Intro
The movie Divergent has led thousands of people to flock to the movie theaters just to watch it when it was released. I watched it as well. At that time I did not realize the biblical implications of the movie. Afterwards in my Bible Study Methods class our teacher told us that we were watching this movie. I was very curious as to what it had to do with the Bible. As I re watched the movie I realized the biblical themes of this movie.
Divergent is about post-apocalypse Chicago. The city has five factions that help run the city. The factions are Dauntless-the brave, Amenity-the kind, Erudite-the intelligent, Abnegation-the selfless and Candor-the honest. The children of the city are tested for which faction they should belong in and then they have a choice of which faction to choose. The heroine of the story is Divergent and belongs to three factions. She decides to leave her parent´s faction and go into Dauntless. There she meets Four who helps her and eventually falls in love with him. However the leader of Erudite wants to rule the city instead of Abnegation and develops a mind control serum. She uses that serum of the Dauntless soldiers and makes them kill all the Abnegation. Tris is Divergent so she is not affected. She goes to stop Jean, the leader of the Erudite faction, and manages to stop her with Four.
A Fallen Broken World
In Divergent the fallen world is represented in Chicago. An unknown apocalypse has spread through the entire world. The remnants of humanity live in Chicago. The war was not because of religious b
elief, politics or any of that. Instead scientist determined it was because of human nature.They built a wall to keep out whatever remains from the war and build a supposedly perfect society. They have the factions which represent the traits that humanity needs to become better people. These factions classify people and determine which trait they are most like. They put people into boxes and try to determine who they are.These factions and the people inside them are supposed to be perfect. However they are not. In Divergent the leader of the Erudite faction wages war against Abnegation because it wants power. They kill many people and turn others into robots. The reason why the factions were set up in the first place was so that humans could become better people. Even with this measure in place human nature has won out and killed hundreds. Even in Dauntless, when Tris comes to that faction she is met with cruelty. Christina is forced to hang on a bridge because she gave up in a fight. Another friend is to have daggers flying at him because he can not throw them. All of this is an example of the perversion of human nature that cause the war. The city is the fallen and broken world that should have been perfect.
In the Bible the fallen world is represented as this world. In the garden of Eden Eve was temp
ted by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit. She then had Adam eat it too. God knew this and kicked them out of the most perfect place in existence. They find themselves in a broken world where they have to work to feed themselves. It was through human sin that they came to the broken world. We experience pain, heartache, discord and trouble. In Romans 8:20-22 it says
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
The world is groaning under the weight of the sin that has led us so far from God. Everything needs salvation that only God has. We have fallen far from His perfection and only he can redeem us. This world tries to put us into labels. This is like the factions and how it tried to make label people. The world tries to label people because of sin. We think that by organizing people we can become above others and therefore feel better about ourselves. This is mistaken pride in our own self. This world is also fallen like the world in Divergent.
Life Beyond the Wall
In Divergent there is a metal fence that surrounds the city of Chicago. No one know what lies behind the wall except perhaps dangerous things that were left behind from the war. It represents what life could be like outside the city. It also contains the rest humanity that has survived from the w
ar.
Tris and the others go outside and find what lies there. They go to help the outside world as the video told them to do. The city is in turmoil as power changes from faction to factionless and Tris and her friends decide that it will be better for them outside the wall. There they can get away from the troubles in the city and the powers that try to convince them to join them instead of the other. They can go to a better world, a better place than they are in now. Outside is the representative
of freedom for them. Whether it’s the freedom of doing what they wish or the freedom of not being in the political turmoil of the city, the Outside represents a better place for them.
In the Bible this concept is represented in heaven. Heaven is the place outside the wall. In heaven there is no more of the things that plagued us in earth. In Revelations 21:4-8 there is a description of heaven. Here is what it says
We have the perfect body and everything is perfect. We have God, Jesus an
d the Holy Spirit there. Life in heaven is much more perfect and fulfilling than life on earth could ever be. To get to heaven we have to pass a figurative wall. This wall is sin. The sins that binds the world is the wall we have to pass before we can to into this amazing place that was made for us. This wall is not opened by humans but by the power of Christ. Passing the wall will lead to a perfect place where we can be at peace.
How is Salvation Achieved
In Divergent the salvation of Abnegation and Dauntless is achieved by Tris and Four. They have made their way to the simulation room to shut down the program killing Abnegation people. Four was being controlled by the serum but is able to snap out of it by hearing her voice. Toge
ther they shut down the simulation and stop the rampant killing of Abnegation members. However this result is no achieved without its sacrifices. Tris´s mother sacrifices herself so that Tris can meet up with her father, brother and Marcus in order to shut down the simulation. Later on, while going to the simulation room her father sacrifices himself so they can get through the guards blocking the way. These two sacrifices break her heart but she pushes on and makes good use of their sacrifice. The salvation of the two factions was achieved with the sacrifice of countless Abnegation dead and Tris´s parents. This salvation has been won through sacrifice.
In the Bible the concept of sacrifice also plays a key part in the salvation of, not just two factions, but the entire world. The world has been covered and tormented by sin for a long time. God gave the world the gift of His Son who came to save us from this sin. Jesus comes down from heaven is born. Mary and Joseph raise him and he soon grows up. Then he starts ministering to the people and gave us much of the New Testament. Three years later he is betrayed and is crucified. However, this is not the end just the beginning. Jesus dies for our sins and no
w we can be redeemed. Our salvation has come at the cost of God´s Son. Even though we are now free from the restrictions of sin this salvation came at great cost. Jesus dies alone, God having turned His face from him. He is buried in a tomb. Three days later the women come to see the tomb and find the stone rolled away. They go inside and see that there is no one there. We learn that even death can not hold onto Jesus and that he has resurrected from the dead. Even though there was a huge sacrifice Jesus cam back from the dead so we can all rejoice. Salvation from our sins came from the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Importance of Choice
Divergent has a very important choice that everyone has to make. There are five factions and everyone h
as to be part of one. At set times every teenager takes an aptitude test to determine which faction they are best suited for. Every one only gets one result whether it is Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Amity or Erudite. The next day all these teenagers go up and choose a faction. Most people decide based on their test results but you do not have to. You have a choice to go into which ever faction you wish. This choice affects the rest of your life. You will live in your faction, marry someone in your faction and everything you do will be based on what the faction does. This choice is the most important one the teenager makes in his or her life. This choice will determine the rest of your life. The importance of this can not be over-stressed. Choice is something truly important.
In the Bible we also have a very important choice. Like I have written before Jesus came to save us from our sins and so died for us. However His sacrifice is for naught if we choose to ignore it. We can w
alk away from the salvation Jesus offers us and live only for ourselves. We can become blinded with pride, self-righteousness and other worldly things that we forget our
need for our Savior. We can also choose to believe God´s message for us. We can accept Jesus as our Savior and be granted mercy for the sins we have committed. Jesus´s blood will wash away the sins of our life and God will deem us righteous. So we have our choice: to believe in God and have eternal life or to turn away from Him and choose our own destruction. We should all make the choice to believe in Him and see for ourselves the love and mercy that God has for the human world and for us. We can choose either life or death. Which will you choose?
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