The Bible on the History Channel

I just wrote this letter to Roma Downey and sent it off hoping she'll consider adapting Maitreya & Hereafter into films!

Dear Roma,

I just watched the last episode of The Bible as seen on the History Channel! Congratulations on your achievement, retelling the Greatest Story Ever Told in a way that made each scene a fresh and compelling viewing and spiritual experience for millions of enthusiastic viewers! Clearly, you and your acting & production teams were inspired.

I heard you give several media interviews where you admitted as much, that the Hand of God was guiding the project. I’m sure you and everyone involved will need some time to rest and reflect, but I may have written two books that you could option to produce the “sequel” to The Bible!

I feel I was inspired to write the novel, Maitreya and its sequel, Hereafter. Using the lens of inspired, faith-based fiction, Maitreya is the sequel to the Bible, to the Old and New Testaments. It begins in modern times. The world is beginning to convulse—the labor pains leading to the return of Jesus and the turbulent transition to the Kingdom Age.

It has elements of Hunger Games and Twilight, to attract a younger audience, while staying true to fundamental Christian principles.  Imagine filling movie theaters with a faith-based film, no commercials to interrupt the spiritual impact of the story, with the power to attract the same kinds of numbers that drew millions to Hunger Games and Twilight. My book, Maitreya, has that potential.

In the sequel, Hereafter, the main character, Fallon Ford, finds herself in heaven. Again, the sharp lens of fiction focuses on the stories told by those who “crossed over” and returned, shaping them into a novel that attempts to share the deeper fundamental meaning of what life on the “other side” might be like.

So, Roma, I’d love to send you copies of my books. Have any teenagers in your life read them and report back. After they do, perhaps we can talk about your production company optioning the film rights to the books.

Wishing you many Blessings on all your future projects,

RL Morton

Just saw The Dark Knight Rises . . . wasn't going to at first, don't really like films with dark themes and excessive violence, but the killings at the Colorado midnight screening got me thinking it was important to preserve our freedoms and not let fear take over.

The final film in the Batman series once again explored the eternal struggle, the eternal contrast between Good and Evil, captured graphically by this scene from the film:



I really have to compliment the writers who put the screenplay together. Yes, there was violence, mayhem,  and killing, but it wasn't gratuitous. Important, but complex themes were played out in the film. Bane, was a terrorist who took over Gotham in order to bring down the rich and powerful and return power to the people--or was he a freedom fighter?

This ideal isn't evil in itself . . . wasn't this our motivation for taking control of the American colonies by forcing English forces back to England. Wasn't it the reason we invaded Iraq in order to remove a ruthless dictator? Wasn't this the reason for both the French and Russian Revolutions, and the Cultural Revolution in China.  Does being in the "right" ideologically make killing right, or the dead any less dead, or suffering any less painful.


So many Christian principles played out through the fiction displayed on screen. 



The cat burglar character, played by Anne Hathaway, hadn't yet learned that it is better to give than receive. Near the end of the film, when it appeared everyone in Gotham would surely die, all she could think about was saving herself. In the end, her soul tested, she returned to help Batman win the day! One soul saved! 





For another character, in a complicated subplot, Marion Cotillard, as Miranda, was unable to forgive Bruce for killing her father. That "sin" poisoned her soul and her anger was to be vented on the 12 million people of Gotham. She died in the film without redemption.


During the struggle, Bane mentioned that he was sent to restore "Balance" . . . and I saw this as pointing to a puzzling and mysterious, but critical spiritual principle. If Evil didn't exist, God would have had to create Evil in order to provide a mirror, a reference point, so that Good can be identified. If Batman, then, represents Good, as well as a "Savior" symbol, in the film, lives were saved and a way of life was preserved.

If we look objectively at what Jesus accomplished, it was more about promoting a quality of life among people based on the Principles of Love, Forgiveness, Justice, and Sharing. Jesus didn't die on the cross to end death, disease, or poverty. Those are part of the "Balance" of the human condition which the Wisdom of God has established. The resurrection didn't change the eternal nature of the human soul. It was eternal before Jesus died and rose again, and remained eternal afterwards, but it is the quality of life that changed dramatically because of what Jesus and mankind's other prophets and teachers taught us.

While alive in flesh-and-blood bodies, relationships among people can be good if governed by Love. When we die, our souls live on. If we have learned to Love we can transition to this place we call heaven where there are other souls who have chosen the same Path. If we haven't, we go to another place, or if God is the kind of Spirit Being I've imagined, such a soul will be offered another incarnation on Earth or another such world where important spiritual lessons can be learned.

So, once again I applaud the gifted storytellers who conceived of The Dark Knight Rises, a modern retelling of the Gospel, in such a way as to give us all such an entertaining Sunday School lesson!






   

Olympic Hurdles Hopeful, Lolo Jones, is a Virgin!

Lolo Jones could certainly be in the news simply because she is one of the world's best hurdlers and headed for the London 2012 Olympics. 2008 could have been her year but for a fateful clip on the top of one of the last hurdles in the gold medal heat. The real reason the media has lit her up this week is because she's a virgin! Yes, she is attempting to honor God and her future husband by waiting to have sex until she is married.



Is that "honorable" right, wrong, recommended or a foolhardy moral goal?

Jesus was never married, that we know of. Do you think he could have come to Earth to experience what it was like to be human without tasting every aspect of what our lives are like? I personally believe that before dying on the cross he knew what it meant to be human . . . in every respect.

History has shown that attempting to repress fundamental biological functions only seems to lead to personal disaster, not halo-ready sanctity. Celibacy hasn't worked well for the Catholic Church, has it, just to give one obvious example. Celibacy for a period, as a free-will option, certainly has its place in our lives. Is Lolo doing the right thing? Yes, if celibacy is working for her, but no if it is creating escalating anxieties in her life.

Why does the Bible promote sex withing marriage? The reasons are obvious. Children are best raised in a family setting, disease is less likely in a monogamous relationship, and the powerful bonding emotions connected with having sex can be honored and nurtured in marriage.

People so often think of things labeled as "sins" in the Bible as being connected to whether you'll end up in heaven or hell. That's not really the issue. Anything labeled as a "sin" is there to warn you that the potential exists to hurt yourself or others if that sin is engaged in.

There are times when we just must experience certain things . . . commit certain sins. It's not the end of your spiritual world. Learn from your mistakes and let your soul grow in wisdom as a result.