May the 4th Be With You

So today is a special nerd day: it's Star Wars Day. "What makes today Star Wars Day?" you may ask. Well take a look at the title of this post and hopefully you can figure it out. I was going to make a frivolous post commemorating one of my favorite series' of all time, but as I started looking for some well-designed art pieces of Star Wars to post, I came across something...frightening, to say the least.

Did you know that there is an actual religion called Jediism? It's based upon Buddhism and Taoism, so says Order of the Jedi. I decided to write this article as a enlightenment, no pun intended. While I don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with Star Wars or media in the church, there is something desperately wrong when the two become blurred. This is a prime example of what happens when media is used improperly, specifically with regards to culture.

Now this isn't some church/media integration gone bad. It didn't start out as a Baptist church, or even a Pentecostal church for that matter, that just liked Star Wars a little too much. This is a group of people that took Star Wars and formed a religion out of it. I don't even know if religion is the right term. It is more of a philosophy; the Order of the Jedi affirms that much anyway. The scary part is they believe this actually exists and that they created it. Temple of the Jedi Order writes on its homepage, "We are not fictional Jedi from the wonderful Star Wars movies, neither are we role playing. Jediism is not the same as that which is portrayed within the Star Wars Saga by George Lucas and Lucasfilm LTD. George Lucas' Jedi are fictional characters that exist within a literary and cinematic universe."

One thing is certain, they cannot afford a good website. Both of those links are to .org websites and contain poor designs. Now there's nothing wrong with .org websites, but .com is more professional. I suppose they are trying to claim themselves as a non-profit organization. In my mind that type of thing is reserved for charities and churches, but I guess they claim themselves as a church.

Art by David Moss

Just to show you how big of a problem this really is, Jedi Church claims that in the most recent New Zealand census, over 200,000 people claimed Jedi as their religion, more than Jehovah's Witnesses and the Assembly of God. So just what do they believe in? As would be expected, they believe in an all powerful force in the world and that there are two sides of that force: A light side and dark side. They claim that, while most religions will try to tell you what is right and wrong, "[we believe] good and evil, are all axioms of the force, and that we must listen to the force so that we will know the right thing to do." That's a load of hogwash. That's like saying listen to your heart, it will tell you what to do. Do you know what the Bible says? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9. Do you want the truth? The Bible is truth. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17

But what's the worst part in all of this? After all, we already know there are some crazy religions out there that are down right evil, especially Satanism. An article written by Matthew Cresswell of The Guardian states that Jediism is becoming a growing problem in the UK. "Chi-Pa Amshe, speaking as a spokesperson for the Jedi council (Falkna Kar, Anzai Kooji Cutpa and Daqian Xiong), believes that Jediism can merge with other belief systems, rather
like a bolt-on accessory. 'Many of our members are in fact both Christian and Jedi,' he says."

That's the problem that we face. This is just another tactic of the devil. The Bible warns against false teachers (Jude 4). They are wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 5:17). Paul said to reject anyone who teaches another doctrine than that which he has preached because it's trying to lead you astray (Galatians 1:8). The weaker Christians in our churches can be easily duped by this type of message. We need to preach the whole counsel of God to our congregations (Acts 20:27). We need to teach them sound doctrine (Titus 1:9). When bank tellers are taught to spot counterfeit money they don't examine the fake bills, they examine the real thing so that when they see the fake, they will know immediately. We must help our people put on the full armor of God so that they can withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand, and so that they can resist the fiery darts of the wicked (Ephesians 6:11, 13, 16).

What are your thoughts? If you'd like to add your 2 cents, there's a comment box below. Feel free to continue this post by sharing your thoughts.

As a side note, if you like this article may I ask you share it on Facebook or another social media network to get the word out about my blog. People need to be aware of this topic so that they know what's going on behind the religious scenes of the world. As well as for the other helpful articles that have been posted and will be in the future.

Posted in: Identity