Written by Aerial Whiting
Last week I saw “Beastly” at the theater. Admittedly, it was not the best movieever made, but it was supposed to be a modern retelling of “Beauty and the Beast,” which happens to be my absolute favorite story, and so I did not mind.
Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed it because I love the underlying themes of the deceptiveness of looks and the capacity people have to change for the better, and I cannot help but hope I will someday meet my own Beast who turns out to be Mr. Right.
Ironically, before I knew the premise of “Beastly,” I had no interest in seeing it. The poster showed someone who looked like he was overly fond of tattoos, and when I saw the picture, I turned up my nose at the film. Apparently, I can get past characters that look like Chewbacca, but if a character is not the right kind of beast, I lose interest.
This got me thinking: If wedemonstrate this prejudice with movies, how often do we do so in real life? How often do we become uncomfortable when we see someone with Down’s syndrome or 20-some-odd piercings?
I think on an intellectual level it is easy to know that “the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV) and that we should as well. I think we likewise readily accept that God is forgiving and knows we can change, indeed demands that we change, andthat we should recognize others’ ability to change as well. In practice, though, I think we forget these simple principles, no matter how many Bible storiesor morality tales remind us of them.
More broadly, I think we have the tendency to read parables or other stories in the Bible, derive their moral lessons and then forget to make application. After reading about the prodigal son, do we seek to demonstrate the love and forgiveness of the father, or do we forget the parable and wind up demonstrating the hardheartedness of the older brother? And what about the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery? Do we imitateJesus’ mercy in our own everyday interactions, or do we imitate the Pharisees’ condemnation?Orwhen we read stories like that of David and his five smooth stones, do we trust God to strike down our own Goliaths?
I am afraid that all too often we hear sermons at church or lectures in the McInteer about these stories, but when the time comes for us to draw wisdom from these stories, we forget what they mean for us as individuals and instead rely on our own feelings to make decisions. This is unfortunate. My hope is that we will come to understand what these stories mean not only in the context of Scripture but also in the context of our own lives.
