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The Golden Age Of Spirituality
10-23-2007
by Johann Snyder
The golden age of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I was a very spiritual, very religious time. Elizabeth, a very pious protestant, led her people through fairness and mercy, desiring nothing more than to earn the love of her people. On the flip side, King Philip of Spain expected strict adherence to the Catholic faith, and he expected nothing less than absolute obedience to his authority. Yet despite both monarchs apparent devotion, like so many in today’s society, the devotion is really only skin deep.
At the core of Elizabeth: The Golden Age are the religious beliefs of the time, and the filmmakers aren’t subtle in where their sympathies lie. On one side you have the Catholic King Philip of Spain – who’s often in black or shadows or any other numerous ways of indicating he’s the bad guy – and on the other side you have the Protestant Queen of England – who’s appearance is overindulgently angelic; at times bathed in light, dressed in white with billowing parts of her dress looking like angel wings. It’s very clear in the film who is the more righteous; Queen Elizabeth. Yet, her faith isn’t really all it appears to be. Although much is made about her being a devout Protestant defending the ideals of freedom and liberty and the devout Catholic seems focused only in intrigue and war, all of this religious mumbo jumbo is mere lip service. For Philip, it looks as though religion is only an excuse for war, and as for Elizabeth, it’s quite obvious that her faith really isn’t in her Protestant beliefs, but in the stars. At a couple key moments in the film, when Elizabeth truly needs guidance and direction, she doesn’t turn to prayer, she turns to an astrologer. Her faith, despite all the pageantry and pretty prose, wasn’t really in an Almighty God, but in the alignment of stars. She may have known all the right words to say to sound like a very pious and righteous person, but the fact of the matter is when it really counted, she turned to something more “tangible” in order to find guidance and help. Her faith was mere lip-service to God and heart ultimately sought answers elsewhere. Not much as changed here in the New World in the roughly five hundred years since.
Our nation (America) still likes to consider itself a Christian nation for the most part. Depending on which polls you read, upwards of 75% percent of Americans claim that they’re Christian. Like Elizabeth, however, that’s all merely for show; for when we truly need something to rely or when we need answers and guidance, it’s not to God people turn, but to the spirits. We are truly a very spiritual nation, but hardly a Christian nation. The rapid rise in popularity of The Secret shows just how far most people are from a true understanding of what Christianity is all about. In fact, just as in the 16th century, Christianity is used only when it’s personally or politically expedient, and when it doesn’t meet our needs, well there are plenty of other “spiritual” options that are just as good. When God said through the prophet Isaiah, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is made up only of rules taught by men”, he may as well have been speaking of Elizabeth or our nation. In the end, England was saved from Spain’s armada, but I don’t know if the same could be said of Elizabeth. Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life and the only way to get to God; not some of the time, not when it’s most convenient, but all of the time, and especially when life is blackest. All Elizabeth: The Golden Age really reveals about faith is that while it’s nice to have a pious Christian nature on the surface and religion can often help in the furtherance of one’s objectives and goals especially in a public arena, in truth what you should do is seek whatever means works best for you in your spiritual quest for answers, peace and guidance. The ironic thing is Elizabeth didn’t really find any of those things by turning to an astrologer; if anything, her anxiety only increased. The pity is we’re doing and experiencing exactly the same thing. We long for something tangible, not unlike the Israelites in the desert. We want a god we can see and hear, we want answers that are audible and easily understandable, we want instant gratification for our desires. Elizabeth desperately sought these things from the stars. We seek for these things from our daily horoscope or from positive thinking as suggested by The Secret. Ultimately, all these things will fail and disappoint us, and then our hollow shell of piety will crumble because of its substantial lack of a real relationship with God.
I’m not saying that God is the genie in the sky we’re all longing for who will grant us our every desire; but what I am saying is that God truly knows what’s best for us and loves us more than anything. We need to change our selfish desires and expectations of what it means to be a Christian. There are times when I’ve been frustrated or disappointed with God, but in those times I remember the words of the disciples when they said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The fact is there is no where else to turn to find anything better than what God offers us. On the other hand, it’s not enough to know all the right words and sayings and pious actions, if you truly desire to follow Christ, you heart and your entire being will seek after him no matter the circumstance. A heart that truly seeks him will not be disappointed, even if we don’t get our own way. However, if all you’re doing is paying lip service to God, but when you want “real” answers you turn somewhere else, you may find yourself very surprised when Jesus returns and he says he doesn’t know you. Our outward appearances may fool other people, and in the case of Elizabeth it fooled an entire nation, but God knows our heart. Is yours near or far from him?
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