Outward Appearance
o A. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. How do the characters make judgments/decisions based upon the outward appearances of things and other characters? Are these judgments/decisions fair and right? Are all judgments we make wrong? Does the LORD ever want us to make judgments?
o B. Simply by observing the characters in the film, we do not know their hearts; but at the same time, by their actions and words, we get clues about their motivations and beliefs. Giving actual examples from the film, discuss specific characters and what drives them to do what they are doing. Considering these motivations/actions (both good and bad), how do we see similar motivations/actions in our culture (either in general or specifically in our school)?
A). When john carter first sees the alien men ridding on the big rhino horse things he did not realize what their intentions were, he thought he had to run and hide so that he would not get killed, but they spared his life, just like God has spared ours.
ReplyDeleteb.) Though we can’t see each one of the charters hearts, they can portray themselves by what they wear, how they act, their motivations, and by what they say. For example when Sab Than (evil prince person), he only wanted to take the princess, Dejah Thoris, hand in marriage so he could have the “keys to the kingdom” (mars), and destroy everyone who knows about the ninth ray. Yes, I will say it would be nice to rule a planet, but that would come with a lot of responsibly and if you mess up you could end up dead, if you got people really mad, they could gang up against you and there would be nothing you could do about it.
Even people in our school have motivations to rule or in our case to become the most popular, have the best and nicest stuff, good grades, easy life, not having a care in the world. But all to quickly our world could come crashing down and there would be nothing we could do about it, social nobody, getting D’s and F’s parents loose a job and have to give all of your things away. One second you could have it all and the next… nothing at all. So don’t just put your trust in the material and earthly things, put it in God, who will be there for you when no one else is.
I remember how John Carter immediately decided to help Dejah at first because she appeared to be human, and later you can tell he notices her beauty and becomes even more inclined to help her. A common weakness in real life and in movies is beauty, especially in females. The bible says "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31: 30 Before judging on how beautiful someone is, you should probably get to know them better. I think if John Carter was blind, he would have been a lot more cautious then when he first saw her.
ReplyDeleteIf he were blind he would have never saw her...
DeleteOh, I was comparing if he hadn't seen her to when he actually did see her in the movie. Sorry for the confusion!
DeleteYes God doesn't want us to judge people by they outwar appearance.
DeleteThe aliens always called John Carter a white ape because of his skin color. I think God wants us to judge people by there actions, not by there outward appearance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. the alien's where judgmental to John Carter by his appearance and they kept him chained up because of his ability to jump.
DeleteYes God doesn't want us to judge people by they outward appearance.
DeleteOne example would be when the kings daughter said that she was driven by her fathers blood. I think she means that she will do anything her father asks because she loves him.
ReplyDeleteI see this in my culture when my brother needs help with something I help him because we are supposed to help eachother, and if I help him, then he will learn from me and sooner then later help me also.
A good example of judging people by their outward appearance was when the immortal guys changed their looks into different people. They were still evil people even though they looked harmless.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we try to change the way we appear so others will like us.
When John Carter saw the aliens he probably was thinking "Oh no they are going to kill me." The reason why the thought that is because he had never seen them before. If I went to Mars and saw those aliens riding on rhinos I would be really scared also. This shows that it is man's nature to look at the outward appearance. But when he actually meets them some of them were friendly and others weren't but they were all the same creature, it's just that some of their hearts were kind and graceful and others hearts were not.
ReplyDeleteWas there any racism in the film? Did issues of race play a part of the story?
ReplyDeleteAlso consider how Tars treats Carter when the first meet. Is there anything striking about their meeting?
ReplyDeleteI think there was some racism between the green aliens and the humans. The green aliens avoid the humans as much as possible. They enjoyed watching them fight and kill each other. The tried to avoid each other instead of becoming friends.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point and I completely agree! They never went out of their way to help the humans. It was almost like the green people were watching football, and they were just rooting for their favorite team.
DeleteI agree with you Ethan and Gabby- The green people were just voting for their favorites. They didn't care if the humans got killed. They wanted a good show and entertainment. They were just rooting for who ever is in their kind.
DeleteI definitely think there was racism in the movie. I think that the green people in the movie really thought of John Carter as something that could not be associated with them. I also think there was discrimination when Sola had bad marks on her, she was looked down upon. Also when Tars and Sola helped Deja and John Carter they were looked down upon.
ReplyDeleteJohn Carter first notices Deja by her outward appearance because she was a human, but as the movie progresses he learns to love her for her heart. I also think that John Carter first chose to fight to save Deja because she was the first normal looking thing he’d seen since he'd been on Mars. This shows that he was judging her at first on her outward appearance alone, because if Tars had been the one that needed to be saved I don’t think John Carter would have saved him because he didn’t have a “normal” outward appearance.
I think that in my life not all decisions I make are good, but I don’t think all decisions I make are bad either. I think that a good decision should please God and not be for sinful desires, and I think that if my decisions please God than I think God would want me to make decisions.
I also saw some racism between the humans and the aliens because the humans probably saw the aliens as killers when they really didnt know the aliens intentions. That is also what the aliens thought of the humans. When Carter and Tars first met Carter was scared of him and Tars was in awe over him. They both didn't really know each other so they didnt know each others charactar.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point and I never thought of it that way. I think that when Tars first saw Carter he wanted to use him for his strength and jumping abilities, and I think John Carter had already judged the green people as bad before he even met them. I definitely think that the humans really separated themselves from the green people, because they thought of them as bad.
DeleteI agree with Andersen, there is some racism between the alien and the humans. Because first the aliens only like carter because he can jump very high.
