By James Wilson
I
found myself watching an old film, Six Days Seven Nights, on a recent morning when
I did something I don’t do on mornings – watch television.
I have seen this
movie before and it is entertaining as is; a career woman vacationing on a Pacific
island with her fiancé fly to another island for a work emergency while her
intended stays behind. The plane crashes
and Robin (Anne Heche) is marooned with the crotchety Quinn (Harrison Ford). Over six days and seven nights they must
depend on each other to survive, lose the pirates chasing them across the
island, and make the plane flyable again.
During that span they move from sniping and carping non-stop to respecting,
cooperating with, and loving each other with honor for her prior
commitment. Frank the fiancé – using his
fear (she has been missing but days) that Robin is dead as excuse – sleeps with
Angelica the very sexy island beauty.
When Robin returns alive he tries to make the island girl responsible
for his moral compass by telling her – repeatedly – that he has been “bad…very
very bad” and waiting for her to convince him he is not. When that does not make him feel better he
confesses to Robin, who breaks off the engagement. With her commitment to Frank blasted by Frank
himself, she and Quinn come together. Before
my most recent viewing I enjoyed the film without realizing how prophetic it
is.
The film
features two partnered men and women.
(Angelica has a casual relationship with Quinn at the beginning.) Both men and both women are seriously tempted
to sleep with the one who does not belong to them. Quinn and Robin acknowledge their feelings –
and the likelihood their stay on the island is forever – and yet remain
honorable simply because their word means something to them. Angelica and Frank do what feels good at the
moment, albeit one amorally and the other with guilt. The film ends with Angelica and Frank alone,
while the pair who honor commitments come together and – presumably – live
happily ever after.
In both cases it
is the men who cast the deciding vote. Angelica
offers herself to Frank as he stands in the open door to her room. He leaves, citing his commitment to Robin,
but wakes in her bed – admitting he cursed himself each of the multiple times
he makes love to her the previous night.
He is the one who has chosen.
Likewise Robin admits her longing for Quinn, who tells her he will not
dishonor her or her commitment – and that settles the matter. It does not come up again while they are on
the island because he has chosen.
Men and women
are made to complement one another; neither is subordinate and this is clear
from Genesis to Ephesians. The Hebrew
word we tend to translate as “helpmate” to describe Eve actually conveys “one
who can look him in the face;” a more egalitarian meaning is not
conceivable. The narrative about mutual
submission of wives and husbands – not limited to Ephesians 5 – offers simply
gender appropriate ways to submit, one through obedience and the other through
sacrifice of self interest. Conceptually
men are made to protect and support women; women are made to nurture and
encourage men. There is nothing in
scripture or human nature to preclude women from accepting whatever calling –
at whatever level of responsibility – they are given. But it is the men who are called to be
responsible for choosing and implementing a healthy covenant between themselves
and their wives. That is why Adam comes
across as such a jerk when he lamely excuses his defiance of God in the Garden
by saying, “The woman made me do it.”
Six Days Seven
Nights depicts a man who shoulders his responsibility despite lacking a conceptual
framework for it; he is endowed with a God-breathed conscience and wills to
flow with it. It also depicts a man endowed
with the same conscience who chooses to wimp out when something exciting
crosses his path with a come-hither wink.
The story ends well for the one who steps up to the plate; not so much
for the wimp.
I write frequently
about God’s promise of renaissance – a Great Awakening – in this nation and
others. I am just as vocal on His call
for a season of repentance in His Body the Church as our part in welcoming His
promise. By repentance I understand a
progressive re-focus of our attention on God and away from self and
self-gratification-because-we-can. For
men that means stepping up to the plate and being men, and not just for
fidelity’s sake.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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