It may be useful to remember that a couple years ago this very same James Cameron announced that he and others had found the tomb of Jesus. The implication: Jesus did not rise from the dead. We have his bones!
Then there are those who are, well, sort of in the middle: "Some Christians will be bothered by the worship of the Na'vi's unseen female deity—there are scenes of worship, rituals, and prayer to her. But vagueness about this entity makes it possible to view her not as a New Age goddess but as just one more strange piece of fantasy in this alien world. In fact, there's suggestion that this entity is Pandora itself: one big, living alien" (Todd Hertz review in Christianity Today).
No doubt anyone of us can make such movies mean whatever we want. What troubles me is the sloppy thinking and the failure to look at this and other modern art forms in the light of God's Word. We get so caught up in our emotions that our minds shut down.
The whole business of avatars and humans being able to create their own (a major theme in the movie) needs to be looked at. This is the theme of my upcoming novel, Freya's Child. The Nordic priestess claims that the goddess Freya wants to make the Freitag baby her avatar. What exactly is an avatar?
Many are familiar with the term 'avatar' from playing computer games. The actual term comes, however, from the Sanskrit language in which sacred Hindu texts were written. It refers to divine beings sent to restore goodness to the earth. Thus Hindus believe that the god Vishnu has appeared as an avatar many times.
Arlene Nisson Lassin in an article on the movie for the Houston Chronicle details this belief. She writes, "Those who practice Hinduism recognize three main deities. Lord Brahma is considered the creator of the universe; Lord Vishnu is considered the sustainer of the universe, to right things when needed; and Lord Shiva is the redeemer of the universe.
"It is believed that these deities sent avatars—incarnations of themselves in human form—to perform "dharma" or righteous duty, to right wrongs and to restore peace and goodness."
She goes on to say that Cameron's distortion of the term does not offend local Hindus. In their view, the term may be used in a variety of ways. In can mean "one being in another form."
OK. No problem from the Houston Hindu viewpoint. Not all Hindus agree, however. They want a disclaimer from Cameron. The movie's avatar has nothing to do with the Hindu religion, they insist.
Hitler's Hindu priestess, Savitri Devi, believed that Adolf Hitler was an avatar, a god come in human form to bring peace and goodness.
Where does that leave us Christians? Do we adopt this language and call Jesus God's avatar as some claim. Peter Dresser says yes, Jesus would be comfortable with that language. He writes, "It is through Jesus, the Christian avatar if you like, that God displays his divine spirit and his mighty powers. But to suggest that God's divine manifestation is limited to a single human person does neither God nor Jesus a great deal of justice. Jesus is one of a number of avatars to have been born and lived throughout the ages and who will continue to be born and lives."
He goes on to say that the Nicene creed and the councils behind it were a conspiracy of some Jewish Christians who took the Scriptures too literally. Did they? The Nicene Creed proclaims what we Lutherans and millions and millions of Christians around the world believe happened at the Incarnation we're still celebrating in the Epiphany season during which I write. The Apostle John makes it very clear. Jesus is NOT an avatar or a mere manifestation of God.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
"The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known" (John 1:1-18).
The text is clear. Jesus is very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, the One by whom all things are made. He is NOT an avatar!
