From the JMBzine vault – Tue, Sept 7, 1999, 11:21 pm

This post is from the JMBzine Blog Vault, which means it is a very old blog post that I wrote at a very different time of my life. My views on religion (I’m now a Humanistic Jew), politics (today I’m a democratic socialist), and many other subjects (LGBTQ+ inclusion, abortion rights, etc.) have drastically changed over the years, so please bear this in mind when reading this post.

Hope Group was great. I definitely needed to see everyone again, and have that kind of worship experience. Now, I’m just wasting time. While I’m thinking about it, I saw an interesting website last night on the implications of the movie, The Matrix with regards to the motif of Matrix as Messiah.

When I saw the movie, I certainly spotted quite a few spiritual parallels, but after looking at this website, I want to see it again. Just a few of the more interesting points: (If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t read any further) Neo was the savior of the people of the “real world,” Cyper was the Judas, Morpheus was a John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Neo. There was even a resurrection scene, and a final ascension of Neo.

Also, the most important element of the movie to me, is the concept of the real world vs. the world we experience with our senses. This has some major theological overtones the more you think about it.

While, I don’t neccesarily want to give a blanket endorsement of the movie, I do think that this movie is definitely worth watching. Also, you can’t beat the incredibly intense choreography and the style. The clothes, the music, the whole package is like candy for the senses. I have heard it described as the cyber-punk parable of the gospel message, and that’s not far from the truth.