A duel of fear. Another lesson from Batman Begins

I've been watching Batman Begins clips on average once every week. I find them so inspirational, and they keep me going in this uphill climb. There also just seems to be new insight that comes every once in a while about the spiritual life. I find it pretty cool.

I was watching yesterday when a new parallel came to mind. A duel of fear.

The bats in batman can represent a number of things. As for yesterday, a new parallel came to mind. They represent uncertainty, and the terrorizing of the imagination that naturally accompanies it.

Bruce Wayne used to be afraid of bats when he was young. They haunted him. The sight of them terrorized his heart. The bats can represent uncertainty. By our very nature, us humans fear uncertainty about things in the future, whether or not the outcome we value will be secured or not. Bruce Wayne had to face his fear of bats in order to become Batman and make a difference in Gotham city. He had to not fear uncertainty anymore, and just simply face it. For me, I face the "bats" of uncertainty a lot as a Christian journeyer. A lot of the times, I worry about my future job, marriage, ministry etc. It seems as if the enemy terrorizes my imagination with a lot of "what ifs" that fly chaotically like bats in the batcave of my soul. I was prophecied on a couple months ago that in this season of life, God would really build and stretch my faith in him. It definitely is becoming so true right now. But I sense change already. I am learning to existentially trust in God. Not necessarily to trust in God to secure my personal wishes, but to just trust in God amidst the uncertainty, to do what's best for his Kingdom in fighting the enemy of mankind. I feel that in this season, I have learned to simply confront the bats of "terrorizing uncertainty" in the batcave of my heart, and obey Jesus' commands to "not be afraid".

I feel like Bruce Wayne in this scene in this season of my life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_DDvgE0nU&feature=related

By God's grace, I slowly stepping out of the boat of security, and walking on the water of God's invisible path that Magneto-ly forms itself only for the next step that one walks. I am learning that the only way to deal with my fear of uncertainty is not to avoid circumstances that seem uncertain, but to face them square on, and change my inner reaction's ability to trust Jesus while the bats fly all around myself.

A surprisingly quote by N.T. Wright is interesting:

What instruction, what order, is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and apostles? What do you think - "Be good"? "Be holy"? Or, negatively, "Don't sin"? "Don't be immoral"? No. The most frequent command in the Bible is: "Don't be afraid." "Fear not."

Interesting eh? I am convinced that we can't learn to improve in obeying this commandment by burying ourselves in theological books all day, but we only improve in obeying it by squarely facing those bats right in their face and courageously having faith in God amidst temptations of doubt flying right in front of thy face.

There are many valid angles one can take when analyzing spiritual warfare. With the help of Batman Begins, I have discovered the new angle of "a duel of fear" where soldiers of Christ and demons of Satan have a battle of inflicting fear into the other party.

In the Gospels, we see demons inflicting fear in people either indirectly (causing people to doubt the goodness and sovereignty of God in ordinary circumstances and about the future) or directly (possessing humans and harassing them physically). But interestingly, we also see instances where demons "submit" to the disciples in the name of Jesus (Luke 10:17), where demons "shudder or tremble" before God (James 2:19), and where the devil "flees" from us (James 4:7). The only time someone "flees" from someone or something is when they're scared out of their sane (or not so sane) mind, hence it is reasonable to assume that Satan reacts to the presence of God like a zebra reacting to a lion. I think part of the reason why Satan and his demons react with terror in the presence of Jesus is because he threatens the security of their operations, schemes, livelihood, and well-being. That's why they "shudder/tremble/flee". Shuddering, trembling, and fleeing are not merely external actions, they are external actions caused by internal states of terror. And terror is caused by imagining all the horrifying "what ifs" that could happen to you. This is what Jesus does to his enemies. This should really come as no surprise since Satan and his demons see Jesus as he really is (Revelations 1:12-16). I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be on that person's wrong side. Jesus has the power to throw his enemies into hell, and he can also torture them (Matthew 8:29, Luke 8:28). Of course he won't if you're on his side, and if you're on the side of the one described in Revelations 19:11-16, there is absolutely nothing to fear. I feel bad for the demons.

Batman went through a journey of facing and conquering his fear of bats, and in turn, striking terror into emotions and imaginations of his enemies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjQt_jIN-M&feature=related.

We have the same ability to do that when we walk in the power and name of Jesus. Demons fear the crap out of Jesus. They don't fear jack about us though. While we shouldn't take pride in the demons submitting to us (Luke 10:20), we should expect to terrorize them when we take the presence of God with us in spiritual warfare. A commonality between us humans and the demons is that we both are susceptible to the fear of uncertainty. Only one person isn't, and that's the person in charge of the universe, Jesus. So I've learned that us humans don't fight the fear of uncertainty by being certain of outcomes, but fight the fear of uncertainty by trusting in the unpredictable yet faithful One in charge of uncertainty. For the demons, it's not so fortunate. Uncertainty is not on their side because the universe is not ultimately governed by someone on their side. For us soldiers of Christ however, uncertainty is on our side if we trust the King of the universe who unpredictably, yet faithfully controls everything.

Bruce Wayne decided not to fight crime with his own identity, but with the identity of a symbol that represented something greater than just a mere human

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J6J5BcHFCs&feature=related

Bruce Wayne: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, destroyed. But as a symbol, as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting

Alfred: What symbol?

Bruce Wayne: Something elemental, something terrifying


Similarly, Paul didn't fight God's enemies merely "as a man" and with mere "flesh and blood". But he did them in the "symbol" or name of Jesus, which represented the presence of God (Acts 19:11-12) and caused evil spirits to leave the humans being harassed by them. But as for those who did not carry the "symbol" or name of Jesus (which represented the presence of God with them), they were actually terrified themselves when they tried to do battle with the demons (Acts 19:13-16). They were "ignored" and "destroyed" because they tried to fight demons merely as men/flesh and blood.

I am indebted to Batman Begins for new insight into spiritual warfare. For it is not merely a duel that sheds spiritual blood on both sides. It is a duel of fear and inflicting terror on one's enemy.

Thanks for lesson # 80794325265972045 Bruce Wayne