It’s a timeless tale in the world of Hollywood entertainment. One can’t seem to escape the constant attacks on prayer and Christianity across a wide variety of television shows, but it appears the attacks are becoming more frequent lately. NBC’s time travel drama Timeless took its turn in Sunday’s episode, “The Kennedy Curse,” as a main character takes credit for answering his mother’s prayers instead of attributing it to God, Who, he claims, “doesn’t exist.”
Rufus (Malcolm Barrett) is a scientist who is part of a group of time travelers who are working to stop a nefarious counter-agent group that wants to alter history. Jiya (Claudia Doumit) is a member of Rufus’s group and has been having visions that have been coming true. As she discusses her visions with Rufus as they try to track down a young John F. Kennedy (he was accidentally brought from 1934 to today in their time machine and escaped from their hidden bunker), she asks Rufus if he ever wonders if there’s “something bigger out there,” a “higher power.”
Rufus’s answer is a typical example of how leftist writers don’t understand and completely misrepresent Christianity, God and prayer:
Rufus: Still think we're gonna find JFK?
Jiya: Found the car, didn't we? Have a little faith.
Rufus: I don't have any faith, but you already know that.
Jiya: Okay. You don't ever wonder if there's something bigger out there?
Rufus: What, like extraterrestrials?
Jiya: No, there's definitely extraterrestrials. I mean... A higher power.
Rufus: Okay, where's this coming from? Is this about your visions?
Jiya: Okay, look, I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like I'm having them for a reason.
Rufus: Look, they're side effects of--of time travel, okay? There's no such thing as a higher power.
Jiya: Okay, then how do you explain my heart murmur being cured? Or the fact that all my visions have come true?
Rufus: All side effects, okay? If everything happens for a reason, then what's the reason for JFK getting shot by some crazy dude with three names?
Jiya: I don't know.
Rufus: Look. When I was a kid, my mom used to thank God for every good thing that happened. And when something bad happened, she'd say, "Everything happens for a reason," or, "God has a plan." I watched my mom get on her knees and pray every night, begging God to take us out of our crappy neighborhood. But you know who did? Me. God doesn't exist.
Okay, back it up there a minute, Rufus. Time travel? Totally believable. Extraterrestrials? Absolutely! But God? Now, that’s going too far! Really? Maybe, just maybe, you were the answer to your mother’s prayers? God often uses us to accomplish His plans.
And the whole, “God can’t exist because bad things happen,” tripe is really tedious and tiresome. The why of suffering and trials is a complex issue that’s hard for even Christians to understand at times, so it’s doubtful those who are hostile towards the faith will ever take the time to truly learn about it. But the Bible does give us some answers that shed some light on the issue. Particularly Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
What these writers fail to understand is that God did create a perfect world without suffering. It was called Eden. They fail to understand the effects of original sin that came about from our free will and led to a fallen world full of suffering and trials. That was on us, not God. But God is still merciful, and He brings beauty out of ashes. And He is a God of forgiveness, offering us His only Son so that we may have our sins washed clean and live in the Eden of Heaven, where all tears will be wiped away and no sickness, suffering or sadness exists.There’s no amount of pain or suffering we could go through in this life that Jesus didn’t already endure Himself out of great love for each one of us, to purchase for us this free gift of salvation.
We didn’t earn or even deserve that. It’s not a right. Redemption is an amazingly gracious gift offered freely by the Lord to everyone, even the God-bashing writers of Timeless. (“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”) I pray they recognize and accept this gift before their time runs out, because there are no time machines, go-backsies or do-overs in the real world once our time on this earth is up.
