John Carter, while being sci-fi/fantasy, has at it's core a love story. But the love is not only romantic love.
Define love as described in the Bible. Aside from the love between Carter and Dejah, where else do you see love exhibited in the film? Is it portrayed biblically?
Do you think students at WCA have a correct (biblical) understanding of love? Why or why not. Where do we as a culture struggle with our understanding of love? Why is a bad understanding of love dangerous?
I think that Tars Tarkas( i think thats his name) the father and ruler of all the green people showed true love throughout the film. He really showed love when he told Carter to escape and take his daughter with him. He knew that he was going to be punished severely, but he was willing to take the sacrifice because he loved John Carter, and his daughter. When we love someone we are wiling to do anything for that person. We might not ever have to sacrifice our lives, but we might have to sacrifice our popularity, our time, or our money. Tarkus showed us an amazing picture of this.
ReplyDeleteI also saw that when John Carter risked his life to save Deja. He knew he could die, but he loved her enough to save her.
DeleteGood Alivia, I was hoping someone was going to mention Tars. Tars is very heroic in many ways and one I think is how he loved others.
ReplyDeleteDoes he show love to any one else in the film? If so, who and what does he do?
This question is for anyone to answer.
I think he showed love to all his people as a leader and father. But he felt that as a leader he had to be strong. So as a father he had to seem like he was tough and punished people but underneath he was kind and gentle and didn't want to hurt anyone. This part of the story is similar to Joseph and his colorful coat. In this story Tars was the father of Joseph, John Carter was Joseph and his brothers were the people trying to take Tars place as leader.
DeleteI think that Tars showed love to John Carter. John Carter was going to be shot by Tar's tribe but Tars showed him love by not telling them to shoot him. So he shows him love by not letting him be shot to death. He also shows love to him in the battle scene by always being by his side and not letting him fight by himself and the others. We can show love to people by our actions. If someone is being bullied we can show love by standing up for them. I think showing love is the most important thing everyone should have.
ReplyDeleteThe other relationship I saw love in was with John Carters old family. He had lots of flashbacks and he had a wife and a little girl and they both died in a house when he was gone. He felt like he had to save Dejah because he didn't want to lose someone else he loved when he could have stopped it.
ReplyDeleteOne verse that decribes love well is John 15:3
Greater love has no one than this, than lay down one's life for his friend. I think this verse goes really good with Alivia's because tar was willing to risk his life for his daughter.
I think WCA has a corrupt view of love by we think we find love in boys or we feel like we need to have everyone love us, but thats not what love is or where we find it. The only true place we find it is Jesus like the verse i stated earlier John 15:3,Jesus laid down his life for us and thats what true love is not if you have a Boyfriend or girlfriend or wanting to be loved by yhe whole world. We go to earthly things that we love or it loves us but were never satisfied if we don't go to God.
ReplyDeleteAlso some people like nonbelievers pretend are scared of what true love is so they hide by saying they are believers but they're not. TRUE LOVE is God's,Jesus and the Holy Spirit love for us. When some people realize this they find themselves being called by God to preach the word. That’s also how martyrs start from loving God so much they lay down their lives for Christianity or others. So the best love is being loved by and loving God. But we need to remember that the love we have here is WORSE than God's love in heaven.
DeleteWell said Mackenzie. I think you meant to say John 15:13.
ReplyDeleteCarter embodies John 15:13. Do you think the filmmakers wanted to make John Carter a Christ figure? Just look at the initials (JC=Jesus Christ).
What are all of your thoughts. Is John Carter a type of Christ?
I agree with you, Mr. Scott. I think that is a very good point, I mean, I never even thought of John Carter as a symbolization of Jesus Christ. I do think, though, that is probably what the director was trying to show. He even sacrificed himself, just like CHRIST!
DeleteI agree with you Mr. Scott also. I think John Carter is Chirst. He sacrificed himself to save his true love and everyone else just like how Chirst sacrficed himself on the Cross to pay for our sins. Yes I think the filmmakers are making John Carter just as Christ. But I don't get it Jesus lived a perfect life but John Cater didn't? How is he still a Christ figure?
DeleteI never thought of it like that but now that I think about it it really is clear. Everything in the story of Jesus is somehow shown in this story.
