Free Will vs Predestination (Part 1/3) in "Angel's Last Mission: Love" [SPOILER ALERT!]

I was drawn to the storyline of Angel's Last Mission: Love about a ballerina, Lee Yeon Seo (Shin Hye Sun) and an angel, Kim Dan (Kim Myung Soo) - arts and religion, a perfect combination! And indeed it didn't disappoint, for although I don't quite agree with the portrayal of God in the drama, it did give me lots of food for thought on the issue of free will vs predestination as well as other stuff like true love, destiny and purpose.

Yeon Seo, a top ballerina, was blinded in an accident during her last performance. Bitter and frustrated at not being able to dance again, she takes it out on the people around her. Dan inadvertently saves her life when she's caught in a car accident. However, God punishes him for going against His plan, which was for Yeon Seo to die in the accident. Dan is assigned a mission (in human form) to teach Yeon Seo how to love again before he can return to heaven.

Free Will vs Predestination

Predictably, Dan and Yeon Seo fall in love with each other. Sadly, Yeon Seo discovers that Dan will be dissipated into dust as a consequence of falling in love with a human (instead of loving only God). Furthermore, God sends a prophecy to Dan that Yeon Seo will also die soon as that was her destiny all along.

Both Dan and Yeon Seo feel miserable and attempt to reverse each other's impending death without letting the other know - Yeon Seo by offering God her life (through taking a bunch of pills) in exchange for Dan's, and Dan by trying to kill the person who's after Yeon Seo's life. But they both fail and when they each find out what the other was trying to do, they even get into a fight. It is only when they both come to accept God's plans rather than rebel against Him, that they decide to make full use of the time left and could enjoy each other's company again.

Interestingly, their turnaround was due partly to the advice of another fallen angel, Ji Kang Woo (Lee Dong Gun). Kang Woo had a tragic story himself where he had also been in love with a human, but the girl was killed by an archangel under God's orders (ouch! this is where I obviously disagree with the characterisation of God in this drama!) and he becomes a human as punishment for disobeying God. He lived every day filled with resentment against God and even wanted to break Dan and Yeon Seo up.

However, he eventually realises that instead of staying angry with God, the best thing to do would be to live life to the fullest and use his God-given artistic talent to shine. And that is what he counsels Yeon Seo to do - instead of wasting her energy in fighting against God, she should give her best performance in the upcoming ballet production as an offering to Him.

True Love

Yeon Seo (oops! forgot to mention she's regained her sight by now) agrees to dance in her company's production of Giselle. Before it opens, she writes a letter-prayer to God asking Him to pardon Dan should He find her dance offering acceptable.

A parallel is drawn between Giselle, the story of The Little Mermaid (which Dan and Yeon Seo often read together), and Yeon Seo - Yeon Seo takes a stab for Dan then returns to stage for the final dance where Giselle sacrifices herself for her beloved. All the while, Yeon Seo is praying that God will find her dance sacrifice pleasing and allow Dan to live. At the end of the dance, she collapses from the loss of blood and slips into a coma. 

There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another (John 15:13), so Dan has completed his mission in helping Yeon Seo be able to love others again. Furthermore, here we see a reflection of Jesus' sacrificial love in Yeon Seo.

God's Will

Nevertheless, Dan is summoned back to heaven despite Yeon Seo's best intentions. However, God is sufficiently moved to allow Dan to continue watching over Yeon Seo as an angel (ie invisible to her) instead of turning him to dust. And because Dan chooses to accept this fate rather than continue fighting against God's decision, God heals Yeon Seo and awakens her from the coma.

Just like how Kang Woo accepts God's will and is able to go on living a productive life, Yeon Seo also does what she was meant to do all along - run the ballet company and bless the community through dance.

Herein lies a valuable reminder for us too - that the question is not whether our lives are directed by our free will or predetermined by God. Instead, our focus should be on seeking to know God's will and then submit willingly to His will. For His plans are to prosper us and not to harm us, and His plans give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

So after a period of both of them quietly living out God's purpose for their lives (perhaps it was a test from God after all, to see if they would yield to Him), Dan becomes human again and the lovebirds are reunited.

Similarly, we need to submit to God's will and purpose for our lives, and wait patiently upon the Lord. No matter how bad the circumstances may get, remember that He will make all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

[There is another kdrama series and a recent movie that have also got me thinking about the issue of free will vs predestination. I hope I'll be able to finish writing about them soon... so look out for the entries!]

