This is part 3 in my 3-part post on Chaos, Chance, and Choice.
Freedom of choice. This is the issue that the War in Heaven was about. This is what our Constitution is designed to protect.
Choice.
Adam and Eve had a choice. Cain had a choice. The people in Noah’s day had a choice. Sodom and Gomorrah had a choice. Pilate had a choice. The murders who stormed Carthage Jail had a choice.
Harvey Dent had a choice. He chose to allow himself to become corrupted by the Joker. I discussed previously that Harvey Dent is the type for those who are tempted here on Earth and do not endure. He is mankind without a Savior.
If the Joker is the Devil and Dent is mankind with no Savior — then Batman is the Savior.
When Bruce Wayne is considering giving in to the demands of the Joker, he asks Alfred:
”What would you have me do?”
Alfred answers:
“Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They’ll hate you for it, but that’s the point of Batman…he can be the outcast. He can make the choice no one else can face. The right choice.”
Because Batman is a symbol, an archetype, he is more than Bruce Wayne can be. Our Savior, too, is more than any man can be. Jesus Christ came to this earth and voluntarily became the outcast and made the choice that no one else could face — the choice to endure.
Joseph Smith taught that the contention in Heaven at the foundation of the world was that Satan said that he would ensure that all would return to live with Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ said that some would not make it back.
So does that mean that Jesus brought all this on us? Many atheists believe the “problem” of evil proves to be the undoing of God’s existence. Does it? Not when we understand that the same free-choice that allows me to sin is the same free-choice that is required to have a loving, covenant relationship with Heavenly Father. Without my capacity to sin, I would have no capacity for love.
The Joker felt that chaos was the only thing that is fair. It is equally random and damaging to all.
Harvey Dent felt that chance was the only way to establish fairness. Equal chances for all.
Batman knew that choice was the only source of equality and fairness.
When Batman is trying to talk down Harvey Dent, Dent makes his appeal to chance being unbiased and unfair. Batman points out:
“Nothing fair ever came out of a barrel of a gun, Dent. What happened to Rachel wasn’t chance. We decided to act. We three. We knew the risks and we acted as one. We are all responsible for the consequences…You are fooling yourself if you think you are letting chance decide. You’re the one pointing the gun, Harvey.”
Batman makes his ultimate move as Gotham’s “Savior” when, after “dying”, he comes back and saves Gordon’s family from murder. However, Harvey Dent has made some terrible choices. All the good that he has fought for must now be undone. The people of Gotham will loose hope.
“No they won’t,” says Batman.
For, you see, Satan can’t win.
“I killed those people. That’s what I can be…I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be.“
Batman takes Dent’s sins upon himself. He bears the burden because he can.
“You’ll hunt me…You’ll condemn me, set the dogs on me...”
Batman is condemned and cast out because he can take it. He can continue to do what is best for the city even if they hate him. He is the hero they need…not the one they might want to have.
God has endowed mankind with freedom of choice and moral agency. Everyday we make choices. Biologically we are only capable of thinking about one thing at a time; our eyes are only able to focus on one object in our field of vision at a time; we can only listen to one thing at a time; we can only be in one place at a time. This is on purpose. With each act or thought, with each passing moment, we are showing where our heart and our focus is. Are we serving God or mammon? Are we seeking wisdom or riches? This is the doctrine of the Two Ways. You must either love one or hate the other. Here on Earth we might be on neutral territory. Both God and Satan invite and entice us to their side equally — b/c if it was unequal there would really not be a choice. Even thought we are on this “middle territory”, there is not a middle road to take. To the extant you are turning to one, you are turning your back on the other.
What do your choices say about you?
4 Comments
6 January 2009 at 6:29 pm
Hi Jayflow,
I’ve really enjoyed your three-part series. You have managed to ignite a few thoughts of my own. I like how you express the doctrines found within LDS theology within the medium of Batman! It makes the complicated – simple =) So, thank you…
I have a friend who has kindly uploaded this video, which expounds the Evangelical view of ‘free will’. Just so you know: it is within the context of ‘regeneration’ and ‘transformation’ of our soul under the sovereign rule of God, that determines whether or not we are truly ‘born again’.
Click here and tell me what you think?
6 January 2009 at 9:05 pm
NM,
Thanks for reading. Glad to hear you enjoyed the posts. Thanks for the YouTube link too.
I’m glad you linked me to the summery video of the series. I think an 8-part video would have been a lot to digest.
I liked definition of conversion step 2, “The Call”, as being both outward and inward. Missionaries of the Church talk about this a lot when they are teaching investigators. The inward call is really the spirit of the person responding to true messengers of the Gospel. It is when the Holy Ghost witnesses to our spirit that something true has just been preached.
The video explains the necessity of being born again. I can agree with that too. John 3:5 says that it must be done by water and the Spirit — i.e. baptism and the Holy Ghost.
I can also agree that “decisional regeneration” — i.e. alter calls, sinners prayers, etc. is false. Coming to Christ means so much more than that.
I found the statement, “Man is unable/unwilling to choose any good,” to be incompatible with things I know to be true.
Central to my dislike for the doctrine of “total depravity” is the LDS doctrine that the spirits of all humans are literally children of God. That means the seed of the Deity dwells within us. When our spirits took possession of our bodies, they were as pure as the presence of God where they came from.
7 January 2009 at 3:21 pm
I see.
So, a question por favor:
If you (meaning the general LDS population) take the idea that we are literal children of God, what is your stance in terms of who-we-are in relation to who-He-is? If I understand LDS theology properly, does that mean that human beings are innately ‘good’-who-do-bad-things?….but fundamentally ‘good’?
7 January 2009 at 11:44 pm
The spirits that are in our bodies are born of God. The fleshy bodies we were born into are not born of God, but of mortal parents.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Our spirits, which are offspring of God, were placed into these fallen bodies which experience temptation and sin, for the purpose of us learning to overcome sin, exercise faith, and learn to value the good over the evil.
In this sense, “you” [the fundamental, pre-mortal existing, part of you, i.e. your spirit] is innately good. However, if we define “you” as you are right now [a mortal human, both spirit and flesh], then I would define that as bad.
The Book of Mormon has a verse that says [I'm paraphrasing from memory]:
“The natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the foundation of the world, and will always be…unless he becomes as a child, meek, humble and submissive, and yields to the enticing of the Holy Ghost.”
“You” are innately good, but are placed into a body which is fundamentally bad. This body is now very much a part of “you” [Thanks to the Atonement, it will forever be a part of you]. Therefore, “you” are now fundamentally an enemy to God, until you become as a little child again [B/C a little child is still as innately good as the spirit that is in them].