Quite a while back, I watched a movie and the trailer of The Reaping movie showed. I was a bit intrigued by this horror film, depicting the Ten Plagues from the Old Testament as an object of horror. From what I remember in grade school, the Ten Plagues were sent by God through Moses to the people of Egypt, to convince the Egyptians to let the Israelites have their freedom. After the tenth plague, the Pharaoh finally let Moses' people go, and Moses led his people to the promised land, in the process making a cool show of clearing a path through the red sea to let his people pass.
Of course, some scenes in the movie were horrific enough, depicting the main character Katherine's struggle with her faith and the death of her child.
Katherine was a former minister who now works as a professor debunking what others think are miracles. I personally didn't see anything wrong with this sort of work; rather, I thought it must be enlightening, very scientific and rational and a different way to express one's faith. In Chile, Katherine and her assistant Ben discovered that the hallucinations experienced by people when visiting a certain church were caused by nothing but chemical pollution from a nearby factory, and not miracles, as the locals believe. Fair enough, this helps to let people know which is the work of God and which is the work of men (and bad men at that).Katherine met Doug, a small town science teacher who leads her into Haven, the said small town which has turned to ostracizing against a twelve year old girl (Lauren) who was said to be causing the biblical ten plagues to wreak havoc upon the community. At first scene, I felt sorry for the girl already. She and her brother and mom live at the edge of the town, away from the rest of the people, living on welfare and with a dead father to boot. I suspected Lauren was a victim of domestic or even sexual abuse, and that her brother died when she defended herself against him. Later on in the film, Katherine almost kills Lauren, believing the townspeople who all wanted to kill Lauren in a mob. In the end, Lauren is revealed to be an innocent while the rest of the town are cult practitioners who kill first born children.
I believe this film only shows that the power of God is stronger than anything else. It made me check on my faith and my behavior; God, after all, merciful as He is, punishes the wicked with the full force of His might. This was proved by the Ten Plagues of Egypt (as in the Old Testament) and the ten plagues caused by Lauren (as in the film).
In a manner of defense: perhaps, I don't go to church. Perhaps, I don't wear religious items. But I know that I believe in God and I love Him, and the part that matters the most is that I love my neighbor as I love myself, I practice kindness, I forgive and forget, I am generous and peace loving and I never want to cause anybody harm or think ill of anyone. I may have my moments of lapses, being human - I am not perfect and I am prone to making mistakes. But I believe that living a kind and peaceful life is a great way of showing God how much I love Him.
