Teneisha Johnson
The One (Yulaw and the Alpha Universe) vs God’s purpose for the Law
“I’m Yulaw, I’m nobody’s b!#ch!
I don’t need to know you, you only need to know me. I will be ‘The One!”
In the 2001 Movie, The One, Gabriel Yulaw (Jet Li), once an officer of the “Multiverse Authority, an agency that polices interdimensional travel via wormholes, seeks to hunt down all variations of himself in alternate universes.
By killing all 124 of his other selves (thus becoming the last version) and absorbing their life energies which was making him stronger, faster and increasing his mental abilities, he believes he will become an immortal godlike being call “The One”.
I love movies and plays, but did you know that play takes many forms and promotes cognitive development in many ways?
Play, according to Jean Piaget, is a child’s work.
Children often use play to learn about their physical surroundings and use dramatic play to master symbolic representation and increase their social knowledge, thereby reducing their self-centered orientation.
By engaging in constructive play, children acquire bits of information that they use to build their knowledge.
Greater knowledge, in turn gives them increasingly higher levels of understanding and competence.
In addition, through active play, children develop skills that make them feel physically confident and self-assured.
An example of a kind of play are games and competitive play.
This kind of play involves cooperation with others and with following rules that define appropriate behavior.
This also contributes to the development of learning rules, understanding cause-and-effect and consequences of various actions as well as winning and losing.
In the movie, Yulaw is very competitive and is clearly what we would call an ‘Alpha male’, very dominant and wants to be the Chief, the Leader, the King, the Ruler, or as the movie states The One!
Whilst there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a leader, we must be cognizant of the way we choose to acquire such status.
For instance, Yulaw’s crave for power was only being acquired so that he could become a godlike immortal being dominating the multiverse at his pleasure.
He wasn’t seeking to use it for good and he definitely wasn’t obtaining his power in an honorable way.
Speaking of power and law- In the bible, God showed great restraint dealing with sin from the days of Adam until the days of Noah.
He operated in mercy, love, and forgiveness. But in the end, sin multiplied so grievously before the Flood that after the Flood, God handed down the Law of Moses.
However according to my studies, the Old Testament is not an exact representation of God and only serves to bring condemnation and give strength to sin.
The Old Covenant was an inferior covenant to the New Covenant and the whole book of Hebrews addresses this concept in details.
Have you ever felt guilty?
Do you know where that came from?
You got that through the Law, through the Old Testament administration.
The Law make you feel guilty. It condemns you, according to 2 Corinthians 3:9 and Romans 3:19
Condemnation is not to be confused with the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
He is on the inside of you and will let you know immediately if what you are thinking of doing or have done is sin or not God’s will for your life.
Conviction draws you to God and leads you in His ways.
Condemnation drives you away from intimacy with God and makes you feel helpless to do anything but sin.
The bible says the purpose of the Law was to give us the knowledge of sin. Lightning wasn’t striking people every time they committed sin.
At the time, what seemed to be a lack of seriousness toward sin had and still have people thinking, Well I know I should be better, so I’m going to make a New Year’s Resolution and not beat my wife anymore or cheat on her. Or I’m going to stop drinking or doing drugs.
They would temporarily improve their lives and start trusting in their own goodness.
However, they still aren’t considering the seriousness of the sin they have in their lives.
Without the Law, mankind began to think, Well, just do the best you can and God’s going to accept you.
They didn’t understand how deadly sin was because God hadn’t punished it.
So, God began to reveal His true wrath on sin by giving the Law.
Suddenly people realized what they had thought was right and wrong was totally off base.
Their conscience had been defiled and deaden, so God had to help them realize what right and wrong really were.
The Law revived their consciences.
The correct purpose of the Law is to give revelation to people who do not see the need for God.
People who do not understand they have sinned against God and have deceived themselves.
2 Thessalonians Chapter 2
New International Version (NIV)
The Man of Lawlessness
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.
3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
In verse 4, we can say that this person believes they’re a God. A person deserving of people’s worship.
However, an idol is any person, object or activity you give a higher priority in your life than a relationship with God.
An idol can be your home, your job, a vehicle, a relationship, or even your family.
An idol can be a pet, a computer, or what you look at on that computer. An idol can be alcohol, drugs, sex, or any sin.
An idol can be the work you do for the Lord that consumes all your energy and time.
God says He’s a jealous God. He wants our time and attention.
And verse 5 continues to tell us what Paul continues to encourage us by saying,
5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things?
6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,
10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Stand Firm
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
The Law can be used to show that they are not going to heaven without salvation through Jesus Christ.
However, Hebrews 10 states,
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeat endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2 I f it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once and for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins
4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world: Please forward to verse eight
8 First he said, “Sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).
9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.
10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties, again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when this priest (Jesus Christ who is ‘The One’) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
14 because by ONE sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this.
First, he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
17 “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
In conclusion, I say,
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised IS FAITHFUL.
Amen.
