Learning from Movies

In the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, a band of pirates has, for their greed, been cursed by ancient Aztec gods to live forever as skeletal beings whose true nature is revealed only when moonlight shines on them. (There is some confused metaphysics here, but let’s grant the premise.) One aspect of this cursed existence is that while they can loot and pillage, the undead pirates cannot taste food or drink or even feel the wind and rain on their faces. They are cut off from all the joys of life that come through feeling the world around them. They realize they are in a hellish state and work desperately to undo the curse. When the curse finally ends (spoiler alert!), the pirate leader receives a mortal wound, but for one moment he almost smiles as he says, “I feel . . . cold.” And then he dies.

We are like those pirates in a certain way, but with much better prospects. Like them, we are, for our sins, cut off from true life, the life of intimacy with God. Like them, we will live forever (we will live even after we die). We have two choices, to spend eternity with God or without him. Fortunately, we do not have to work desperately to undo the curse that cuts us off from God. God himself has done it through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. If we repent our sins and trust in Jesus, then when we die (and even before we die) we can say, “I feel . . . love!” And then we can spend eternity wrapped in that love of God that is always new.