You're Messing With Their Entire Universe

THE DECODER RING returned in full force on Saturday with our screening of Gary Ross' secular humanist fairytale "Pleasantville." Big thanks to all the souls who braved the wind and the rain to join us that night.

Usually the films we decode have subtle, hidden messages. Pleasantville is not one of those films. The worldview of this movie is patently obvious. And the director is wonderfully transparent and candid about his biases and philosophy, which is refreshing. So we dove right in and started to unpack it all.

In the most basic sense, Pleasantville is a twisted take on the Garden of Eden story as found in Genesis 3. Instead of viewing Adam and Eve's singular act of disobedience as The Fall of Man, "Pleasantville" holds it up as the defining moment of human enlightenment.

When sin enters the black and white world of the town, color is seen for the first time. Unchecked passion, in whatever form it takes, sprouts forth in glowing Technicolor. Knowledge itself is placed on the throne, and worshipped by all evolving humanity. Traditionalists (who stay in black and white) and those with moral codes, are "educated" by the new and improved Adam and Eve so they all can live a more exciting, fulfilled, completely liberated life.

We saw through the hollow arguments and misguided philosophies of the film and got right to the heart of the matter. What the world offers as a means to freedom, is in fact just another form of slavery. But it's slavery to sin and death. The bible states, not once, but twice,

"There is a way that seems right to man,
but in the end it leads to death."
PROVERBS 14:12 and 16:25

I don't know about you, but any time God has to repeat Himself, I take notice!

In the truest biblical sense, none of us are ever truly free at all. But we do have a choice: be a slave to Christ or a slave to sin. There is no middle ground here. Wonderfully, the bible also says

"I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts."
PSALM 119:45

After our study we prayed for the filmmakers, cast and crew of Pleasantville, as well as the family of Heath Ledger, whose talents and gifts were so abruptly cut short last week. Maybe this tragedy will spark some in the Industry to seek out the Lord and discover his great compassionate love for them.

Take care everybody. See you next time at THE DECODER RING.