Click on the picture to go to the article "God, Freedom, and the 'Adjustment Bureau'"

I watched this movie some weeks ago and it disturbed me. Do you know why?

It disturbs me that it implies we humans are able to twist God's arm. Of course, they don't explicitly say that, but the "chairman up there"? Sounds like a god, at the very least. And the angel-like beings are rather distasteful - you're much made to dislike them. The Bureau is a set-up which main aim seems to make your life miserable. Also, despite their supposed long-time existence, the agents haven't a clue what they're doing. The Bureau is powerless when it claims to be otherwise.

It implies that man knows better than the "chairman". In fact, the protagonist is almost like a spoilt brat who demands what he wants and nothing else. Faith issues aside, I don't think any of us applaud someone for his self-interest. There's the encouragement of rebellion.

And am I suppose to believe that the lust kind of love can change the course of life? This is the kind of love I believe can do greater:
 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (John 15:13)
I am reminded of Greek mythology. Their gods are similar - powerful to an extent, but extremely flawed which makes them not much different from humans. And forget about fancy names like the "Adjustment Bureau". It's the ageless old pagan concept - only with nicer-sounding terms.

Maybe The Adjustment Bureau wasn't at all about a supreme being, but about governments. But if so, why present it in such a confusing way? I believe there is the intention there to define more than bureaucratic institutions. There's an article I discovered that reviews the movie very aptly, giving words to the burden I felt but couldn't express. You can click on the picture to go there, or simply click here.

The one thing I am glad is that that which is propounded in The Adjustment Bureau is the fiction, and what I know the real thing. I am glad that the real Chairman above knows what He's doing, and His plans are "to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). I am glad the real Chairman doesn't dictate, but convicts our free will. I am glad the real Chairman doesn't view us as objects to control, but as children to love.

I am glad that beside this counterfeit, the real thing holds truer than before.