July 2010 Edition

I recently rented the movie,”Invictus”. This was a story about Nelson Mandela and the South African Rugby team starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as the captain of the Rugby team. I found it a very entertaining movie.

In one scene of the movie, Mandela quotes the Victorian-era, William Ernest Henley poem, from which the movie is titled. Here is that poem:

Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
In the third line of the poem, the author thanks “whatever gods may be”. This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said as he wandered around Athens and saw objects of worship and one in particular marked “to an unknown god”. Henley seems to have a rather agnostic view of life. To him, Paul would have said what he said at the meeting of the Areopagus. “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)
Also, I find the last two lines of the poem accurately express the feelings of today’s modern self- satisfied, self-absorbed, and self-possessed culture. In some ways, I understand the sentiment of the second-to-the-last line, “I am the master of my fate”. What I do, how hard I work and whom I know determines my fate in life. I am in control of my destiny. “Who else would be?” You might ask.
We admire successful people and refer to them as “self-made men or women”. Some of the more humble would say that they are where they are because they have “stood on the shoulders of giants”. I think, however, the author is missing a one, not so small, ingredient in anyone’s success. That is the fact that God is in control. As St. Paul goes on to say in verse 28 of chapter 17, “In Him we live, move, and have our being”. The famous evangelist, D.L. Moody would offer to these words of advice to the person who claims to be the master of his own fate, “Work like it all depends on you, and pray as though it all depends on God”.
As for the idea of anyone claiming to be “the captain of his soul”, he may have a rude surprise awaiting him one nanosecond after his demise. He may think he was in charge, but it was God who ordered his path. It is God who reveals Himself to man. As Scripture says in verses 44 and 65 of John Chapter 6, “No man comes to me unless the Father draws him.” (vs.44) and “That is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him”. (vs.65)
This is what Jim Reiman, Christian author, has to say about the issue of our eternal destiny, “Why is it many Christians believe they had something to do with their salvation? They may not state it that directly, but as we peel back the layers of their theology, we find they have a sense of acceptance due to something they did--which is works, not faith. They speak of "making a decision for Christ”, yet John said we have become God's children, not born "of human decision ... but born of God" (John 1:13). Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). Paul said of becoming God's child, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy" (Rom. 9:16). Finally Solomon, referring to God's sovereign control wrote, "Every decision is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:33).
In short, I think Henley’s poem shows misguided arrogance and self-centeredness in that he leaves God out of the equation. I had a sense of sadness when I read the poem. E-mail me with your thoughts at peggyandbuck@yahoo.com.

Note: After I wrote this newsletter a friend wrote:

"Also, if you remember, Timothy McVeigh quoted the last two lines of Invictus right before he was executed. Indeed, what a deep, dark, depressing, awful thought it is to ponder what he faced within seconds after his death!"