So I'm starting a brand new blog and the natural thing to do would be to pick a well known media but a rather obscure series (at least to me) has got me thinking. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a TV show which is part of the MCU and focuses on a group of secret agents who are part of the titular organisation. I have watched bits and pieces from the earlier seasons and the episode Repairs (series 1, episode 9) caught my attention. In it a woman, Hannah, believes that she is being terrorised by demons and puts this down to God punishing her for accidentally killing several men. Now the actual cause for this seemingly supernatural occurrence is alien but before this is revealed Hannah is convinced that it's God's punishment.
In conversations with other characters, she categorically states that because of her accidental killing of four people God is punishing her by no longer protecting her from demonic entities. This isn't my faith and doesn't tally up with my understanding of God as loving and forgiving. I don't think the script writers did their research well into mainstream Christianity, believing that God would punish someone because of a deeply regretted mistake is not something I have ever come across. The story makes it explicitly clear that it was accidental death, with Hannah stating that despite her extreme vigilance an unknown problem occurred causing the deaths. Surely an accident, even one which causes a serious problem such as this, is not a sin? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D definitely dropped the ball on this bit and whilst the strange occurrences are proven not to divine punishment, it's still a fundamental misunderstanding of the Christian faith. I have hunch that they only really put the religious bits in to add to the supernatural feel of the episode.
However, this wasn't their only comment on God in the episode. Whilst comforting Hannah another character, Skye, talks of her experiences of religion. She condemns this image of a wrathful God which was taught to her by organised religion but then reminisces on the 'comforting' idea she was given by nun that 'God is Love'. It is good to see a defence of God, as it were, and notable that it comes from a self-proclaimed atheist character and not the religious one. Acknowledging the complexity of most issues is great to see and especially in regards to religion complexity abounds.
I suppose you could interpret this as Skye comforting Hannah through showing her that her faith can still support her. It's an interesting question we can ask ourselves about how we should support others, should we use a person's faith to help them even if we think that it is false or fundamentally harmful?
My main interest in this though is the specific phrase 'God is love' which Skye calls 'a bit sappy' but nice and comforting. 'God is love' comes directly from the Bible, it's one of those easy to quote verses which goes well on magnets or bumper stickers.
'Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love' (1 John 4:7-8)
'God is love' isn't sappy though, I think that it is one of the most amazing truths there is. Our society really underplays the idea of love, its thought of as sickly chocolates, a cute teddy bear and a good first date. Love isn't just pale pink hearts but the determined selflessness to devote yourself to something or someone. Jesus said 'greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13), this is the love which God is. 1 John was originally written in Ancient Greek, with God being defined by the word 'agape' for love The Ancient Greeks had loads of words for love, understanding the different forms of love better than I think we do, and the word agape was reserved for unconditional love.
This may be a normal idea to us but it is quite radical to understand the sovereign being in the universe to be the definition of love. For example, Zeus was one of the key worshipped deities when 1 John was written and the picture Greek mythology paints of him is of an angry, irresponsible being who spends most of his time cheating on his wife. Aristotle even commented on how strange it would be for someone to say that they were loved by Zeus. And yet here we are with a deity who is being called love itself. It is totally radical to attribute total care and selflessness to the creator and supreme being of the universe.
This is what God is, not an angry being who punishes us for causing accidents but rather someone who is love and will do whatever He can to stop us from suffering the wages of our deliberate sin. God chose to suffer in our place and now he offers us the choice to accept this forgiveness.
It's nice to see a show which acknowledges that issues aren't black and white, and it is easy to see God as merely a wrathful being, but I don't think that the episode writers understood this issue fully. In any case, it is something which can make us think and examine how we perceive God.
Thanks for reading, I hope that you found this interesting. Feel free to leave a comment :-)
Comments