Taking Our Final Destination to Heart: Nobody Cheats Death

“Death is everyone’s destiny. Those living should keep this in mind.” (ECCL. 7:2)

A few weeks ago, when the cubes fell on the floor where they were invisible, I was ingesting ice from the freezer. It was clear that the false icicles had disappeared somewhere in the untapped area under my kitchen cabinets and appliances, so I searched for it in vain. I grabbed the drink that was the Cube’s final destination and started leaving when I felt the change in the air around me.

I had a vision that the ice cube was melting in a deadly place. I saw a pool of icy water slowly growing near the frayed wire like a clogged bomb. Sparks lead to tripping breakers. The house plunges into the darkness just like it would leave the tub. And in the darkness I feel myself stumbling and falling towards my end. And then I finish the fatal phase.

I didn’t die that day. Otherwise, I’d use this from a great bead Sunset Boulevard fashion. But I realized that it is not wrong to think that death is closer to us than we would like to admit. My former pastor, the late Tim Keller, noted that we have the clearest view of the nature of life at a funeral. As he wrote in his book I’m deadwe hear God’s voice at that moment. “Everything in life is temporary… this is reality.”

Fan of final destination The film franchise has heard the same message since the horror series debuted in 2000. You might even say that the franchise is preaching the truth of the gospel.

The first film in the series, final destinationdirected by James Wong from a script he co-written with his peers. X-Files Scribe Glen Morgan debuted towards the end of the revival of the short thrasher film, which began with the success of Wes Craven’s 1-2 punchbox office scream 1996 and Jim Gillespie’s I know what you did last summer 1997.

Unlike those films, final destination I quickly created a splash by tweaking the old-fashioned thrasher formula with innovative conceit. Instead of featuring embodied killers who terrify unfortunate groups of generally attractive young people, the classic horror villain Friday the 13thHockey masked Jason Voorhees, Oregon Elm Street NightmareThe razor glove Freddie Kruger, Indiana final destinationThrasher is the very invisible death.

Instead of wielding an x, a knife or a chainsaw final destination And each of the five sequels – the latest one, BloodlinePremiered earlier this summer – Sunday will perform the act through a Baroque causal chain that includes discarded soft drinks leading to fatal timing shorts at tanning bed facilities, or discarded soft drinks leading to loose screws from ceiling ventilation units. These elaborate death centerpieces have become a calling card that looks like the franchise’s cinematic. new york I felt the magazine was forced Rank them.

In each film, a group of young people miraculously survives events of massive casualties, such as plane crashes, interstate piles, or collapsed bridges. In the words of a film scholar Ian Konrich, final destination In the movie, Death becomes “Grand Thrasher.” And the marketing catchphrase of the first film warns that “death cannot be cheated.”

With his book Predicted fearKendall R. Phillips, a professor of communication at Syracuse University, attributes the success of certain horror films to the culture’s ability to “resonate” with the culture’s existing unrest. Five sequels, nine novels and comic book series have spread over 25 years. final destination The franchise appears to have achieved great success by portraying death in a way that resonates with the deep fears of American audiences about the subject.

This success is even more surprising when you consider that modern Americans prefer to live in denial of their final destination, as many historians, mental health experts and miscellaneous cultural observers have pointed out at various times. Stephen Mintza history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said in American culture, “Death is often kept invisible, with little depiction of everyday life… Death can look distant and abstract.”

In the world of final destinationIn contrast, death is not only always present, but close to the hands of an intimate stalker. Despite the character’s best efforts, death can be found anytime, anywhere. And when it finds them, death is neither gentle nor kind. final destination Death takes away the fear of not a benign stage in the circle of life but an unnatural and ruthless enemy.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story suitable for so many things final destination tradition. It tells the story of a certain rich man who tried to extend his life by stockpiling grain in a new shiny barn he clearly built for his purposes. After finishing the job, the man made a plan to enjoy a new lease of life, but God only said that death would come for him that night, and all his efforts were pointless. “Who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20, NIV) God rhetorically asks the entrepreneur of destiny at the end of the story.

In fact, death was extremely important to Jesus’ heart in his time on earth. He opposed it by feeding hungry people, healing sick people, and sometimes bringing dead people back to life, such as his friend Lazarus. Certainly, it is in Lazarus’ tomb that Jesus reveals his feelings about death in greater abundance than anywhere else in the Gospels. The English translation of the Gospels tells us that Jesus “wept” in the tomb of a friend. Still, the original Greek text could be rendered more accurately as “angrily with anger,” concluded that “Jesus approached Lazarus’ tomb in a state of uncontrollable rage, not an uncontrollable sorrow.”

For Jesus, death is not a Dickinson figure who is kindly halted for us on his way to eternity, but an unwelcome intruder of the ultimate design of the Father’s world. Death is the “last enemy” in the words of the apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 15:26.

And the Gospels predicted the final defeat of the enemy at the hands of the same Jesus, according to the creed of the Apostles, “dead again” on the third day after his very public execution, but death remains a bitter cup that has not been taken from us. And, as the barn entrepreneur of Jesus’ horror story discovered, it’s a cup where our path may come any time. final destination I understand the franchise very well.

Popular theologian The Packer once pointed out that “all truth is God’s truth.” The latest final destination movie, Bloodlinethe eerie financer Bulldworth (played by great character actor Tony Todd), who is the closest to the franchise’s recurring characters, takes part in that truthful home in mind.

As the franchise’s lore master, Bludworth is a character who warns each new batch of ignorant protagonists to the supernatural design of death, sometimes providing inexplicable advice on how to get ahead of what comes. However, when asked for advice BloodlineBludworth takes another tack. “I’m going to enjoy the time I left. I recommend doing the same,” Bludworth informs the victim’s latest collection before leaving the scene stage right. “Life is precious. Enjoy every second. You don’t know when.”

Todd had terminal stomach cancer at the time of filming. It appears this will likely be his final screen role in a nearly 40-year career, and he asked the producer if he could improvise the final line of Bludworth. He died six months later when he caught up with the actor. And, fittingly for a film about the nearness of death, Todd injected the Bulldworths’ final words with some of the clear ideas Tim Keller is speaking to.

Even if done for profit, horror films are forced to reflect the truth about the world of God when they mine our spirits for major fears. And in their dull ways, final destination The film utilizes the gospel truths we try to avoid in protein shaking, exercise routines, and Cadillac health care plans.

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