Commandments in the Media: Volume 3

"May the Force be with you, Always." Han Solo

The resemblance is amazing...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... 

Star Wars: Episodes 4-6

To this day, I still don't know how George Lucas did it. He created a film which single-handedly changed the way we look at movies forever. Everything about Star Wars was and still is incredible. Whether it was the Jedi, the Death Star, or even the famous plot twist which shocked even the actors, everything about Star Wars seems inspired.

Funny thing though, where does this inspiration come from? The Book of Mormon teaches that "...all things which are good cometh of God." I would presume in that case, that parts of Star Wars itself may have been direct inspiration from God! "But wait!" You may say. "Star Wars has nothing to do with Jesus Christ! There are no light-sabers or force wielding Jedi in The Bible!" Well that's true, all of the light-sabers are in The Book of Mormon.

No, I'm just kidding. But you know what you can find in The Book of Mormon? God's Commandments. And those Commandments are absolutely interwoven into Star Wars.

The Commandments in Star Wars

As we all know, Luke Skywalker is the immature, arrogant hero of the movie. He spends the first few minutes of the movie complaining about power converters (or his lack thereof) and having to do his sand chores, on his sand planet, with his sand speeder... He has to grow up really fast when he finds his uncle and aunt's bodies roasted on his front lawn (dune?). From that moment on, he has to pick up the slack by accepting the awesome responsibility of the Priesthood. Oh wait, I mean the Force... or do I? 

If you watch carefully, nearly every time the Force is being used, its effects are straight out of the Scriptures.  The Force is power and authority recognized by the entire universe, but it's useless without discipline and focus (like the Priesthood). It allows the Jedi to move and organize matter (like God does with the Priesthood). Even people without the Force itself can feel inspiration from it (The Gift of The Holy Ghost), but they need to exercise faith in those promptings (The Holy Ghost). My friends back at home have joked about this numerous times, but despite the jokes, the resemblance really is incredible.

Star Wars is a story about redemption and repentance. Every single main character changes as the story progresses. Luke starts out as a rebellious teen who wants to kill Vader, and becomes a (more) disciplined Jedi Knight capable of not just defeating Darth Vader, but sparing him. Princess Leia makes a similar change, becoming more responsible as time goes on. Han Solo starts out as a cold blooded mercenary (who shoots first), and ends the series as a (more) honest man who is willing to sacrifice everything for the good of the universe. In the end, even Vader redeems himself by fixing the mistake he made 3 movies later (in the prequels which aren't as inspired). The only main character that doesn't really change is C3P0. Likewise, all of us have incredible potential in our galaxy. With the help of Jesus Christ, all of us can receive inspiration to make that incredible change in hearts. No one is outside of the changing power of Christ.