Your Favorite Movie Is NOT CHRISTIAN! | Pastor Reacts

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What if I told you that your favorite movie is not what you think it is? So Neil deGrasse

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Tyson just had Lawrence Fishburne on to talk about how the Matrix is actually Christian But what if I told you he's wrong?

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I mean he's identified a lot of parallels I mean look at this and the guy says, thanks, you know, okay, you're my savior.

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You're my regular Jesus Christ Yeah, you're my own personal Jesus Christ. That's a script line. That's right there. And then that character cipher.

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He's startled. He says oh You scared the bejesus out of me who betrays the group cipher cipher.

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Yes, he betrays. He's Judas He's Judas. Yeah, he's the Judas but he's missing the core message of the movie and as he continues to talk

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Lawrence Fishburne is going to school Tyson on his mistake Now, wait a second.

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If the Matrix is not really Christian, which maybe you have thought in the past. What is the main message?

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I'm gonna show you and my answer might surprise you. Let's get into it Welcome back to wise disciple

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My name is Nate Sala and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you were meant to be which includes Discerning the message of one of the most popular movies of all time

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Make sure to like sub and share this one around but only if it blesses you Can I share with you all my religious observations? Yes, please.

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Okay. Yeah Catholic religious Christian Catholic Observations as you are a Catholic. Well, you raised raised a

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Catholic, right? Okay, please. Yes doubts. Yes descended early A religion rifled with yeah, but I'm still fascinated by the fact that there is such a thing as religion in the world

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Mm -hmm billions of people practice practice it right that intrigues me as an educator, right? Yeah Fascinated is a word that somebody could use

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I'm sure but I don't think that actually quite captures what Tyson does particularly on Twitter You know,

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I don't think he's fascinated so much as he's bothered by religious people. You know what? I mean, that's probably a video for another time

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Anyway, Tyson is going to start laying out all of the things that he notes that have ties to Christianity in the matrix

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Now a lot of you have probably done what Tyson is about to do The problem is he misses the real message

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The underlying one and our first clue is how Fishburne reacts to Tyson So Lawrence Fishburne played

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Morpheus in the movie. He knows what the writers and the directors were really doing Take a look because something is attracting them

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What is it and why and? You're this religion over here because that was the religion of your parents, right? And you're sure your religion is the one true religion in the world

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But so are these people are just as sure as you are and we'll go to war on that historically historically, correct?

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Yes, so that's why religion intrigues me. So in the matrix. So first neo. That's an anagram of the one

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You had to dip your head at the one You can't non act to that expression of the one the one

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So that's the one right? All right. He's the Savior right? All right. So now watch their Christ. Okay, so much early, ah

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Did you hear that? Let me play it again. He's the Savior right? All right. So now watch their

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Christ. Okay, so much He said the Christ but also the

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Buddha Okay. Well, uh Which is it? right

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You know, I mean Tyson's about to make the case that the matrix is incredibly Christian But Fishburne is already several steps ahead of him and it's not what

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Tyson thinks it is early in the film He wakes up from his right and there's someone knocking at the door and apparently he hacked something for them, right?

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And it's about to give them and so he said wait a minute He goes back rummages through a thing that gives him anything right and the guy says, thanks, you know, okay, you're my

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Savior You're my regular Jesus Christ. Yeah, you're my own personal Jesus Christ. That's a script line. That's right there. Okay.

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Yeah, it's right there Right there. Okay, but let's not stop there. Mm -hmm All right, so we keep going.

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There's the part where he gets brought in to the Nebuchadnezzar. Mm -hmm for the first time He's still wrapped and looking around and there's

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Joe Joe pants. Yeah, Joe. Yes. Yeah Pantaleon. Oh, that's Leona Penteliano and he's there and He's just looking and then that character cypher.

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He's startled. He says oh You scared the bejesus out of me Yep, that's

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They're They're just geeking out right now about the movie and I love it, you know,

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I mean I love the movie It's definitely up there as one of the top favorites for me You know, is it for you?

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Let me know in the comments Also, don't hate me when I tell you what the movie is really about.

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Okay So so Tyson goes on to explain all of these connections to Christianity. So it's my own personal

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Jesus Christ, right? It's it's you scared the bejesus out of me, right and there's more. Okay, so hang on.

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Yes, too. Yeah. Oh, hang on. Yeah Who betrays the group cipher cipher? Yes, he betrays

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Judas who he's Judas. Yeah, he's the Judas. He's Judas Yeah after the bejesus was scared out.

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Yeah He doesn't have Jesus doesn't have Jesus in okay. All right, but let me keep going. Keep going. Okay, if you can

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You think you know the movie better than I do You might I don't know you might Here's a disco.

