Doctor Strange and Proud: A Warning about Idols in Our Own Lives
To the untrained eye, Doctor Strange is nothing more than a superhero story or a journey of self-discovery. But I am here to tell you that it is actually a story about idols. "Idols?!" you say, "I saw no weird little gods. Devil worship, or something of that sort, maybe." That's true. Of course, I'm not talking about the mysticism at all. The idol in this particular tale is success.
Stephen Strange, like so many medical professionals, has spent his entire life training and over-working in hopes of achieving great success and notability. His skills are renowned, and his job is the most important thing in his life. So important, in fact, that when a dangerous car crash destroys his hands and takes away his ability to operate, he throws his life away as he feels that it is hardly worth living. He continues on a mission to find a way to restore his hands, meeting a man who happily explains to him that he found a cure for partial paralysis in a mystic alternate reality.
When he gets there, however, Strange learns that the mystics have a far greater focus than bettering the lives of injured and lost people such as himself. In fact, they have a far greater purpose. This small and somewhat secret group have harnessed their powers to protect the world from evil and destruction. It is not until Strange learns to stop striving for the sake of his own goals and ego that his priorities align with theirs. Suddenly, protecting the world is his life's aim, and he is even willing to give his life to achieve it. The idol in this tale is represented by Strange's hands, but it stems from a heart issue: pride.
When you see this, the story becomes far more relatable. No, none of us are likely to discover that we have powers we that we're simply unable to tap into. Yet we can all see areas in our lives where pride has taken over. We care more about success, acceptance, control, wealth, or any number of other things, more than we care about the rest of the world. We are so caught up in our own little problems, that we are blind to the greater problems facing our world -- in other words, those unseen evil forces who are slowly breaking through the forces of good with the intent of destroying humanity. And yes, they are real, but like I said, we don't have powers of our own. So how do we stop this destruction?
Well, someone greater than us has already done this. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to take on all of our idols and the evil forces that cause us to hang our lives on these selfish things. Now, we do not have to overcome those idols on our own, we simply have to acknowledge that Jesus has done it for us and give our lives over to Him. Then we can be a part of His kingdom and share this good news with others, like the once-paralyzed man did for Doctor Strange.
The movie isn't a perfect metaphor, but it wasn't meant to be. The Ancient One might actually be the closest figure to God or Jesus, but the parallels are not exact. In any case, the warning about idols is clear enough once you examine the film's storyline. The only difference is that we cannot overcome them on our own. That's why we need God to fight the battle for us. And the best part is that we have the guarantee that He has already won the battle! Doctor Strange had to face evil alone, but we never will.
Stephen Strange, like so many medical professionals, has spent his entire life training and over-working in hopes of achieving great success and notability. His skills are renowned, and his job is the most important thing in his life. So important, in fact, that when a dangerous car crash destroys his hands and takes away his ability to operate, he throws his life away as he feels that it is hardly worth living. He continues on a mission to find a way to restore his hands, meeting a man who happily explains to him that he found a cure for partial paralysis in a mystic alternate reality.
When he gets there, however, Strange learns that the mystics have a far greater focus than bettering the lives of injured and lost people such as himself. In fact, they have a far greater purpose. This small and somewhat secret group have harnessed their powers to protect the world from evil and destruction. It is not until Strange learns to stop striving for the sake of his own goals and ego that his priorities align with theirs. Suddenly, protecting the world is his life's aim, and he is even willing to give his life to achieve it. The idol in this tale is represented by Strange's hands, but it stems from a heart issue: pride.
When you see this, the story becomes far more relatable. No, none of us are likely to discover that we have powers we that we're simply unable to tap into. Yet we can all see areas in our lives where pride has taken over. We care more about success, acceptance, control, wealth, or any number of other things, more than we care about the rest of the world. We are so caught up in our own little problems, that we are blind to the greater problems facing our world -- in other words, those unseen evil forces who are slowly breaking through the forces of good with the intent of destroying humanity. And yes, they are real, but like I said, we don't have powers of our own. So how do we stop this destruction?
Well, someone greater than us has already done this. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to take on all of our idols and the evil forces that cause us to hang our lives on these selfish things. Now, we do not have to overcome those idols on our own, we simply have to acknowledge that Jesus has done it for us and give our lives over to Him. Then we can be a part of His kingdom and share this good news with others, like the once-paralyzed man did for Doctor Strange.
The movie isn't a perfect metaphor, but it wasn't meant to be. The Ancient One might actually be the closest figure to God or Jesus, but the parallels are not exact. In any case, the warning about idols is clear enough once you examine the film's storyline. The only difference is that we cannot overcome them on our own. That's why we need God to fight the battle for us. And the best part is that we have the guarantee that He has already won the battle! Doctor Strange had to face evil alone, but we never will.
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