One of the Greats, Especially For Christians

‘Shawshank’ Still Preaches, 25 Years Later


Tim Briggs
The Gospel Coalition

This fall marks the 25th anniversary of the release of The Shawshank Redemption. Twenty-five years later, it’s hard to believe this beloved movie, directed by Frank Darabont (The Green Mile), was a box-office flop in 1994. Today it resides atop many “best movie ever” lists—including mine.

There’s a lot to love about Shawshank. I could write endless pages about the acting, music, cinematography, direction, and so on. But while these are all worthy topics, I’m most interested in the film’s Christian symbolism. From start to finish, intended or unintended, it is saturated with Christian imagery and themes.

With “redemption” in its very title, the film seems to invite a Christian interpretation. And though in general we should be cautious about stretching for theological parallels and “Christ figures” in movies, it’s also worth celebrating when a movie reminds us of the beauty of the Christian narrative. And that’s exactly the sort of beauty I see in Shawshank.

Red’s Testimony

Consider how the “redemption” drama of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) reflects certain aspects of Jesus’s story.

Andy enters the world of Shawshank Prison as an outsider. Red (Morgan Freeman), who becomes Andy’s friend, observes of Andy: “He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around here. He strolled like a man in a park without a care or worry. Like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place.” The whole story is told through Red’s point of view and becomes his testimony about Andy.

Andy is quickly adopted into Red’s friend group, and he begins discipling Red and the gang. Andy teaches them there’s something much better than their bleak surroundings. One especially powerful example finds Andy broadcasting Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” over the PA system to the whole prison. Describing this moment, Red reflects: “I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.”

Of course, Andy’s ministry to the prisoners is not without danger.

Daily Meditation

Interpreting the Logos

Ligonier Ministries

In Greek philosophy, the logos remains an impersonal force, a lifeless and abstract philosophical concept that is a necessary postulate for the cause of order and purpose in the universe. In Hebrew thought, the Logos is personal. He indeed has the power of unity, coherence, and purpose, but the distinctive point is that the biblical Logos is a He, not an it.

All attempts to translate the word Logos have suffered from some degree of inadequacy. No English word is able to capture the fullness of John’s Logos when he declared that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Attempts have been made by philosophers to translate Logos as logic, act, or deed—all of which are inadequate definitions.

God’s Logos does include action. The Logos is the eternal Word in action. But it is no irrational action or sheer expression of feeling. It is the divine Actor, acting in creation and redemption in a coherent way, who is announced in John’s Gospel.

That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us is the startling conclusion of John’s prologue. The cosmic Christ enters our humanity. It is the supreme moment of visitation of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the unconditioned with the conditioned.

Coram Deo

Reflect on this truth: God became flesh to accomplish your redemption. Have you accepted His gift of salvation?

Passages for Further Study

John 1:1–2
John 1:15

Gems From Jonathan Edwards On the Cost of Redemption

The "Champions of the World" Vs. the Lord of Righteousness

The Western world in general is filled with a spirit of self-righteousness.  "We," it is claimed, "are the champions of the world."  

The lyrics to Queen's anthem say it all. 

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I've come through

We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the world

When it comes to that great and dreadful day when we shall all appear before the judgement seat of God most folk in the West think they have enough leverage.  They are not losers.  They have sufficient moral credit to persuade God to look favorably upon them.  They tell themselves, "I've come through." 

Jonathan Edwards writes:

Hard Baked Human Depravity

No Hope In This World

There is a growing "class" of people in New Zealand who give every indication they are beyond redemption.  The clay has been in the oven far too long.  It has baked into hard, intractable lines.  

The people found in the "baked clay" class have sometimes been referred to as the Underclass.  These are people who are locked into an endless cycle of destructive behaviour, including self-destruction.  In recent days a case was profiled in the media which illustrates what goes on in the thoroughly baked underclass.

He was the best boyfriend she ever had.  Kind-hearted, helpful and selfless, she said.  But seven weeks on, she was thinking differently – and irrationally. He was a snake, a snitch and spreading rumours.  Over four hours in a friend's kitchen, she tied his hands behind his back, stripped him and assaulted him with punches and kicks.   She then marched him out of the flat and took him to the desolate state house where she lived with her pregnant sister. There she wrapped a computer cord around his neck and strangled him. Police found his body the next day wrapped in a red faux mink blanket under a double bed.  [Stuff]

Zariah Jae Samson, 25, at her sentencing for manslaughter last year.

The events are horrific.  The crime deserved a severe sanction.  Yet there is a back story to Samson that goes a long way to explain (not justify) who she is and what she has become.

