How to Share Your Faith Using Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
When I grow up I want to be just like Joe the Sky Captain. Let’s face it - he’s courageous and crafty, brave and brash, and best of all he’s got some of the coolest toys I’ve ever seen. Being Joe would also mean getting the chance to save the world on a regular basis!
Unfortunately I just don’t think this is going to happen. First of all, I’m supposed to already be grown up. Plus I don’t look like Jude Law, I don’t have my own military base, I can’t fly a plane and I don’t have a best friend that keeps my world full of life saving gadgets he cleverly invents.
So that’s why I love to see movies like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. For a couple hours I get to be a part of an action packed story that takes me all over the planet with all kinds of heroic deeds happening right before my eyes - and this movie certainly didn’t disappoint. From the opening scene to the feel good ending, I was completely caught up in the living comic book feel of this flick. The most amazing thing is that Sky Captain is a completely computer generated movie (other than the people and a few props of course), which allowed them to do things not otherwise possible. Essentially, this film is one big special effect that both fascinates and entertains.
Of course, if you’re looking for Sky Captain to be a triumph in the acting arena, you will be disappointed. But my question would be: Hello - this is an action movie - were you expecting Shakespeare?
The story is set in the late 1930’s (I think) and basically follows the “mad-scientist-gonna-blow-up-earth-so-stud-must-save-it” formula. Sky Captain and his ex put together clues, blow stuff up, and follow lots of robot rabbit trails with a little help from their friends (who include a one-eyed Angelina Jolie who uses the same accent she had in Tomb Raider). In the end we find out that there’s a super genius who’s name is hard to pronounce who built a rocket ship ark (complete with two of every kind of animal!), and he’s planning on launching into space to start a new heaven and new earth. The tricky part is that he’s also planning on torching the world because we haven’t taken care of it or each other.
Are you following the logic here? People on earth have been destroying it and each other for far too long, so to make things right this guy is going to finish if off by doing the very thing he hates…or something like that.
Anyway, the great part about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is that it brings up issues that you can use to witness to your friends. Let me throw a couple your way.
The first way to use it is based on the plot. Part of the plot of this movie revolves around coming to terms with the end of the world. If you ask the average person how he/she thinks the world is going to come to an end, you might be surprised by what you hear. Some would point to some kind of ecological disaster, others to a nuclear holocaust, and a good portion of folks would go with the safe answer: I have no idea. But as a Christian, you have the answer! The Bible lays it all out in the book of Revelation, and it isn’t because some madman pushes the wrong button. There are actually quite amazing things that happen at the end of time, most of which have to do with God coming back to judge the earth and give everyone a chance to go to heaven. The critical part comes at the final judgment, which the Bible describes in this way:
And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death--the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
Basically, the “world of tomorrow” is one of two places for everyone on earth: heaven or hell. So the next time you are talking with a friend about this film, ask him/her how they think the world will end, then use that as a tie in to the GOSPEL Journey.
The second way to use Sky Captain to witness to people is to talk about how evil the world really is because of the bad choices people make (in other words - sin). Ask your friends why they think there is so much evil on earth, and will it ever get any better. In Sky Captain, one man responded to the problem of evil by being willing to sacrifice everyone on earth to save himself and start over. In the Bible, one Man responded to the problem of evil by truly sacrificing himself to save everyone who trusts in Him so they can start over. The world of today has big time problems, but one day Jesus will return and give us a new heaven and a new earth where the Bible says:
“He (Jesus) will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever." (Revelation 21:4)
Ask your friends how they would solve the problems of the world, then explain to them how Jesus died so that we could be delivered from the penalty and power of sin, and one day we will be removed from the very presence of it as well…that’s the world of tomorrow I look forward to!
