ARMAGEDDON

 

TWO STARS - Weak

 

 

        As the new millennium approaches, our natural sense of the end of an era has produced a plethora of end of the world films.  Though nuclear holocaust has been the most feared cause of earth’s end sensationalized by such films in the past, times have changed.  In the two most recent films exploring this fear, the great destroyer has come from outer space in the natural form of a comet or asteroid, with nuclear weapons becoming the tools of our saviors.

        Although the newest film, “Armageddon”, is very poor science fiction because of its many inconsistencies, it is the film’s shallow exploration of our humanity which is its greatest failure.

        Unlike “Deep Impact” which was able to create a sense of how we as a people might deal with the catastrophic loss of global life, with our President praying sincerely to God for His protection, “Armageddon” is an endless series of explosions from both asteroids and humans alike.

        The larger question of anhihilation that “Armageddon” proposes would be better served by an exploration of the Biblical prophecies concerning the end of this era, rather than an overblown fear of asteroids.

        Biblically, Armageddon is the place in which the final battle between the nations occurs with corresponding catastrophes of nature caused by this battle. 

        Identified by most scholars to be the plain just north of Jerusalem and south of present-day Lebanon, it is here that the final struggle of humans will signify the impending end to human life as it is now lived.

        The Bible describes this Armageddon in the Revelation of John:

        Revelation 16:16   “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

        17   The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!"

        18   Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

        19   The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.  20   Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.

        21   From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.”

        Using language which was written 2,000 years before the development of weapons of mass destruction, John describes the  climactic battle in which the hatred of human beings compels us to finally annihilate each other with such weapons.  The nuclear earthquakes and nuclear winter of such an exchange will signal the end of this era.  There are few who would disagree that human hatred unleashed in an ultimate battle of mass destruction is far more likely to be the true Armageddon than the possibility of an asteroid the size of Texas hitting the earth.

        But the question inherent in this film and our own fears is:  what can save us from such an event?

        In this film version of “Armageddon” it is suggested that a group of disrespectful misfits skilled in the ability to drill oil wells will be our saviors.  The irony of watching this group fighting more with each other than with the asteroid, is an obvious statement by director Michael Bay.  He must not truly believe we are capable of the trusting cooperation necessary to save humanity.

        In stark contrast, the Biblical savior of the world is Jesus.  Not that Jesus will stop evil from finally coming full term and giving birth to its own destruction, but that Jesus offers a different salvation:  the salvation of the soul.

        What is ultimately going to save human life is not our scientific ingenuity or our nuclear capability.   Nor is our destruction coming from outer space.  The Biblical prophecy describes a final hatred and destruction of one another as the true Armageddon.

        “Armageddon” as a film is a dismal failure in exploring our reactions to the end of life as we know it.  A film exploring our true human tendencies would be far more likely to awaken us to our great need for a savior who can give us life beyond Armageddon.

 

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