Myths and What They Portray About Us

Between the Myth and Reality Falls the Shadow

Historian Robert Tombs gives us his account of the actual Richard the Lionheart.

King Richard I, "the Lionheart" [son of Henry II] was crowned in 1189 amid scenes of popular rejoicing and vicious attacks on Jews--a usual by-product of Crusading fervour.  Richard, who would spend only six months of his ten-year reign in England, was eager to join the Third Crusade, part of the widespread European reaction to the recapture of Jerusalem by the Caliph of Egypt, Saladin (Saleh-ed-Din Yusuf ibn Ayub), in 1187.  A fellow Crusader was his former accomplice and friend, Philip of France, but a series of personal, political and national disputes soon ended their always shaky alliance.

As a Crusader, Richard won a brilliant if chequered reputation.  He was a vainglorious  product of the warrior culture and little else.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Savior of the World

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

Introduction:

As we come to the conclusion of our study of kingdom optimism, the best summary would be to turn in order to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we think through these issues carefully, we must recognize that the basic issue is really the view we have of our Lord Jesus.

At the same time, we want to guard our hearts so that we don’t fall into the trap of covenantal presumption.

The Text:

“Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son. He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice . . . In his days shall the righteous flourish; And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the river unto the ends of the earth . . . And blessed be his glorious name for ever: And let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen” (Ps. 72:1-20).

Jesus Christ is Lord of All:

Consider what Paul tells us in Philippians 2:9-11. At the name of Jesus, every knee is to bow, and not just those in heaven. In heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, let Jesus Christ be praised. We are seeking nothing less than to exalt Him in every place.

That at the Name of Jesus . . .

Jesus Christ is Savior of the world—“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Jesus did not come in order to try to save the world, if the uncooperative world would only let Him. He came to save the world;

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Saviour of the World

Douglas Wilson

Blog&Mablog

Introduction:

Many Christians veer into one of two errors in their view of future history. Either they plunge into a very exciting study of the “end times” and become consumed with the book of Revelation and newspaper reports about the European Union, not to mention the killer bees, trouble in the Middle East, and so forth, or they dismiss the whole thing with a wave of the hand and a joke—and usually the same joke. “I am a pan-millennialist. Everything will pan out in the end.” But much more is involved in this subject than the particular “chronology” we set for the events at the end of the world. Christians must come to understand that our doctrine of the power of the cross will be at the heart of our doctrine of the future history of the human race.

The Text:

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Faithful Witness:

The apostle John tells us that he, and others with him, have seen something and they testify to it. Now our duty as Christians is to stand with the apostles, and join our witness to theirs. But how can we, if we do not see what they saw? And how can we testify to something we have not seen?

They saw that the Father sent the Son with a particular purpose in mind—this is the will of the Father to which Christ was submitting in the garden when He prepared to go to the cross. The Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. The words are very plain, and words very much like them are found throughout all Scripture.

This is the apostolic witness. Is it ours? Have we seen this? If we have not, it is because we are not paying attention.

Our Christian Hope

On This Day

If we were ever asked to give a "State of our Nation" address there would be many reasons for thanksgiving and gratitude.  We, as a people, have far, far more blessings than we deserve.  We marvel at God's patience and long-suffering toward us.  We rejoice in the beauty of our land: the swift sunrise, the joy of cooking a freshly landed a fish on hot coals on the beach to feed the family; or the glory of the dawn or sunset bird chorus, ringing forth in praise to our Creator.

These things have become so common place, so plentiful as it were, that we seldom think of them or value them highly enough.  In so many ways we have become like spoilt children, with a  perpetually stretched forth, demanding more.  Yet, in a comparative sense there are multitudinous numbers of people upon this planet who have never known or experienced such a rich and beauteous bounty.  What we take for granted in this country, others would gape at in astonishment, should they ever experience it.

Particularly for those of us who live in New Zealand, living on this earth is  to partake in and enjoy a constant marvel.  Here we get a vision or foretaste--more so than many upon the earth--of the recreated and restored earth to come.

We have come to understand by God's grace that upon death, our souls will ascend in Christ to the Father, to heaven, to the multitude of angels and our forebears, to have our joy and praise join theirs before the throne of glory.  We know that this is the house prepared for us by our Saviour.

But, we also know that glorious as it is and will be for us, His people, it will not be complete.

No Fatal Wounds Possible

The Beginning of the End

When Rommel was finally defeated in North Africa, Winston Churchill uttered his memorable sentiment to the effect that  this was not the end.  Nor was it the beginning of the end.  It was perhaps the end of the beginning.

