Ravi & Sherlock

I've made a discovery.

Sherlock!

It's one of those things where you hear in passing, or from others' reviews, about the new[ish] Sherlock series, but not until one watches it are you engrossed in this world of crime, mystery, intellect, and bravery.  As a friend of mine pointed out, it may be the best television series ever.  As modern-day Sherlock utilizes technology and cinematography to show and explain these modern crime investigations, an age-old, archetypal good versus evil plays out for us, the viewers.

So, a couple deductions.

1. God uses stories

I'm afraid I have forgotten who stated this recently in my life, I think it was either Ravi or my pastor in Chicago, Aaron Youngren.  I think we can see its truth in a variety of settings and scales.  First, the fact that we are part of the larger story of eternity.  Also, Jesus using parables to explain spiritual truths to his followers exemplifies the power of stories and metaphors in our lives.

2. It's a man-made story

While we're clear of who is in the wrong with certain crimes, and who is to thank for solving them time and again, the series strays from the archetypal purely-good protagonists and strictly evil villain ("good old-fashioned villain, if you will).   There is more complexity on a personal scale.  There is something appealing of Moriarty (on two instances, he uses "girlfriends" as pawns, and is very well-put together when he needs to be), and on the other end Sherlock reenforces that he is certainly not one of the "angels" - that is, the good guys, the ordinary folk.  

And that's precisely where I will focus a crux of worldly versus Biblical understanding of purpose and fulfillment.  If one recalls Satan in Mel Gibson's interpretation of Jesus' final days in Passion, he is not a snarly, red-horned Halloween nightmare.  He appears rather androgynous, pure, and mysteriously appealing (for a while).  In the final scene of Sherlock (season 2), where Moriarty accuses Sherlock of being ordinary, one may think, "It's true, Moriarty has all of the fortune, influence, and power he could want."  How appealing to our carnal selves.  It even throws Sherlock off, as he desires to not only not be ordinary, but that people clearly and plainly see his clever extraordinary-ness.

Here is where Ravi reenforces a truth we must cling to:

...be very careful of how we handle this [television], because, young people, if you do not monitor your viewing, it will monitor you and you in this generation will never to able to harness your imagination for the good.  You see, in reality nothing is so beautiful as the good, nothing is so monotonous and boring as evil.  But in the world of entertainment it's the other way around; fictional evil is intriguing, attractive, fictional good so boring and flat.  So you're seduced. -Ravi Zacharias, "Releasing the Next Generation"

This quotation speaks to all of us.  It's exciting to be completely enraptured by a story, a poem, a performance, or work of art.  I believe God made us this way, to understand spiritual truths in a beautiful, man-made interpretation.  But  just as McDonald's can play our nutritional evolutionary buttons with starch, fat, salt, and sugar (whole other posting topic), Hollywood, or BBC, can play to our entertainment appetites to draw us in.  

Bottom line: Glorifying the bad guy, or a destructive behavior in general, is not reaching to the core of human truth and is not teaching us a lesson of truth of our being in the world.  

When it isn't fantasy, but rather a subtle manipulation of true good vs. evil, we must make sure to decipher truth from deception.  When they are so intertwined like this, and we find ourselves seeking what we know isn't truth, we must reconsider what is a story written by a human - with a 'happy ending' written outside the bounds of God's world, and a story in our real world, in which human bravery, sacrifice, and peace-seeking trumps evil.  These aren't always the most entertaining stories, but when lived, I believe, are indeed the most fulfilling.  Read about Katie Davis, for example, in her blog here: Kisses from Katie.

All of this being said, I am still a big fan of the Sherlock series.  I love exercising my observation and deduction skills.  I appreciate John and Sherlock's relationship and how, despite each's frustrations, they need each other in life and in the cases.

Do you see this in our media today?  Do you have a certain way to monitor your intake so it doesn't take control of your values & outlook?