Personally, I loved the CGI movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and felt it was one of the best video game movies ever made (we don’t have much to work with). This is not a review of the movie itself, though I might write one; this is about a scene that I noticed while watching it. There are a little bit of spoilers ahead, but if you honestly have never played Final Fantasy VII then it’s no big deal.
The scenes that I want to highlight are around the end (see video below). Cloud is being dropped into a baptismal pool in the middle of a church and he is healed of the Geostigma after being infected. While he is in the water, he has a vision of Aerith and Zack who were his friends that have passed on. Cloud struggled with not being able to forgive himself because of the death of Aerith (the girl that speaks to him in the vision) that he felt was his fault.
With his eyes closed and several hands on him, he wakes up to see several children in the water with him who also has been healed. He begs with his hand for Denzel (one of the main children of the movie) to come in and be healed. He takes the water and dips it over his head as the Geostigma washes away, as if he was being baptized. It’s so interesting to see the spiritual implications here from the water being used for healing to the baptism being done in the middle of a church.
Cloud accepts Aerith’s death and receives forgiveness in his soul as she departs out the church’s doors with Zach. He sees them leave, but he knows he is at peace now.
2 Corinthians 2:5-8
5 I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. 6 Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. 7 Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. 8 So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him.
This is how many of us experience traumatic events in our own lives, we leave it all pent up and then have to deal with not forgiving ourselves or those that harmed us. We don’t accept the fact that what happened is in the past, and to let God heal us and forgive.
1 John 1:9
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Cloud is seen throughout the movie having flashbacks and dealing with the weight of not being able to forgive himself. It even prevents him from fighting at his full strength because he is more focused on it than what is at hand, so we can see how strong this can be on anyone (even though this is a movie).
I heard someone tell a story about a teacher who told her students to put some potatoes in a plastic bag. The amount of potatoes depended on how many people they were angry at, so if they were angry at 5 people they put 5 potatoes. They had to carry around this bag of potatoes everywhere they went in school and at home. After a few days, the students were tired of carrying around this bag of potatoes because of how heavy it was, and also the potatoes were starting to get rotten and grow mold. Eventually they decided to stop being angry at the people they were mad at and throw away the potatoes.
This is a picture of us and what not being able to forgive someone does. It begins to fester and rot inside of us, making us angry at others and stressed out. We chose to take this pain everywhere we go instead of just asking God to remove this from us, and instead receive forgiveness from Christ He promised us.
Matthew 11:30
30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.
I want you to pray right now and ask God to take that weight off of you. Make a decision after reading this article that from today on you’re not going to continue with that hate or unforgiveness that you have. Ask Jesus Christ to take that junk off of you, and be free right now. He wants you to live a life without all that, and you will feel like a weight has come off your shoulders because God’s power has taken it off.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you made the right decision. Let me know if you did below, and if you need prayer for anything else. God bless.
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Reblogged this on Gaming And God and commented:
My latest post on Beneath The Tangles is up. All about Cloud Strife, his struggles and how we can also overcome our own.
Great article! I remember the first few times I saw that scene in the movie I felt something spiritual from it. This shows that even though this is a movie and game made by Japanese people, they still put things that have a connection to Christianity showing their need for the One true living God! The baptism of a new life and forgiveness can only be found in Christ.