Christians operate in a similar, yet different frame of mind.  Human history is a war between two human races: those called the "seed of the woman", and those called the "seed of the serpent".  What divides these two seeds (or human races) is not their respective goodness, for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  The "seed of the woman" are those who have repented of sin and have believed in Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

So, two human races.  Not distinguishable by race, ethnicity, intelligence, appearance, or in any other way, except that one race has sworn loyalty and devotion to Christ; the other has not, and in fact refused to do so, leaving their ultimate loyalty to man.

In the struggle between these two for the control of the world (for this is what is at stake) the seed of the woman, known as Christ-ones or Christians, often are in a minority, and face reverses on every side.  But the Head of the new redeemed human race is the Resurrected One, and out of death comes life.  It is His way.  But there is something else.  The decisive battle has already been won.  Christ faced Satan at Calvary and defeated him--once, and for all time.  The god of this world had been cast down and broken.

What in the World To Do?

Building, Restoring, and Cleaning

The perspective held by Christians about human society and economy tells one a great deal about their beliefs concerning Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. 

That we all live in human society to one degree or another is inescapable.  Even the foolish Stylites, who committed themselves to a life of isolation from all others, living on poles in the extreme attempt to divorce themselves from human society and the world, could not escape.  The most famous were plagued by tourists coming to gape.

Since living "in the world" is a providential given--a divine decree--the belief we Christians have about the world and our place in it is a vital concern.  Since God has placed us in human society and human economy, we had better get our understanding of it right and in conformity with the Bible. 

R. H. Tawney tells us that there are four distinct beliefs or attitudes about human society and human economy. He presents them as follows:

Hopeless Confusions

Modest Propositions

Here is a modest, straightforward, orthodox Christian syllogism:

The risen Lord Jesus Christ delivers people from their sins
Homosexuality in all its forms is sinful
Therefore, the Lord delivers homosexuals from their from their homosexuality.  

There is little that can be controversial about such a syllogism, unless one wishes to make the Incarnation or the Resurrection controversial.  True, some who profess Christianity may demur or disagree.  There may be some discussion on whether the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin--but so often such discussions rapidly fall into deeper, broader matters such as the authority and inspiration of the Bible itself, or the Deity of our Lord. But for those who receive the Bible as the very word of God and who believe in its plenary divine inspiration there can be no controversy here. 

Why, then, is the following matter regarded as so controversial?

Books

Echoes of Eden

In his recent book, Echoes of Eden, Jerram Barrs [Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature and the Arts (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2013)]  has a series of chapters on literature and the arts in general and then turns to some exemplars which exemplify his general theme.  Barrs argues that all art worthy of the designation reflects what he calls "echoes of Eden" in one way, shape or form. 

To make reference to Eden is to introduce the great underlying themes of all stories: the innate goodness of the creation in its original perfection, the brokenness of nature and of man which we experience daily, and the longing for redemption and deliverance.  In the latter portion of the book, Barrs turns to some examples or case studies of his theme: namely, Lewis, Tolkien, J K Rowling, Shakespeare and Jane Austen. 

The chapter on Tolkien alone is worth the price of the book.  Tolkien understood that myths are powerful in a culture because they inevitably sustain memories of God.

Diabolical Alternatives

In Chains, Everywhere

The ethic of freedom has become the engine of oppression.  At first blush, this seems nonsense.  How could the ideal of being free from compulsion, constraint, and restraint become the instrumental cause of force, compulsion, and oppression?  Unless we work this out, freedom is a dangerous concept.

Let's start with Jean Jacques Rousseau--one of the more pathetic figures in Western annals.  He famously proclaimed that man was born free, but is everywhere in chains.  The image is powerful.  We know what  being in chains means.  We have seen dogs on a leash or chained.  We have seen them leap forward only to crash to the ground as the chain restrains.  Rousseau's idea intuitively conveys the idea of human enslavement; freedom is being released from constraints.  But for Rousseau, freedom meant being released from constraints of any sort. 

If you were to come into your neighbour's house and he asked you to remove your shoes, Rousseau would have us believe that chains were rattling.

Coming Home

How an Unbelieving Lesbian English Professor Became a Reformed Pastor’s Wife

What a fascinating and instructive and encouraging interview, as Marvin Olasky talks with Rosaria Butterfield about her memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith.

Justin Taylor
Jan 18 2013



A breathtaking moving account of coming out of darkness into light, and the steps, means of grace, and the people God used to bring this wonderful saint home.  This is a lengthy discussion--although we could not stop listening having begun.  Pause and break it up into smaller chunks, if it suits you better.  (One reason we posted this on a Saturday night, is that it makes for good Sabbath Day reflection--when many will have the time to do so.)  To God alone be the glory, in Christ Jesus our Lord.  There is much to learn here.   