DeleteI think the movie was very clever putting in some things that Jesus did. I never made the connction though. Like the very last scene John Carter died and came back to life then went back to his "home" mars. Like Paige said he sacrificed homself to save dejah just like christ did for us. Also you can think about it when he gets mars he was intened to save/ help the people just like christ did for us. He saved us.
DeleteI agree with Mr. Scott. I think John Carter showed that what Jesus did for us, in this movie. John carter showed love, peace, and protect things in this movie. Jesus did all this good things to us, too. I think John Carter showed Jesus, part of in this movie.
Deletei totally agree with you makensie! Especially as girls we spend so much tim trying to get other people love and affection. That we forget what the meaning of love is. But i think the real reason why we search for love is because we dont fully grasp what it is.
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 14: 4-6
Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always PROTECTS, always trusts, always hopes, always PERSEVERES.
Every time i read this verse i am taken back by how important and hard it is to love someone. WHen i read through the list it makes me realize that even though i thought i loved someone i didnt love them the right way. This movie was a great reminder to show us that we need to love people. and love them the right way!
That is well said Livvy. WE look at love and think that we are supposed to love to people in our lives(not counting family). Those people are, the person we will end up marrying and God. We should dig deep into our hearts though and love everybody. It says in the bible that we should love our enemys and pray for them. We don't do that though . If anything we hope that they suffer.
ReplyDeleteso true sarah! it is soooo hard to love and even harder to pray for our enemies!
DeleteWe also see a person who was wrong and should be punished for what they did, right?But aren't we all sinners? We don't mean to do bad things but we still do. I think God wants us to learn by praying for our enemies that they are just like us and we should forgive them. Like Jesus did for us when he forgave us and gave us a way to him. We should be praying for our enemies because they are sinners just like us.
DeleteI agree with you Sarah and Alivia and Michelle- I think it's really hard to love someone who's being realy mean to you in school or who you especially don't like. vote. I think these verses helps you to love your enemies.
DeleteLuke 6:27
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you
Matthew 5:43-48 ESV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ...
But what I am confused by is how can we love bad people like murders or burgulars? They are the ones that don't have love in their hearts. So How can we love them as any other people?
Alexandra~ it is extremely hard to even think about loving people like murders and burglars. I once heard a story from a pastor and he had a friend thats daughter was raped. That boy that raped his daughter ruined her life, an it made her dad furious! He prayed for years to learn to forgive the boy that rapped his daughter and over the course of God working in his heart he found the boy and told him he forgave him to his face. This is love! The dad would have never been able to do that by himself, but through Gods love he was able to forgive. We arnt able to love people like murders on our own, but through God working in our hearts we will find a deep peace and love that no one will understand.
DeleteI agree with Sarah, Alivia and with Yeager is hard to love and forgive our enemies,especially if they are mean to you.
DeleteAlivia- Thanks for the story about the father and the daugher and the boy. All of us are like the father we won't forgive our enemies like the boy. But we all need to relize that we gotta forgive our enemies even if they are being mean or if they are a murder. God tells us to love or enemies better than ourselves. So we should do the same.:)
DeleteThat is such a good point Sarah!
DeleteLeviticus 19:18 says: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."
Some other good verses are Matthew 5:43-48.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
My first point is that the world always tells us differently than God. If you need someone to turn to, it's God, not humankind. Human nature tells us that if we hate someone, show hate, and if we love someone, show love. God says otherwise. God tells us to love even our enemies.
Second, as the verse above says "God demands perfection", it IS true. Sometimes we think because God forgives us through Jesus's saving grace, God doesn't demand perfection. The truth is he does, but becuase we're not perfect by the fall, we can STILL make it to heaven through Jesus.
I think Carter had a true love for his wife and child. But when they died, he started loving gold. When the people transported him from earth to barsoom, he ended up loving a lot of things.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex and I think thats why he want to return to mars
DeleteI think it depends on the individual student.Because you could love an item, and you can base your life on it, and worship it instead of God.
ReplyDeleteWhat would it look like to base our lives on something though? Was John Carter basing his life o something, or was he just trying hard to get back to the things he loved now?
DeleteI agree with Alex that it depends on the individual student. The Fall has affected the world and sin has entered the world. John Carter fell in to sin of idolatry. John Carter went to Mars and he was happy there and he got married and the only way he can transport back to Mars is a medalion. When he goes back to Earth he feels like he has lost everything and that is a sign that he has worshipped the medalion in a way.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Griffin! He would do anything for that medalion.
