Who remembers "Star Trek, the Next Generation"? Do you remember when Captain Picard was captured by the Borg? He resisted being assimilated in every way he could, but the Borg drummed into him that "Resistance is futile." No one escaped the Borg. At each thwarted escape attempt, things looked increasingly hopeless for our hero.
That episode was the cliff-hanger for the end of the season. The next fall, there was Picard, escaping the Borg, returning safely to his faithful crew. So resistance had not been futile.
I appreciated the spirit of TNG, as the series was affectionately called. Evil doesn't have the last word, even when it insists otherwise. Good will somehow prevail.
My faith tradition, Christian Science, teaches that evil has no authority in the presence of ever-present good. Even when evil insists otherwise, the Creator of the universe is supreme, is in charge. As we learn to align our choices and our lives with Her good purpose, we see more often the success of universal good over evil.
It is important to resist evil. Acquiescence is approval. Left to itself, whatever isn't from God's goodness presumptuously suggests itself as powerful as good and as legitimate. And gets away with this fraud if no one interferes.
Jesus interfered big time -- sickness, sin, lunacy, death, not enough food, killer storms. He resisted and overcame every one of these "natural" evils with divine authority which, he said, came to him from God.
So is this a comparison between Captain Picard and Jesus? Well, no. But both had the courage to resist what they believed was not right. Picard's courage was moral; Jesus' was spiritual.
Meanwhile, some nostalgic Star Trek fan put a smile on my face with this church sign.
1 comment:
Thanks, Sandi. So many good morals and lessons in TNG. You described this one just right.
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