I saw Avengers: The Age of Ultron last night and the most interesting character in the movie was Ultron. Ultron’s smugness is perfectly voiced by James Spader (Blacklist, Stargate) and his performance was so good I almost wanted him to win. The Apocalyptic Death-Bot had a few other great lines throughout the movie; which give him the heir of a fiery Old Testament prophet, but one of them really caught my ear:
Ultron: [sitting in a church] They put the building in the middle of the city, so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that, the symmetry, the geometry of belief.
The Geometry of belief. The church is no longer the center of peoples lives but God is still equally accessible to anyone who wants to be closer to God.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. John 7:37
It’s easy to think our circumstances or our sin effects God symmetry to us when in realty God’s “distance” is measured by our faith. Faith is the great equalizer, not works that put us in position to know and experience God.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–Ephesians 2:8
Faith puts us on equal footing with the great examples of faith found in scripture:
So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:9
Some days faith feels far away but the good news is that it’s closer than we think
No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deut. 30:14
God is not trying to distance himself from humanity, He sent Jesus Christ that we may draw near to Him
Come near to God and he will come near to you.. James 4:8a
Ultron may have been the movies villain but we should thank him for reminding us of how close God is to all of us.
My other posts on comics book movies
Comic Book Movies As A Catalyst For Spiritual Growth
Three Lessons For Youth Pastors from Iron Man 3
Your Turn
Where do you think God is in relation to you?
Where do you think you are in relation to God?
What are some ways you could increase your faith?