DeleteI actually think that he really wanted to see the princess again, and would do anything to see her again.
DeleteI agree with Luke that he wanted to see his wife agian.He was finally happy and content on mars and then he got sent back.
DeleteA way to see if we are idolizing something is to think what it would be like if we lost it. If we would be totally depressed, sad, and mad without it. If so we need to put God before that thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Luke. Carter loved mars and he really did want to be there, but his main goal was to get back to his princess. Did he idolize her? im not sure. But She was obviously the main reason that he wanted to get back to Barsoon.
ReplyDeleteWhen i think of someone idolizing something i think of it being a "thing" but cant we idolize people? And how do we know when we are crossing the limit from loving someone a lot, and idolizing them. For example, i love my parents more then anything and i would be devastated if anything happened to them, but does that mean i am idolizing them?
If you went on a vacation with your parents and you went on the wrong flight, you would want to get back to them. Wouldn't you?
Deleteummm yess.. that doesnt have to do with idolizing anyone though...
DeleteYES, totally, Aliva, and Mackenzie, we spend so much of our time focusing on our outward appearance, during that time we are “scaring” our heart. We feel like we need to be perfect 24/7, and if we are not it would be the end of the world, or we just want to crawl in a hole and die, because we feel like we should be ashamed of how we look. Just like John Carter he judged the green people form their appearance and until Tars Tarkas laid down his weapons and basically surrendered John didn’t trust that he was a good “person”.
ReplyDeleteI definitely saw a loving relationship between Tars and his daughter Sola. Tars would do anything to make sure Sola was safe. He helped her run away with Carter and Deja so she wouldn't be punished for her mistakes. Sola loved her father so much that when he was in the arena fighting the white ape she jumped in to save him. I think their relationship was portrayed biblically because they love each other for their hearts, they risked their lives to protect each other, and they can't bare to see each other suffering.
ReplyDeleteI agree with gabby. Sola was going to die because of all the mistakes and Tars took the risk of saving her because she's his daughter, and he would probably do anything to help her or save her.
DeleteI also agree with Gabby, both Tars and Sola risked their lives for each other. Tars helped Sola escape with John Carter, and Sola tried to help Tars in the arena. This acts show their love for each other.
DeleteI agree that Tars would risk anything for his daughter. One thing that a lot of people missed is that he gave up his leadership when he saved her. This showed weakness in him and the big dude challenged him to a fight.
DeleteThat's a good point Chris, and I completely forgot about that part. I think Tars willing to give up leadership and power shows that he has weakness for his daughter and that her safety is more important than his. This shows me his selflessness and how he put his daughter's life before his own.
DeleteI agree with Chris and Gabby- Tars was sacrificinng his daughter. He was giving up all he had so then he could give her safety. He gave up all things like leadership for his daughter. It's so sweet how he did it for his daughter. Another example would be from the Bible. How Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for us. It is the same kind of love. In the Bible and in the movie. =)
DeleteTars and Sola's relationship was a clear example of love. Tars risked his life to help John Carter and Sola escape. Also, later on in the arena, Sola jumped in to save her father from the White Ape. This act showed the deep love they held for each other. John Carter's flashbacks showed the love he had for his family. His nephew Ned also showed that he respected and loved his uncle, because he was eagerly willing to do all that John Carter asked of him. Woola also showed love by being there with John Carter through the whole movie, and standing by him even in the face of danger. True love doesn't always have to be romantic, love for a family member or friend is about as true as it can get.
ReplyDeleteAlivia- That story really made me look back on my life and see who I should forgive. People wrong us numberous times throughout our lives, and all of us need to remember to love and pray for our enemies. It's a hard lesson to learn, but I know that it is one of the most important things that Christians can do. God sent his son for us so that we have can enjoy eternal life with him, and he forgives us for all of our sins. So why can't we try and be more like him?
ReplyDeleteexactly! Forgiving others when it is hard is one way that we are set apart from the world. We are called to be lights in this dark world.
DeleteIn what ways can we try to change the culture of WCA when it comes to our incorrect understanding of love? Do you think dating relationships in 8th grade bring harm to understanding the biblical truth of love? Should there be dating in 8th grade? Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteMr Scott-I think that we should not date in 8th grade and in 7th grade also. I think we can't handle breakups and heartbreaks. We would take it to seriously. It would be hard on us. Another reason is we are way to young to date. High school I think is personally the best age to date at.
