SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SEASON 7, EPISODE 5, OF HBO'S GAME OF THRONES, SKIP THIS BLOG. COME BACK AFTER YOU WATCH IT.
This blog is a work in progress! I value your feedback. This commentary is based on HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones and not on the books, which I did not read.
In season 7, episode 5, when Daenerys killed Lord Tarly and his son, that she was written to be a charismatic antichrist figure was as unmistakable as it had ever been. She was specially designed to be beloved by viewers—beautiful, powerful, regal—and, perhaps foremost, because she often spoke poetically about being a "breaker of chains."
That's why her speech during the scene still gives me chills—her logic is an exercise in insanity; her words are revolting.
Her many cruelties throughout the seasons certainly tested the resolve of those enchanted by her otherwise noble story, yet they seemed to want to cling to her despite the brutality of her rule and vengeance. After all, she was rebelling against a cruel, tyrannical empire—the ends would ultimately justify those means. Right? Her claim to the throne was ironclad; it was her right by birth to be queen. Right? In an online forum, I once questioned her character flaw after she executed the Tarlys—I was promptly accused of not being able to accept women in power and being weak!
Thus, it's not surprising that many were baffled when Daenerys razed King's Landing and burned thousands of innocents alive. Most viewers were shocked at her sudden progression from occasional brute to outright diabolical psychosis, but it was clear that the ending HBO delivered was obvious and unavoidable given her true nature and the specific pressures she had to bear.
Ironically, her speech to the Tarlys mimics how many Christians believe God behaves. I imagine almost every Christian would tell you that the Tarlys were given a choice but that it wasn't really free. Between living under the rule of one despotic Daenerys and being burned alive—where was the free in the choice? Yet what do Christians say is the free-will choice that we have? Either live under the rule of God—or be burned with hellfire as a punishment for not. (It's even worse than that, but more on that later.)
The irony doesn't end there. Non-believers who despise contemporary Christianity and the fundamentalist view of God often celebrated Daenerys' behavior, appreciating what they saw in her even as they rejected that same character trait in God. That is to say, given the right set of parameters, it is certainly justifiable to set someone on fire and let them burn, not to end an imminent threat, but to make their enemy pay for their sins. It seems it's wrong for an all-seeing God to do so; it's not always wrong for a frail human to do so.
Lest I'm not being clear—it seems that when it comes to "by their fruits, you will know them," there isn't much difference between the contemporary Christian and the atheist in terms of what should ultimately happen to our enemies. An enemy will given one or two chances to repent and obey the rules—if not, they will be tossed into the fiery furnace. Why? Let's speculate. For one, it so happens that each group models the same top-down system of authority and legality. For them, it's always a war about your allegiance. Who has the legal right to rule over you? What set of rules govern you? If you aren't loyal to the leader or you commit a crime, you burn, you die.
Okay. Maybe the cultural reaction to a TV show is too little an observation to make much ado about any person or group, but let me put forward this unexpected takeaway: Jesus dying on the cross is the climax of human history—it will not be His second coming; it will not be found in hellfire, or at least, the common understanding of hellfire.
Why? His death is the primer—the telltale—of every single human heart.
As seen in His healing of the soldier and His statement to Peter that He could summon legions of angels, Jesus went to His death knowing He could stop it. When they urged Him to come down from the cross, He could have done so. He could have demanded that everyone "bend the knee" or burn right there and then, as Daenerys demanded of Lord Tarly and his son.
Just before His death, Jesus said that His mission had been to reveal God. He told one disciple that when he'd seen Jesus, he saw God. That didn't change at the cross. Thus, Jesus' death is the revelation that God is not a top-down tyrant who kills to assert His authority; He is a bottom-up Healer who dies to assert His love. That event was designed to provoke not your forced allegiance to God because He is your God, merely because He created you—it was designed to provoke your loving allegiance to God because of His character of love. Killing your enemies doesn't change their hearts; dying for them gives them a shot at change.
Yet, we're told that even as Jesus died for you, God will set you on fire, just like Daenerys would do, for not choosing to live under His reign. That seems incongruent, doesn't it? It's certainly not a free-will choice. Indeed, the Bible makes it clear that you were destined to be a sinner—but if you don't somehow repent in time and accept God's rule, you will be set on fire. But you were born into this world without any choice at all. You've never been free. You're a prisoner in a universe that you were forced into.
None of this makes sense if you believe in God's kingdom as one of lordship authority. It only makes sense if you believe in God's kingdom as one of lordship healing. The equation most contemporary Christians live under eventually breaks into pieces. They don't know that an antichrist, another Daenerys is leading them to make the wrong conclusions.
So what is the truth about hellfire? If the lake of fire isn't punishment for not obeying God and making Him your legal Lord, for not loving Him, for not bending the knee—then what is it? (According to some Christians, God will set a person on fire even after every knee shall bow.) That's another discussion, but it's important to note what happens just prior to the fall of hellfire upon Earth. God's people are in the New Jerusalem; outside, an army is mustering to take the city by force. Also note that just before the Second Coming, God's people are threatened with imminent death for not receiving the mark of the beast. Note that before the Flood, Noah is the last righteous man alive, surrounded by men whose thoughts are continually evil. Egypt is plagued because Pharaoh will not let God's people go. That is, perhaps God's justice—the "punishments" felt by God's enemies are His rescuing His people from the imminent evil deeds of those enemies.
Comments