Ed, my neighbour next door, admitted it was a twist of fate that sat us beside each other at the movie theatre. Both of us had grandchildren staying for the holidays. Our grandchildren wanted to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. What I knew about the Hobbit would have left a thimble empty.
Ed expected me to have read the 1937 novel, The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. He doesn't read books, but because I do read books, he seemed to think I should have read it. I think The Hobbit must be a long and involved book. It is taking three movies to adapt the book to film. I don't read lengthy and complicated fantasy books. I read Westerns, usually neither complicated nor lengthy fiction.
Our grandkids had seen the first movie of The Hobbit, which was called, An Unexpected Journey. They both understood far more than Ed and I, about what was going on in the beginning of The Desolation of Smaug. I liked the 3D presentation of the movie, but Ed took offence to decapitated heads of Orcs that went sailing by him. Our grandkids understood about the group of dwarfs, the wizard Gandalf, Wood Elves, Bilbo the Hobbit and Smaug the sleeping dragon.
Apparently, another movie will conclude the Hobbit book. Neither Ed nor I will be as excited as our grandkids to see it. For Ed and I the movie was a perpetual confusion of endless characters, and action. We thought the dragon Smaug was silly, but we are not kids or full of imagination.
Ed asked that since I have seen the movie will I now read the book. I had to confess that I'm not interested. I realize that is what many think when it comes to reading the Bible. It seems to them that the Bible is to too long and too complicated with endless different characters. The Bible can seem intimidating with its two parts divided into so many books. The Old Testament has 39 books, and the New Testament 27, but the 66 books do have one focus, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament points to the coming of Christ. The New Testament tells of Christ's coming and His blessing for now and forever.
The Bible was written that we might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour, from God, and that by believing we might have life in His name. The Bible's message is a true message that we may well not want to hear. We do need a God given Saviour, who saves us from ourselves. We do not like to admit sin rubs ourselves and our world raw.
Marion Soards wrote Jesus Christ is not a fabrication: "He is not faster than a speeding bullet - a hand-held spear pierced his side. He is not more powerful than a locomotive - he dropped under the weight of the cross. He is not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - he didn't even come down off the cross where, nailed up, he bled and died." Jesus laid down the privilege, position, and power of heaven to become a willing servant of God. He was willing to sacrifice himself so that love could overcome evil for all.