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It's my okay. So you see Fishburne? He's he's being kind but he knows something that Tyson doesn't and So he's being playful with him, you know, but the bottom line is the matrix is not a

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Christian movie You know, sorry to burst your bubble friends you know those of you who have had pastors and other

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Christians tell you that it's an allegory for Christianity, it's not and I'll explain what

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I mean in a moment. I favorite movie and you've made a hundred movies, right? So right so Okay, okay.

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Okay. All right. So then everyone sort of decides that he's the one he's the one right when he's like pulling

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Trinity up Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He is the one I told you he is the one he is the one

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Do you believe it now Trinity? I Don't know what it means to compliment you on exactly imitating what you were paid to do in a movie and I would say hey

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You should be that character Too late already been done. Nobody weird thing is you're not imitating that character.

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You were that character? Yes Yes, yes So let's fast -forward towards the end.

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Mm -hmm. He gets shot point -blank right by Smith. Yes Yes Yes Then he drops drops.

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He keeps firing into him. Yes. Okay, just all right Do you know how many bullets he put in him?

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I don't you don't I don't I will tell you tell me Okay, it requires a little bit extrapolation. Okay. Okay. Okay the bullets you see.

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Mm -hmm. It's like four bullets point -blank to the chest Okay at that point we go back to the Nebuchadnezzar.

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Mm -hmm, and you see his body responding, right? Okay, but what if you try? Geeking out

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Geeking out man, you know, I love the movie, but I don't I don't go this deep with it

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Well, actually I take that back. I'm gonna go pretty deep in a moment Then you'll probably be calling me a geek, you know,

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I mean crack the rate that bullets are being fired Yeah, and continue them into that scene. Mm -hmm

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Then we come out of the scene and there's a few more bullets that you observe right? That's 14 bullets. Okay, okay

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There are 14 stations of the cross. I didn't know that church I didn't know that now for non

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Catholics out there in every church Catholic Church in the typically in the pillars That surround the main open area

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Yeah from the side areas mounted facing inward are 14 drawings paintings relief got it of the 14

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They're called stages of the cross. Okay. Yeah, and they're key moments in This is it life and it's an early movie really

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Oh movie doesn't even exist exactly right but a sequence visual it's a visual Okay. Okay.

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It's all good. And it's he's tried under punches pilot. He's carries the cross. Uh -huh put up on the cross

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So it's all you can look it up on any Yes, 14 bullets now interesting and he dies right then he's resurrected resurrected

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More powerful than ever before. That's right. Is that not Jesus? That's Jesus all joining the side of God That's Jesus all day all day.

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Yeah all day Mary Magdalene right there and who's Morpheus? uh In the in the

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Christ myth. I know I'm trying to he's the Baptist John the Baptist. He's John the Baptist Oh because John the

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Baptist knows Jesus is coming. Yes, he knows who he sets everything up. He's been yeah Yeah, you've been looking for him when he meets him.

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He goes I'm supposed to be baptized by you So that's who Morpheus is in the

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Christ in the Christ, but there's also Mythology Greek mythology. Tell me tell me there's way way way.

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What? What so so it's about Christianity, but wait a second it's also about Greek mythology

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How is that possible right because if you wait a second if you think about it

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Morpheus is not a Christian name Even though he's John the Baptist right and according to Fishburne Morpheus is actually the

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God of dreams Did you know that? He could shape Become like different shapes change his shape and appear in different forms

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Which is actually where we get the idea of metamorphosis, right? And if you think about it, you know, what does

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Morpheus actually tell Neo in the movie? You're I'd get it. You remember remember the movie here, but what does he say to him?

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What does he teach him that Neo can break the rules of the dream? The dream of the matrix, right?

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Okay. Well figure that one out in the context of Christianity, right? I don't think you can

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That's because the core message the underlying message of the matrix is not Christian at all

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And I'm about to tell you what that is in a moment Well Morpheus is the

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Lord of dream It's the God yeah, all right from Greek mythology, right Persephone who's in the second or third movie who's played by Monica Bellucci Mm -hmm.

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The Oracle it's great. That's a that's actual Oracle. The Oracle is Greek. Yeah, too bad. We lost her before the second film

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Yeah, she was really a strong character not Niobe. There's an element on the periodic table called niobium is there?

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Yes, there is because there's something about the colors that were sort of iridescent radiant Okay, and it's something about the in the

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Greek legend, right? I don't know the full story. Mm -hmm, but it had it would borrow that from Greek legend right niobium.

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So there's there's the Osiris There's the Nebuchadnezzar, which is also biblical. Yes, of course.

