5/4/2020 - Soulful Faith (Faith Stone)
“so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” 2 Corinthians 2:5
If you had the Infinity Gauntlet, what would happen when you snapped your fingers?
“From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then…boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.” – