Jan 24, 2022·edited Jan 24, 2022Liked by Fr. Chris Pietraszko
For me, this movie brought up issues of death. I thought of the Eternals themselves, and the idea of living forever. It might sound good at first, especially if you apply it only to yourself. But if you apply it to yourself, then you must apply it to all humans...including figures like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc. Death as punishment for sin then makes a lot more sense. It is necessary, because sinners living forever would be terribly destructive. Also, without death, there is no salvation or justice. No one would have to answer for their actions. Though the Eternals are the "heroes", even their goal is to save humans only for the purpose of living for the sake of living...as if humans were cogs, as you said. There is nothing in their universe besides life and death--no justice, love, or salvation. It's all a meaningless power struggle like the pagan pantheons.
St. Thomas Aquinas would conclude ultimately that the Celestials are not gods because of their plurality. In fact, Marvel admits such in the comics revealing that they have a creator. So, the Eternals are not even second-tier gods, just contingent beings in a hierarchy of beings
There are a lot of different religious systems at work here I think. Fr. Chris writes, “Arishem seems to create life in an endless cycle of violence, and new-beginning.” I found myself trying to sift through some sort of a dualistic system akin to Manicheanism. The Manichean system had a sort of system to release “light” from their bodily prisons from what I remember.
Arishem is clothed in armor, operates through an army of spies, and his creation struggles to find truth behind Arishem's veiled death sentence.
While the God of our Trinitarian faith constantly draws us closer to him, to be like him for eternity, the Eternals are temporary constructs in an incomprehensible world of lies.
So I had similar questions about the marvel universe, and what their answers were to how the universe came into existence. The movies are obviously based on the comic books and they have scoped out the world in a lot more detail there previously. So I looked it up online.
Surprisingly they do actually have a “One Above All” figure who appears to actually take a first cause type role. The creation story of the universe obviously doesn’t match our Christian conception process wise, but it is at least interesting the Marvel Universe doesn’t posit a more materialist approach.
The celestials and deviants probably correlate more to angels based on how the marvel universe is setup or maybe even more properly “programmed robots” by the actual “angels”. These are very lose analogies, but suffice to say there are few more intermediate levels between humans and the analogous “God” figure in the Marvel Universe, then we have in our Christian faith.
I highly doubt those who run Marvel nowadays would like the fact that the greater canon points to a singular God figure as the First Cause of everything in the Marvel Universe, but it may be useful for us to tap into that existing history when discussing the latest movies which are supposedly based on the world built in the comics.
How do I up-date the ICON of my posts to MY own Christo-centric ICON rather than this "rote" & non-descript ICON (which is actually similar to "Muslim" crescent moon)
"Arishem" is a "god' appropriate to "speculative finance capitalism" -- which is based on the system of lending money with an interest rate on the PRINCIPAL (which is USURY -- outlawed in both Moslem and Jewish Law! but permitted in Christian a.k.a. "western") law heretofore. It is called "debenture lending". But there IS a different system of lending money! called "equity lending"-- based on repayment ONLY of the EXACT PRINCIPAL with a fixed rate share of the VARIABLE TRUE NET OPERATING PROCEED OF THE BORROWER(S). If the net proceeds in a given year are 0, there is 0 income above the scheduled repayment of the PRINCIPAL. If the TRUE NET OPERATING PROCEEDS OF THE BORROWER in the given year are $100, and the agreed-upon fixed rate share of the borrower's true net operating income is 10%, the income to the LENDER is $10 plus whatever the repayment on the PRINCIPAL would have been. If the true net operating proceeds of the borrower reach $1,000.oo in the given year, the income to the LENDER is $100.oo plus whatever the repayment on the PRINCIPAL would have been. "Debenture" lending -- while it CAN lead to a techno-boom in the short-run (say 100-1,000 years); DOES also lead to un-equal concentrations of wealth; AND CAN lead to stag-flation, war, and the "common ruin of the contending classes". With EQUITY lending, the fortunes of BOTH lender(s) and borrower(s) are in DIRECT sync with each other. With DEBENTURE lending they are in OPPOSITE sync with each other -- leading the civilization which adopts it to, ultimate, chaos and collapse. Christian civilization has ONLY direct experience of one bust-(to collapse of Rome) followed by a 1,000 year boom -- to