I am legend is a very intense, fun movie....
I Am Legend is a movie about a Lieutenant Colonel Robert Neville. The movie is set a little in the future and the world as we know it has come to an end. Robert Neville is all alone but he hasn’t totally given up... (Show Clip: 00:24:02 - 00:25 - 36)
In this future world, a disease called K2 has killed almost everyone. Those it hasn’t killed it turns into “Dark Seekers” strange zombie/vampire like creatures. Robert Neville however is immune from the disease and he is also a virologist. He is a scientist that believes he can cure the disease - so he spends his days collecting samples...
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As the movie develops, it becomes clear that Robert Neville has run out of options and given up on hope. At one turning point he tries to kill himself, and in the process gets rescued by two other people. Its pretty obvious though that he hasn’t been around people for a very long time ...and its a bit comical...
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Its the character of Anna that gives Robert the hope that he needs - the question is - will he accept it?
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Robert Neville’s story is an intriguing one. As a virologist, a scientist, he believed in science: What he could touch, and feel, and prove with scientific theory.
He really thought that he could “fix” the problem. Through trial and error, for years he tried to solve the formula and come up with a solution.
There was only one problem... He wasn’t in control. He was trying to understand a disease that he didn’t create and he never could fully understand.
We didn’t show the clip, but the movie begins with a doctor being interviewed. She had cured cancer. Imagine that, she’d found a way to cure cancer. She’d somehow found a way. Societies greatest plague could be eradicated - but as the movie unfolds we come to understand that it was that cure that started the chain reaction. The cure had created the disease.
One of the issues that this movie brings to light is our humanity. As humans, we can try to be in control, we can think that we understand things, we can certainly develop some amazing advances ...but can we ever be God? Do we actually think that we can control things or that we understand things? Do we think we can be like God?
In one of the first stories in the Bible, Eve is in the garden... Listen as I read Genesis 3:1-13. (read passage)
Did you hear the serpents question? Basically he said, “God is wrong - he can’t do what he said - you know just as much as him...” Eve believed him because she wanted to believe that... She wanted to believe that she could be just as powerful, just as great as God.
When my mother was in the hospital, we spent a lot of time waiting around. Her condition wasn’t really improving and eventually the doctor stopped by to tell us that she wasn’t going to improve. Medically, there was nothing more they could do. Her body was just shutting down... I will never forget the look of failure in his eyes. It was obvious that he really believed that he should be able to help.
Robert Neville had that same look. He wanted to help, he knew he had the tools - but he just couldn’t figure it all out.
Listen to me: If we think that we are God - we are fooling ourselves... if you think that you can be your own God, that you can do whatever you want, that you can control your own life, that you can do it all on your own - that you don’t need God - or maybe even that there is no God...you are wrong.
Allow me to suggest that there is another way... I believe there is a God. I believe he created us and he loves us, and I think he has a purpose and plan for our lives. I believe that as we learn to trust him that we become more than we ever dreamed we could be. It doesn’t mean that we have to shut off our brains. It doesn’t mean that we reject science, what it means is that we acknowledge that we are Human and he is God.
As the movie develops and the Character of Anna is introduced - so is something else. That something else is Faith or Hope...
Anna’s character is interesting and she challenges Neville’s belief system. He has given up on God, she believes He has a plan. He thinks there is no hope, she knows that there is and she believes it to her core.
In the end, she’s right. But that’s really not what I find most interesting - what I really love is what she asks Neville to do. She challenges him to listen for God. She knows he’s still speaking, its just harder to hear, so we have to listen closer...
In scripture, one of the images we find for God is shepherd. Its an image that gets used over and over, and Jesus used it to. In fact, one of my favorite verses is one where he says he is the great shepherd. In John 10 he says that “my sheep know my voice.”
I think one of the hardest things for us to do is to hear that voice and to follow it, but I believe if you listen - you will hear it... My challenge to you is the same as Anna gave Neville. Keep listening. Keep your ears open. Open yourself up to God. Keep listeni