It makes the current promulgation of homosexual "marriage" appear what it truly is: a fatuous, superficial irrelevance, thus warning Christians not to get sucked into the propaganda that if we love and respect the humanness of homosexuals, we will be accepting of their homosexuality.  It reminds us that God saves sinners, one at a time--and oftentimes, over a long a period of time.  There are awesome references to the significance of Romans 1: 20ff.

This is the blurb taken from her book:

Faith-Lines Versus Blood-Lines

Turbo-Charged Bloodlines

Bloodlines are very important.  Any Christian who doubts this should turn to the opening chapters of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and read there the bloodlines of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the world.  Who your ancestors were, your blood lines of descent are clearly material--both genetically and spiritually.  The Kingdom of God is constructed around bloodlines.

The Unbelieving world is deeply ambivalent about bloodlines.

All Things New

 The Renovation of the Whole World

"To the Lord and his kingdom belongs the whole world, with all that lives and moves in it.  All is yours, says the apostle (I Corinthians 3:22).  Religion is not a single, separate sphere of human life, but the divine principle by which the entire man is to be pervaded, refined, and made complete.  It takes hold of him in his undivided totality, in the center of his personal being; to carry light into his understanding, holiness into his will, and heaven into his heart; and to shed thus the sacred consecration of the new birth, and the glorious liberty of the children of God, over his whole inward and outward life.

"No form of existence can withstand the renovating power of God's Spirit.

Heavenly Good of Earthly Work, Part V

A Kingdom of Blood, Sweat and Tears

The apostles, infallibly inspired by the Holy Spirit, took up common Greek concepts of their day but changed their meaning so as to carry the Truth and testify to God.  A prime example is the word "logos".  The word "logos" in the classical and Hellenistic worlds had a pedigree.  The Apostle John took up the word, emptied it of its Hellenistic content, reference, and connotations, and used it to reveal glorious truth about our Lord.

The same can be said for "spirit" and "spiritual"--which was a widely used concept in the Hellenistic world--but with this difference: "spirit" also had an Old Testament pedigree. To rid the modern church of pagan notions of spirituality we must submit to the Bible's denotation and connotation of these terms.  And as we said in our previous post, those who are not aware of the issues and what is at stake has probably imbibed the pagan concepts of "spirit" and "spiritual" not biblical truth.

How Marvellous are Thy Works

The Power of Christ in the Dark Places of the World

It seems that many of today's prisons are becoming places of Amazing Grace.  We heard Pastor Alistair Begg, of Parkside Church in Cleveland reading some letters to the congregation received as a result of the church's radio ministry.  Several had come from prisoners.  One wrote:

I have been faithful in serving the Lord these last seven or eight years. I have been incarcerated now for over twenty years. As one brother put it, since I was arrested at 17, I know nothing of life.

I just finished listening to your study on the Father's discipline, from 1998. I may not know much about life but I can agree with the Psalmist when he writes,

Lord you are my portion and my cup of blessing;
You hold my future.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.

This chap, is probably a lifer, and therefore likely to be a murderer. He may spend the rest of his life in prison. The same infinite power of the Holy Spirit which saved the thief on the Cross, causing him to be born again, in the most helpless and hopeless of circumstances, is blowing across the prisons. The wretched of the earth are becoming glorious citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

Similar testimonies and accounts can be heard from within our own prisons, here in New Zealand. 

Chuck Colson has written an essay on the power of forgiveness.  In it he describes some of the amazing things he has observed as a result of prisoners becoming Christians.  God is good and glorious indeed.

Now on Film

Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie

Justin Taylor has spoken often of the subversive book by Nate Wilson, Notes From the Tilt A Whirl.  We also have written several pieces on this remarkable piece of work, here, and here.  Wilson takes out out of the abstract tomes on general and special revelation and confronts us in the warp and woof of our lives, explaining that God speaks to us every day, all the time.  We need to listen to His story, to what He is saying to us, and become the characters in the story we would love to be.

Wilson skewers the idea--so prevalent amongst Christians--that God needs to speak to us, to guide us, telling us what course of study to select, or what car to buy.  God is speaking to us all the time about these kind of things, but we don't listen; we don't hear His voice. 

A film companion to the book has just been released.
Here’s the description:

Lies and Empty Wind

On Antithesis and Backbones

We blogged several days ago on the fundamental agreement that lies beneath any superficial conflict between the Unbelieving West and Islam. Both agree that redemption comes by law.

