a Darth Vader theology

Last night I went and saw Star Wars, Episode 3, ‘The Revenge of the Sith’ with several of my closest friends. You have to understand something at the outset… ever since I first saw the first Star Wars 28 years ago, I’ve wanted to know, really to see, how Darth Vader came to be the way he is. I definitely enjoyed this movie a lot. It was the best of the first three movies, and certainly near the top of the entire story line. But it gave a strong lesson in depravity and the sinful nature that was rather life like.

Now, stay with me here. You may not be a Star Wars fan, but there’s an honest to goodness point in all of this. Don’t be put off my the packaging of it. Episode 3 plays well as movies go, because I think Anakin is a real character. We can identify with his basic nature and struggles. Now, here’s an early disclaimer: I’m not endorsing the new age, eastern pantheistic monism that is the impersonal ‘Force.’ What I’m trying to get at, is that outside of the special effects, Anakin’s character shows a good representation of how we as people make decisions and react or respond to opportunities and challenges based on where our heart is at any given moment.
Let’s call it a Darth Vader Theology. Okay, get over the label.

A Darth Vader theology is simply this: very few us is so flatly, one dimensional evil in who we are as day-to-day people. But many of us realize we all have honest hopes, more honest fears, and we want a good life for ourselves and those whom we love and cherish. And were willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that we get what we think we deserve, what we want, or protect whom we love, no matter the cost. That is the basic premise of Anakin Skywalker. And that’s the rub. Instead of trusting in his Jedi credo and friends, including Padme, his secret wife (Jedi can’t get married, you know), Anakin gives more attention to his anxieties, fears, and worries, taking the advice and direction of the Senate Chancellor, who is rather shady.

To make it worst, Anakin listens and gives the Chancellor credence over and above what his friends tell him, even after the Chancellor reveals his true identity as the ultimate bad guy, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the villain the Jedi have been trying to find and bring to justice. One might be tempted to think, this is just a movie. And you’d be right, but like I said, there’s something here for us to learn from.

In Romans 7:7ff, the Apostle Paul is writing about struggles with sin, and why we do struggle so with it. It is perhaps the greatest tongue twister in all of the New Testament, maybe even in all of Scripture. It could probably be summed up by this: “Why do I do what I don’t want to do? Because deep down inside, I really want to do it.” Paul is not so much stating that we are all repressed bad guys, as much as he’s stating the not-always obvious point that our very nature, our human nature, is corrupt and incapable of choosing for God left to our own devices and understanding. This is total depravity. Paul’s point is well taken, when he makes a simple but profound statement regarding our state of hopelessness—that we are helpless and hopeless to change and be saved without the salvation given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul is speaking to our core struggle with sin. We cannot not sin, on our own. We don’t have it within us to hold off sin in our lives. Ah, but with Jesus, we have the means to not only resist sin, but we can now choose not to sin. We may be transformed to be who God originally created us to be!
This Darth Vader theology looks at what is in the heart of a person that they would end up making bad decisions, or, as in Anakin’s case, turn to the Dark Side. Paul helps us understand that what’s in Anakin’s heart is in our hearts, too. Paul helps us understand that anytime we would choose to do good, sin is right there, waiting to lure us toward the bad.

The Darth Vader theology helps us understand that much of the time, at least at the beginning, we don’t necessarily make bad, sinful choices because we want to be evil and rule the galaxy (or at least the world). We often make bad choices because we have good intentions, and we think we understand the situation completely, while we really end up ignoring the true implications of our decisions. We are helped in understanding Anakin’s anxiety in Episode 3, because he has a vision that his wife will die in child birth, and he becomes consumed with finding some way, some power to keep that vision from becoming reality. In Anakin’s case, it was the loss of his mother (see Episode 2 for more info), coupled with fear of losing his wife that drove him to seek complete control, trying to stave off even death. For Anakin, deep belief in his fears and the consuming thought of how to control life so as to defeat the things that he feared were enough for him to throw everything he had previously valued away, including his wife. The implications? Sadly, it was Anakin’s turning to the Dark Side, and betraying what he had once held as good and right, hunting down his Jedi friends, and even turning on his wife that ended up fulfilling his vision of his wife's dying.

A Darth Vader theology reminds us that we do not have it within us to understand all things that happen in life, and to try to solve or react to them in our wisdom and understanding is pure folly. Our sinful nature will always guide us down the wrong path. It will always lead us astray. Who can save us from ourselves? Paul reminds us at the end of Romans 7 that, praise be to God, only Jesus Christ can save us from this body of death. Few of us need fear falling to the Dark Side because of one choice, but Anakin’s story reminds us that it’s rarely ever one choice, but the litany of choices we make that will lead us to good or to bad. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul reminds us that we should not be self-deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. If we sow to the sinful nature, we will reap sin. If we sow to the Spirit of God, we will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:6-8). Apart from Christ, we have no hope of a life that holds good eternal consequences for us. Should we choose to live for ourselves, even for the best of reasons, we will choose poorly. We cannot allow the powers of fear and selfishness to manipulate us. Instead, we must turn to Jesus Christ and trust in Him, the goodness of God, that He is bigger than everything we fear will end up having no eternal quality for us, even in the now. And that’s what I got from watching Star Wars.