Integrity: A Timeless Concept

Last Friday, I watched the recently released, "10,000 BC." While this movie seemed to demand that organized religion be sacrificed on the altar of extinction, the producer-priests may not have been able to get the fire started. Self-sacrifice for the community, the very value-system of the movie, is the heart and soul of the community ethos in Christianity.

One scene in particular comes to mind. Dei-lay (sp?) is a young boy competing in his village for the lead hunter position as well as for the right to marry his secrete sweet heart. The group of boys coxes a group of mammoths to charge. The boy who is successful in bringing down the chosen mammoth will be the winner. A mishap occurs, and the netting used to trap the beast gives way. Several boys, including Dei-lay, jump on the net hoping to find a way to kill the mammoth. Shortly all boys jump off, but Dei-lay gets stuck. Eventually the beast is stopped by the edge of a canyon, and throws the remaining netting off. Dei-lay attempts to spear him, but is unsuccessful. The mammoth charges him in between some rocks, but is stopped due to a large spear stuck in the ground (left stuck in the netting). The other boys come running and congratulate Dei-lay for his successful kill, crowning him the winner of the coveted position and woman. However, his conscience bothers him, and a short while later he relinquishes his position and woman. He explains that he did not truly win the contest, so he cannot truly claim the coveted position nor the woman (though he loved her more than life itself ... she loved him as well).

"It is not the way of the Egal to claim the White Spear with a lie."

Later in the movie he gets the opportunity to demonstrate his love for her with the solid integrity that is the character of his people. Social and personal integrity ... what a novel concept for Christianity and Christian leaders.

Since organized religion was successfully presented in a very oppressive light ... and nature/tribal spirituality was presented with great fragrance, there is the possibility that many people in our culture will be further discouraged from fully embracing the Old Time Religion of their grandparents. We have this rather unpleasant issue with our skeptical youth today.

The challenge for us who truly love the Church (holy warts and all) is not to completely shrug off our teenagers' complaints. They are actually drowning in our hyper-individualistic culture and are seeking a liferaft of personal and social integrity in others, especially adults.