To live is Christ

Reflections (and prayers) while listening to Sidewalk Prophet's To Live is Christ:

If I rise, let me rise on you

Not on all of my successes, my esteem or my pursuits

If I lose, let me lose my life

Cause if I belong to Jesus, the flesh is crucified

Our identity and self-esteem should not be built on our achievements and successes, hence we do not pursue these for their own sakes. But whatever He allows us to achieve (or even lose) is for His glory and His purposes. May we be motivated by God and be willing to give up worldly pursuits (titles, awards, possessions, even relationships) that are not from Him.

For me to live is Christ

For me to live is Christ

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:10

God is searching for hearts that are willing to die for Him, to die to self and worldly things. He looks beyond appearances (attending church & prayer meetings, or serving) to see our true motivations. May we do everything to glorify Him and Him alone!

If I grow, let me grow in You

Wilt the seeds of wanting more

Rippin' pride out by the roots

And if I'm still, let me hear You speak

Not the tone of my transgressions,

But the song of the Redeemed

We are all good in something. Do we pride themselves and boast in our achievements or are we humbled by the grace of God working in our lives? For He gifts each one with talents that we don't deserve in order to reveal Him to the world.

My great desire is to be with You

But this is the place you chose for me

This is the place you chose for me

To lift my cross and give everything

This is the time you gave to me

God has placed each of us in our school or workplace or neighbourhood at this time for a reason, not by chance but to fulfil His purposes for our lives. May we discover God's specific destiny for us and be intentional in growing in love and knowledge of Him as well as be trained and equipped for His work.

More thoughts from John Piper's To Live Is Christ - What Does That Mean? in Desiring God:

So the upshot of Paul’s life is that other people are making much of Jesus by being joyful in Jesus and boasting in Jesus. This is what it means for Paul to say “to live is Christ.” To live is Christ means to live, to be the means, of other people making Christ look magnificent by finding Christ to be their supreme treasure and their greatest satisfaction. That’s what glorying in Christ and being happy in Christ means. So that’s the first answer...

Now back in chapter 1 (of Philippians), to die was to be with Christ; therefore, dying was gain. That means his dying magnified Christ because it showed that Christ was more valuable than everything he had lost in death.

Now here in chapter 3, he’s unpacking “to live is Christ” in the same way with the same argument. Only instead of losing everything by dying, he says, “I’m counting everything as loss even while I live” to show that the value of Christ is better than the things I have in life even while I am alive. So again, “to live is Christ” means to live in such a way as to make Christ look magnificent as your supreme treasure...

In both cases, the goal of Paul’s life is attained when Christ is magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. The key to magnifying Christ in life and in death is to find him more precious, more valuable, more satisfying, more joyful, more boast worthy than everything we lose in death — “to die is gain” — and everything we have in life — “to live is Christ.”

Earmarked

Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then splash blood against the sides of the altar.

Exodus 29:20

This was part of the consecration ceremony for Aaron and his sons, as priests set apart to serve God in the tabernacle. The marking of the right ear lobes reminds me of this other passage:

But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

Exodus 21:5-6

In both instances, we see that they were willing to serve their masters (God, in Aaron’s case, and the human master in the slave’s case) and the earmarking was a sign of who they belonged to. Also, it was a lifelong commitment. In addition, the earmark was clearly visible for everyone to see.

In the same way, when we are willing to give our lives to God, we are earmarked and set apart for life, regardless of our age and station in life. Our words and actions are to make Christ constantly visible to the world, wherever He places us and not only when we are serving in church or on the mission field. As for prodigals who stray away, like the lost sheep (in Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15:3-7), God will not lose sight of His mark on them and will pursue them all their lives until they return to the fold.

Incidentally, sheep are also earmarked as a sign of ownership. Like sheep, we are set apart for our Shepherd’s Purpose, consecrated like Aaron to fulfil His destiny for us. Perhaps God chose the ear to be marked as a reminder of the need for us to pay heed to the Master's instructions and to respond, "Not my will but Yours be done." We are also under His Protection, and He will watch over us and keep us from harm, from the lion and the bear (1 Samuel 17:34-35), and from the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Even when death and destruction strike, we will be Preserved forever and enjoy eternal life with Him. And with The Lord as our Shepherd, we shall lack nothing (Psalm 23:1) for His Provision for us is always sufficient and timely.

