Raya and the Last Dragon: Should We Trust It?

 

 

Warning: this movie review contains spoilers.

Earlier this week, I watched Raya and the Last Dragon with my wife and daughter. Part of the reason we looked forward to watching this movie is that it was intentionally made to reflect a SE Asia setting. We lived in Indonesia for fourteen years. We really love the people there and we miss things about Indonesia, including the food! The movie did include some foods we recognized and some other aspects of SE Asian culture. So that was nice, although we didn’t feel like the cultural aspects went very deep. But, hey, it’s a Disney movie, and it was generally fun and enjoyable to watch. But there is a lot more to Raya than the cultural setting.

Disney movies often have some type of message or messages, and Raya certainly did. The message is made clear in many ways. You don’t have to dig deep for the message, it’s right on the surface throughout the movie. What is that message? My best attempt to sum it up is this:

We should trust people, even when they have hurt and betrayed us in the past and even when there is no reason to think they have changed.

As a Christian, I want to examine that message in the light of God’s Word. But first, I have a few thoughts as a parent. This is a message marketed to children, although Raya will certainly be viewed by many adults as well. I wonder how many of the folks at Disney teach their children to trust people who have hurt and betrayed them in the past when there is no evidence that the person has changed? I wonder if they do that in their own lives? Would you do that? Should you?

Let’s look at what the Bible teaches relative to this topic.

 

 

The Bible Calls Us to Trust God, not People

The Bible speaks a lot about trust. But you might miss some of it. The word translated “believe” in John 3:16 (and in many other verses) includes the idea of trusting someone. We aren’t called merely to agree with certain facts about Jesus, we are called to trust Him with our lives and our hearts. Indeed, throughout the Bible we are encouraged to trust God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Here are just a few verses:

ESV Psalm 9:10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

ESV Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

ESV Psalm 115:9 O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

ESV Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

ESV Psalm 125:1 A Song of Ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

ESV Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

ESV Isaiah 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

ESV John 14:1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

ESV John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

CSB17 2 Corinthians 1:9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

CSB17 1 Peter 4:19 So then, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

Here is the list of all the verses I could find, after careful research and using several methods of searching for them (not to mention many years of constantly reading, studying, and teaching the Bible myself) that say that we should trust people:

I couldn’t find a single verse that indicates that we should trust people in general, much less that we should trust those who have done us harm and whose actions indicate that they are ungodly.

Not only is there no encouragement to trust people in general, the Bible often warns us to be on guard against people and in many situations not to trust people! Jesus Himself, who had perfect judgment in these matters, did not trust people in general:

CSB17 John 2:23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

 24 Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all

 25 and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

The reason the Bible does not encourage us to trust people is that, in general, people are not trustworthy. In fact, all people are sinful. And many people are downright evil and depraved and if you trust them, they will hurt you without a second thought if they sense any benefit for themselves in doing so.

But don’t we have to trust people in order to live in this world? I mean, when you order a hamburger aren’t you trusting that the people making it aren’t poisoning it? Actually, no. I don’t usually know the people making my hamburger. Instead, I know God, Who is in control of all things. And I trust that He will not allow me to be poisoned unless He has a good reason for allowing it. But this doesn’t mean I’m supposed to put God to the test by trusting people in ways that are foolish.

So, the first main point is that the Bible never teaches us to trust people in general (although some individuals are generally trustworthy), and instead focuses us on trusting our Father in Heaven.

But aren’t we supposed to do good even to our enemies? Yes, but that is not because we trust them . . .

 

We are called to love our enemies, not to trust them

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” – Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:44 ESV)

God calls us to love all people. He calls us to love all our neighbors, even those from groups that are hostile to any groups we are in (remember the Good Samaritan!). God even calls us to love our enemies. As my family discussed the movie after watching it, we agreed that a similar movie could easily have been made that was about loving our enemies instead of trusting our enemies. That could have been a powerful movie with a beautiful message in harmony with God’s truth! But alas, that is not what we find in Raya.

Loving someone is not the same thing as trusting them. Loving someone means that we seek their good, even if we do not trust them. Loving others means we are willing to take risks to reach out to them, not because we trust them, but because we love them and we trust God to ultimately protect us (He may allow us to suffer in this life but will use all our suffering for good if we love Him).

