The Book of Eli

Just wanted to make a quick post to tell you I saw an extraordinary movie last night. The Book of Eli, though extremely violent, moved me in a way few movies have in a while.

Eli, played by Denzel Washington,  is a quiet yet extremely powerful man directed by God to walk from the east coast to the west carrying the last remaining copy of the King James Bible in existence, where he has been told “things are different.” Everything along the way is dead except a few humans and feral animals:  all vegetation is dead, and water is a commodity for which many often die.  A tube of ChapStick is like a bar of gold. I will say that the violence is not gory or gratuitous and there is little sensuality.

The faith message is incredibly powerful, without ever using the word “Christian” or any of the jargon we associate with the church at all. In fact, no reference is made to church or to Christ, but the message of the cross is loud and clear.

All I can say is that I will never look at my Holy Bible again ever the same, and actually, I’m thinking of wrapping a copy in a waterproof container and burying it somewhere no one would think to look.
The movie made me realize that if Bibles were to get in the wrong hands and all copies destroyed, or rewritten by those who worship false gods or no god at all, within fifty years our descendants would never even know what it
actually said.

I don’t believe God will let that happen, but it gives one pause to think that, certainly, we should never take the Word for granted. I worry now that so many children aren’t being taught. So, read the Bible to your children, and teach them the power of faith and God’s protection over the soul. With recent rumblings being picked up that Iran is plotting something “to show the world” on Feb. 11th, we all need to remember whom we serve.