Fiat Justitia et Pereat Mundus

The holidays are really, really too short. Or are they? Which sorta begs the question - Is 'short', in terms of length, an absolute term or a relative term? 7 days. Compared to the 3 months of holidays that other uni students have, it's probably as short as it can ever get. However, from another perspective, these 7 days of holidays are the same 7 days that all my other 250+ classmates have. Therefore, are my holidays short? What is the reference/standard used for comparison?

Was watching this movie called 'Come What May'. No, it's not a sequel of Moulin Rouge, though I personally love the movie AND the song. The synopsis from IMDB:

"Caleb and Rachel team up to lead the Patrick Henry College team in the intense world of collegiate moot court competition. Caleb looks to date Rachel, but she's waiting for courtship. Meanwhile, Caleb becomes caught in a moral tug-of-war between his parents - a newly Christian father and a feminist attorney mother. Caleb's mom goes before the U.S. Supreme Court defending abortion, even as Caleb simultaneously takes on the opposing legal argument at the national moot court championship."

At the heart of this movie are several themes:
1. Truth and Belief - Absolutism and Relativism

"People believe what they choose to, but you need to believe the truth. What you believe determines what you do." - Don Hogan (The Christian father)
" See.. when somebody tells you something is 'morally wrong', watch out. There's always a sliding scale. Even stealing, well, what if you're starving? Some people are so sure that there's black and white. There's always a grey area, they just won't admit it." - Judith Hogan (The attorney mother)
"While you and I do have different views and opinions, should that really matter as long as we respect each other?" - Judith Hogan

In this day and age, it'd seem that there are many Judith Hogans speaking to us. With God's unchanging and absolute character, comes His unchanging morals and values for us. Some detractors may say that while God said "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour" (Ex 20:16), Rahab was commended for her faith in God (Heb 11:31) despite lying to save the lives of the 2 spies (Jos 2). Would that have been double-standards? But we should bear in mind that Rahab saved 2 lives by doing what she did, and that would have been upholding a higher principle. Although we must not easily compromise on laws and principles, let us not go down the path of being overtly-legalistic either. At the end of the day, I think we have to go back to the Word to discern the heart of God so that we will act in a way pleasing to Him.

Especially in our multi-religious society, where religion appears to remain still a touchy and sensitive issue, is it really true that respect is all that matters and that differing beliefs don't matter? No doubt, we should and must respect others for they too are created in the image of God, but we shouldn't go down the path of thinking that "all beliefs are good and well as long as they do not harm others", etc. This doesn't mean that we go around denouncing others' beliefs, picking fights and inciting riots, but to engage others peacefully with respect.

Patrick Henry College's founder, Dr. Michael Farris (also a US constitutional lawyer and Baptist minister) says this in the movie, "Here, we have confidence in reason, because we have confidence in God."

2. On Abortion

At the centre of this movie is the question of "When does life really begin?" Roe v. Wade is mentioned extensively, a landmark case in the US which upheld that that a mother may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the "point at which the fetus becomes 'viable'", where 'viability' is defined as the potential "to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid".

There's this exchange between Caleb and Don, his father:
Caleb: "The issue is, how do you know when does a baby's life begins?"
Don: "That's not a biology question, you know. Biology has nothing to do with it, in fact it's so simple that a 10 year old can understand it. Just pick a time when you know the baby's alive."
Caleb: "The day he's born."
Don: "Alright, what about the day before that? Is the baby alive the day before that?"
Caleb: "Of course."
Don: "And how about the day before that?"
Caleb: "Sure."
Don: "There you have it. Life doesn't begin incrementally. It's not like the baby was anymore alive today than it was the day before. It's radical, it's an event, and it only happens once in a human's existence."
Caleb: "At conception."
Don: "No other explanation makes sense. And it's so simple, anyone can understand it."
Caleb: "But why don't they get it?"
Don: "It's not that the people don't get it, they don't wanna hear it."

At the end of the movie, during the moot court finals, Caleb argues against Roe v. Wade, "They tear the baby out of its only means of life support, and say 'Wow, look at that, our machines can't sustain it's life,' and somehow, that proves it's not viable!"

Something for all of us to think about.

3. Fiat Justitia et Pereat Mundus

The literal translation would be "Let there be justice, though the world perish." In the movie, it's interpreted to mean, "Do the right thing, come what may."

Dr. Michael Farris says this, "Moot court becomes real court before you know it. Winning Moot court is great, for the moment, but living by Christian principles, living by God's righteousness, that will guide your whole life."

4. Commitment

Don: "Say you lend a guy 10,000 bucks. What are you gonna want from him?"
Caleb: "Well I'd want him to pay it back."
Don: "Would you lend it to him if he wouldn't commit to that? If Rachel gives you her trust, if she puts herself in your hands, she wants a commitment that you're not gonna break her heart."

There are other themes on family, work, etc. But I think it'll be better for each of us to explore them ourselves (Actually, more like this post is getting horrendously lengthy.)

In summary, I think the movie's a good watch. The DVD's not mine though. If and when I get my hands on it, you can borrow from me.

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I really think blogging takes a lot of time.