Doctor Who as faith discussion? Originally posted January 2011

I was watching Doctor Who last night, and it really got me thinking. Now, those of you who have been anywhere near my Facebook page for oh, the last few weeks, are giggling over my obsession right now. Those of you who are not sci-fi fans are groaning. Those of you who are fans of the series are going to want to hit me over the head for the way I’m shamelessly editing the episode. But stay with me…I’m going somewhere with this.

Basically, in this episode, The Doctor has to turn himself into a human to hide from some bad aliens who are trying to find him and kill him so they can live forever and pretty much destroy the universe in the process. He becomes a teacher named John Smith. He doesn’t remember being The Doctor. The idea is that if he can just hide out in this ordinary, boring life long enough, the bad aliens will die, he can change back, and everything will be hunky dory. His companion, Martha, who’s in on the scheme and knows how to get him to change back to The Doctor early if necessary, is there as his servant. Then, he falls in love with the school nurse, and suddenly his life isn’t ordinary and boring (at least not for him), it’s something wonderful. That, of course, is when the bad aliens find them, and Martha realizes he’s got to change back into The Doctor in order to save the universe.

For reasons that will be TMI for most of you, John starts to understand that he was once this person called The Doctor. In a scene that moves me to tears, John Smith, in absolute anguish, says something along the lines of, “But I want to stay! I want THIS life, John Smith’s life, this job, this love…please let me stay…why can’t I stay???” Martha says, “But we NEED The Doctor.” It’s heartbreaking. He doesn’t understand why this is happening to him – he doesn’t quite believe that the fate of the universe is at stake - he has to just trust that Martha knows what she’s talking about, and he’s got an agonizing choice to make.

So, what does Doctor Who have to do with faith? Let me see…there are at least two people I can think of in the Bible…well three…well more than three, really, but three’s enough for an example, don’t you think, and I wonder what happens if I push this button here? (sorry, couldn’t resist)

Point is, the Bible is full of people who have to make just this kind of agonizing choice. Do they continue in their regular life, which may be a perfectly wonderful life, or do they step up to the plate when God calls them? Do they remain the regular guy or gal, or do they become the hero? And if they become the hero, what then? What do they give up? What do they gain?

Think of Noah – he could have kept on just being Noah, without being laughed at by everyone he knew for years and years and years. But he chose to listen to God and to follow what God told him to do, even though it seemed crazy. Worked out for the best, really, but Noah had no way of knowing that beforehand. He just had to trust God.

Or Gideon. There he is, living his regular life, when God tells him he’s been chosen to save Israel from the Midianites. And oh by the way you’re going to be a general and lead a tiny little army against the huge Midianite army but it’ll be OK because I’ll be with you. What a choice: leave his safe life behind for possible death, or keep his head down and hope God would go choose someone else. He eventually chose to do what God told him to do, and again, this worked out well for Gideon and the Israelites, but he had to make the choice without really KNOWING if he would live or die in the battle. He had to trust God.

Even Jesus faced this agonizing choice! Remember the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? “Father, if it’s possible, take this cup away from me.” In other words, “God, do I HAVE to die, and die so horribly? Isn’t there another way? Can I keep this life I love?” If you remember that Jesus was completely human, it’s more understandable that he would pray this prayer.

But here’s the point – Jesus, Gideon, and Noah all say, “Not MY will, but YOUR will be done.” “I trust you God, I’m gonna make the hard choice, and I’m gonna just have faith that You know what You’re doing.”

And I’m willing to bet that every one of you, at some point, will be faced with some kind of choice between your comfort zone and the hard thing that God is asking you to do. You may have to give up something you hold dear, or at least something that makes you feel safe. It’s HARD. God knows it’s hard. God doesn’t promise that He’ll make it easy, but He does promise that He will be with you every step of the way. And if you hang on to that promise and make the hard choice to follow what God wants you to do, things will turn out the way they’re supposed to, to the glory of God. It may take awhile, but it’s worth it. God promises that, and you can trust in God’s promises.

PS - What does the Doctor do? Well, I'm not going to spoil the ENTIRE episode for you. It's Season Three, Episodes 8 and 9