That’s why we can say most confidently:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1-2

"Surely the people are grass"

While I was praying with some moms for their children recently, I suddenly saw a picture of an ear of barley in my head. Did a quick Google search and found that barley, like other grains such as wheat and rice, is classified as grass. It was one of the earliest grains to be cultivated and is currently the fourth highest in terms of quantity being produced. In fact, it has many uses and is seen as a highly nutritious health food.

As I continued to ask God about the significance of this picture, I realised that many people, including the young people we were praying for, probably feel like they are as worthless as grass. Thoughts of not being good enough, not valued by others, and not having any purpose in life, are common to many children and youth. Is that not like grass, which grows and withers quickly, without being noticed by anyone? Such sentiments also seem to be reflected in Isaiah 40:7, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass."

However, if we scan through the Bible, we actually find that grass is highly valued by God. Otherwise, He wouldn’t clothe the grass of the field in splendour beyond Solomon’s (Matthew 6:29-30), nor would the grass be so carefully mentioned in three out of four accounts of the feeding of five thousand (Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:39, John 6:10). And when the earlier verse in Isaiah 40:7 was quoted by Peter, he explained that when we have the living Word of God in us, we are no longer perishable like grass but we become imperishable (1 Peter 1:23-25).

Furthermore, He has created grass for a purpose (check Wikipedia!), just as how He has set us apart in our mother’s womb and called each one of us to a wonderful destiny (Isaiah 49:1, Jeremiah 1:5, Galatians 1:15). But if the grains are not gathered and processed, they would just remain as grass and the nutrients would be left untapped. So every individual needs to seek God to discover what his/her unique purpose in this life is and then pursue it, in order to fulfil the potential that He has given. Until then, we would go through life aimlessly and find it meaningless, for “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18a KJV). Yet when we have the Word of God in us and allow Him to direct us in realising the purpose He has ordained for our lives, we will find true fulfilment and joy. That is why the second half of the verse says, “one who follows divine instruction will be happy” (Proverbs 29:18b CSB).

W - Two Worlds [Spoiler Alert!!!]

This Korean drama series, W - Two Worlds, really got to me. It broke the mould of the typical K drama formula (which will be the subject of another post) and got many viewers, including myself, drawn into the manhwa world (pun intended!) I also started to see many parallels between the story and the Biblical narrative so I'm going to try and describe some of them here. But if you haven't watched it yet and would rather do that first, it's available here. This site also provides well-written synopses of each episode with accompanying (mostly) thoughtful remarks.

What gave you the right to create me?
So the entire plot is based on how the female protaganist Yeon Joo (Han Hyo Joo) is pulled into the world of a webtoon W created by her Dad.  She meets and gradually falls for the main character Kang Chul (Lee Jong Suk). Later on Kang Chul also finds a way to step into the real world and meets his creator, Yeon Joo's Dad. However, he is boiling with anger as he feels that Dad has been unfair in killing off his entire family without good reason near the start of the webtoon. He demands an explanation and argues that Dad had no right to decide on such a horrendous life for him.

This reminded me of Job's tussle with God after he lost his family, everything he owned and even his health. And just like Job and his friends, many people mistakenly conceive of God as one who either has no control over what He has created and hence can't stop all the evil and suffering in the world, and/or that God flicks us around like pawns according to His whims and fancies without sparing a thought for our feelings. But we know that this is not who God really is. Unlike Dad in the drama who is self-centred and helpless in the face of his creature (he got shot by Kang Chul), our God is not only all-powerful and sovereign over the entire universe He created, He is also loving and merciful. However, He has given us free will (which I'll talk about more later) and because of sin, we keep making poor decisions and that is the reason for all the evil and suffering in the world. But God does not watch on helplessly. On the contrary, He is always at work to redeem our mistakes according to His plans for the world and for each one of us.

Christ figure
Anyway, halfway through the drama, Yeon Joo is reminded that she was in fact the creator of the main character Kang Chul. While a teenager, she had described and drawn him as her imaginary perfect boyfriend (more about this later) and her Dad had taken it up for the webtoon without her knowledge. So just like Jesus was with God from the beginning of creation, she was co-creator with Dad. Not only that, she also enters the created world, as Jesus did. And while there, Yeon Joo exercises her skills as a doctor and keeps saving Kang Chul's life. That is similar to how Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead while He walked the earth.