While loving people and trusting people may look the same on the outside in some situations, in other situations it will produce very different actions. Sometimes the differences are stark, sometimes they are subtle. If a stranger offers your child a ride home in his van, you don’t want your child to trust him! That doesn’t mean you don’t love that stranger and shouldn’t help them in a different setting (of course, if you have reason to think their motives were evil, you should protect your children and others by reporting them and helping them into prison). A more subtle example involves strangers who ask for money to buy food. I’ve had this happen to me in both the US and in Indonesia (but more often in Indonesia, where the amount and level of poverty is much greater). How do I know they won’t misuse the money if I hand it to them? I don’t. I don’t trust them and I’m not called to trust them. But I am called to love them. So, both in Indonesia and in the US, I have sometimes gone and bought them food. Sometimes I took them to the grocery store, set a limit, let them shop, and then I paid for it. Even doing this there is no guarantee that they will not trade the food for drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. But I don’t have to trust a person to take some risk and help them. I can be wise and reduce the risk of my help going astray, but ultimately I help them out of love, not because they are trustworthy. Jesus helped many people who were not grateful to Him. Trust and love are two different things. Raya and the Last Dragon does not seem to understand this. But then, being made by Disney, I guess we shouldn’t expect them to.

 

Some people are basically trustworthy, many others are not

The issue of trusting people is complex. Disney oversimplified the issue to the point of being misleading. Biblically, although only God is completely trustworthy, some people are basically worthy of our trust. For example, Paul charges Timothy to pass his teaching onto faithful men who can teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). Here, “faithful” basically means the same thing as trustworthy. Paul calls some individuals faithful: Tychichus (Ephesians 6:21), Ephaphras (Colossians 1:7), and Onesimis (Colossians 4:4). Peter calls Silvanus “faithful” (1 Peter 5:12). However, Paul warns his readers to be on guard against Alexander the copper smith specifically because he had done great harm to Paul (2 Timothy 4:14-15). We should carefully evaluate people before we trust them. Some people are trustworthy, some are not. The dragon’s advice to Raya in the movie is to trust someone who has already done her great harm even though there is no evidence of change. That’s really bad advice (of course in the movie it works out well, but in real life it rarely will).

 

Other issues in the movie, good and bad

The movie ends with something similar to a resurrection of many people who had been turned to stone. To me this was a moving scene. It is a faint (imperfect, and in some ways inaccurate) picture of the resurrection we look forward to when all evil will be overcome and we will live in peace and harmony with all of God’s people in a perfect world.

Raya was courageous and persevered in a long and difficult mission to rescue her father and her people. Examples of courage and perseverance in the face of evil and many difficulties can inspire us. God calls us all to contribute to His mission of spreading the gospel and making disciples and it does require courage, sacrifice, perseverance, and being willing to face danger.

Different dragons and different people have different gifts and skills in Raya and the Last Dragon. This reflects how God works through different people with different gifts in the church and in ministry. We need to work together to be fruitful.

Raya engages in an occult-like ritual to call forth the last dragon. Obviously, this is fiction, but people really do use somewhat similar occult practices to attempt to communicate with the dead. In fact, I’ve seen it done. I didn’t know it was going to happen at an event I attended overseas, and I didn’t approve of it in any way and in fact prayed like crazy against it when I saw what they were doing. At best, these practices are simply fake and empty. However, there is a real risk of demonic influence coming into the lives of people who participate in such things. It should not be taken lightly. Disney’s movie Soul also showed occult activity in a positive light. We need to guard ourselves, our families, and our church members from such influence. It really is dangerous.

Dragons providing for people and giving people guidance is a terrible substitute and does not work as a symbol for the truth that God provides for us and gives us guidance through His Word, His Holy Spirit, and His people.

 

Conclusion

If you choose to watch this movie with your kids, I think it is important to discuss some of the problems in it and some of the wrong messages it sends. We should trust God, not people. The world is not broken because we failed to trust people, but because people have failed to trust God. The Bible does teach us to love our enemies, but this is not the same as trusting them. And occult activity is dangerous and sinful.

May God watch over our families, our church families, and especially our children.

 

Related Blog Posts:

Is Disney’s Soul Good for Yours?

Frozen 2: Biblical Lessons and Christian Thoughts

WandaVision: 7 Christian Themes Seen in Marvel’s Show

Avenger’s Endgame: Lessons for Christians

Thanatos is a Worse Enemy than Thanos

A Million American Witches Need Jesus

Church Growth: Unity leads to teamwork leads to church growth

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .

Heresy and Slander: Immune System Disorders in the Body of Christ

 

When it comes to our immune systems, there is no such thing as erring on the side of safety. If our immune systems are underactive, we will be vulnerable to all types of diseases and illnesses. A weak immune system can easily lead to death. But if our immune system is overactive, this is also a grave danger. Our immune system can overreact to something that in itself is relatively harmless and cause allergic reactions which range from inconvenient to fatal. In some cases, our immune systems can even mistakenly attack healthy parts of our own bodies and cause severe illness or even death. Immune systems must not be too strong or too weak. They must attack pathogens and not attack our body. We need them to work just right, or we will suffer.

