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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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from One Power in the ’Verse
Finding God in Firefly and Serenity
by Paul Lytle
The following comes from Paul Lytle’s new book about Christianity and the show Firefly: One Power in the ’Verse: Finding God in Firefly and Serenity. The book is now available at Lulu.com. Please click the cover image above for ordering information.
This article does contain spoilers.
Chapter 18 – Sovereignty
How River Fell into the Only Hands That Could Save Her
Maybe. Or maybe you’re exactly where you ought to be.
-Inara1
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
-Genesis 28:16
Have you noticed that there doesn’t seem to be anyone who is completely without purpose in books or on television? Someone with absolutely no reason to be there at all? What I mean is that, especially in science fiction and fantasy, each member of the team seems to have a special skill that gets everyone out of a situation in the nick of time (and it is always in the nick of time – no one dismantles the bomb with three hours still on the timer). There is never that one guy at the end of the story that didn’t help at all.
Let me use Firefly as an example. Of course, Mal is our primary hero, and he’s doing stuff all over the place, and River is our goal – it is she that they must protect (until “Objects in Space” and Serenity, of course, and then her role becomes quite active). She also provides the quest, which is to find a cure. But all of our characters get a shot as well. For Jayne, a shot is literally what he gets, because there are times when only his gun will be of any use. Zoe’s leadership skills get them out of “War Stories” safely. Wash’s flying saves them several times. Sometimes they have to have a doctor, and Simon is there. And then the ship is having trouble, or they need to do a Crazy Ivan, and Kaylee is the one to call. In “The Train Job” and “Trash,” it is Inara that saves the day with her own skills and reputation, and no one else could have performed those jobs. Even Book provides a vital role at times with information and guidance that no one else can provide. In “War Stories,” his gun is critical.
The point is, if any one of these people would have died in “Serenity,” the ship would have never made it to Serenity.
This happens all over fiction. In role-playing games, this trend becomes almost a mockery of itself, with people taking on vital roles rather than characters. The characters in RPGs are often secondary to the roles they play. Whether or not a team has a “Granther the Invincible” is beside the point, but it is vitally important that a team has a thief. Sometimes a person is invited to join the game because a wizard is needed, not because that person is seriously wanted at the game.
(As an aside, Orson Scott Card, in his defense of Firefly being the greatest Science Fiction show to ever air, points out that in other Sci-Fi shows, the characters are their roles. He speaks of Babylon 5, and as much as I love the show – which should be obvious by now – he is absolutely right. Sheridan is a captain first. But Mal is first a person, a person who is also a captain.)
The point is, a team goes out, seemingly, with exactly the right group of people to get the job done.
Likewise, the critical items and information seem to be exactly where you need them.
When the ship, well, explodes in “Out of Gas,” the first ship that comes by has an extra catalyzer aboard. Certainly, Mal has to fight for it, but they have one.
Now as the captain of the other ship says, a “catalyzer’s a nothing part.”2 But it wasn’t so common that Kaylee had an extra one, so we cannot assume that any other ship is going to have an extra one either.
Coincidence, maybe. But do we ever read any science fiction where five ships go by, and none of them has an extra catalyzer? Rarely.
When the crew finds out about Miranda in Serenity, they are extremely close to the planet. This is important, because had they been far away, say on the other side of the star system, the Operative probably would have caught up with them before they could reach Miranda, and our heroes would all be dead, which would have been a bad ending to the film. But by chance they were right there.
Of course, fiction tends to tell the story of the person who beat the unbeatable bad guy, who climbed the unassailable mountain, who found a way into the impenetrable fortress. It rarely tells the story of the people who failed.
But who knew about Miranda besides those people who weren’t willing to do anything about it (as in, government officials)? Only River. And what crew could uncover the truth and broadcast it? Only the crew of Serenity. And who had a nerve cluster moved from the exact spot the Operative would try to attack, thus turning the final battle? Only Mal.
An amazing amount of coincidence must occur for this story to work. Is it coincidence?
