Harry Potter & The Prince of Peace

If you want to see a movie filled with imagination, fear and hope, hate and love; a movie where the powers of goodness and light are pitted against the forces of evil and darkness; a movie where the fate of the entire universe is resting in the hands of a young boy, the chosen one – then you will love Star Wars, or a rip-off known as the Harry Potter series.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the movie. With wizards replacing aliens and flying broomsticks replacing space-ships, all the ingredients of a blockbuster movie are still there: good guys, bad guys, suspense, surprises (a benefit of not reading the books first), romance, a quest to be fulfilled, and some duelling wizards - not to mention plenty of other awesome-looking action scenes.

It also shows how all the choices we make, no matter our age, shape who we are and who we will become – something I think is very important to think about in our ‘do whatever works for you’ culture.

But throughout the whole movie, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another story that I’ve read - and I’m not talking about Star Wars or even Lord of the Rings (which I just realised is also suspiciously similar in many ways). I’m talking about the greatest story ever, the Bible.

Having grown up going to Sunday School, I’d always heard stories from the Bible and I came to see it as a kind of a ‘holy story-book’. It was made up of lots of cool stories that taught us little lessons about God. One of my favourites was where this guy had to assassinate a super-fat king. He stabbed him in the stomach and the king’s own fat covered over the handle of the sword, so he couldn’t pull it out! He died in a pool of blood and guts. I’ll confess that I never really knew what the lesson was there, but you have to admit it’d make a good movie scene!

It wasn’t until I got a little older and read through the Bible for myself that I realised it was really one epic story. It moves from the creation of the universe through the history of humankind, depicting the forces of good and evil in a supreme battle. Sometimes it tells of very ordinary people and events to show just how extraordinary the backdrop of God’s glory truly is. It even tells about the future, how the world will end - or more precisely, be made new and perfect again. And it all comes down to a ‘chosen one’ who foils the evil plan, destroys the forces of darkness in a gruesome climax and proves that ‘good’ will always, ultimately have the victory.

I love a good epic sci-fi and I reckon God likes them too. Remember what He said about Jesus?

‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!’ (Luke 9:35)