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It's also a size of a very large bottle of wine. So Osiris, right? That's not

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Greek, you know, that's Egyptian, right? Osiris is the God of resurrection

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But now so so you see what's happening. We're hitting similar concepts now, but With different religious frameworks, there's

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Osiris, okay, so I don't say mashup because that might undersell it. It's drawing from but it's drawing from all these traditions

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It draws from Western tradition. Mm -hmm spiritually religiously and Eastern tradition spiritually and philosophically as well, especially

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Yeah, because it seems are not just simple scenes. No about him. No, what's going on here? And why right, right?

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Yeah, and there's the admission, right? And it comes from Fishburne himself The matrix is using multiple

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Religious frameworks all at the same time to get to the actual underlying message and the underlying message

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Like I said, it's it's not Christian at all. All right, so let's talk about it Okay, so by the way, if you're wondering

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I'm dying to show you clips from the matrix movie But I can't cuz I'll get hit with copyright I actually made a video a while back like doing a deep dive into the philosophy of all three matrix movies

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This was right before the fourth one came out So if you want to see those videos you need to go check it out.

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It's actually on my patreon. But anyway the big clue for you is in the scene in the first film with neo and Choi and Du jour.

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Okay, you remember this? Right, so Choi is the guy here he wants some kind of program something

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Neo probably hacked for him or something like that. And so he shows up at neo's door and he pays him cash neo goes to grab

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This particular data or whatever it was, right? But he goes and walks back to his library and he grabs a book

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Where he keeps all of his hidden hacked programs or something and he pulls out Whatever Choi paid him for but the book is the clue ladies and gentlemen

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The book is not there by accident. It's not some simple prop piece that they just threw in there, right? Look at this

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This is the book This book right here is called simulacra and simulation and it's written by a

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French philosopher named Jean Baudrillard So so in an interview for They did a documentary on the making of the matrix the first one

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Keanu Reeves in the interview admitted that the Wachowskis who wrote and directed the film

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Told him to read Baudrillard before even opening the script as he's considering the character before he even said yes

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They said read this book. Okay, as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure the entire cast Including Lawrence Fishburne also had to read this book before agreeing to act in it

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Which by the way, so if you're If you're having troubles sleeping at night, I highly recommend reading simulacra and simulation.

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Okay, it's it's a snooze fest. But anyway, I Read it so you don't have to the central idea of this book is

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That innumerable simulations of objects have saturated all of us Okay, such that we no longer have a grasp of what is real

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So so in the book you read about these concepts like the desert of the real, you know of models of control or Matrices, right?

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That's all in the book and Then they come out onto the screen in Morpheus's human battery speech, right?

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You should remember this he says What is the matrix? I can't do his voice. What is the matrix

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Neil? You know, he says it is control Right, the matrix is a control brought on by a system of simulation causing a full disconnection from truth and reality

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Now there's a more contemporary term that has been bandied about lately for all of this.

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It's called a social construct and That's where the real message of the movie rests

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All right A lot of believers like to tout the film and the whole trilogy is some kind of a

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Christian tale You know or at least a story that is rife with biblical themes Unfortunately, you know as I mentioned the main allegory has nothing to do with religion the only reason

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The religious aspects of the film are there at all specifically is because the Wachowskis have adopted particular language.

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They've adopted particular imagery connoting certain useful concepts like Messiah like Trinity the one, you know resurrection, right

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But they're not only using Christian motifs, they're also using Greek, right? they're also using

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Egyptian and other religious motifs to tell a different story and That story that's what

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I mean that underlying main message is that people should break free from the social construct from societal control

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The expectations of society, you know that the way that the secret cadre of leaders in our culture, right?

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Which is exemplified by the Smiths, you know, mr. Anderson, right? How they control how we should think and how we should act people need to break free from those constraints

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Because once they do they'll be able to fully express their real authentic selves because that's where true freedom is and In order to do that It requires enlightenment in order to understand what's really going on Right to really see what's going on in our own selves and then to break free from the control

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In order to fully express that authentic self In that sense, you know in terms of the core message of the film that has nothing to do with Christianity You know what?

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I mean, but it has everything to do with post -modernism Romanticism perhaps transcendentalism, you know and being counterculture in that regard in challenging the status quo

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You know, which is all very punk rock I mean, you know, look at look at look at the costume design for Morpheus and and his team, right?

