How to Share Your Faith Using Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is having a bad day. His house is about to be bulldozed to make way for an intergalactic freeway. In fact, the entire Planet Earth is scheduled for demolition! His only hope of survival is to hitch a ride on an alien spacecraft. Fortunately his best friend, Ford Prefect (Mos Def), turns out to be an alien visiting Earth on a research assignment, so together the two friends set off on a series of comic sci-fi adventures.
Based on the best-selling book by the same name, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy exhibits a quirky sense of humor. While it pokes fun at "cosmic wisdom" and takes some pot shots at church, this movie also throws the door wide open for a discussion of two serious life questions that most teens wonder about:
- What is the meaning of life and of the universe?
- Who am I and why am I here?
What is the meaning of life and of the universe? (HINT: The answer is NOT '42', as the movie suggests!!) Psalm 19:1 tells us "The heavens declare the glory of God." Everything throughout the universe exists to show the glory of God. And that includes us - we exist to bring glory to God. We do that by worshipping him, by becoming more like His Son Jesus Christ, and by telling others about Him. Col. 1:16 (The Message) declares, "For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible . . . everything got started in him and finds its purpose in Him."
So why would anyone conclude that the answer to the meaning of life is '42'? Because apart from a relationship with God, life is absurd. Webster's defines absurd as "so clearly untrue or unreasonable as to be laughable or ridiculous". When life is absurd, 42 makes as much sense as any other answer!
A second philosophical question is raised in the movie when the whale, while falling from the sky, (I know this is hard to imagine if you haven't seen the movie. . .) asks, "Who am I? Why am I here?" But the whale is asking the questions every thoughtful human wonders about when they gaze up at the millions of stars splashed across the nighttime sky.
Who we are and why we're here are questions that can only be answered in the midst of our relationship with God.
"Long before he (God) laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son." Eph.1: 4-6 (The Message)
We are God's children. We are here to bring glory to him and be made whole and holy by his love.
If all this sounds too heavy and philosophical for you, The Hitchhiker's Guide can still be a great discussion starter to talk about the love of God with your friends. Here are a couple more ideas to get you started.
Arthur Dent learns that the Planet Earth is being demolished in a few seconds and has the opportunity to hitch a ride through the galaxy, away from certain death. Ask your friends how they'd feel if they knew their life would end in a few seconds. Would they be scared senseless? Or would they, like you, know that their best friend, Jesus, will let them hitch a ride with Him that whisks them away from certain death and destruction and transports them to a new eternal life with Him.
Another opening for sharing could be the fact that The Hitchhiker's Guide tells us that God created the universe and it is humorously suggested that this might have been a bad move. Think about it! What does the Bible have to say about this? Has God given up on us humans? Ask your friends what they think about the suggestion that creating the universe might have been a bad move on God's part. This could lead to a discussion about good and evil in the world and God's plan to draw us back into a relationship with him. For help explaining this spiritual truth, see the Gospel Journey.
The Hitchhiker's Guide sets itself up to be everything you need to know to survive in the galaxy. As followers of Jesus, we realize that everything we need to know to survive is found in our relationship with God and that the Bible is our guide to the galaxy. Let's be sure we share that truth with the world around us!