the present time. Jewish and Moslem civilization has REMEMBERED experience of 3-4 of these "1,000" year boom-bust cycles of the "money" economy, since it was first invented at Jericho in 10,000 BC -- which is WHY Jewish and Moslem civilization OUTLAWS USURY! At the present MOMENT: Putin's AGGRESSION against Ukraine has been MOSTLY at the service of the "god" of WAR: Mars! But Zelensky's able defense of Ukraine: is it in defense of the true God-of-the-people, Democracy-with-Christ; OR is it in defense of "Arishem"?. More to the point: this is a war for the salvation of Putin's soul! If he RECONCILES WITH HIS WIFE, he will be on the path of NEITHER MARS NOR ARISHEM, but on the God-of-the-people, Democracy-with-Christ. The Russian people -- in small-groups -- are beginning to choose the latter! The American people have half-heartedly chosen Democracy-with-"Christ", BUT with Biden's EMBRACE of "Abortion-at-any-time-for-any-reason" AND "Arishem"! Biden should RATHER EMBRACE, that a woman's penumbra of privacy ONLY extends to the 42nd day from her FERTILIZATION, thereafter, she MUST secure the concurrence of her partner to abort. Normally, the father, but it RARE cases of parthenogenesis, -- a woman! UNTIL the 12th week of their MUTUAL PREGNANCY, after which NO ABORTION is Lawful (but to save her PHYSICAL LIFE). This by reason of the XIII (the Anti-Slavery) Amendment, to save the baby from enslavement for its vendible body parts which also GUARANTEES her penumbra of privacy for those 42 days. To AVOID pregnancy, the couple MUST choose the Billings natural family planning method, or she will be FACED with the Scylla & Charibdis "choice" of: (1) delivering the baby to term; (2) committing the MORTAL sin of "killing the baby during the 42 days of her "privacy"; OR: compounding the MORTAL sin by prevailing on her partner to AGREE to abort! BUT the GOV'T is forbidden from DECLARING it a "sin" by the FIRST AMENDMENT. Only a proper sacramental confession to a priest of the Roman Rite, or the Eastern Rite, or one of the Oriental Sacramental Rites CAN save her OR HER PARTNER (should he have concurred in the abortion!) from hell. Which is why MARRIAGE to a GOOD MAN or a GOOD WOMAN is STILL on our collective agenda!
For me, this movie brought up issues of death. I thought of the Eternals themselves, and the idea of living forever. It might sound good at first, especially if you apply it only to yourself. But if you apply it to yourself, then you must apply it to all humans...including figures like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, etc. Death as punishment for sin then makes a lot more sense. It is necessary, because sinners living forever would be terribly destructive. Also, without death, there is no salvation or justice. No one would have to answer for their actions. Though the Eternals are the "heroes", even their goal is to save humans only for the purpose of living for the sake of living...as if humans were cogs, as you said. There is nothing in their universe besides life and death--no justice, love, or salvation. It's all a meaningless power struggle like the pagan pantheons.
St. Thomas Aquinas would conclude ultimately that the Celestials are not gods because of their plurality. In fact, Marvel admits such in the comics revealing that they have a creator. So, the Eternals are not even second-tier gods, just contingent beings in a hierarchy of beings
There are a lot of different religious systems at work here I think. Fr. Chris writes, “Arishem seems to create life in an endless cycle of violence, and new-beginning.” I found myself trying to sift through some sort of a dualistic system akin to Manicheanism. The Manichean system had a sort of system to release “light” from their bodily prisons from what I remember.
Arishem is clothed in armor, operates through an army of spies, and his creation struggles to find truth behind Arishem's veiled death sentence.
While the God of our Trinitarian faith constantly draws us closer to him, to be like him for eternity, the Eternals are temporary constructs in an incomprehensible world of lies.
So I had similar questions about the marvel universe, and what their answers were to how the universe came into existence. The movies are obviously based on the comic books and they have scoped out the world in a lot more detail there previously. So I looked it up online.
Surprisingly they do actually have a “One Above All” figure who appears to actually take a first cause type role. The creation story of the universe obviously doesn’t match our Christian conception process wise, but it is at least interesting the Marvel Universe doesn’t posit a more materialist approach.
The celestials and deviants probably correlate more to angels based on how the marvel universe is setup or maybe even more properly “programmed robots” by the actual “angels”. These are very lose analogies, but suffice to say there are few more intermediate levels between humans and the analogous “God” figure in the Marvel Universe, then we have in our Christian faith.
