The Dark Knight Week 1

The Dark Knight Week 1

Romans 7:14-25 14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. 17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. 21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? 25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Mixer: 1.)Who is your favorite superhero and why?

Going Deeper:

1.)What is the Batman’s character’s motivation to fight injustice? The movie doesn’t directly address this (it assumes we know) so ask and see if anyone knows. The answer, of course, is that his parent were murdered in front of him as a young child and he made a choice to fight the evil that took their lives. He commits himself to avenging his parents death – but not by any means necessary (which this film © Dixon Kinser 2009

explores – Batman has one line he won’t cross). What is the difference between avenging and revenging? Avenge is defined as inflicting harm in return for a wrong done to you or someone else. Revenge is to inflict harm or injury on someone who did harm or injury to you. Batman is an interesting case in that he doesn’t go after the “guy who pulled the trigger” he recognizes that there are larger forces at play here and decides to inflict harm on injustice itself. He has suffered and is now motivated to act so that no one else will suffer as he has. 2.)Is Batman a relatable character? Why or why not? See what you get here. It may help spur people to think deeper if you compare Batman to Superman. Which do you relate to more? For me it’s Batman, because he has hang ups, imperfections etc.

3.)Read this: My (Dixon) contention is that The Dark Knight is a movie forcing us to explore the origins of and means to defeat evil. In the Batman character we see a great corrective to most f our contemporary dealings with the problem of real evil.

In contemporary society, we make three mistakes when it comes ot addressing evil: a.) we pretend it doesn’t exist (so we’re surprised when it unavoidably raies it’s ugly head in case of personal tragedy or events like 9/11, the tsunami of 2005 and hurricane Katrina - b.) we turn evil into something that is all “out there” and systemic. Evil are the big systems that make people do the bad things of 9/11 etc. So evil becomes about an “us=good” /”them=bad” scenario. – c.) we internalize the responsibility of evil making it all about us – taking all the blame on ourselves. Christians will always recognize that the line between good and evil runs down the middle of all of us. Evil is both big and systemic, and deeply personal. Furthermore, our job, Biblically is not to explain evil anyway, it is to act redemptivly against it the way our God does (more on that later). Consider these three suggestions about the problem of how we think about evil and our Christian call. Where do you see the Batman charachter in the Dark Knight offer a Christian corrective to each of these faulty perceptions about evil in the © Dixon Kinser 2009

way he acts and thinks?

4.) Harvey Dent says, “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” How does this line compare and contrast with Paul’s exhortation about sin in Romans? Is Harvey Dent’s attitude one of hope or hopelessness? What about Paul?

5.) Close with a prayer inviting everyone to consider how they will act to stop and redeem evil in themselves and in their world this week. ----------------------------------------------------------------How can we as Christians connect with Batman? How can the church deal with injustice the way that Batman does? Do we pretend that it isn’t there? Do we blame others for it? Do we blame ourselves and cry about it? How can we wrestle with evil?

© Dixon Kinser 2009