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very goth very Steampunk esque. I don't even know if that's a word. You know what

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I'm saying? That's what the matrix is about It's about fighting back against the status quo and being liberated from its control in order to express who you really are

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Now others have noted that the Wachowskis so again, they are the ones the the writers and the directors of the film

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They they both actually went on to transition so so they are biological males, but then right dot dot dot you see where this is going and Years after making the matrix one of the

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Wachowskis or both of them. I'm not I I'm not sure They commented that the matrix was really about transforming

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All right But it was coming from a closeted point of view Okay, but again,

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I mean, that's what I mean. This is about fighting against the expectations and the power of the social construct in order to be

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Liberated and to express your authentic self, you know Again, that's not

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Christian. That's gender ideology That's post Enlightenment romanticism, that's post -modernism, you know, and it's all it's all garbage at base

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Right. We know this as Christians, you know And the thing is

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I mean So the reason why a lot of people missed this is because the core message is purposefully left open

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As a universal principle or a theme in other words, it's it's left ambiguous enough to Import your own ideas and and then plug them into the story, you know, and that's why many people

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They look at the matrix and they say oh it is about Christianity actually or or no

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It's actually about combating capitalism or no. It's actually about the Hindu understanding of Maya, you know

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I mean heck I I heard one guy say oh the movie is all about the Illuminati You know

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It's because the message has been universalized In a thematic way

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Okay, so so fine the core message of the movie is not Christian So what does this mean for Christians with regard to the movie itself?

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Well, here's what I think I think even though the core message is what it is, right? You and I can still utilize the motifs that we find in this film

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We can still utilize those things as springboards to having excellent Christian conversations, you know

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So if you think of the movie's concept of control, for example I mean the

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Bible has lots of things to say about control, right? Think about that The Bible makes it incredibly clear that we are being controlled, right?

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We are either being controlled by our flesh, you know Look at this Romans 8 verse 6 says for to set the mind on the flesh is death

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But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace, right? For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law.

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Indeed it cannot Right, but that's not just Romans. Look at Galatians 5 for the desires of the flesh

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Here it is again are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other

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To keep you from doing the things that you want to do Control ladies and gentlemen, I mean people are also

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They're controlled by sin right that's that's Romans 6 and 7, right? That's a

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John 8 34, right? But people are also controlled by the devil, you know, that's 2nd

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Corinthians 4. Look at this second like In their case the God of this world, right?

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The devil has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel the glory of Christ Who is the image of God?

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That's also Ephesians 2 That's also 1st John 5. I mean, it's all it's all over the place

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But those of us who have been saved we should be controlled by the Spirit.

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Look at this This is again. This is Romans 8 but look look up here in verse 4

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The righteous requirement of the law Might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh.

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But here it is according to the Spirit For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh

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But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit So look at verse 16, but I say walk by the

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Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh It's all over the place in the

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Bible this control that the Bible teaches and it's The Bible goes on to say this is due to influence influence from the temptations of our flesh

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Influence from the enemy and his schemes or influence from the

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Spirit of God, right? Solomon said this in Proverbs a man without self -control is like a city broken into and without walls

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So you see what I'm doing here The matrix hits this note about control in the film and guess what the

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Bible has a lot to say about it as well But it doesn't align to the message of the movie the

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Bible actually gives a different message So in other words, you know the the movie's

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Solution to the control of society is to express yourself, right?

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Liberate yourself You know figure out who you really are Right the Bible's solution to the control of of sin the flesh and the devil is to give your life to God and to be controlled by the

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Holy Spirit as A matter of fact if you seek to express your true self who you really are deep down.

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That's a recipe for spiritual disaster according to the Bible You know, I mean from the very beginning of the

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Genesis account The Bible has been teaching us about how to control ourselves, you know, Adam and Eve couldn't control themselves

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Cain couldn't control himself. And so they disobeyed God they slipped into sin

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But the Bible says that self -control Which is actually a fruit of the

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Spirit, right? That's Galatians 5 it Flows out of being influenced by the

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Spirit of God Out of abiding in Christ, right? So you see what

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I mean? That's just one example where you know, we can use the movie to talk about Christianity.

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But I mean, there's all kinds of Biblical principles that we can bring up because the movie provides these opportunities for us to do that So in other words, it doesn't matter that the core message of the matrix is not

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Christian We can still use it as a means to share the gospel and that's the point, you know,

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I Mean, look, I think the matrix is one of the greatest movies of all time And it can be used as a conversation piece to talk about Christian themes

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Because you know some of those concepts and motifs in the movie they run up and Run parallel to what we find in the scripture

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All right So hey If you'd like to see my full deep dive and break down an analysis of the philosophy and the religious motifs into all three

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Matrix movies, I encourage you to go to my patreon page and check it out. But anyway now it's your turn

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What do you think is the matrix a Christian movie in your opinion? Let me know in the comments below Let's keep the conversation going.

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