I highly doubt those who run Marvel nowadays would like the fact that the greater canon points to a singular God figure as the First Cause of everything in the Marvel Universe, but it may be useful for us to tap into that existing history when discussing the latest movies which are supposedly based on the world built in the comics.
How do I up-date the ICON of my posts to MY own Christo-centric ICON rather than this "rote" & non-descript ICON (which is actually similar to "Muslim" crescent moon)
"Arishem" is a "god' appropriate to "speculative finance capitalism" -- which is based on the system of lending money with an interest rate on the PRINCIPAL (which is USURY -- outlawed in both Moslem and Jewish Law! but permitted in Christian a.k.a. "western") law heretofore. It is called "debenture lending". But there IS a different system of lending money! called "equity lending"-- based on repayment ONLY of the EXACT PRINCIPAL with a fixed rate share of the VARIABLE TRUE NET OPERATING PROCEED OF THE BORROWER(S). If the net proceeds in a given year are 0, there is 0 income above the scheduled repayment of the PRINCIPAL. If the TRUE NET OPERATING PROCEEDS OF THE BORROWER in the given year are $100, and the agreed-upon fixed rate share of the borrower's true net operating income is 10%, the income to the LENDER is $10 plus whatever the repayment on the PRINCIPAL would have been. If the true net operating proceeds of the borrower reach $1,000.oo in the given year, the income to the LENDER is $100.oo plus whatever the repayment on the PRINCIPAL would have been. "Debenture" lending -- while it CAN lead to a techno-boom in the short-run (say 100-1,000 years); DOES also lead to un-equal concentrations of wealth; AND CAN lead to stag-flation, war, and the "common ruin of the contending classes". With EQUITY lending, the fortunes of BOTH lender(s) and borrower(s) are in DIRECT sync with each other. With DEBENTURE lending they are in OPPOSITE sync with each other -- leading the civilization which adopts it to, ultimate, chaos and collapse. Christian civilization has ONLY direct experience of one bust-(to collapse of Rome) followed by a 1,000 year boom -- to the present time. Jewish and Moslem civilization has REMEMBERED experience of 3-4 of these "1,000" year boom-bust cycles of the "money" economy, since it was first invented at Jericho in 10,000 BC -- which is WHY Jewish and Moslem civilization OUTLAWS USURY! At the present MOMENT: Putin's AGGRESSION against Ukraine has been MOSTLY at the service of the "god" of WAR: Mars! But Zelensky's able defense of Ukraine: is it in defense of the true God-of-the-people, Democracy-with-Christ; OR is it in defense of "Arishem"?. More to the point: this is a war for the salvation of Putin's soul! If he RECONCILES WITH HIS WIFE, he will be on the path of NEITHER MARS NOR ARISHEM, but on the God-of-the-people, Democracy-with-Christ. The Russian people -- in small-groups -- are beginning to choose the latter! The American people have half-heartedly chosen Democracy-with-"Christ", BUT with Biden's EMBRACE of "Abortion-at-any-time-for-any-reason" AND "Arishem"! Biden should RATHER EMBRACE, that a woman's penumbra of privacy ONLY extends to the 42nd day from her FERTILIZATION, thereafter, she MUST secure the concurrence of her partner to abort. Normally, the father, but it RARE cases of parthenogenesis, -- a woman! UNTIL the 12th week of their MUTUAL PREGNANCY, after which NO ABORTION is Lawful (but to save her PHYSICAL LIFE). This by reason of the XIII (the Anti-Slavery) Amendment, to save the baby from enslavement for its vendible body parts which also GUARANTEES her penumbra of privacy for those 42 days. To AVOID pregnancy, the couple MUST choose the Billings natural family planning method, or she will be FACED with the Scylla & Charibdis "choice" of: (1) delivering the baby to term; (2) committing the MORTAL sin of "killing the baby during the 42 days of her "privacy"; OR: compounding the MORTAL sin by prevailing on her partner to AGREE to abort! BUT the GOV'T is forbidden from DECLARING it a "sin" by the FIRST AMENDMENT. Only a proper sacramental confession to a priest of the Roman Rite, or the Eastern Rite, or one of the Oriental Sacramental Rites CAN save her OR HER PARTNER (should he have concurred in the abortion!) from hell. Which is why MARRIAGE to a GOOD MAN or a GOOD WOMAN is STILL on our collective agenda!