Thanos, Agent Smith, and Mr. Burns: Villains or Misunderstood Heroes?

The funny thing about the movies is that it's never the good guy who justifies their plans through evolution. The good guy never uses the phrase "survival of the fittest" as a reason for their actions. The hero never says the world is overpopulated and that we need to decrease it. It's never the good guy who wants to block out the sun or the good guy who says that the ends justify the means. That is always the villain in practically every movie.

Yet, these are the things many in the world believe in. Strangely, the very same people in Hollywood who believe in evolution, population control, and blocking out the sun make movies where their own ideas are cast in a bad light. Why is that?

Fundamentally, I think it's because we all innately know the truth. We all know that the strong beating up on the weak is bad and that it is far better to care for those in need than to use and take advantage of them. We all know that life is valuable, and to insinuate we should find ways to decrease the world's population is a road that will inevitably always lead to oppression. And I don't need to mention how disastrous blocking out the sun could be. We saw what it did in The Matrix.

Ultimately, Hollywood is full of people who know the truth in their hearts. God has given us all something called ‘general revelation.’ It is the revelation of His truth made available to all of us through observation and reasoning. Yet at the same time, many people have ideas that are in stark contrast to this revelation. Ideas that haven't just been used by villains in movies but by very real people to rationalize the eradication of a race, religion, or people group. Ideas that have only divided people and have done nothing to better our world but are somehow considered foundational ideas in the formation of a rational mind?

It's this struggle between lies and the truth that we see going on before our eyes anytime we watch a movie or hear an actor comment on social issues. It's the struggle between lies and the truth that has been going on since the beginning. But it’s a struggle that lies can not win because God is in charge, and we know he has overcome this world. Simply put, truth can't conflict with itself, but lies can. Not only do lies have to fight against the truth, but they also have to fight against themselves, and though we might impatiently wait for the day when the truth will triumph, we also know that, in the end, victory is imminent.

At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Chris is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:10-11

For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

Luke 8:17