A few weeks ago, Lisa & I watched The Dark Knight for the first time. I know, we aren't usually running this late on movies. Don't know how it happened. It's a brilliant movie & yes, Heath Ledger DOES deserve a posthumous Oscar for his performance. As it's title says, it is a dark movie. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen it & want to, you don't want to read any further. But I have something to say about the message of this movie.

In my last post I mentioned that I like happy endings. They are required for any movies and books that I allow myself to enjoy. So those of you who have watched the movie now know that it was a bit of a disappointment to Lisa & me. It leaves the franchise wide open for another sequel as there are quite a bit of questions left. It doesn't take the easy way out, not for Batman at least. But what impacted me the most is the change of the character Harvey Dent. Here's a short bio on his character. At the beginning of the movie Harvey is Gotham City's DA. He's a tower of strength and character. He cannot be purchased by the evil of the city and is determined to make the city a safer and better place. And best of all, he's succeeding. Throughout the movie, Harvey's working in the light and Batman's working in the darkest corners of the city. So how does he become the evil 'Two-Face Dent'? Tommy Lee Jones played the Dent after he became Two Face in Batman Forever. In that movie, you never saw the before of Dent. The Dark Night spotlights the before.

Again, so how did he fall? Let me tell you. It's the same way we do. Through grief, pain and horror. Through lies and disillusionment. Through a devastating outright attack. Dent lived through something a person should NEVER live through. It opened up a dark place inside him that he never knew existed. And what happened then was more than any person should ever have to experience. The source of all the terrible things that had happened came to him. This one had caused the attack not just on Dent but also on Gotham. This liar whispered to Dent. He told the hurting man lying in a hospital bed in a burn ward the worst of lies. He told him all the ones who had really been behind the pain Dent was feeling. Then the worst thing happened. Dent believed the lies and the liar. Instead of recognizing the liar and stopping him, Dent began to believe that others who had trusted the liar were responsible for Dent's current position. Just as those others followed the liar's leading so Dent, unrecognizable his grief, blazed a trail of destruction of pain and suffering lead by the liar.

How often do we, in our grief and suffering, believe the liar? This enemy of our souls who whispers in our ear that the maker of our souls really is the reason we're in pain? This source of destruction and death leads us into a path of more lies and destruction. How many of us have lived through something no person should ever have to live through? It seems, when we are hurting so terribly our ears become open to the lies of a liar. How is that, when we so desperately need to hear the words of the Truth in those moments? There are some lessons to learn from the fictional tale of Harvey 'Two Face' Dent. When the liar comes to him, Dent is all alone. No one is watching over him, sitting with him. We must keep ourselves covered. Stick with the fellowship of believers. Have people praying and fighting the war for you through prayer. In grief, we are wounded. There is no war front for us. We are in the care of the medics. Keep your ears tuned. Ask for His words to drown out those of the liar. Make sure that when the lies are loud, that there are people in your life who can speak truth to you. Keep yourself accountable. Don't disappear as Dent did so that he could wreak destruction. And, lastly, remember that even if we follow Two Face's path, there is no point in your life that forgiveness and redemption are out of reach. Batman took responsibility for Dent's sins so that the good he had brought about would not be in vain. We have a Savior who took responsibility for our sins. Hope I haven't ruined the movie for those of you who haven't seen it, but I did warn you! We'll keep our eyes open for the next Batman movie.