Islam (which means “submission”) teaches that salvation and redemption to both man and society comes from submitting to the law of Allah, as revealed by the prophet Mohammed, or the hadith, or (in the case of Shia) the successive Imams. The Unbelieving West also has a doctrine of redemption by law: as society looking more and more to the State, its laws and regulations to solve all of mankind's problems—whether it be disease control, arresting climate change, relieving poverty, banishing crime, or even preventing and restituting accidents.

The only disputes between the Unbelieving West and Islam are intra-mural ones—disputes over the source and content of the law. Both, however, agree that law redeems, and that mankind can be saved by submission to it. Now there is an interesting historical development that has taken place in Islam which puts it even closer to the West. While formally the law comes from the idol god, Allah, in actual practice the source of law and its application comes from the Islamic state, or whoever is in control of the civil magistracy in respective Islamic societies.

The formal confession of Islam is that there is but one god, Allah and Mohammed is his prophet. But in actuality the Koran cannot stand as a complete revelation of the mind and will of Allah for man: it requires interpreters and interpretation. Moreover, because the Koran is primarily a book proclaiming salvation by law, there is no distinction in Islam between church and state. Therefore, the political powers of the day in Islamic societies have successively developed, changed, modified and altered the Koran's teaching. Fundamentally, Islamic law and its development has been a statist phenomenon, and increasingly so.

Take, as an obvious example, that Mohammed never taught that women should be veiled and covered by the burkha. But subsequent traditions and teachings do (being derived from cultural practices of various historical tribes)—and they are just as binding upon the conscience of the faithful as anything in the Koran. And since the ultimate manifestation of the power and will of Allah upon earth is the state, the state will bind the conscience on these matters. Islam is intrinsically statist because it requires absolute submission to Allah, and Allah's power is manifested primaily in the State.

So the post-Christian West and Islam agree on two fundamental doctrines: that redemption is by submission to law and that the State is the mediator and enforcer of law. There are minor disagreements over the source and content of the law. Islam formally says that the law which redeems comes from the god, Allah—but in reality, Islamic law originates in the hearts, minds, and traditions of man as manifested in the State. The West formally says that the law comes from the will of the people—but in reality the State is increasingly intrusive and despotic and answers to itself. Western government trundle on under the oppressive weight of the despotic bureaucratic machine: all incoming governments, regardless of their ideology, end up conforming. In the hearts of Unbelievers in the West and in Islam there is a deep and abiding consensus that the State is, by definition, the will of the people and the will of the people is the State. Allah and the will of the people alike end up to be little more than warranting concepts.

One recent commentator on our blog, Crusader Rabbit enjoined Christians in the West to have more backbone in standing up to encroaching Islam. He suggested there was too much “turn the other cheek” stuff in the response of the Church in the West to Islam. This, in turn, implies that there is not a sufficiently strong antithesis between Christianity and Islam.

Our response to this would be the classic “two-handed” response. (We recall that Winston Churchill once lamented that he could not find a one-handed economist!) On the one hand, amongst those churches and denominations where the gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus has become caked over and occluded by centuries of unbiblical traditions, redemption by law will have re-emerged. Where this is so, the ravine that stands between Islam and the Church and the Unbelieving West and the Church will have filled up with human detritus to where there is little more than a shallow ditch separating the Church from Islam. In such cases, Crusader Rabbit's lament is justly uttered. In such places both Islam and such unfaithful churches share a common belief that redemption is by law, and the only disputes turn around the content of the law which redeems, which in turn devolves down to matters of social conditioning and preferences.

On the other hand, amongst those churches and denominations where there is both a clear proclamation from the Scriptures and belief amongst the people that redemption is not a matter of law, but a matter of the grace and mercy of God, by faith in Christ Jesus alone, the antithesis is deep and unbridgeable.

This is not to say that we have been as faithful to the antithesis as we ought, nor that we have properly thought through all the implications. To do this properly requires both wisdom and courage. In this we have much to learn. Learning how to be kind and loving to our enemies, whilst being resolutely faithful to our Lord and His total dominion, and whilst calling these same enemies to repent of their law-redemption and turn to Christ that they too may be saved is neither easy nor something in which we are naturally facile.

But the antithesis is there: it is deep and obvious, and it cannot be removed by man. For from the very dawn of the human race, God said, “I will put enmity between your (Satan's) children and the children of Eve” (Genesis 3:15). He alone can remove it and He has subsequently made clear that He removes it only in the Person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12) Before Him, Allah is a wretched idol and Mohammed is a false prophet. He will not have them in His presence (Exodus 20:3); they are lies and empty wind.