What dreams may come

Last night I watched a film I have been meaning to watch for a long time but have never made the time to get round to it. It is a film I was made to watch while at school in RE while we were thinking about the Christian ideas of death and the after life. For a long time the reason I did not watch the film was because I could not remember the name, only that Robin Williams was one of the leads. But thanks to IMDb I managed to track it down and found out that it was called What Dreams May Come.

Essentially the film is about families and love and uses the idea of death and heaven as a back drop for which to base the story of true love conquers all. I have to say it is a decent film that is worth watching and at times I was glad to be watching it alone due to the effect it had on me. As I said although the film is set mostly in heaven and one man's journey from life into the after life and his relationships with his family this film is not about heaven or really that religious. The main idea of the film is how the main characters relationships with his various family members was in life and how looking at them from another point of view throws them into another light.

There are some powerful ideas and some emotional scenes in the film which highlight a number of common issues in life, father son relationships, family bereavement and falling in love. These scenes are powerful because they are issues we all have in our lives and we all have to deal with. The sad part of the film is that it takes the main character to die before he realises the mistakes he has made with his relationships.

Although this film does touch on some Christian ideas about death, Heaven and hell it does not faithfully stick to only Christian ideas on this subject. There are a number of spiritualist and other influences such as the idea of reincarnation. Although it takes the idea of Heaven as a place where we go after death it misses out on so much that we believe as Christians. In their idea of Heaven there is still pain and there are still negative traits such as ego and a need for justification. In the Heaven portrayed in the film God does not feature and there is no completion of the journey to discover Him and therefore the completion of our understanding does not occur.

Although I really liked this film and thought that there were some very good points to think on it saddened me to think that films like this maybe the only knowledge some people have on Christian beliefs on death and the after life. The film shows an incomplete picture of Heaven and a pick and choose vision of Christianity. In this world of multiculturalism and the mixing together of ideas we have to be careful not to allow our knowledge of God to become clouded by false truths, we have to ensure that we are clear on what Jesus taught us and what is in God's word. It is only through this knowledge and belief that we can shine as beacons for God, in this knowledge that we can complete our mission. If all people have to tell them of the Father are films like this then they will never enter onto the journey to find complete knowledge that is only found through Him. If they do not know of the journey we must all take they will never take up their cross to follow Jesus.

Those of us who have been called so far have a huge task to complete, a task that is huge and has major consequences. How are the world to know about Him if we do not go out and tell them? It does not require anything but faith in the Father and the acceptance of Jesus, your Saviour, in to your heart. If you have these two things then you are more than capable of doing God's work, He will make you everything you need to be, He will provide you with the courage, knowledge and words, He will never let you down.