DR ERROL N BENJAMIN
I SHARE with you and your readers an awe-inspiring cinematic experience in viewing the Christian-based film entitled Do You Believe? by Pure Flix Films on YouTube recently.
Although I come from a Presbyterian/Hindu background, I am not a 'religious' person per se, but as a seasoned critical thinker, having lectured on the subject at the tertiary level for many years, the sense of the rational would often come into play with regard to universally held religious tenets.
Like Lord Krishna's words of wisdom in the great Hindu epic The Bhagavad Gita, that Arjuna's devotion to him should be uncompromising and absolute, only to realise my lack in attempting to be humanly 'rational' about what is essentially a divine message about the pathway to self-realisation through absolute devotion to the original source from whence you came, at least from a Hindu point of view.
Likewise, being sceptical about the idea of 'faith' or 'belief' in the Christian sense in something or someone without the necessary knowledge or 'evidence' for same, again attempting to be 'rational, misleadingly so, about a highly personalised experience which defies such rationality.
But this film had a profound impact on my thinking for at its centre is the idea of 'belief' - 'Do you believe?' - and what it is to believe, in this case The Cross, the idea being dramatically introduced in the movie by a mysterious figure bearing a wooden cross on his shoulders, putting the question to the main player in the movie, the priest, who himself, before this meeting, would have been contemplating on the huge lighted cross he saw as he drove by and the kind of faith it should inspire, leading to forgiveness and redemption.
And the combined effect of his thinking on the subject and the question posed to him by the mysterious figure bearing the cross would be the inspiration for the sermon he would preach afterwards that 'faith (belief in the Cross), if not accompanied by action, is dead' (the Book of James 2:17).
And that believing or having faith is not merely an idea of mere belief in Christ and drawing comfort and sustenance from such a thought in itself, but further, inculcating that spiritual energy into your spirit, driving you to action to demonstrate your love for your fellow man in ways which are manifestly possible.
And guess who would form part of the congregation: the 12 people in the movie whose lives would intersect to give dramatic, cinematic representation to the idea of faith and belief as 'love in action':
The priest and his hesitant wife, both finding redemption through love and care for an abandoned pregnant girl.
The couple grieving over a lost daughter and finding sustenance in accepting a homeless mother and child into their own home.
The 'criminal' who would atone for his wicked life, drawing inspiration from a equally wicked colleague who found the 'amazing grace' that would save a 'wretch,' like him.
The soldier tormented by the memory of not being able to save a buddy in battle wh
