The Winter Soldier is a Christian Movie

Don't even try to question it. It's true. Let me explain.

So in recent TV and movie trends, one thing has been fairly common. People are bad! At least they will be at some point in the future, right? They'll kill someone, steal something, bully someone. Yeah. Person of Interest...I'm trying to think of more examples, but I'll leave that up to you. Think of a movie or TV show where the plot involves some government entity or rogue group who believes that humanity as a whole, or part of humanity (HEY DREDD) ought to be stopped, incarcerated, or, far more likely, executed pre-crime. (oh hey Minority Report)

Got something in mind? Well, guess what, The Winter Soldier is the same way. Oh, and spoilers. I'm sorry if you haven't seen this and thusly discerned the general plot, but I've gotta say this.

Now these plots usually involve these entities, groups, or even the government, which believe that they should stop people from being bad, and in the case of The Winter Soldier, Hydra (under the guise of S.H.I.E.L.D) sets up plans to kick the proverbial buckets of about twenty million people so the world will be safe.

The plot-hole shotgun in me points out that these people have families and loved ones of other sorts who, upon the death of a family member or friend, would suddenly have a mountain of anger and nowhere to point it.

Hey look! Hydra!

So what? They kill another hundred million, say, and problem solved.

Except this escalation simply results in the entire elimination of the human race. Heck, the Strike agents in the helicarriers would eventually turn on each other.

Sorry, I'm getting a little off track, but this particular watching of this particular movie leaves me with enough nervous energy to type this out on a keyboard I'm not used to on my phone. (ooh technology booyah)

Ok, so The Winter Soldier is a Christian movie.

Right? So the plot of the movie is that Hydra is going to kill  bad people so they don't be bad. Their lack of forethought proves they don't know what they're doing, but actually their actions are characteristic of the Obama administration, if I can say so.

Sure, the administration isn't planning to kill anyone before they commit murder or anything, but the ultimate purpose of such ubiquitous surveillance is to keep people safe. Logically, if such surveillance could prevent a murder or burglary, the government would take action.

And it's inefficient, ineffective, and extremely expensive to arrest and subsequently incarcerate said evildoers.

So what do you do? Put a bullet  in their head, send their family a note explaining the situation along with the body, and move on to the next target.

Now how unrealistic is it for this to come to pass? How far off is this? I personally think the the direction we're heading has the potential for this kind of reality, but that's another gigantic tangent I don't intend to articulate right now.

Again, I repeat, Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, is a Christian movie.

Remember back in the garden, when Adam and Eve decided to give God the proverbial finger by eating an apple he told them specifically not to eat? This, by the way, in a garden filled with fruit, which, by the way, God gave Adam and Eve to eat, freely.

(it strikes me as ironic that one of the most easy ways to express a complete disregard for everything is to eat an apple.)

But let's get back to the point. So Adam and Eve disobeyed God, right? He was obviously obligated to give them (and us by extension) a second chance.

Heck freaking no. God had every reason to just nix the little blighters, trash the project, and enjoy life as a perfect, whole, complete, holy, wonderful person. All on his own. Without any need for company or anything.

But instead, he decided he'd give us a second chance (and by the way, if you think that's the last second chance he gave them, or that he hasn't continued giving out second chances like they were nothing, um, no).

He gave us a second chance we definitely didn't deserve, and you know what? Hydra didn't. Hydra tried instead to kill a few of us with the expectation that that would make the world good. Again, they obviously lack foresight...

...or should I say insight...

But yeah. Hydra was trying to kill bad people. People who would become murderers, robbers, muggers, petty thieves, rapists, traitors...the lot. That's good, right? Let's kill some bad people before they be bad! That'll help!

I figure there's a lot to be explored and thought about when it comes to that specific concept, but it strikes me as ironic that the very thing God gave us so that we could love really, truly, actually, is the very thing these plots suggest we take away from ourselves to cure the world of evil: free will.

It's not as elegant a solution as perhaps mind control or something, but killing people prevents them from making their own decisions and having their own opinions, etc.

It prevents them from having free will.

Now, remember, God specifically gave us free will so that we could choose to do the right thing, so we could choose to love him, and so that we could choose to love our neighbor (which are kinda all the same thing, if you think about it. I just repeated myself to make a point).

So suppose Hydra had succeeded. Those people wouldn't have their free will anymore. Sure, there's a lot more that they wouldn't have, but that's not really the point.

If Hydra had an option to steal people's free will and leave their lives (in whatever sense would be left at that point), I think they would have. They have a complete lack of foresight, but they might be able to see the advantage to some sort of mind control over simply eliminating the human race.

I'm getting there, I promise! Ok, so Hydra wanted to take away their free will (ultimately, that was their purpose), and to do so they decided to kill everyone who was going to be bad.

Also remember that God specifically did the opposite of this at the very first opportunity. God gave us a second chance the first time we blew it. He continued this until this moment in time, and I have faith he'll continue as the sacrifice of Jesus is more than sufficient for the sins of everyone.

But there it is! See? Jesus is the second chance we've been given, and Hydra's whole purpose was to say, yeah, you guys don't seem like good people. Have a bullet.

Jesus, on the other hand, says, you know, you guys messed up pretty bad, but because I love you, I will willingly die in your place, and thus you will live in eternity with me and my dad.

Now, what is Captain America fighting for during the entire movie? Well, there's tons of plot and lots of action and filler to confuse you, but part of what he's fighting for is the right of those twenty million to make the decision between good and evil.

And that is some powerful stuff. Seriously. A man who will defend another person's right to do the right thing? Old hat. Everyone does that.

A man, however, who will fight off diabolical maniacs and shortsighted half-Nazi blockheads just so you can decide whether or not you want to steal, murder, or rape someone?

That's just freaking crazy level good-doing.

It blows my mind.

And guess what. God came down and died on the cross so that YOU could decide if you want to steal that thing, hate that person, kill someone, rape that woman...or to love people, friend or foe, be honest, to defend the innocent, to further spread the infinite love of Jesus because there are people out there who are thinking about killing, raping, and stealing.

God's own son died just so you can have that choice between good and evil.

And that, my friends, boggles my mind.