I had to watch this film for my religion/social work class...here is what I wrote about it:
I’ve never thought science and religion contradict each other. According to my limited experience and knowledge, they complement each other. My brainiac pre-med daughter called me from BYU a few weeks ago and when I asked her about her organic chemistry class she exclaimed, “Mom! I’m learning the secrets of the universe!” She went on to explain that God used chemistry to create the planet. From Mormon doctrine, Science is not a new spiritual way of understanding and God understands Quantum Physics and uses it in His work. Science effects how you perceive reality but the reality of spirit is as real as we are.
I found portions of this film insulting and contradictory in nature. One of the ‘professionals’ stated how the media warps our perception of life and men need only entertain one sexual fantasy to become aroused and women shouldn’t distort their perceptions of body image as a result of media YET…there…in the film…were two different scenes of people having sexual intercourse. The very ideas the film was trying to teach us to overcome and look beyond were used to entice our senses. I recognize the target audience for this film is young college goers who have been warped by the media – but as a 45 year old mother of four hormone filled sons and three beautiful daughters I find pornography of any form demeaning to women and I feel objectified and insulted as a human being, let alone a mother. To have it as part of a class assignment for a course on religion is especially insulting.
I learned 2 things from this video.
1. Every choice I make can make a difference in my life and the lives of others and I either choose to send out a self-serving message of selfishness which actually does nothing but bring me and others down – or you can send out a selfless message of love which builds me as it builds others. It is ironic that the more I seek to love the more goodness and love I attract.
2. The second thing I learned, (or what the film attempted to teach), was that God is created by man. This idea was contradictory in nature to the general message of the film which was to have faith in ideas outside of your narrow mindset. An ‘expert’ vehemently stated the fallacy of men creating God in their image. The message seemed to be that belief in God is self serving and destructive.
My belief in God has little to do with a vengeful god of wrath. The God I believe in is a compassionate Father who cares deeply about the lives of His children. He allows them the freedom of choice to create a world of their own making. He allows them consequences and when their choices are selfless and based in sending love out to others, their lives are blessed. The statement that men create God in their image contradicts the idea previously illustrated in the film. In the scene where the molecular structure of water is actually changed when blessed by a Buddhist monk, I understood the point illustrated being when a man calls upon a higher power to bless and change elements and it works there is evidence to suggest that a higher power exists regardless of man’s ideas otherwise.
To dismiss that faith is an act of self service to give power to men who believe in science to increase their following and thus their power…which is hypocritical in nature when science often points his finger at religion for using false authority to gain power over others. True religion gives power. Shouldn’t true science do the same?
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