Of course not! It’s writing. These are not random events thrown together, and it’s not a random crew. It is by design that it happened this way. It all happened under the control of Joss Whedon. We need not think this amazing at all, because it was planned like this from the beginning.
A Creator’s Control
This is exactly why some people do not like fiction. It’s too contrived, they say. It’s not realistic. Real life, these people will say, does not work that way.
I hate to be one to disagree, but I think it is remarkably realistic. The reason I think so is because we too have a Creator who is controlling what is happening and how it will turn out.
People will often laugh at this, saying they see no evidence. I can see that point of view, but I can also imagine Mal saying the same thing to someone who told him about the existence of Joss Whedon. Can’t you just see that conversation? I have a feeling that Mal would get annoyed rather quickly. But just because Mal would never accept the existence of Joss Whedon does not mean that Joss Whedon does not exist. In fact, we know that he does.
The truth is this: God does have this under control, no matter what it looks like. We don’t understand it, and we probably never will in this life, but God is actually moving things toward the good. Romans 8:28, one of the best-known and most interesting verses in the Bible (and my personal favorite), tells us very clearly that this is so: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (NASB).
Notice that it does not say that everything will be good. That’s not going to happen. God doesn’t promise that we’re going to be rich, happy, with hot wives and great cars, and that everyone will love us. In fact, Paul, who wrote this passage, had none of those things. Consider what he says about his own life:
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
-2 Corinthians 11:25-28
This is the same person that believed that God was working everything in his life for his good.
No, we are promised hardship as Christians. Jesus told us Himself (in a passage I have quoted before), “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20).
The Book of Romans does not talk about giving us success and money. It is talking about a spiritual good.
We must also notice that it is God doing the work here. The Book of Job tells us the same thing: “Whether for correction or for his land / or for love, he causes it to happen” (37:13).
He knows all, and controls all. Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, He assures us of His understanding: “I am God, and there is none like me, / declaring the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Okay, so if He is sovereign over all, then why do terrible things happen? Why do people die, and get hurt, and are abused?
The final answer to this, without trying to be flippant at all, is this: “God only knows.” He knows, and He knows better than us. Seriously, that’s what the Bible says. It is not a direct quote, but take a look at Paul’s answer to this very question:
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory — even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
-Romans 9:20-24
The ultimate purpose is God’s to know. The end result is something He has in mind, and we will someday see it. But the truth that He has it under control has been revealed to us. That is something we can know now.
This is one of those times where fiction may be able to help us get a little better understanding of what is going on here. It will not tell us exactly what God’s ultimate purpose is or our role in that purpose, but it may give us an idea of how this works.
Why did Wash and Book die in Serenity? There are two answers, each completely valid. The first answer is that their characters and events led them to a certain point where they had to die. Events brought the Operative’s people to Haven, where Book’s character put him behind a cannon. His skill was enough to bring the enemy down, but not enough to keep him from being mortally wounded in the process. Likewise, events brought Wash into a firefight between the Alliance and the Reavers. His skill and character brought them to the ground, but it also brought him within sight of the Reaver ship. In taking the moment to admire his own ability as a pilot, he left himself open for a surprise attack.
That’s the first answer.
The second answer is a lot more simple – Joss Whedon wrote it that way.
Are they both true? Absolutely. 100% true.
So we know why Book and Wash got into the positions where they were in, as far as the story goes. We know why they died when it comes to the story. But why did Whedon write it that way?
In his own words, he tells us his reasons: “I did it for a very specific reason, and that was to make you think that this could be a Wild Bunch, this could be a, you know, we all go down trying to work this.”3
I have no reason to doubt Whedon when he says this. Had the characters of Wash or Book asked him personally, somehow, I’m not sure what he would have said. Maybe he would have said, “You won’t understand it now, but it’s for the good.”
That didn’t happen. Do either Wash or Book understand those reasons? Nope. Whedon didn’t tell them, and they didn’t know he was there to ask him. He certainly told the actors who played those roles, but he never told the characters. The characters did not live to see the end of the story, or even to know whether anyone would be successful at all.