DeleteDating is something that is a really big debate in middle school. I think it all depends on the person. Everyone is mature in different ways. If you believe you are mature enough for a boyfriend/girlfriend then i would say that is your call. However, most people in middle school are not ready for a relationship. Dating usually just causes a lot of drama and heartbreak in middle school, so its usually not worth the pain. We should spend our time growing our friendships and leave the dating to high school and college.
DeleteIn the eighth grade dating id really just liking someone else, its not like we can drive. As Alivia said, it depends if you are mature enough to handle what happens next. I don't think that many people get the true definition of love. It says in first Corinthians 13:4,
DeleteLove is patient and kind;love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice with wrong doing,but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things,believes all things, hopes all things,endures all things.
I think that is the true meaning of love.
i honestly think it depends, i know theres the heart break stuff and what not, but also i think it could be a learning process, to love someone more than just like a friend, and if you really love that person staying with them when times are tough, it says im responsible, i wont just give up, because if you start giving up on the ones you love now, you will give up on your marriages. its one thing where if its constant fighting, and unkindness to eachother all the time it would probably be best to take a break or depending on how bad just end it to keep it from getting really bad. But if its just a fight, or a bad day, and words were said that they didnt mean, you have to understand, everyone knows the feeling of having a bad day and saying things you dont mean, we do it to our parents a lot! and they dont give up on us! it is a time to learn respect for another person, true love, patience, and foregivness too. feel free to disagree thats kind of how i see it
Deletevery good point zach!
DeleteMr. Scott's Bible Class is finished with the project.
ReplyDeleteI think this movie has true love story in it. Because when John Carter was in the earth, he loved his family. But they died, so he became a bad guy. John Carter really loved his child and wife. Also, John Carter showed true love when he loved mars princess. He protected her. Because he really loved her. So, I think he showed love to his family, mars princess and mars people (John Carter fought to help mars people and he fought for the princess's father, too.).
ReplyDeleteJulie- I agree with you. John Carter did love his family and the mars princess. I also think Tars loved his daughter. He was willing to let her go to John Carter so then he could be captured by Tals Hajus I think. How Tars had love is he sacrficed himself instead of his daughter. That is how we should show love to others. Not by loosing our lives but staning up for someone.=)
DeleteI think one time in the movie that love is displayed is Tars letting Deja stay with the green people even though the green people didn't like Deja and her kind. Like it says in Deuteronomy 10:18b
ReplyDelete"and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing."
That what I think Tars did in the movie.
Definition of LOVE
ReplyDelete1
a (1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
Love is very important in a world of sin and despair, such as God's love and love from other people. God has unconditional and unchanging love, but us, as people, falter in and out of loving one another.
In "John Carter" there are many examples of love. He has love for many people, but unlike God, it is imperfect love.
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
I beleive love is what the whole Gospel is about. The only reason Jesus died for us is because of His great undying love for us.
Another story about love that we just learned about in Bible class is the story of Jonathan and David. Even though Jonathan was supposed to be the next king after Saul, God annointed David. Most likely Jonathan would have been very angry that he was not going to be the next king, but instead, he befriended David. It was a covenant friendship, or a friendship built on a promise. They would be friends and love each other NO MATTER WHAT!
Even though this is different from the love John Carter showed to Dejah, it is slightly like Tars' love for his daughter and John Carter's love for his family.
Jesus Christ proved his love for us a million times over. The most prominent of all ways He did this is in many verses of the Bible. One verse that I found is 1 John 3:16
It says:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
I'll use dating as an example in wca... I think we misuse the meaning of dating in wca. I think some of us just date to date because they think its cool or they will look good and don't get me wrong i do think some relationships are for real in our grade but some aren't
ReplyDeleteI think love was portrayed biblically in this movie, Tars showed love just for another iving person, and innocent life, somebody he didnt even know at all! he saved JC's life, a few times, and vice versa. but also Dejah and JC loved eachother, it was really shown more toward the end of the movie when he saved her from death, and maried her, and then faked his death to get back to her, but i think he loved her throughout the whole time, sounds cheesy but kind of love at first sight, but it wasnt obvious
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zack. I saw how near the end of the movie, John Carter risked his life to protect those he loved. He saved Dejah when she was about to be killed, because he cared about her.
Delete