Childish Things

We live in an age of nostalgia. People flock to the movie theaters to see sequels and reboots to their favorite franchises, superheroes, and genres. Star Wars: The Force Awakens pinned much anticipation on seeing Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia Organa (Cerrie Fisher), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) reprise their roles from the Original Trilogy. The question of why people see the umpteenth Spider-Man film, knowing full well that it won't be as good as the first one or second one by Sam Raimi puzzles many, but not me. How Nintendo, Microsoft, and Apple can get people to buy the same video game they have owned over course of decades on different devices is not incredible, it is childish. Companies understand that with the way things are changing in the world drastically, there is comfort in something from childhood, the proverbial blanket, Hobbes tiger stuffed animal, a lightsaber, video game, and more offers a degree of constancy in an ever changing world. But the root of the problem goes deeper. This inability to let go actually fosters new adventures, Jurassic World and Independence Day Resurgence being the long awaited continuation of stories people cherish, and while they tout Easter eggs and the things that made the original iconic, they can not recreate the feelings we had as children. Jurassic Park made us say, "that's a real dinosaur!" for the first time and mean it, while Jurassic World makes us say, "that's another dinosaur, very CG (computer graphics) looking."

The trap that many are falling into is what the Apostle Paul calls childish things, "When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11). We are suppose to mature and move on from Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, and the many memories of childhood (although Disney does not help, they keep having us come back to our childhoods!). Childhood and fondness we have for our days as kids is not evil, after all Jesus said this of children, "And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). However, the context Christ is speaking in is in humility and trusting God which he reveals in following verse, "So anyone who becomes as humble (lowly) as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." (verse 14). The point Christ makes is children are not proud, they trust easily and take help from anyone. Jesus says nothing about staying as child when it comes to maturity, intellect, spirituality, and more. In contrast, the author of Hebrews warns us to move on from milk and eat meat, "For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food.
For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]!
But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law, Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God, With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. [These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long ago.] If indeed God permits, we will [now] proceed [to advanced teaching]. (Hebrews 5:12-14, Hebrews 6:1-3, AMPC).
The Apostle Paul is delving into an important concept of spiritual growth that our world and the entertainment industry in particular is at odds with. Paul makes it clearer in his epistle to the Phillippians, "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind (in the past) and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." (Philippians 3:13-14). We see a narrative building, "putting aside childish things," "forgetting what lies behind (experiences, memories, possessions)," and finally the crescendo is this, "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ." (Phillippians 3:8).

This shift from childhood to adulthood for many is unnerving. Many do not want to grow up, in fact the Millennial Generation is perhaps the largest demographic of people who want to hold on to their childhoods, the past, and possessions. The process of moving on requires a transformation from within, one that only Christ Jesus can help us do. But why should I want to grow up? Look at Walt Disney and Pixar, they make a living on childhood and nostalgia! Indeed, and they perhaps are one of greatest enemies to our progress of growing up. There is fine balance between enjoying the memories of your childhood, remembering fondly a vacation or experience, and dwelling there, becoming melancholic and saying as so many sadly do, "back then was the best times, my best days are behind me," or "those were the good times." Good maybe, but not the best. We feed a falsehood that says, "I peaked in High School or College," when the truth is that was when life was favorable, easier, more fun, and had less responsibilities than you have now. It is easy to romanticize when you played with Barbie's, beat Halo: Combat Evolved on Legendary, or when you played on a Football team, were part of a Renaifaire group, or went to Comicon for the first time. The truth is in those days you weren't living, you were riding along in the fun. Living is painful, it includes days of Crucifixion and Resurrection, life and death moments, spring and winter seasons. Life is not in the gum balls you chewed, the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip you read, or the cool shows you watched. Life is in Christ (John 14:6) and until you put aside the childish things and take up your cross (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23), and begin experience days of crucifixion and comfort (2 Corinthians 1:1-11); until you do those things, you will be forever grasping at the fading stars of days long since past.

Do not believe for a second I hold childhood and the past in contempt. In stark contrast I can be very melancholy and nostalgic. I understand the yearning to relive those days, experience an ounce of the fun, thrills, and entertainment you once got from that toy, movie, video game, or vacation experience. But you can never relive it, taste it momentarily, but it still will never be the same. As aforementioned, nostalgia is the weapon of the motion picture industry. Sequels always do better financially because they call into the church of cinema those who hold out hope that this time they will add something good and recall the best parts of the original or originals. Finding Dory recently came out, and its success has hinged as expected on the nostalgia of people who saw Finding Nemo in theaters, and those who want to revisit with Marlin, Dory, Nemo, Crush, and company. While people want a new adventure, a new piece of the story, they also want throwbacks like the phrase, "Just keep Swimming." Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, except that often the sequels can bank too much on the nostalgia and being clones of the former installment. One reviewe remarked about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, "It is A New Hope all over again, just see A New Hope again instead." While this disingenuous and certainly TFA was different than a ANH in that it featured the Next Generation of Force Users, there is merit in how much nostalgia was used, I am really? A Super Death Star called Star Killer? X-Wing and Tie-Fighter dog fights again? A revelation that the villain is relative of someone (ESB)? Indeed it was contrived and conventional, and clonish (a word we thought was buried with the Clone Wars) but it still made over 1 Billion USD. The reason? People didn't care it was so similar to A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, in fact, they probably were elated. Jurassic World was not nearly as good as Jurassic Park, and yet it made an incredible amount of money? Why? Because it had unique story? Great cast? Better looking dinos? Nope, the dinos actually looked more real in first JP, the cast in JW was wooden, and the story was basically a the sequence gaps scenario of Jurassic Park mixed with a Godzilla plot line. So why did it work? Because if brought people back to Isla Nublar, with same Jeeps, dinos run amok, and other trappings that made it feel connected and like a ghost image of the original with new features. Basically, people want the same old same old with new features; go to radically in a new direction and fury of fans begins, because the childish things are precious to them.

Pixar actually captured the tension in Toy Story 3. Andy, the owner of Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), and the gang of toys that come to life when no human is present is about to go off to college, and he struggles parting with his old pals. By the end of the movie, Andy hands over his toys and says goodbye, driving off in his car for college and "pressing forward towards the goal." Many are not brave like Andy, they hold on to their toys with death grip, afraid to let go. There is a scene in last episode of the television hit, "The Wonder Years" when Winnie and Kevin realize that after spending their childhood, teen years, and early adulthood together, even sharing a romance, that they are being driven apart. Winnie bursts into tears and says, "I don't want to let go!" Kevin grabs her in an hugging embrace and says, "I won't let go." The Epilogue reveals that Kevin married someone else, and Winnie went to be a success in another place and we discover that pain that Paul says, " Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead," (Phillippians 3;13). When we put down the toy we held, the controller for an Xbox or SNES, or even the novel we cherished, we find another hand reaches out from God who is Jesus Christ, the hands of new friends, and even the hand of a spouse which are greater than the "childish things" we held on to so tightly. But we risk missing that "which lies ahead," if our head is stuck in "what lies behind." You cannot drive forward and to your destination if you are looking in rearview mirror, and you cannot reach the "Upward Call of Christ" if your eyes are still fixed upon characters who once made you feel good as child.

It's hard, I know. Giving Woody, Barbie, Hobbes, Yoshi, Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, R2D2, Pickachu, Polly Pocket,  Masterchief (John 117), and the plethora of others up is not easy. It takes boldness, and what you will find beyond the "childish things" are the "Christ things" that are far better, superior, and greater than anything you could imagine. God does not ask you to forget, and act like robot, but he asks you to leave it behind and forage forward towards the "Upward Call" in Him.