StarWars: more than just a movie?

Tycho23 · Post by **Tycho23** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:01 am

Many people are freaking out about the new StarWars movie that came out this week and I realized something.

Alot of people see the fight of the calm and rational good force against the fanatic and passionate dark force as an increadibly excellent analogy to the moral dillemass we face in today's world... Some people actualy see the trillogy over and over agian, just to soak in and study the philosophy presented...

I'm having trouble seeing how this is so, it's just a fun action movie, not an entire philosophy.

Then again, that's what they said about the Matrix...

Corvus · Post by **Corvus** » Mon May 23, 2005 8:05 am

Me too. It gladdens my heart to see the frivolous treatment of two subjects - bureaucracy and religion - normally associated with the utmost gravitas. Unfortunately the government didn't find it amusing, for they issued a statement that anyone who would claim Jedi as their religion would instead be considered a "non-specified" or somesuch.

EnigmaAtlas · Post by **EnigmaAtlas** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:43 pm

Dilettante wrote:I'm not a Star Wars fan, and I don't follow the sequels. But I can see how someone could easily build a religion on its simplistic mythology. Perhaps Corvus can correct me, but I've heard that some people in Australia have already done just that... and started a religion based on the Star Wars series. If that is true, it would join Scientology in taking the leap from Science-Fiction to religion.

Perhaps the bible was the "Star Wars" of its time... i can see how someone could easily build a religion on its simplistic mythology

Furrowed Brow · Post by **Furrowed Brow** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:08 am

In the last national census in the UK, enough people answered Jedi to the question asking about their religion, that it is now classed as an official religion. Check this out

Angry_Pacifist · Post by **Angry_Pacifist** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:04 am

I'm not a Star Wars fan, and I don't follow the sequels. But I can see how someone could easily build a religion on its simplistic mythology. Perhaps Corvus can correct me, but I've heard that some people in Australia have already done just that... and started a religion based on the Star Wars series.

I'm from down under, and I can confirm this. There was a bit of an uproar about this and it was in the news, the government got so annoyed they threatened to prosecute anyone who labeled their religion as jedi in the census.

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:18 pm

I am sure some religions are founded on less. It may very well be a myth of our time or even myths from the past. They are entertaining and hit a cord for many people. Look at the ancient myths. Even the stories in the bible would not be read if they were not entertaining.

"Jedi Knight" is a religion.
Cool

do they dress funny?

"We are not defining what a religion or a faith might be," a spokeswoman said. "We are recognising what some may have entered on their census form and ensuring that our coding framework will cater for it."

All the makings of a system of belief and thought. Does it matter if it is a fantasy if it serves a purpose such as the need to live our myths?

bwingpilotPhp310 · Post by **bwingpilotPhp310** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:57 pm

Cathar1950 wrote:I am sure some religions are founded on less. It may very well be a myth of our time or even myths from the past. They are entertaining and hit a cord for many people. Look at the ancient myths. Even the stories in the bible would not be read if they were not entertaining.

"Jedi Knight" is a religion.
Cool do they dress funny?

"We are not defining what a religion or a faith might be," a spokeswoman said. "We are recognising what some may have entered on their census form and ensuring that our coding framework will cater for it."
All the makings of a system of belief and thought. Does it matter if it is a fantasy if it serves a purpose such as the need to live our myths?

If you're saying that all that a belief system needs to be true is that it fits the way a person looks at things, then I'd have to disagree with you. Granted, you can invent a belief system for whatever your personal beliefs are, but just because you yourself follow it doesn't make it real, nor should you place too much importance on it. There are things all over the place in this crazy sinful world of ours that seem to be a good way to look at things, but that doesn't mean that we need to fully accept everything that those things tells us/have to offer us. A good example of what I'm trying to say a sermon illustration from the TV show "Friends". "Friends" has a way of looking at dating/relationships that runs directly contrary to the Bible and God's expectations/commands (sex WAY before marriage), but I can still pull some quotes or situations from the show and use them to drive home points from the Bible. One of the ones that I plan on using for a sermon sometime in the future is Ross asking Phoebe if she wants to come over to his apartment and help him, Joey, and Chandler put together some furniture, and her response is "I wish I could, but I don't want to." I think that that's the way that we respond to God a lot of the time when He asks us to work for Him. Does me using that quote mean that I believe in all that "Friends" has to offer me in terms of morals? No. It just means that:
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6), and although we are "aliens and strangers in the world," we should "[. . .]abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11).