Faith Like A Goonie

    What is faith? What is this concept that the media mostly gets wrong, or Christians sometimes get wrong or at least confused by? Heck, even some pastors get it wrong. Is there a clear definition for it in the Christian life?
     Recently, I woke up in the morning and the first thing that popped into my head was The Goonies. It wasn't a slow process, but rather a thought that sprung me awake like lightning bolt to my consciousness, THE GOONIES. It occurred to me that Christians could probably learn a thing or seven from the classic 80's flick especially about faith. So, I will be relating this film to our walk in faith as well as making some arguments about what faith really is and means. Once again, like in my recent posts, I ask you to keep and open mind and open heart to what is going to be said in this entry.

The Goonies? Da fudge is dat?
     Hopefully everyone has seen or at least heard of the Goonies, but in case you've been living under a rock for the past thirty years I'll give you the rundown of the movie. Taking place in Astoria, Oregon it tells the story of a group of teenagers who are struggling with the fact they have to move due to a bunch of developers who bought out their parent's mortgages and also bought the surrounding land to build a golf course. Mikey Walsh, the protagonist, is super bummed that he wont be able to keep hanging with his group of friends he grew up with, nick-named the Goonies. So anyways, a bunch of them get together at Mikey's and mope about how their fates are certain unless miraculously their parents come up with the money to stop the deal. Mikey's dad just happens to be a curator at the town's museum and one of the friends, Mouth, suggests that maybe their is something in the attic they can sell to come up with the money since Mr Walsh stashes stuff up there all the time. They find a treasure map and Mikey convinces most of the others to take up the search for One Eyed Willie's treasure.


That Desperate Hour
     Much like Mikey and his friends we all face times of desperation where you are looking for a way out of your difficult situation. You pray and you pray and you pray, then you wait and wait some more. Finally an answer appears, but is it the answer you need? How are you sure it will get you out of your predicament? Who knows? You take the leap anyways! People on tv walk around saying "I've got faith! Hallelujah, I got faith!", but the thing of it is is that faith isn't a possession, there's no bogo offer on it. I would argue that it's an action, Hebrews 11:1 reads "Now faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.(DBY)", some people might get on me for  using the Darby translation, but I think it represents my point pretty well.  For another example look at Mark 5:25-34 when Jesus heals the bleeding woman, she saw Jesus and took her chance, all she needed to do was touch his robe. When Jesus realized some power went out of him he turned to her and reaffirmed her action, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." In my mind this clearly demonstrates that one aspect of faith is about seizing the opportunity, she had heard that Jesus healed people, it was enough for her and she was rewarded. Of course it was easier when Jesus was on the Earth, there was almost an instant gratification to this healing. We, like Mikey, might have to risk a little more for our answers in faith. All he had to go off of was a treasure map and a doubloon which supposedly led to a treasure, but that seemed enough for him even if he wasn't certain the map would lead to anything.

That's what I said! I said booby traps!

     When we exercise our faith that doesn't mean that everything is going to go swimmingly, or that everyday birds are going to sing a Disney tune and everyday is going to be sunny from here on out. Having that kind of attitude would probably lead to a mental meltdown. Jesus himself said that in this life we will have trouble(John 16:33), so while we cannot be certain about the outcome of our risks that we take through faith, we can be certain that God's grace is sufficient enough for us to get through our trials(2 Cor 12:9). We also have this jerk of an enemy, the adversary, who seems ever at our heels much like the Fratellis were to the Goonies, who sets booby traps for the faithful to throw us of the rails. His attacks combined with misconceptions about faith that we might have could serve to damage our walk with God especially when we are already going through something difficult. For example, let's say a person's family member get's severely ill and it interferes with the finances, they get behind on the bills. That person might say, if I just believe enough, have enough faith, things will get better. Then that person gets laid off and has little to no income. How are the medical bills going to get paid? Regular bills going to get paid? How are we going to eat? "I thought if I had enough faith God would carry me through this!" 

     While some of these events are influenced in the spiritual realm, we must consider the realm of free choice where events are effected by other's choices everyday. As Job's friends learned after they accused him, it wast't his lack of faith that caused his problems. Job was being tested, and through his testing, through the booby traps the devil placed in his life, Job persevered because he ultimately trusted God. With that being said I believe another aspect of faith is perseverance through trust(James 1:12). I'm not sure if Mikey believed in a god, but I know that he did place his trust in the rest of the Goonies to get himself out of some jams. Therefore we must be careful to not set booby traps for ourselves and we can avoid this by examining what faith really is, like author and theologian Greg Boyd asks in his book "Benefit of the Doubt", is a faith not examined worth having?

    

 An Unexpected Treasure

     Mikey and his friends took the risk on something they didn't know was a sure thing. They persevered through the booby traps and defeated the Fratellis, however they had to give up the pirate treasure in order to save their own lives. In our walk with faith there are times we are going to have to give things up, maybe it's a friendship, maybe it's a job, or maybe it's a prized material possession. Whatever the case it's important that you line up your faith with what God's will is and I know that sometimes it is the hardest thing a Christian can do, but ultimately it is for our benefit(1 John 2:17). Even though they lost the treasure, the Goonies were still over joyed at seeing their parents, and at the end of the film you could see that they had learned a lot through their experiences. It seemed that they came to terms with the fact the situation was out of their hands and when those country club jerks came around for the contract they decided to sign it, but then something unexpected happened. Mikey's house keeper Rosalita was searching through his jacket and found a marble sack full of precious stones! When we finally submit to God and confess we can't do it on our own anymore, we are opening ourselves to the possibilities of what God can do in our lives, we are putting His will above ours.  This is the last aspect of faith I'll be making an argument for, that faith is also submission to God. He will exalt those that are humble to him(Luke 18:14) and you will find comfort in His grace which abounds. If this is the case then God may reveal a treasure that we never thought to imagine.

Hey You Guys!

     In this assessment of what I believe faith really is I did my best to make sure I brought as much information from the Bible as I possibly could. I admit that some of what I have argued has been influenced impart by some theological readings I've completed over the past few years. Having said that I made sure that those authors were using a biblical source. In the end some may not agree with my points, but whatevs, I'm always willing to hear arguments that inspire growth in faith.