Thoughts on Tree of Life

Topic of Choice 2

Tree of Life

The movie Tree of Life follows the life of  a boy and his family. The movie focuses on the ideas “The Way of Nature” and the “Way of Grace.”  The way of nature is harsh, negative, unforgiving, and calloused, and the way of grace is kind, forgiving, positive, and loving. The father in the film represents the way of nature and the mother represents the way of grace. Throughout the movie, the father shows abusive behavior towards his wife and two kids. One of the kids, Jack, clearly hates his father because of all the wrongs he has committed against him and his brother and mom. The movie shows a transition from the Jack being a victim of abuse, to being bitter, to showing tendencies of abuse himself. At one point during the movie, Jack  purposefully causes his younger brother physical harm and soon after he realizes what is happening to him.

“What I want to do, I can’t do. I do what I hate.”

The boy in the movie thinks/prays this verse from Romans 7:15, This part of the movie and the way that it applies this scripture to situations of abuse is very profound. There are many cases in which a person who was once abused becomes an abuser. Why is this? I think the source of this is hate---I think that often people become what/who they hate the most. In the Bible the Lord commands Christians to love, not hate their enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

“But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:11

I think that when one follow the Lord and obey his commandments true freedom and joy will be found. As this verse suggests, when one allow themselves to be consumed by hatred they are walking through darkness aimlessly. When a person is living in a lifestyle of hatred (sin), I think they are making themselves vulnerable to spiritual attack, (1 Peter 5:8) and I think that this leaves opportunity for Satan to come in and speak lies into their mentality.

This is one reason why I believe healing is so important. An important aspect of healing his forgiveness and this is not only freeing for the forgiver as well has the forgiven. Refusal to forgive someone is sin and thus it is important to repent and forgive---even when this includes forgiving an abuser (Acts 3:19).