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Heaven or Hell – The Story of God With Morgan Freeman S2E2

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(Photo Credit: National Geographic/ Savas Georgalis)

Often when we don’t have a really good clue about something, we tend to make caricatures about it.  One good example of this involves the concepts of heaven and hell. Hell is often portrayed as a massive cave filled with fire, red minions, and Satan himself (bifurcated tail and hayfork at the ready). Heaven, on the other hand, is full of clouds with Saint Peter outside a gate, looking at a large book to see if people (and other animals) should be allowed inside.  But what is heaven and hell like from a spiritual perspective? In the second episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (Monday, 9PM/8CT Nat Geo), the focus is the afterlife—and it seems to bring up more questions than provide answers.

Of course, we can look up to the stars and get a sense of wonder and awe, or consider hell as a fearful place, as Freeman did growing up.  The question becomes a simple one: “How have these unseen places changed the way we live our lives on Earth?” In the episode, he takes a look at a number of different perspectives—the Cherokee Indian version that mimics reincarnation; the Ethiopian church’s attempt to exorcise demons to eliminate hell on earth; a Pentecostal church bringing heaven to earth via speaking in tongues; a Hindu king’s attempt to mimic heaven in the form of Angkor Wat; Assyrian Christians escaping Iraq, only to move to Syria and face a worse life dealing with ISIS; and Mayan cenotes where heaven is found in underwater caverns (see top picture).

(Photo Credit: National Geographic/Reza Riazi)

The focus of the episode is more along the lines of heaven and hell being a reality here and now. Is heaven a place on earth in a form outside of that 1980’s song by Belinda Carlisle? Can we make life so bad that hell cannot be conceived of as being any worse?  It’s difficult to tell, as there really isn’t an in-depth explanation of what some faiths believe (specifically Christianity, although it is given more attention here than in any episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman so far). Since people cannot typically come back from either location, all we have to work with is the here and now.

That brings us to the final example of the program—a lady named Krista Gorman who, while having her daughter, lost her pulse for eight minutes and had an experience of going to heaven—“my heaven,” as she put it, filled with waterfalls,  green hills, and angels flanking her sides. Krista was asked by an angel if she wanted to return to earth, and when she said yes, everything went in reverse and she returned to the hospital bed she was originally on.  When asked what her religion was by Freeman, Krista responded, “My religion is love.” It seems to be an anti-climactic ending to what could have been a fantastic episode. Instead, I’m not sure if it leaves the viewer wanting to learn and/or discover more.

If heaven is simply love, as Freeman notes to end the episode, we obviously don’t experience it enough in the lives we live.  We’re too busy with work, kids, politics, and other outside obligations to really enjoy life. There has to be something more, something beyond the tangible and physical. The Bible talks about both heaven and hell quite extensively within its covers, but both are a bit nebulous. Hell is a place where the presence of God refuses to inhabit, depicted in Revelation as a lake of burning fire where torment occurs for eternity (see 20:14-15).  Heaven, on the other hand, is full of splendor and glory, having a distinct size (1500 miles wide x 1500 miles long x 1500 miles high), lots of gold and precious jewels, trees for healing, water of life from God’s throne, and gates fashioned out of individual pearls (see Revelation 21:9-22:5).  It sounds incredible, but there’s one thing in common between the two places—something called the Book of Life. It’s pretty simple—if a person’s name is in there, they can enter heaven.  If not, hell. A person gets their name in there, according to Paul, by “declar[ing] … ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believ[ing] . that God raised him from the dead” (Romans 10:9-10).

“[Heaven and hell are] not just ideas; they’re part of us . . .  part of what we yearn to escape, but what we yearn to become,” says Freeman at the end of the episode. Death can be scary since few have seen what lies beyond. But the goal on earth is to get to the destination we want for ourselves. If we know the way, we can follow it.

Facing the Father: LAST DAYS IN THE DESERT

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“Father, where are you?” – Jesus (Last Days of the Desert, 2016)

Directed by Rodrigo Garcia (Albert Nobbs) and beautifully shot by three time Oscar-winning cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant, Gravity), Last Days in the Desert follows ‘the holy man’ as he ventures into the desert, seeking spiritual enlightenment. More specifically though, the ‘holy man’ is actually referring to Jesus (Ewan McGregor) during his famous spiritual dual with Satan (also McGregor) in the scene commonly referred to as the “temptation in the wilderness” (Matthew 4:1-11). While the film doesn’t focus entirely on the Biblical account of events (i.e. throwing himself off a ledge), it does serve as a sort of set-up for them.

After entering into the desert, Jesus meets a family that is in turmoil. With the mother increasingly ill, a young man desperately wants to leave his father’s way of life in the wilderness to pursue other interests in the city. However, his father’s traditional ways have driven a wedge between them as he insists that his son stay and continue the family tradition. In the midst of this, Satan wagers Jesus that, if he is able to help them, he will leave Jesus alone along the remainder his journey.

