There are few experiences in one's life that remain with them long after they have passed. One for me was going to see 10,000 B.C. Even a year later I am writing about it and still thinking about it, not because its a great movie but because it is one of the most awful, vomit inducing, makes me want to pull an Oedipus and stab out both eyes movies I have ever seen. But hey, it was free, it was a particularly bad day when I needed a distraction, and it appealed to my proclivity for analyzing what makes bad movies so bad. My reflection on the movie collided with my reflection on sin and Christian discipline I was going through at the time (and continue too...), leading to one of the most challenging and convicting revelations I have ever had about my own nature as a sinner who is completely obsessed with my own immediate and unquenchable desire for gratification, no matter how hollow or cheaply it may present itself.
Like I said, 10,000 B.C. is not a good movie. It is so bad it makes Cherubim mourn to see such a day as this. Its not "so bad it good", its just bad. It is completely historically incomprehensible, geographically illogical, and unashamedly racist*. But for our purposes I'm gonna focus on the fact that the movie liberally borrows from multiple, better, movies such as Jurassic Park, Apocalypto, 300 and others.
I, in no way endorse the movie 300, but it is interesting to compare the end of that movie with the end of 10,000 B.C. which clearly ripped it off.
In 300 the Persians are moving in on the Greek Spartans to place them under the rule of the "god-king" Xerxes, who claims to be an invincible deity. The Spartans know they are going to die, the king of Sparta (are you gonna be impressed if I tell you his name is Leonidas? I sure hope not, I'm ashamed I know that...) says that at the end of the battle, whether he is alive or not the world will know that even a god-king can bleed. The movie ends with Leonidas, while having arrows shot at him from every direction, throwing his spear at Xerxes, grazing his cheek and blood spilling out and Leonidas falling dead. The evil king gets to live?! What kind of world is that?
10,000 B.C. attempts to mend such questions. This time the evil god-king who has no character development or motivation or really anything to make anyone consider him to be an actual personality (other than his long fingernails, inexplicably pail skin, and table cloth draped over his head) stands above those he is about to conquer. The good guy, who's name I forgot and don't care to even look up from the Wikidedians, again stands against the evil god-kingy type character, hurls a spear at him which hits him in the stomach and he quickly falls dead. Yeah! The bad guy is dead and all is right with the world... Not really.
Sure 10,000 B.C., by killing off its antagonist in the finale and letting its protagonist live the movie gratifies man's immediate desire for justice and peace and retribution, but its gives no substance, no meat, it leaves the audience with nothing but a "wasn't that cool to watch that creepy pale guy fall off the tall building" feeling. 300's ending was not gratifying. It was difficult. The good guy died and the bad guy lived. Satisfaction only comes when one considers what has happened. You have to think about it! What really happened was that Leonidas showed the world and Xerxes himself that he was not a god but just a man who bleeds when a big spear is thrown at his face. He completely deconstructs the whole mythos that floated around Xerxes like a fog. By doing that he gives others the courage to fight! Sure its too bad Leonidas had to die, but in doing so he inspired thousands to follow his example and fight for land and freedom. The antagonist in 10,000 B.C. dying accomplished nothing more than a conclusion to a story that was not worth telling. "The story has to end somehow, lets just kill off the creepy pale guy!"
[No! I'm not saying 300 is an amazing movie, I'm just constructing a religious parallel here, give it time!]
After watching 10,000 B.C. and seeing the creepy pale guy fall dead I was completely insulted. Either the author thought we were so stupid that that other ending was too complex for us, or he was so stupid that he didn't understand the depth of the other ending. Either way audiences got an eye full of pop culture fluff that achieved nothing and will have no lasting significance in the history of film.
After I was done laughing at the film I started to thinking about the ending and how it reflects on our society, or at least how the producers of the film see our society.
Thinking on the movie paralleled with my reflection on my addiction to sin and self gratification. I believe one reflects the other. Why did this movie have this poorly developed happy ending that lacked any depth? Why do I constantly sin when I know with every fiber of my being tells me its wrong and leads to death and hell? Because people (you... I... everyone) hates to delay gratification. Man's nature pulls him towards acting immediately to bring himself satisfaction at that moment, never to delay it for a second longer than he has to. 10,000 B.C.'s ending is only better than 300's if the audience doesn't want to think, doesn't want to draw conclusions.
That's how sin is. The Bible teaches that God's way (resisting sin, remaining temperate, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness) is the best and most rewarding way, it leads to life and eternity where there is peace, joy, and eternal life where there are no more tears. It also teaches that sin is the wrong way, it leads to pain, death and hell. I know that. I've read it in Scripture and I've seen sin's consequences in my life and others. Yet every fiber of my being pulls me towards sin, even when I know its wrong. I've also seen it in those I love, while they know that sin leads to destruction, they blissfully march towards it. Why?...
Because we love our own immediate gratification over waiting for eternal, lasting rewards. We'd rather have a penny today than a million dollars in the future.
"Immediate gratification" needs to be a phrase on our lips and minds. We need to be aware of the fact that our hearts, bodies, and minds pull us towards immediate gratification which only leads to sin, death and suffering. Its only in knowing that our hearts pull us this way that we can fight it. Its only in reflecting on the truth that delaying gratification, waiting for God to bring us rewards and fulfillment (rather than seeking it and obtaining it for ourselves), is the best way that we are able to live lives that delay gratification and strive for gratification that is eternal, lasting and substantial.
I have to admit that I like sinning. It feels good and, for the moment its occurring, it makes me happy. Not sinning... well not sinning is difficult some times. Its hard to give up bringing myself gratification now in the hopes that my needs and desires will be met in an undisclosed future. But God's Word tells me they will. Believing that takes faith and trust, two attributes I don't often possess like I would like.
The sin that brings me happiness only lasts so long, then I'm left feeling empty and looking for gratification again... so I sin again... its a vicious cycle I'm not proud to be a part of. But I am!
Sin leads to pain, death and hell. Not happiness.
Sure it feels good for the moment, sure it brings immediate gratification, but in the long run... well in the long run its not so great. Sin leads to death.
But we don't think about the long run. We think about the moment that we're in. We need to stop that. We need to see our actions in light of eternity!!! We need to realize that we are going to die some day.
Sin is choosing to gratify ourselves instantly. Triumph is resisting that urge. It is believing what God says, that resisting sin leads to joy, glory, and Godliness, and giving up our immediate gratifications as a sacrifice for it.
I am sick and tired of people telling me what a tragedy it is that I'm a virgin at 24 as if I am losing out on something by not experiencing sex as the world tells me I should. When I know that premarital sex statistically leads to greater divorce rates, less happiness in marriage, marital unfaithfulness, and general unfulfillment in relationships. The Bible said it first, statistics and first hand accounts validate it. Stop trying to pull me down with you. I'm sick of being ashamed of living how God calls me to. I know that this way leads to joy, the other does not. Stop trying to convince me and yourself otherwise.
I'm sick and tired seeing people I love justify their sin and misery because they don't want to do the hard thing to receive the greater reward. I don't want to go with them any more. I don't want to be that person anymore. I don't want to validate my own sin as if it is the better way when it has only brought me misery. Immediate gratification has only ever brought me misery. We need to fight it. We need to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness. We need to resist sin. Only then will be know what true gratification is. Not immediate gratification, but eternal, lasting, TRUE gratification.
Everything else is just a cheap and insulting imitation of true gratification.
*the story is about a white guy who saves a bunch of black guys from a bunch of evil middle eastern looking guys! Racist!
