How to Share Your Faith Using King Kong
By most any measure, the 2005 version of King Kong is expected to be a gigantic success. Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame has delivered a sweeping three hour action adventure movie packed with more special effects marvels.
The movie follows the adventures of a cocky, risk-taking movie producer as he takes a group of documentary filmmakers to Skull Island. They set off to track down the legendary giant ape known to the island native peoples as Kong. The risks undertaken and choices made unfold in an action-packed adventure filled with thrills, chills, mayhem and tragedy.
Underlying the risks and choices that play out in the movie are issues that lend themselves to some good spiritual discussion. The pre-release entertainment industry buzz on King Kong reported that Dave Grohl, from Foo Fighters, had turned playing the role of Satan in the movie. What do you think of interjecting Satan into an action adventure movie like King Kong?
It's not news to Christians that talking about Satan's influence in the world raises eyebrows and is viewed as politically incorrect. But the Bible doesn't shy away from describing Satan's role in the world (see Mt. 4:1-10). When disaster strikes, it can be the result of Satan's hand at work in our world, or it can be the painful consequences of poor human choices. Sometimes these poor choices are the result of man's prideful attitudes and selfish ambition.
When Kong is captured and shipped back to New York to be put on display for profit, the humans involved are operating under the assumption that they can maintain control of their 25-foot tall catch. Wrong!
But as humans, we often delude ourselves into the prideful thinking that we have control over much of our world. Do we really? Think about the headlines nature has splashed across the news in the past year. Hurricane Katrina Hits Gulf! Tsunami in the Pacific! Massive Earthquake in Pakistan! While you may not have experienced the consequences of those natural disasters first-hand, think about the more personal ways you have experienced the power of nature. Have you ever watched a lightning bolt flash across the sky? Or watched the wind whip blowing snow horizontally across the landscape? Have you heard the roar of ocean waves crashing against the rocks?
Nature's power is one small manifestation of the incredible, awesome power of the God who created nature and laid the foundations for all the principles of physics, geology, meteorology, chemistry and on and on, including mysteries of science man hasn't even unlocked yet. And though we live in a fallen world where even the forces of nature have been twisted to sometimes wreak havoc and bring death and destruction, their underlying power reminds us of how small we are and how huge is the God who created those forces.
It's easy for us humans to challenge God when nature brings destruction into our world. When Job approached God with this kind of challenging attitude, the Bible records God's reply:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, 'Thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!'
Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth . . . (Job 38:10-13)
Remember that God is God, and we are not! He has promised to be with us in the midst of whatever tragedies and disasters may come our way in this world, but he has not wiped the world-at-large clean of the destructive consequences of sin. Sometimes we're innocent victims of those consequences, but sometimes it's our prideful attitudes and poor choices that unleash destruction in our world.
After all, the cocky, risk-taking movie producer in King Kong didn't expect the tragic consequences his choices unleashed! So can you find a way to use King Kong to talk to your friends about God? Here are some suggested questions to get you started:
- Ask your friends how much control they think humans really have over nature. Is our world as safe and tidy as we like to think?
- Find out if they believe there's a God who created the forces of nature. Share what you believe.
- Ask your friends what they think of the actor Jack Black's quote, "I don't believe in the devil, but I've always liked him as a character, kind of like Darth Vader." Ask them if they believe in Satan. Share what you believe. For help with this check out the Dare 2 Share website on The Top Ten Questions About Satan and Spiritual Warfare.
- Ask them if they want to know more about the God of the Universe and be prepared to take them on the GOSPEL Journey.
Director Peter Jackson designed King Kong to deliver some phenomenal entertainment. Maybe you can use it to deliver some phenomenal spiritual conversations.
