How to Share Your Faith Using Million Dollar Baby
Maggie (played by actress Hilary Swank), is a determined female boxer in her 30's, who is past her prime in the eyes of many, including Frankie Dunn(played by Clint Eastwood), who has trained many good fighters in his day and owns a gym called the “Hit Pit.” Morgan Freeman plays the character of Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris (a former boxer), who encourages Maggie to excel in the sport of boxing and Dunn to take her on as a trainee and eventually become her manager. Dunn initially refuses to train girls, but over time grows to love Maggie like a daughter and helps her to move quickly through the ranks of the Women’s Boxing Association.
Maggie becomes the best in every weight class she enters, knocking down her opponents within the first round. Maggie is portrayed as a fighter who not only works hard at the gym and in the ring, but has fought her way through a troubling past and a difficult family situation to fulfill her dreams.
In his past, Dunn is known for raising up great fighters, but protecting them for too long against the system of boxing and personal injury, eventually losing them to more persistent managers who can secure a title fight. For a while Dunn tries to protect Maggie, but later agrees to the million-dollar title fight in Las Vegas for the title she’s always dreamed of.
SPOILER-WARNING - If you haven’t seen the movie and intend on doing so, this could spoil the ending, but it is necessary to discuss the movie and the moral issues involved.
Maggie puts up a hard fight and it appears as though she has the match in the bag, when fate steps in and blows her a punch that will forever change her life and those around her. Maggie turns her back for one second and her opponent deals her a sucker punch that leaves her paralyzed forever.
Maggie is confined to a bed and faced with a multitude of problems. Maggie battles depression, and contemplates death. She asks Frankie to end her life saying,
“I got what I needed. I got it all. Don’t let them take it all away from me. Don’t let me lie here until I can’t hear them cheering for me anymore.”
Initially, Frankie refuses, but encounters a raging internal struggle seeking both God and his priest about what to do. Dunn is a devout catholic man who has attended mass every day for 23 years. Dunn selfishly wants to keep Maggie with him, but also wonders if it is right to let her live in such a state. The priest tells him that taking her life is a sin that would condemn him to hell, whereas others convince him that it is the right thing to do. In the end, the movie does not clearly say whether it is wrong or right, but leaves the decision up to the viewer.
It seems as if the integrity of the characters is at stake over the issue of euthanasia. Maggie, who is a fighter in life both inside and outside the ring, seems like she is giving up and basically proclaiming that the quality of her life is poor, therefore she should be allowed to die.
There are really two sides to this issue. It is a particularly important topic in lieu of the recent news about a Florida woman named Terry Schiavo. Many Christians as well as non-Christians are torn over the topic, which is always a great inroad to sharing your faith. However, it is important to know where you stand on the issue and be knowledgeable when confronted with the tough questions that revolve around a person’s supposed “right to die”.
On one hand, people look at the issue as murder. They think it is wrong to “kill” someone just because they are incapacitated, ill, old, or in a vegetative state. They think that no matter what, that person must remain alive as long as technology/medicine allows, or until God takes that person home. Many feel as if there is something that can be done; doctors must try to keep that person alive. Many people believe God orchestrates when a person should die, and if they are still alive there is a reason.
On the other hand, many people believe that modern medicine plays God every day. Hundreds of years ago we did not have the technology we do now, and the people would have died from many things that can now be prevented and cured. This line of reasoning argues that people should have the right to make the decision about whether or not they want to live. They think that if someone is a vegetable and has no life, then it is only fair to that person. Such as in the case with Terry Schiavo, the only thing that has kept her alive for 15 years is a feeding tube, but other than that she really has not been able to live life. Is it fair for her to live in a hospital on a bed, and not be freed from the pain of her illness? Furthermore, is it fair for people to keep a person alive for personal reasons, or let them die if that is what seems best?
The bottom line with euthanasia is that society essentially makes a judgment call as to what a quality life is and whether that “justifies” a person staying alive or not. But think about it, many paralyzed people have lived very productive lives from a wheelchair, and say they are thankful they still have life, even if their bodies do not function the same as others. When government or individuals begin playing God as to who should die and who should live, it becomes a very complicated and sensitive issue. Whose right is it to determine if one person is worth more than another and therefore should live or die?
Again, there are two very different opinions about euthanasia, and it is important to determine which side you are on through prayer, careful study of God’s word, and counsel from your youth leaders and pastors.
Once you understand the different sides of the arguments, this issue can be used in a powerful way to share the gospel. The key is moving from the issue itself to talking about living each day as if it was their last, and also making sure they would know where they were to go if something happened to them.
In other words, most of us have been blessed with the ability to use our arms, legs, and bodies to operate each day, but what if that was taken away? Where would we turn? Would we be angry and bitter at life, or trust God and lean on Him during the times of adversity? Would you know that even if your body was altered on earth that in Heaven there will be no pain, disease and suffering?
What would happen if tomorrow we died, do we know where we would go? Do your friends and family members know Jesus and have a right relationship with Him? Life is precious and there are no certainties from one moment to the next. That is not to scare anyone; it is simply the fact of life. The one thing that is more certain and true then anything else is Jesus and the fact that He died for our sins. If we trust in His death and resurrection as our only hope of salvation, we can be saved and have the reassurance of being with Him for eternity. That is a message everyone you know should hear.
No matter what a person’s situation is, or how bad life seems to get, this is one truth that will withstand the test of time. This truth will bring hope to a person in the darkest despair, and this truth is all we have to hold to in this life filled with so much pain and destruction. So let me encourage you to bring up a conversation about Million Dollar Baby and bring up the issue of life and death so that you can share the life giving message of the GOSPEL Journey and save your friends from eternal death!