LDD_01509_R Ewan McGregor stars as 'Jesus' in the imagined chapter of Jesus' forty days of fasting and praying, LAST DAYS IN THE DESERT, a Broad Green Pictures release. Credit: François Duhamel / Broad Green Pictures

However, while the drama offers shape to the narrative, this family encounter also provides context for Garcia to explore some of the deeper questions of Jesus’ spiritual journey. For example, by exploring the tension between the son’s desire to seek another path against the Father’s will, Garcia also explores the tension of Jesus’ spiritual role. Is the father’s will simply over-bearing and old fashioned? Is the son’s desire to pursue his own interests merely self-indulgence? How could a loving father do this to his son? As he listens to the pain of both the father and his son, these moments also is force Jesus to deal with the same questions that he has about his own calling and relationship with his Father.

Centering much of the story around the building of a home for the son, Garcia reveals the incredible difficulty of Jesus’ mission. As he spends much of the film helping the family lay the foundation, Jesus demonstrates his commitment to submit to the will of his Father while, at the same time, inviting him to let go. In fact, the home also becomes a metaphor for Jesus ‘building his church’ amongst a broken people. One example of this comes in one scene where Satan proclaims that Jesus ‘is not ready’ and kicks down part of the wall that they’d worked so hard to build.

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Of course, one of the most interesting pieces about the film is the fact that McGregor takes on the role of both Jesus and Satan. As always, McGregor gives a solid performance as Jesus but he clearly relishes the opportunity to play the role of tempter as well. His antagonism is almost playful at times, both recognizing Jesus’ role in the Godhead and questioning it at the same time. Whether it’s holding to the love of his Father or the basic offer of water, Satan does what he can to shake the foundation of Jesus’ belief in the goodness of God. In doing so, he also brings an honesty to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness that we don’t often see onscreen. By portraying both characters, the spiritual battle somehow becomes more personal than most other films by drawing a clearer relationship between the tempter and the tempted. Rather than depicting Satan as ‘the other’, Last Days powerfully shows Jesus wrestling with his own desires as well. Visions of fear, Divine power and even lust cause Jesus to genuinely grapple with his sense of calling. (After all, temptation really has no power unless there is an inner struggle as well.)

In the end, Desert sets itself apart from the standard Biblical film by allowing itself the freedom to ask questions that others are afraid to ask. While other films have depicted this spiritual battle in the wilderness as a success, this film is more concerned with showing the hardships in claiming that victory.

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Last Days in the Desert – Struggling Fathers and Sons

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“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts’ and the angels ministered to him.” (Mark 1:13, NRSV)

“To prepare for his mission, the holy man went into the desert to fast and pray, and to seek guidance.” -opening title card in Last Days in the Desert

Last Days in the Desert is not the biblical story alluded to above, but it is set within that story. Jesus (Ewan McGregor) is wandering through the desert feeling out of touch with God. Satan (also played by Ewan McGregor) is trying to take advantage of that alienation. Satan tries to convince Jesus that God is self-centered and capricious. Jesus is uncertain of himself and of God.

It should be noted that “Jesus” and “Satan” are not actually named (although the Satan character does refer to Jesus as Yeshua, the Hebrew version of the name). Rather Jesus is usually just referred to as the holy man, while the Satanic character is left completely nameless. I use the name Satan for him in this review because I view him as similar to the role of Satan in the story of Job—a part of the heavenly court, but perhaps the most cynical of God’s servants.

Along the way Jesus comes across the tent and half-built house of a desert dwelling family. The mother (Ayelet Zurer) is an invalid. The father (Ciarán Hinds) and son (Tye Sheridan) are at odds because the son wants to see the world. The father believes their life in the desert is the best way to live. As is often the case, the two generations don’t know how to speak to each other and understand each other’s dreams and desires. Satan offers Jesus a deal: if Jesus can resolve the situation to everyone’s satisfaction that he will leave Jesus alone. Jesus spends time with them, helping them build the house that is to be the son’s inheritance and incentive to stay.

Some will have issues with the way Jesus is portrayed in the film because he is filled with doubts. He worries about knowing what to do to help people. Most importantly he worries over where God is. This leads to some interesting conversations between Jesus and Satan. Satan seems to have no doubts about God, but is very cynical about God’s nature. Many of the things he tells Jesus often create anxiety for Jesus, but they also seem in some way to strengthen his resolve to do what God has in mind for him. It is an interesting choice to have Jesus and Satan done by the same actor. It creates a sense of an internal dialogue as Jesus struggles with his human and divine natures to come to terms with his mission.