DeleteI agree with Gabby, about the racism part each group of people looked down on each other, and we have found out in our government that if we don’t work together our country will fall apart. Because we are each a part of a clock and if one component breaks the clock stops working.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good example, Emily. I completely agree with that! It's just like that story in the Bible where we all make up the body of Christ, and the body cannot function without each part. The story says that if a nose wishes he was an eye then the body wouldn't be able to smell, so this story is an example that the parts of the body can only function properly when they work together and no part of the body is unimportant. This means that the people on Mars can only truly succeed when they work together.
DeleteI think one of the things that drove John Carter to fight and return, is what happened to his wife. When she was killed, he had fallen in love with Dejah and he felt that he could not let that happen again. He could not let her get hurt or killed.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pain he had gone through before made him even more determined to protect who and what he cares about. If I were John Carter, I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I let my loved ones suffer again.
DeleteThis might be a little random but, a Good quote to outward appearances is psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
ReplyDeleteFor the A question, when John Carter went mars and he saw the mars people, he tried to kill them. Because he never seen that green people before. So he thought the mars peoples are dangerous to him. But, actually the mars people tried to talk with John Carter. John Carter just saw their outward, not the inside. So he judgments them to bad way. we can not see the others hearts, only God can. sometimes we mistook people, because we only saw their outward. Only God knows our heart
ReplyDeleteThat's such a good point, Julie! When he first arrived on the planet, he sinned, as we do all the time, by judging.
Delete1Samuel 16:7 says:
"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
It is really hard not to judge someone, especially when you first meet them. Even if you haven't talked to someone yet, people always have opinions and judgements on other people, which is wrong.
2Cr 5:12 says "We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart."
God never judges on the outside, which is a releif from our judging world. We don't have to worry about how we look around him. For, "the LORD looks on the heart"
John Carter based one of his most important decisions in the whole movie on outward appearance. In the beginning, when he first sees Princess Dejah, he notices that she is a human, and he at once goes and saves her. As sinful people, we have a tendency to judge others, and base who we socialize with, on their outward appearance. It's not fair to judge others, because nobody likes to be judged. I found this Bible verse in Matthew that applies to this topic.
ReplyDeleteMatthew 7:1
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
I agree with Ethan, the Tharks' dislike for humans was pretty obvious. They didn't care what happened to Helium as long as they were left alone. If they had actually gotten the chance to socialize and to better understand them, things might have been different.
ReplyDeleteWhen John Carter first got to Barsoom and when he saw the green guys he immeditatly put up a wall/he feared them. I mean I would have been scared to. Also when he saw Dejah and the red and blue guys he wasn't afriad because that was normal to him. But some of them were really bad. I think all of us because were human beings judge first thing. Like when we see a boy with no legs we admedily judge them by saying there not like me we could never do the same things .
ReplyDeleteWhen John Carter first got to Barsoom the green aliens start shooting at him not even thinking about what they were doing. They just saw him and didn't know what he was so they tried to kill him. Like it says in John 7:24
ReplyDelete"Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
Instead of shooting first they could have tried to talk to him.
When Tars saw Carter jump for the first time he didnt want anyone to hurt him. He thought that Carter could help them fight against the other people. He immediately looked at the outside appearance by seeing his amazing jumping.
ReplyDeleteI find myself doing this all the time! The first day of school thru the last i judge people by how they look on the outside. What shoes they wear, clothes(but we have uniforms), how much makeup they put on, how athletic they are. I am constantly making assumptions and judging others by how they look on the outside. But thats not how we are to judge each other! 1 Samuel 16:7-8 "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” and judging people by how they look o the outside"
Many people didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah sent to save us, because he didn't "look" like the guy everyone thought could save them. They thought it would be a super hero type with strong muscles and a handsome face that came from a rich family. Jesus wasn't any of these. He was born with animals and grew up as a carpenter, yet he saved us from eternal death.
We need to think about that before we start to judge someone on the outside. They might not look like they are nice, or cool, or whatever you are looking for, but you dont know anything about a person until you take the time to truly meet them.
That's an AWESOME point, Alivia! People definitely judged Jesus when he was born, to the day he died. I hate it when people judge other people, especially becuase their judgement is usually 100% inaccurate! I have experience this myself in judging people. I may think I know someone by how they look, or what rumors I've heard about them. I am ALWAYS TOTALLY WRONG! This proves that judging people on the outward appearance is both wrong, in that it's a sin, and in that it's not REALLY knowing a person (it's usually wrong!).
Deletewhen JC first arrived in Barssom, and the green alien dudes saw him, they instantly wanted him dead. They didnt care what he was, or who he was as a person. They saw him as an invader, or a possible enemy instead of trying to comunicate, and realize he was a helpless human. But one of the aliens tried to talk to him, and see what he was doing, and where he was from. he didnt just judge him from outer appearance like the others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zach,they did judge him right when they met him. They thought since he wasn't their kind he should be dead.
DeleteEverybody judges people whether they care to admit it or not. Someone said this earlier but when Jesus was judged think about what a difference it would make if they knew his whole life story. He was a perfect baby, he lived a sinless life. Even when his mother first learned she was conceived was judged Joseph pretty much dumped her because of her appearance. In first Samuel 8:20
DeleteSo that we may be like all other nations, so that we may be judged, so that he can go out ad fight our battles for us.
When you look at this verse you don't see how this has anything to do with appearance but Israel wanted to "look " like all the other nations. sometimes we didn't want to be unique but that's just how God made us.
I argree 100% with Sarah that we all judge because we were born sinners, but we still don't have an excuse to judge people. If we have a problem with it we can ask the Lord for help and if we really mean it it will help us.
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