A movie and a message

WARNING: reading this blog may ruin the ending of a movie if you have not seen it!!!

That being said....Ross and I really like to rent movies. This week we rented 2 movies and I got to pick BOTH of them out. :) I chose 7 Pounds with Will Smith and Marley and Me with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. Today I'll give you a simple review of 7 Pounds, but like I said I'm not going to censor the ending or anything so if you plan on seeing the movie then wait to read my post.

The beginning of the movie is a little confusing. After a few scenes, I caught on that it was shooting 2 different time frames, because Will was happy and carefree in some of the scenes and then totally depressed and haunted in the others. But even when I figured that out, it still took me awhile to figure out what on earth was going on! I liked the fact that it wasn't predictable from the start though and it made me think. This movie was pretty entertaining, however the ending was haunting and I don't agree with the message it sent.

WARNING: movie spoiler ahead.

So, we find out by the end, that Will Smith's wife and 6 others had died in a car accident that he had caused. He feels guilty and in order to redeem himself he wants to tremendously bless 7 other individuals who are "good people" and need a miracle. The first message I believe this sends is that an individual can "play God". Will Smith first judges these people by watching them and getting to know them to see if they "deserve" a miracle. I realize that with the gifts he was giving he wanted to make sure he chose just the right people, however I'm glad that when God decided to send Jesus to die for my sins he didn't put a footnote in the contract that said "*only for those who have deserved it". No way! God knows that on our own NONE of us deserve the gift of grace because NONE of us can measure up to his standards. HOWEVER, when Jesus died on the cross, HE took ALL of our screw ups onto Himself! Grace is a gift that God freely gives to us and it's not something that we could EVER deserve by being a "good person".

The second part of the movie that I disliked is that it ended with Will Smith's freakish suicide and plan to donate his organs to specific people who need them. This to me is another example of "playing God". In my opinion, suicide is taking your own life into your hands and saying that it's your own life to take. Well, no, God gave us life and it's not our own just to throw away when we feel like it! I feel like the message given in this movie is that if your life is worthless to you then just kill yourself so someone else can benefit from it. I really hope people don't see this movie and say "Oh wow, what a selfless thing to do!" I really think quite the opposite of that. I think it's totally selfish of him. He is saying that he has the power to take life and to give life and it really just draws all the attention to him-so not so selfless in my opinion.

Lastly, I felt like Will Smith was trying to earn his forgiveness for the deaths of 7 people by doing "good deeds" which I already mentioned earlier why I don't believe that's possible.

In conclusion, people, we cannot earn forgiveness by being a "good person". Good deeds don't cover up all the ways that we fall short of His glory. We cannot attain righteousness without HIM. But, it's all good, because that's why Jesus died for all of our sins! We were guilty of the crime, but He stood in our place and took the punishment for us! He paid the debt for us that we could never repay on our own at no cost to us. When we give Him Lordship over our lives, we are saying that we are dead to ourselves and give Him the throne to reign. We are no longer the "King" of our lives, but He is! Thank you Jesus for saving me and for pardoning my sins. Thank you for your redeeming love that just keeps on giving! And thank you for guiding me each day, forgiving me of my screw ups, and helping me to get back on the right path time and time again.

Please give me some feedback and let me know what you thought about the movie. :)