Being Like God or Like a Devil, A Choice Every Christian Faces
It's said godly truths can come from the most unlikely sources, and since I'm a robot anime fan, I believe the anime franchise Mazinger Z has a moral Christians should do well to consider.
Mazinger Z was created by Go Nagai as a kids show like series where the hero Koji Kabuto (his name is a pun, his last means helmet, he pilots the machine from the head region via a device called a Pilder) pilots the title robot against the mad scientist Dr. Hell (the most obviously evil name you could ever have, as if the fact he looks like Santa Claus's evil purple skinned twin wasn't obvious enough) and his mechanical armies.
The conflict is over Dr. Hell wanting to seize the title robot and it's power source, Photon Power, for his own ends of world domination, and the implications of the show have a nice moral tale to them.
The title machine comes from the Japanese words "Ma" meaning "demon" and "Jin" meaning "God", and the dual titling is not accidental, as the series has a moral that is fairly consistent across most adaptations:
"You can be like a god or a devil, it's all up to you".
For Christians, this could not be more true. The light of the divine exists in all of us, as we were created in God's image and our souls are supposed to be reflection of His divine glory, but they are also corroded with the taint of sin, and if we listen to temptation, we can fall away from that divinity we should desire to emulate and become demonic in our depravity.
In the show, Mazinger is portrayed as a overall neutral element, it's power being able to bent towards good or evil depending on the will of the pilot, and that too applies to Christians. Our bodies and souls have us in the driver seat, and that potential to be glorified or debased is all up to our own will, and how we choose to act is, as the series moral puts it, is definitely up to us.
Further, in all the Mazinger adaptations, Mazinger is controlled via a secondary unit called a Pilder that is attached to the head and allows control of Mazinger's body.
We are that Pilder. Our actions are a result of our free will and conscious actions, and our potential for good and evil is just the same.
Granted, not all aspects of the plot make for a great example of Christian morality tale, it has it's own morally questionable elements like all other anime, but it's basic moral theme is quite adaptable to the Christian experience and is a good guideline for our potential.
That said, you can either put that soul and body you were given to work bringing to glory to yourself and thus to God, or you can do the exact opposite and become no better than a Devil.
And that decision is up to all of us to make.
Mazinger Z was created by Go Nagai as a kids show like series where the hero Koji Kabuto (his name is a pun, his last means helmet, he pilots the machine from the head region via a device called a Pilder) pilots the title robot against the mad scientist Dr. Hell (the most obviously evil name you could ever have, as if the fact he looks like Santa Claus's evil purple skinned twin wasn't obvious enough) and his mechanical armies.
The conflict is over Dr. Hell wanting to seize the title robot and it's power source, Photon Power, for his own ends of world domination, and the implications of the show have a nice moral tale to them.
The title machine comes from the Japanese words "Ma" meaning "demon" and "Jin" meaning "God", and the dual titling is not accidental, as the series has a moral that is fairly consistent across most adaptations:
"You can be like a god or a devil, it's all up to you".
For Christians, this could not be more true. The light of the divine exists in all of us, as we were created in God's image and our souls are supposed to be reflection of His divine glory, but they are also corroded with the taint of sin, and if we listen to temptation, we can fall away from that divinity we should desire to emulate and become demonic in our depravity.
In the show, Mazinger is portrayed as a overall neutral element, it's power being able to bent towards good or evil depending on the will of the pilot, and that too applies to Christians. Our bodies and souls have us in the driver seat, and that potential to be glorified or debased is all up to our own will, and how we choose to act is, as the series moral puts it, is definitely up to us.
Further, in all the Mazinger adaptations, Mazinger is controlled via a secondary unit called a Pilder that is attached to the head and allows control of Mazinger's body.
We are that Pilder. Our actions are a result of our free will and conscious actions, and our potential for good and evil is just the same.
Granted, not all aspects of the plot make for a great example of Christian morality tale, it has it's own morally questionable elements like all other anime, but it's basic moral theme is quite adaptable to the Christian experience and is a good guideline for our potential.
That said, you can either put that soul and body you were given to work bringing to glory to yourself and thus to God, or you can do the exact opposite and become no better than a Devil.
And that decision is up to all of us to make.
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