Did you hear the news? This weekend and every weekend for the rest of the month, one of the greatest stories ever told is coming back to the big screen. Go to the movies and see the Lord of the Rings giant re-released in the movie theaters. And if you think that this is just about elves and swords and epic battles and beards, you’ve [music] only been scratching the surface.
This is a story that matters because beneath the adventure, beneath the dragons and the dark lords, there is deeper magic at work. I love how CS Lewis put that. Lord of the Rings is a story about good and evil. It’s about sacrifice and mercy. It’s about humility and hope. And by the end of today’s episode, I want to show you why stories like this, they don’t just entertain us, they form us.
They train our hearts and minds. But first, I want to remind you that uh if you want an awesome banking experience, check out our sponsor, America’s Christian Credit Union. So, take your banking experience to the next level by visiting america’schiancu.com/kirk. Okay. The Lord of the Rings was written by JRR Tolken.
He was a committed Catholic and a man who understood something about the world that today we have quickly forgotten. Stories are not just entertainment, they shape souls, especially children’s souls. Tolken did not write allegory per se. Actually, he famously rejected that idea. But he did write with a Christian worldview and Christian themes woven into every page of his stories.
He once said that the Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally religious work. And somehow without ever preaching, his story has preached to millions. And that’s why people keep flocking back to Middle Earth again and again and again and this weekend and the next weekend and the next weekend. One of the reasons that The Lord of the Rings resonates so deeply with us, especially with those of us who are Christians is because it is not confused about reality.
In a world where many are confused about reality, Middle Earth is not. There is good, there is evil, and the two are not the same thing. Middle Earth is a fallen world. Think about it. The Shire feels like Eden. Peaceful. It’s green. It’s innocent. And Mordor feels like hell. It’s dark. It’s consuming. It’s angry and enslaving. And the greatest danger is not just that there’s evil out there.
