I made the mistake of renting the movie Million Dollar Baby last night, not having done any research about it other than knowing that it won 4 academy awards. I was quite annoyed to realize that what I had taken for a drama about the inner demons of several interesting characters involved in the life of an aspirant boxer was actually a propaganda piece for euthanasia. There's a lot that I could write about the spiritual and philosophical roots of the culture war around abortion and euthanasia, but most of it has probably already been said several times over, by people much more qualified to express it than me.

However, the one thing that struck me as I was involuntarily thinking over the story last night is that the narrative of the movie - whether intentionally or unintentionally - could be seen through the lens of some pretty powerful symbolism. But with the politically correct agenda that was attached to the film, this symbolism goes horribly wrong and turns into a false allegory.

Consider the following broad strokes of the plot. The story should sound familiar (if it doesn't, I've provided hyperlinks to relevant scriptures):

A young woman with a willing heart, but from a very difficult and broken background presents herself to an old boxing trainer to be his student. He accepts her, trains her to be a fighter, and eventually names her "my darling, my blood" and essentially adopts her as his own daughter. She grows strong as a fighter, and eventually faces her toughest challenge - an evil harlot who is known as a liar, a cheater, and at least a would-be murderer. In the showdown, the harlot defeats the woman by treachery, and she is left helpless and paralyzed. Her adopted father stays by her side throughout the ensuing ordeal, encouraging her and serving her, while the woman descends into a state of despair in which she would rather die than live. She even asks her adopted father to kill her, and attempts suicide on several occasions.

But here the story suddenly takes a horrible wrong turn. Precisely where the sacrificial redemptive love of the father should come in to restore a hope and a future, the movie inserts a crass analogy with putting an old dog out of its misery and some platitudes about it being worth it to die "knowing that she had her shot." And then the father grants the woman's wish in her despair and ends her life, giving the harlot the ultimate victory.


Now, I'm sure that Clint Eastwood never intended this kind of allegory in his sceenplay. He probably set out to tell a good dramatic story and also to prove a point about euthanasia. He does indeed tell a good story. But I think that inevitably, in order to tell a good story, he has drawn on elements that are embedded deep in our spirits precisely because they are connected to the Great Story which is going on in eternity, and of which we are a part. In drawing on those elements, but then putting his own agenda into the ending, he has created a false allegory that is nothing short of blasphemous. The narrative of Million Dollar Baby accuses God of being too weak to save, and helpless in the face of the real despair of our sin.

This is not only not true, it is not particularly interesting. Despairing of help from God is literally one of the oldest stories in the book.


Against such a proposition, it is not sufficient to simply call it false and quote scripture to the contrary. We are entering the realm of spiritual warfare at this point - the realm of worldviews established in human hearts either for or against the Word of God. Worldviews established against the Word of God are called strongholds in the scripture, and they are inhabited and defended by spirits of evil who use them to hold us in bondage. Despair and Pride are among the most powerful of these strongholds, and they must be dealt with by undermining and replacing them with truth - truth energized by prayerful obedience through confession and repentance.

So it is likely that no one will be convinced that it is worthwhile to hope in God on the strength of my words alone. Nonetheless, I think it is worthwhile to speak the truth about these things, so that we, who do identify ourselves as followers of Jesus and lovers of God, may not be ensnared by lies, and may defend our own hope in the Lord from any temptation to despair.


II Corinthians 10:3-6
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.