Kingdom Of Heaven

I saw the new Orlando Bloom Movie this - Kingdom Of Heaven. While its not a great movie, I left feeling more aware of my faith and more aware of how earth shattering Jesus was to religion.

The story goes like this: A blacksmith has lost his child to sickness and his wife commits suicide over her depression of their loss. The blacksmith is visited by his long-lost father who tells him that he is of noble birth but isn't interested in becoming something he is not. The father needed to make peace with those he had wronged and thus he reaches out to his son.

When the blacksmith decides not to leave his home, his priest (religion) tells him that God is angry with him and that his wife is in hell due to her suicide. The blacksmith kills the priest and is forced to flee his home and catch his father who is headed back to Jerusalem. The father tells the son that in Jerusalem a man is not made honorable by birth, wealth or by family but by his actions of his life alone. That the kingdom of heaven is one of moving forward in life by making good decisions. Decisions to defend the helpless, to place a hierarchy on no one, and to respect all people.

When the good king that keeps the peace dies, an evil king is in line. The royalty of the day want the blacksmith to agree for them to kill the evil heir and marry his wife (the princess) so that he will become king of Jerusalem and defend its people. When he says he will not commit evil for good to occur someone states: one day you will regret that you did a little evil to accomplish a lot of good. This decision is you seeing that this man will not dishonor himself for a little bit of political power but that a real leader leads as God leads and in God's time.

The greedy evil king takes power and sparks a war only to be defeated. When the Muslim troops march on Jerusalem the blacksmith prepares to defend his people and it is then that all men become equals. He eraces bloodlines, faiths, nobility, and slaves and draws all men to a single cause which is to defend the helpless. He gives stature to servants and calls them knights.

They fight for a few days but only to a draw. When the Muslim leader signals that he wants to discuss surrender, the blacksmith draws his advisors to himself. The main priest of Jerusalem tells him to convert to islam and confess later. The blacksmith says, you have just summed up religion in one sentence.

So my point.....

"May he who is without sin cast the first stone" - Jesus

Jesus didn't come to set some free. He came to set all free! This eliminated bloodlines, wealth, gender, and on and on. This made way for all people to have a door direct to the father of creation. Jesus calls on believers to make the world a better place by defending people who cannot defend themselves, to free slaves, to fight religion, to fight falsities and to right wrongs. This is being the salt of the world! This is being light in a dark place.

Everything about Jesus was blasphemy to religion. So today, I want to do more to share this good news with people around me. I want to help people see God for who he is - a real, loving father. I want to be found blasphemous but be found to have real faith.