Yet in our day the people of the west are forging out a new way of thinking in rebellion to this natural order. The philosophers, historians, social scientists, and theologians have given a name to this way of thinking; "post-modernism." Post-modernists believe that truth claims have no relationship to reality. All that can be known is opinion and all opinions are equally valid, even if they contradict each other. Everything is a matter of language. All language is interpretation and no interpretation is final.

So it is interesting to see what happens when movies like Star Wars, the "Indiana Jones" series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narina (which will make its debut later this year) hit the big screen. People go nuts and many of us wonder how can people be so excited about fantasy or science fiction. Now stay with me for a few minutes. There’s a lesson to be learned here.

Have you ever heard of the Epic of Gilgamish? How about the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, or Beowulf? These stories, and all the other great stories that survive the ages, survive for a reason. They speak truths and shape cultures even though they do so in the form of pagan fables. These stories, like all great stories, teach men about their own mortality, the nature of evil and human vices, friendship, courage, and the need to serve a cause greater than themselves. They speak of heros and ordinary people who stumble and fall, yet who persevere and fulfill their place in history.

Take, for example, Penelope and Odysseus of Odyssey fame. Odysseus becomes arrogant before the gods and takes credit for his victory over Troy. He reasons that he does not need the favor of any god. He is the master of his own fate (sound familiar?) and owes nothing to the gods. Having won his victory Odysseus wants to return home to his beloved wife Penelope. It’s a simple trip, especially when compared to a ten year war. But Odysseus angered the gods and so the trip takes twenty years and is filled with hardship, sin, and death. It is not until he acknowledges his dependence on the gods that is he permitted to return home. But what of his beloved Penelope? Has she given up all hope? Has she married again or has she remained loyal and pure in his absence? You see, even pagan stories can teach valuable lessons. Pagan cultures produce pagan myths, yet embedded those myths are truths that speak to the human condition. That’s what good stories do. In these stories we see the cosmic battle between good and evil. We see that man is finite. He does not control the history of the world. He can’t even control his own fate. If he is going to fulfill his destiny, he must play his part in the divine story. Is it starting to sound familiar? ("Luke fulfill your destiny" and so he does.)

In Acts chapter 17 St. Paul did not disparage the pagan myths of his day. He used them as a doorway to speak the Gospel. "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects...What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." The pagan stories and gods of ancient Greece gave way to the stories and God of the Old and New Testaments. It is here we learn divine truths and of human mortality. The stories of the Bible and the Law and Gospel transformed the west. By divine revelation civilization learned of new heros and of a forgiving God who saves us from our sin and under Whose feet all powers and principalities have been placed - - Jesus Christ. People everywhere in the west learned of men like King David and St. Paul and of women like Ruth and Phoebe.

For centuries our ideas of faith, courage, virtue, and love were shaped by hundreds of Bible stories and personages, supremely in the person of Jesus Christ. These stories were better than those produced by pagan mythology. They were (and are) better because they were (and are) true. They revealed a God unlike the petty and angry gods of ancient mythology. They reveal a patient and forgiving God; a God Who is our Father, our Brother, and our Advocate and Comforter.

But the days of Old and New Testament stories shaping the way people think and behave seem long gone now. Christians once again live in a pagan and now post-modern culture. We live in a culture that denies the truth of truth and the knowledge of knowing. We live in a culture that even denies the truths that former pagan cultures embodied in their mythologies (and some think we’re evolving). Those ancient fables taught us that man is nothing unless he serves something greater than himself. He is mortal, finite, and weak. He is not in control of his own destiny, let alone the history of the world, and is always caught between the forces of good and evil. So here we are in a culture that denies these truths, yet when these modern fables appear on the big screen, that part of man that knows about good and evil and man’s mortality resurfaces.

Of what value are these movies? They teach the old truths all over again. There is a cosmic battle between good and evil. These stories, like the stories of old, call upon the characters to serve a cause greater than themselves. They show that man cannot save himself without aid from a higher power. The "force" (Star Wars), the arch of the covenant and the Son of God in the holy grail in the Indiana Jones series, the mystical power of the elves and the bond of the fellowship in The Lord of the Rings, and the Lion Savior, Asland, in the Chronicles of Narnia are all symbols of something greater than man himself.

The telling of the great stories of antiquity was an opportunity for parents and grandparents to teach their children and grandchildren about the dangers inherent in the world and the great truths and virtues of life. So also the modern myths now being told in print and cinema are opportunities for parents and grandparents to teach their children and grandchildren these truths. Yes, many of us find these movies fun and entertaining. And yes, many modern day fables are saturated with pagan religiosity (mostly eastern religions - "the force" for example). Yet, they remain opportunities to speak of those greater, truer, and more real stories - - the stories of the God Who has made and Who redeems all things.