Monday, March 9, 2009

Encouragement for a Clone Trooper


"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." Romans 8.1,2

Picking up the thread of an earlier set of postings on this blog, I do think that it is a turning away from the truth about ourselves to say "I have no regrets". A Christian will have regrets, but these cause him or her, once again, to marvel at the liberty from being in Christ Jesus. No guilt! No condemnation (from God, self or others)!

Does the Clone Trooper have a soul to be saved? Discuss.

Click the title of this post to see an example of freedom in the midst of suffering...

11 comments:

Ran Barton said...

Years ago, I imagined stormtroopers to be robots. Then I learned they were human, and the later trilogy (Films 1, 2, and 3) taught us they were clones. If one sees a clone along the lines of a twin, then they must have a soul. If one sees a clone as an indsutrial product - a highly engineered tool with no free will or consciousness, I guess you could say not. As depicted in the Clone Wars, the clones seems very human and fully capable of passing themselves off as fully human, so I'd advocate for their possesion of a soul. As for saving them, I guess their salavation lies in the hands of George Lucas as much as anyone. And surely Jar Jar Binks is argument enough for some hellfire and torment.

Clifford Swartz said...

Terrific post, Ran (as ever)!

Is a clone trooper fully human? I guess I would say that someone doesn't need to have consciousness to be treated as a human being (I am not sure that my five month old exhibits conscious thought). And yet there is a certain lack of care or concern when a clone trooper gets hit with a blaster than, say, when someone like Obi-Wan gets sliced by Darth Vader in episode 1.

By the way, Ran, as a good Anglican, of course you don't believe in free will in the enlightenment sense, but rather a bound will in which we can only do good when empowered by God. So in that way clone troopers are a good picture of being enslaved by sin. (See Article X in the 39 Articles).


Here is a picture of something one can find on the "Jar Jar Must Die" websites:
http://wiw.org/~jess/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/jarjarelvis.jpg

Ran Barton said...

Good point about humanity not requiring conscious thought - an obvious oversight on my part.

As for free and bound will, I sheepishly submit that you overestimate how doctrinaire I am, E.C. I will ask our right thinking rector to bring me up to speed, but I suspect I am off the reservation on this one.

Truth be told, I don't think being frozen in carbonite is sufficient punishment for ol' Jar Jar.

Clifford Swartz said...

Ran, you are in all things wise. Here's the article I mention:

The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God: Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

This obviously means that Jar Jar Binks, like all of us, needs the grace of God. Perhaps especially Jar Jar, me-sah think sir!

DZ said...

Cliff, that picture is unbelievable. what a find!

As for Jar Jar, I may have to side with Ran on this one... I re-watched the prequel trilogy recently, wanting with every fiber of my being to like it, but alas, it was even worse than I remembered.

Clifford Swartz said...

Poor Jar Jar.

Questionable as to the presence of conscious thought, I guess.

TD-2243 said...

Being a Clone, we work for The Emperor and our only thoughts should be toward the good of the Empire. As to a soul, I would suppose if we had any, it would be that of Jango, from whom we were formed.

TC-2243

TD-2243 said...

It is also worth noting that your photo has a Stormtrooper, not all of which were Clones. Many were recruited as noted on : http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Stormtrooper

Thereby, they would have souls.

Clifford Swartz said...

I stand corrected on both counts, Dan!

Anonymous said...

I have a friend/acquaintance who dresses up in a legit, authentic storm trooper suit and meets with other troopers in a "troop". Not sure what they do when gathered. But this guy is a Christian...
So he,at least, has a soul.

Clifford Swartz said...

e, is your friend none other than TD-2243 perhaps?

This post has generated as many comments as the Burgermeister Meisterburger...