Something similar is true when it comes to dealing with doctrinal error among Christians. On the one hand, if we are not sufficiently on guard against false teaching, the wolves quickly devour the sheep (see Acts 20:29). Many people are led astray by false teachers and false prophets (see Matthew 24:11). But it is not only the false teachers themselves who are to blame. Sometimes those who should be guarding the flock (especially elders, or the equivalent in any Christian church or ministry) fail to do their job (see Revelation 2:20). But there is another risk. Some people are overzealous in their efforts to guard God’s people from error. They see heresy where there is merely a wrong interpretation on a secondary issue. Or they see false teaching when in fact the person teaching is not in error at all. When true, faithful Christians are kept out or driven out of ministries and churches because of false accusations of heresy, a lot of damage is done to the body of Christ. Like an overactive immune system, these overactive guards can do just as much damage as the ones who are not sufficiently on guard.

I’ve been in the role of seeing doctrinal errors seeping into a Christian ministry and calling attention to it. It is not at all a pleasant role to be in. I did my best to respond rightly. I understand the need for guarding against false and dangerous teaching. Just a few weeks ago I preached a message about churches and ministries that fail to guard against the false teaching that homosexual practices are acceptable You may watch that sermon here:

 

In the rest of this post, I am going to focus on the other side of the problem: Christians who too quickly cry “wolf,” and who accuse others of heresy where there is no heresy. These Christians honestly believe that they are protecting the body of Christ. In reality, like an overactive immune system, they are damaging the very body they are supposed to protect.

 

Accusations of Heresy

The word heresy should be reserved for errors that are at least serious enough that any Christian church or ministry should bar anyone holding heretical views from teaching and leadership positions. To charge someone with heresy is a serious accusation. To see that this is in fact how people generally understand heresy consider these two questions, each posed to any mature Christian who is at a church seeking a new pastor.

 

1. Are you ok with a new pastor who disagrees with you on some secondary point of doctrine?

 

Most mature Christians will realize that almost any two Christians will disagree on some detail of doctrine. As long as it is not an essential fundamental of the faith, it is usually acceptable, and we can work together effectively to make disciples.

 

2. Are you ok with a new pastor who holds to heresy?

 

No Christian should be ok with that!

Of course, if another Christian, especially a teacher or leader, actually does hold a heretical view, it is right to confront them and if we are in a proper position to do so we should warn other Christians against them.

On the other hand, if we accuse someone of heresy when they are not, in fact, guilty of heresy, we can do great damage to the accused and also to the body of Christ. We may cause unnecessary and damaging division where there should be unity.

There is nothing wrong with gently discussing with someone that you think they are mistaken about a secondary doctrine. If both sides are humble and respectful, such discussions can help everyone understand the Bible more clearly and accurately. However, a charge of heresy raises the stakes. But it doesn't just raise the stakes for the one charged with heresy. It also raises the stakes for the one making the accusation. If an accusation of heresy is false, then the one making the accusation is guilty of slander. The Bible treats slander as a serious sin (see these verses:  Matthew 15:19; Romans 1:30; 2 Corinthians 12:20; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; 1 Peter 2:1).

Slander is basically saying something negative about a person that is not true. (In some cases, if the speaker’s motives are wrong or if they are speaking in a way that hurts rather than helps, there can even be slander when an accusation is true, but I’m not discussing that situation here.)

An accusation of heresy might be false for several reasons, including these:

1. The person accused does not actually hold the view he/she is accused of holding. This happened to the Apostle Paul (see Romans 3:8). I have also seen it happen to people I know. One way this happens is when the accuser feels like a certain view logically leads to a terrible heretical conclusion, yet the person they are accusing does NOT believe their view logically leads to the heretical conclusion. Even if the accuser is correct about the logic, if they accuse the other person of actually holding the terrible heresy when they do not hold it, that’s wrong. The accused may be guilty of a logical error, but that is far different from being guilty of heresy. An example is if an Arminian feels that Calvinism logically leads to the conclusion that God is unjust and then accuses Calvinists not merely of being Calvinists, but of believing that God is unjust. Of course, no Calvinist I know believes God is unjust. Or if a Calvinist believes that Arminianism logically leads to God not being sovereign and then they accuse a brother in Christ who is Arminian of believing that God is not sovereign. But no Arminian I know actually believes that. If you engage in theological discussions, you can probably think of many more examples.