Did they die for the good? Yes. Did they at least know that? I don’t know. That takes faith.
That takes faith.
It’s the same way with God. I don’t know exactly why He caused these things to happen in my life. At the end of everything, I’ll be able to look back and go, “Oh, that makes sense now,” just like we do when we reach the end of Serenity. Until then, we can only trust the Creator.
Does this make any more sense? We are characters in this story. Our own actions and characters place us in certain circumstances. We don’t understand what’s going on, and we don’t know if it’s going to work out.
Maybe we’re playing some random guy in a bar that gets beat up by River without ever knowing why. Maybe we’re playing an active role, but don’t see the end. Maybe we end up being the hero.
Our choices put us in those circumstances. That is absolutely true. But at the same time there is a Writer, God, who is also putting us in those circumstances. He knows where this is going. He knows the plot already, and how each role will take part in that plot.
But we’re in the story. We don’t know how it will all fit together until the end. Until “. . . happily ever after.”
The difference between life and Firefly is that, in this life, the Author has come into the story. C. S. Lewis uses a similar analogy, wondering under what circumstances Hamlet could know anything about Shakespeare. The truth is that it could happen, but “it must be Shakespeare’s doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing.”4 In other words, the only way Hamlet could even know the name Shakespeare is if Shakespeare had written that name into the play Hamlet. The only way Hamlet could have met Shakespeare is if Shakespeare had written himself into the story. It cannot happen the other way around.
The only way Mal can know about Joss Whedon is if Whedon wrote himself into the story. Hey, Vonnegut did it in Breakfast of Champions, so anything’s possible. But that is exactly what is happening here, in real life. So we know there is a Writer because He has introduced Himself to us, and we can trust Him, because He tells us that it is all going to work out.
And it does.
In Genesis, Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, because he was best loved, so they threw him in a well and sold him to slavers. (Hey, haven’t we all done that to siblings?) He ends up in Egypt, starts making a name for himself, until his master’s wife starts taking a liking to him. He refuses to sleep with her, and she says he tried to rape her. He goes into the dungeon. After several years, he begins to be known as someone who can interpret dreams. Pharaoh calls for him, and Joseph predicts a famine. Because of that prediction, Egypt is able to prepare, and they have plenty of grain when the time comes. Joseph is lifted up to be the second-most powerful man in Egypt, and all of a sudden his brothers appear at his door (not knowing who he is), because they need grain.
What he went through was terrible, but it all happened so Joseph could be there to save thousands of lives. He tells his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).
Could he have known what role he was to play? No. But God did, and he put Joseph in that place to the good, even using the evil intentions of others to do it.
In the case of Jesus Himself, the people rallied together and tortured and crucified the only Man who ever lived who didn’t deserve it. He was completely innocent, and they lifted Him upon that Cross anyway. It was the greatest injustice that has ever been.
And it was used to save us all.
A Happy Ending
It is not strange that Simon boarded the only boat in the ’verse with the power and will to take on the Alliance and expose the secret of Miranda. It’s not unusual because there was someone, Joss Whedon, there to make sure it happened.
So do not think it unusual when you feel like your whole life has been a series of events arranged and coordinated to lead you to Christ, or to lead you to a place where you can do great good. We do not know what role we play in this story, but its Author has promised us that we’re going to like the ending as long as we trust Him.
We must trust Him though. Trust Him, because He’s worthy to be trusted. We may be killed along the way, or beaten or mocked, but the promise of that ending remains, even if we die along the path.
If there is something that Jean Grey, Sherlock Holmes, Bowser, and Ernst Stavro Blofeld have taught us – it is that death does not always mean your story is done.
Works Cited
1. “Serenity,” Firefly, writ. and dir. Joss Whedon (Fox, 20 Dec 2002).
2. “Out of Gas,” Firefly, writ. and dir. Tim Minear (Fox, 25 Oct 2002).
3. Joss Whedon, commentary, Serenity, writ. and dir. Joss Whedon (Universal, 2005).
4. C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (San Diego: Harvest, 1955), p. 221.
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