While that may be bothersome to some, the Gospels (at least the Synoptics) are not always clear about Jesus’ self-awareness and his understanding of himself as divine. Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia focuses on Jesus’ human side. He says in production notes, “I cannot know what the divine side feels like, so I decided to treat Jesus, his predicaments, and his problems the same way I would treat a regular person. Also, this story takes place before Jesus begins his public ministry. There is a sense that this time in the desert serves in some way as an internship for what he will be doing when he emerges from this forty days.

Because of Jesus’ doubts concerning God, the father/son issues of the desert family become an inroad to consider the relationship of Father and Son. There is a lot of talking about fathers and sons and that relationship. Just as the son in the film is trying to come to terms with his father’s hopes and plans for him, Jesus is also trying to come to terms with God’s plan for him. The boy wants to go his own way and live his own life. Is that an option for Jesus to consider? Of course, there is a great deal of difference between the relationships of the father and son and the Father and the Son. Whereas one is exacerbated by the constant proximity of the father and son, the problem Jesus faces in his relationship with God is the seeming absence of God in the wilderness of Jesus’ life. In both the father/son and Father/Son relationships the difficulty of having faith in the interpersonal bonds is a constant struggle.

The film has a slight affinity to Martin Scorsese’s (and Nikos Kazantzakis’s) The Last Temptation of Christ. That was also a story that was not so much biblical as set within the biblical narrative. It was also a story in which Jesus’ doubts play as big of a role as his faith and that focused on the human aspect of Jesus during his ministry. I have to admit that I am personally more comfortable with the human aspects of Jesus. Like Garcia, I cannot understand what it would mean to be divine, so I relate to Jesus much more as a man, even though I do not deny his divinity. So this film, like The Last Temptation of Christ, is more to my liking than the overly reverent treatments of Jesus’ life that are often produced.

Photos credit: Gilles Mingasson / Broad Green Pictures

The Evil Within (and Without): The Story of God (Ep. 5)

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Past Articles in This Series: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4
Shrieking Shack
Evil is one of those things that we, as humans, have to deal with on a daily basis.  If you’re not sure about this, all it takes is a few minutes of watching television or browsing the news headlines on a phone. Although our overall desire is to be and do good in all situations (including our thoughts), we aren’t able to do it with 100% effectiveness our entire lives. The Apostle Paul shared this struggle as follows: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19 NIV) So where does all of this come from?  Morgan Freeman, in the penultimate episode of The Story of God (National Geographic, 9 PM/8 Central tonight), tackles this subject and reveals some enlightening things about humanity and their propensity for evil.

This episode starts off with a visit to a maximum security prison and a challenging conversation with a person convicted of some pretty heinous crimes (I’ll let you discover what they are for yourself). When Freeman asks the prisoner why they happened, he says, “I had a desire, an impulse, and I wasn’t able to stop myself from acting on the impulse.” He’s also not convinced that if released, he could avoid doing the crimes again.

This brings up the question, “Where does evil come from?”

To attempt an answer, Freeman looks at how a number of faiths deal with the issue. The early Egyptians believed that when a person was filled with evil or sin, their heart became heavy. Their heart would be weighed on a scale upon death against truth; the result would determine their eternal destiny. Hindus think evil may have to do with the spirits of dead ancestors who weren’t happy; they offer sacrifices upon realizing this is the case. Zoroastrians believe evil is a battle within to be fought with good thoughts, words, and deeds (in that specific order). Buddhists try to counter the evil within using meditation and ritual. And Christians believe that Adam and Eve’s sin started a chain reaction of events that transfers evil to each person upon birth. This is why Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection allows believers to combat—and eventually conquer—Satan and his minions.

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(Photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Matthew Paul Turner)

Freeman has a fascinating talk with Brian Widener, a former Neo-Nazi, during the episode. Widener was tattooed beyond recognition during this time, but after getting married and having a child, he realized the error of his ways and had them removed from his face over a period of 2½ years. He states he found God in the middle of the process, although he admits he’s not sure what that looks like.  Can evil be contained and washed away? Freeman asks before ending with a baptism ceremony in a river—the Christian symbol of a regenerated life through belief in Jesus.

For me, one interesting point of the episode involved a scientist in New Zealand who showcased an experiment involving kids and the need for a higher being to keep order and control using a game (again, I’ll let you see what that looks like). To me, it reveals the propensity of evil in an individual’s heart when they think they can get away with something.  As the prophet Jeremiah notes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” Science can attempt to decode the reasoning for why we do things and discover patterns of behavior, but the heart is fatally diseased, prone to evil from the outset. In this way, we are all wretched (there’s the Apostle Paul again), which is the exact reason why we live in a world full of sin. How we deal with the evil within (and without) says a lot about our beliefs and, in many ways, our outlook on the world we inhabit.