(Warning: this post contains "spoilers" to the movies Primer and The Prestige)
earlier this year, my roommate phil brought home a movie called Primer (directed and written by Shane Carruth), which i had never heard of nor seen. we watched it in awe. we watched it again in awe a second time. we talked about it, trying to figure out what was going on. i think the plot of this movie perplexed my mind more than any other movie i had seen. i even went to wikipedia to understand what was going on. if you have seen the movie, you will know what im talking about. if you have not seen it. watch it. the confusion came primarily with the plot. the plot is very very complicated.
essentially, these two guys accidentally make a time machine. but there is a twist. a realistic twist that is. the reality of a time machine (originally noted in Back to the Future) is that when someone goes back in time, they duplicate themselves in the fabric of time. there exists two of them. in Primer, the plot of the movie revolves around this point. they guys go back in time, and they have to deal with themselves, avoid themselves, make preparations for themselves, and even...kill themselves, so as not to screw up the future or cause problems in thier lives. you can only imagine the problems if Bob goes home to his wife, only to discover Bob was already there.
since ive seen this movie, i have occasionally thought about the moral decision of killing oneself if there exists two of you. (dont ask my why i think about this, im crazy like that.) there becomes this question of "who is the original person". its like the battle between good and evil, so clearly defined in almost every story. the good is trying to defeat the bad. its a clear theme, simple. but when there are two of the same person. they are both good and bad, right? in a sense there is no good Bob and there is no bad Bob. so the differing factor becomes what Bob has done. lets say there is Bob A and Bob B. both are existing at the same time. both are initially good. but then, lets say Bob B does something bad, ie steals. well then, one can argue that Bob B is bad, and Bob A is good. the screwy part of this, is that both Bob A and Bob B are the same person, both are CAPABLE of the sin. so does that make Bob B more evil than A if both are capable of the same sin but one actually followed through with his capabilities? and this brings up interesting thoughts of ourselves.
God knows us. our inner beings. our souls, and hearts and mind and spirit. He knows what we will do, and in a sense we are forgiven for our sin that has not even happened yet. God is omniscient. so he knows our sin before we do it. so does this mean that once we actually commit a sin, we become more sinful? or is it that our sinfulness remains the same regardless of whether we commit the sin or not. that is, our sinfulness is measured by our capability to sin. this is a strange thought. and it is sad to think we are more sinful than we think we are because we dont know what we are capable of. that is, once we commit that sin, we are exposed to our own sinfulness. but regardless, we are thankful God IS omniscient and loves us regardless of what we do. this is very important too, when we DO sin. its so easy to sin and then to get really down on ourselves and say things like "God doesnt love me" or "God is really mad/sad/upset at me" its false because He already knew. and He loved you already knowing.
this weekend i saw the new movie The Prestige (written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, and directed by Christopher Nolan) this is a great movie and i recommend it. however, it brought to surface the same thoughts as Primer did. i wont go into details of the plot, but essentially, there exists Bob A and Bob B. and the audience is left to decide it is "right" to kill one of the Bobs, since there are two of them. and there are hints that one of them might have sinned. and so its odd. you are sitting there justifying the death of Bob. but when Bob dies there still exists Bob. and who says if one is better than the other since, in Gods eyes, they are both capable of the same sin. or arent they?
(i could go into the problems this raises with the possiblity of cloning but i want to focus on sin)
i got to thinking again after seeing The Prestige: about how events in our lives affect our capability to sin. what IF there are Bob A and Bob B. is it possible that if Bob A and Bob B experience two different things, those things could and would actually change the capability of them to sin? that is, could an event make one more (or less) capable to sin? God is omniscient yes, and so he knows what events we will go through, and what sins we will commit and are capable of. but what if there are two paths in life and the path that we take actually changes our capability to sin? oh, now this is a can of worms.
and i am left thinking of Judas. it says in one of the Gospels that "Satan entered Judas." is this a case that Judas was not capable of committing such a grave sin? that Satan had to enter him in order for him to commit the sin? and then the classic question: God knew Satan would have entered him, and God is ultimately in control so as He allowed Satan to enter him, so is Judas forgiven for the sin he would have not been capable of committing on his own?? Judas is forgiven for what he is capable of doing, no question there, but is he forgiven for the sin that he did when Satan was in him?
and what Bob A and Bob B existed. what if Satan entered Bob B?
