"Taken"

About twice a semester, we try to have an RUF movie night. We call it "Dessert and Discussion" because after we watch the movie, we eat some yummy dessert and talk about the movie through the lens of a Biblical world-and-life view.

A few nights ago, about 15 students gathered in Chris Bowen's living room to watch the movie "Taken." In my opinion, the movie was more violent than desirable. However, the violence shows the seriousness of the situation. I''l try not to give too much away if you haven't seen it, but the plot is this. A young girl begs her father, who has recently retired from his secret government job, to allow her to spend the summer overseas with friends. The girl and her friend get taken by a sex trafficking ring and her father is on a mission to find her.

This movie had amazing themes running through it. The father goes to any length to find his daughter who is lost because she disobeyed his rules. We talked about how that is a picture of the Gospel. God gave us seemingly simple rules. We disobeyed. He pursues us to save us from evil's hands, doing whatever is necessary. The pursuit in the movie was violent, but that is not much different than the violent death of Jesus, who conquered death and won us back for our Father.

One of the students asked "What about all the other young victims the dad came across and left behind in pursuit of his daughter?" That's not much different either. God pursues His children. He is certainly able to save everyone, but He doesn't. His heart is for His children. It makes me think how much of a blessing it is that I am a child of God!

Every human metaphor for the Gospel breaks down at some point because we are incapable of God's perfection, but it was still neat to be able to have such discussions involving pop culture. If you have any good movie suggestions for our next movie night, let me know.