I had some thoughts I was hoping to formulate into sharing, but after watching “Monumental” last night, they’ve sort of morphed into a review/endorsement of the movie.  Enjoy.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, I’m not convinced that Jesus’ detractors gave a rip about what His actual answer was.  I think they were merely trying to trap Him into claiming that any one religious law as greater than the others.  For them, that was reason enough to kill Him.  However, Jesus answered boldly and honestly, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, and mind.”  He went on to say that the second most important commandment is, actually, equal to the first, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).  Every other law is contingent upon these 2 commandments – civic or spiritual.  If you uphold these two things, you won’t need any other laws to deal with because you will be living an honorable, civil, virtuous life.   Even if you don’t believe in Jesus, or the Bible, would you dare claim it impossible to believe that anyone would be a menace to society by striving to live a disciplined, moral life while loving others as much as himself?  This kind of life is difficult, but it is what empowers one to operate with honor and respect.  Ah, yes, honor and respect.  Two things that seem nonexistent in today’s society.  Why?

Our focus has turned from God and put toward everything else in this world.  Our affections have been twisted to believe that we will be satisfied by material things.  We have forsaken dependence on God so we can depend on big government.  We have traded our Christian heritage and our history for lies and deception that foster division and slavery.  We’ve removed our focus, not only from God, but from ourselves and each other to blindly go where the media favorite declares is the way.  We have forgotten our God, ourselves, and our past.  If we don’t remember where we’ve come from, how is it possible to know who we are?  How can we know which direction to go if we neglect the way from which we came?

I rarely go to movie theaters anymore.  However, on the rare occasion that a good, wholesome film is out that I don’t mind shelling out my money to support, I try to do so.  Last night was one of those exceptions.  Last night was the special live event of Kirk Cameron’s “Monumental”, a documentary on America’s fore-fathers – the Pilgrims.   I hope that some of you were able to catch it somewhere in your area.  If not, please look for it as it will open in a very limited release on March 30th.  If it is not in your area, the dvd is due out in July, so look for that.  As you can tell, I recommend this film.  It was fantastic!  Cameron’s search for the truth of where we’ve come from as a nation led him, ultimately, to a very little known monument in Plymouth, MA that is the map to liberty.

When we’ve lost our way, what do we do?  Look back to see where we’ve come from and look to a map to find our way out of where we are.

That’s what the monument is in the film.  It is, as they called it, the “matrix of liberty.”  Unfortunately, I cannot remember every part of it, but the pieces I do remember are as follows:  the biggest and most important piece was faith . . . not faith in the car starting or that the food from your favorite restaurant is safe to eat . . . faith in God.  The biggest part of the statue was that of faith and the lady that symbolized faith was holding a well-worn Bible in one hand with the other hand pointing to the heavens.    Then, there were smaller, but equally important parts, under faith:  morality, education, wisdom, evangelism, etc. that all culminated in the final piece of liberty.  Liberty was personified by a young, strong warrior.  One who had the ability to fight and defend to maintain what he had, but did not need to fight all the time.  One who was confident and aware, always looking for the threat that would undermine liberty.  The biggest key here, though, is that liberty was only possible – according to the monument – in conjunction with all of the other pieces of the monument.  Beyond that, every piece had a common denominator that it showcased:  the Bible.  God’s Word.

This film did a fantastic job of teaching about the Pilgrims and this monument.  It teaches our past and reminds us where we’ve come from.  I’ve said this truth in several previous entries, and here it is again -  freedom only exists (and is maintained) by faith in God, by morality/virtue, and by a disciplined restraint to not do something just because it’s possible.  Possibility does not equate rightness or “ought-ness”.   The film also does a great job of showing the early understanding of liberty being that of the individual’s responsibility.  The health of a nation and freedom is never about the “collective” as the “progressives” want us to believe.  I’ll guarantee you that if everybody focuses on themselves, returns to God and is responsible for themselves, the betterment of each individual, by nature, makes the collective better and stronger.  Plus, is this idea not in Jesus’ words I mentioned at the top?  If we love our neighbor as ourselves, that means we must take care of ourselves, be responsible, and love ourselves – not in an arrogant way, mind you, but a reasonable respect for oneself – then we also seek to serve those around us with that same kind of love.  That’s what strengthens a society and that is what contributed to America’s greatness in our early founding.

This is probably the weirdest excuse for a “movie review”, but I thought I’d share the thoughts and urge you to see this film.  Again, if it doesn’t open anywhere near you, buy the dvd in July.  Support it, learn from it, and educate others with it.  We must remember our past – or learn about it for the first time in some cases!