when they struggle. Sure, Spiderman got free from his vengeful spirit, but poor Eddie Brock's life was ended because of the direct contact he had with the consumed Peter Parker and the struggling Spiderman. I wonder what would have happened if Parker would not have exploded on Brock? I wonder what would happen if our hero was the one who couldn't let us down...Christ?
Here is the point: Only Christ can free us and the only one who will never let us down is Christ. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus so you are not taken captive to the sins that are common to man. Be delivered by the power of the Spirit.
