“Indiana Jones” and God’s Imperfect Plan
How “The Big Bang Theory” Pokes a Hole in Both
At one time in my life, I was a huge fan of the CBS sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory.” Valid criticisms aside, I thought it was cool that science and geek culture had become popular enough that studio execs thought that we nerds were worth pandering to. And I’ll admit that the pandering worked on me (for a while — again, valid criticisms aside); I reliably geeked out whenever the characters performed some type of actual science experiment, or when a sci-fi celebrity made a guest appearance. Also, I practically jumped out of my seat when the reverse happened, and Jim Parsons made a surprise cameo in the 2011 Muppet movie.
Occasionally, TBBT’s characters would explore an element of pop culture with a different perspective that the viewing public might not have thought of. The best example arguably comes when Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) shows Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time, and Amy comments about a specific quirk in the story writing:
“Indiana Jones plays no role in the outcome of the story. If he weren’t in the film, it would turn out exactly the same… the Nazis would still have found the Ark, taken it to the island, opened it up, and all died, just like they did.”
My mind was blown the first time I watched this episode and realized that Amy was right. (Fortunately, I did not have the same emotional investment in the Indy films that Sheldon did!) Generally, we expect the stories that we read or watch to have main characters that actually influence the plot. In “Raiders,” as fun of a ride as the movie is, the protagonist doesn’t do that.
Years later, I realize that this disconnect between plot and character shares a parallel with Christianity’s teachings about “God’s plan.” Back when I was still attending church, I would hear a lot about how God has a perfect plan for the world and all the people in it, and how a person who accepts Christ will then get to be a part of God’s plan through the course of their life.
But this raises a question: does the successful execution of God’s master plan depend on me agreeing to be part of it?
If its success does depend on me saying “yes,” and I say “no,” then it clearly wasn’t a perfect plan. Maybe the plan turns out well, just “less perfect” — though “less perfect” still means “flawed.”
The alternative is that God’s plan is so well-crafted that it will turn out perfect whether I say “yes” or “no.” In which case, I’m basically the “Indiana Jones” of God’s plan, where I have no impact on the income.
Now it definitely was not my intent to sound nihilistic and say that none of us matter — because we do! We matter very much to our friends and family, and to the communities that we join (churches included). We have an impact on the lives of people all around us, whether we realize it or not. Those are the stories where we can affect how they turn out.
My point is this: the more I think nowadays about this Christian narrative that I was raised to believe is true and good, the less sense it makes. I’ve written before about how certain Bible stories can’t be true, but here we see that the Bible and its religion also have significant plot holes in the story that they try to create for us.
When it comes to the narrative that we give to our lives, we are allowed to expect more from the show writers.
