Kingdom of Heaven
© James C. Hess
How is it, if these individuals do not believe in the existence of God, they can be motivated to pursue evidence of God? If God does not exist would they have the motivation, by way of raw curiosity, to pursue finding God? That they are motivated, by raw curiosity, to find God--doesn't that go to prove the existence of God? Isn't that, in and of itself, evidence of God?
Admittedly, such questions, ponderings, and inquiries tend toward the philosophical, but only to a point. At a certain point such human constructs as philosophy have to give way to something else. Something else currently beyond our capabilities to grasp, understand, and comprehend. Something else that guides us, finally, to the capability to grasp, understand, and comprehend.
Faith, for lack of a better word.
Throughout humanity's existence we, individually and collectively, have been motivated and guided by faith. The belief, then, in something or someone greater than ourselves.
How else to explain why it is we do the things we do? Things that otherwise transcend basic logic and reason? Things such as qualified war readily called 'crusades'?
I know such considerations are deep, thoughtful, and heavy upon the consciousness, and may make for insomnia in the immediate future, but they are considerations worth considering. Especially through the unblinking eye of the cinematic visionary.
Someone, then, like director Ridley Scott.
Ridley Scott admitted, prior to setting to mounting this production, he does not believe in God. But he believes in the possibility of God. Through such confession Scott, then, is a fool guided not by faith to find God but by cowardice: He will find God, but lacks the courage and conviction to admission of same.
Until he admits to this personal discovery Scott is resigned to considering how others find God, how others discover evidence of God. There is nothing wrong with this, save one thing: Such stances tend to color, with prejudice and bias.
I may have been insulting just now, so allow me to clarify: Scott is a fool but a brave man at the same time: When there are so many quick to vilify and demonize those who believe in God he brings forth a film about the wars between Christians and Muslims, who seek control of Jersualem, to effectively prove the existence of God. In doing so he all but forces people, believers and non-believers alike to look at the biblical historical context objectively. Make both angry, then, and reveal the truth.