Yeon Joo's resemblance to Christ extends further to her unconditional love for Kang Chul that bears all, even forgiving him for shooting her Dad. That is reminiscent of how Jesus asked God to forgive those who crucified him while He hung on the cross. In addition, even though they subsequently realise that she is mortal in the webtoon world and the Killer is after her life, she is determined to stay in it for as long as she can because of her love for Kang Chul. Again, that reflects the same self-sacrificial love of Christ who came to our world to die for our sins. Eventually, she dies and is resurrected within the webtoon world, although it's not very clear whether it happens within the same time frame as Jesus'. But her resurrection is brought about by her Dad (through his drawing), as Jesus was raised from the dead through the power of God.

Born again of water
Kang Chul also experiences rebirth in his own way after he jumps into the Han river and everything in his world including his life is suspended. He is pulled out of the river and given a new life by Yeon Joo (through her drawings). This spoke to me of water baptism where symbolically our 'old self' dies when we are immersed in the water and then we are given a 'new life' in Christ when we emerge from the water.

After his 'water baptism', in this new life, Kang Chul has a whole new perspective because he realises that everything he used to seek after in the webtoon world is meaningless (fame, fortune, revenge) now that he has discovered his true destiny (ie to love Yeon Joo, his creator). Isn't this what those of us who love and pursue God experience too? All that the world can ever offer us pales in comparison to the wonder and beauty of His love, and any other pursuit is a mere chasing after the wind (or bubbles!)

Created for love
I mentioned earlier how there is a flashback to Yeon Joo's teenage years when she had created Kang Chul as her dream lover. He is destined to love her, for that is the purpose of his existence. Hence we see how after his rebirth the only thing that he finds fulfilment in, and it becomes his main pursuit, is to love and please her. In fact, even before that, Kang Chul is mysteriously attracted to Yeon Joo from the first time he sets eyes on her. Even after his memory has been erased, he is unexplainably intrigued by her. In the end, even though he has to stay in prison for three years, he finds joy and strength in the hope that when it is over he will be able to spend the rest of his life with Yeon Joo in the real world.

We were also created out of God's love and His desire for a relationship of love with us. Our love for Him propels us to seek His pleasure in all that we do. And until we realise this, many of us try to fill that longing for intimacy with Him by seeking after other 'loves'. But ultimately, we will not experience true fulfilment until we find and acknowledge our one true love. And this is the only love that can sustain and strengthen us through whatever trials and tribulations, even persecution, we may face in this life for we know that one day we will meet our Beloved face to face and spend eternity with Him.

Free will vs predestination
It is also because of love that God has given us a free will. A forced love is not real love, but only one that is freely given in reciprocation can be considered love. And that leads to the age-long debate over free will and predestination. The interplay between how Kang Chul is predestined to love Yeon Joo and how he is also given the self will to choose whether to pursue the love of his life (eg he decides to complete the 10 loving acts even though he has lost his memory of their relationship) perhaps gives us a glimpse of how free will and predestination actually work together hand in hand.

Another character also illustrates the dynamics between free will and predestination - Han Chul Ho. Yeon Joo comments at one point that he will no doubt try to eliminate the Killer because that's how his character has been set up yet Han is also shown to have self will in making that very decision.

Impostor god
The Killer is a nameless and faceless character whose sole purpose is to kill Kang Chul's family. Nevertheless, he becomes dissatisfied. He longs to be the centre of attraction and wants to take over as the main character of the webtoon. Consequently, the Killer steals Dad's face and tries to play God by controlling Dad to draw stuff for him in the webtoon in order to change the plot. He even pretends to be Dad in order to trick Yeon Joo and kidnap her.

This is not unlike Satan who became jealous of God and was thrown out of heaven as a result. He then tried to usurp God's place as the centre of worship as seen in how he tempted Jesus by offering Him all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would worship him. In fact, Satan still tries to get us to worship him instead of God by tempting us with worldly things like material wealth, power, fame, lust...the list goes on... But just like how Yeon Joo subsequently recognises that the Killer isn't Dad even though he has the same face, we also need to be alert and not fall prey to the lies of the wolf in sheep's clothing, the impostor god.

Even though the Killer does manage to kidnap Yeon Joo and  eventually shoots her fatally, he does not gain the final victory for he is killed and Yeon Joo is resurrected. This is analogous to how Satan thought he had triumphed over God when His Son was crucified and died, but with Jesus' resurrection he was defeated once and for all and Jesus won the final victory!

[I shall end here with this point. Despite having started writing this entry more than a week ago, it must be divine timing that I've completed it only now when we've just been celebrating Jesus' resurrection over the Easter weekend.]