2. The person accused does hold the view, but the issue is really a secondary level issue (what some people called "open hand issues") and should not be treated as heresy. Different Christians will differ on whether some issues are primary or secondary. Clear examples of primary issues include things like: Jesus really, physically rose from the dead; the deity of Christ; the basic truth of the Trinity; we are saved by faith in Jesus; God created everything; and the Bible is true, trustworthy, and authoritative. Those are just examples, more could be added to the list. Some people add way too much to their list of essential doctrines. Some examples of secondary issues include things like: your view of the millennium; old earth vs. new earth views; Calvinism vs. Arminianism; and complementarianism vs. egalitarianism. I am not saying these secondary issues are unimportant. They are way more important than who wins some sports game, or what restaurant you want to eat at after church, or what clothes you pick out to wear in the morning. Secondary issues are worth studying and discussing and even respectfully debating. With all these secondary issues (and there are many more!) at least one of the two sides is wrong, but the nature of their error does not make them a heretic. They are still our brother/sister in Christ, and we should treat them like that. To accuse them of heresy is slander and is divisive.

3. The accused person holds the view, but it turns out the accused person’s view is actually correct. To disagree with the accused's correct view might not be a serious error. But to accuse them of heresy for a view that is actually correct is a serious case of slander. In the past, faithful Christians were put to death for charges of heresy for beliefs that most of us would now agree with. Thankfully, today (at least in most of the nations people reading this live in) you can’t get away with burning someone at the stake for a religious opinion you think is wrong, even if you view it as heresy. However, Christians are sometimes wrongly excluded from fellowship, from opportunities to use their gifts in a church or ministry, and sometimes have been fired from their jobs over false accusations of heresy. I know people this has happened to. It hurts those falsely accused, it hurts their family and friends, and it hurts anyone who watches the ugliness and injustice involved.

It’s a serious sin if you slander a brother or sister in Christ. If you cause unnecessary division, that is also a serious sin. In some cases, if a person continues to be divisive after warning them, they themselves might need to be put out of a church or ministry (see Titus 3:10).

The tendency to quickly accuse people of heresy seems especially rampant in social media. Perhaps it is easier to fling such dangerous accusations in a setting where you aren’t seeing the person face to face, often barely know them, and are very unlikely to be held accountable. In Facebook groups I help moderate, we have a low tolerance for such behavior, but many groups are not well moderated. However, just because it is on Facebook instead of in person, does not mean that the accusers will ultimately get away with such behavior:

 

CSB17 Matthew 12:36 I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.

 

CSB17 Matthew 7:2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.

I’m pretty sure the same thing will apply to every careless word people type.

 

What Prompted This

Up to now, I have purposely avoided making this specific to myself and some Christian brothers and sisters whom I know and love. That’s because the issues discussed above apply to many situations and not just ours. But I will mention my own situation. I used to believe in a doctrine often called eternal torment. As a result of Bible study, I now am convinced instead that the Bible teaches conditional immortality. Basically, I believe that unrighteous will be resurrected to face judgment. The judgment will be terrible for them. However, they will not suffer eternally. Instead, they will perish (John 3:16) as God destroys both their bodies and souls in hell (Matthew 10:28) and they are reduced to ashes (2 Peter 2:6). They will no longer exist as conscious people and will be gone forever.

I respect others when they disagree with me (I used to disagree with the view I now hold myself!) and argue against my view. In fact, I appreciate it when someone will discuss the biblical evidence. That can help us both find the truth. But it does bother me when people accuse me and other evangelical conditionalists of heresy (or use equivalent language, like saying I am false teacher, agent of Satan, etc.). Does this occasionally happen? That wouldn’t really be accurate. It happens often. I honestly believe such accusations have been made well over a hundred times against me, not to mention the thousands of such accusations against my brothers and sisters in Christ who share my view of hell. Does it bother me? Usually, it does not bother me very much in terms of how it affects me directly. But I am honestly always concerned about those who are committing such serious slander and potentially causing harmful division in the Church. I forgive them for any harm done to me. May God have mercy on them and gently correct them.

 

Conclusion

There’s a lot of actual heresy and false teaching out there. We need courageous Christians who are equipped to guard against these serious errors. At the same time, great damage can be done and serious sins committed when false accusations of heresy are made. Be courageous. Be zealous for the truth. But also be careful and humble.

 

Related Blog Posts:

Grace and Truth

Mark’s Resources on Hell

 

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .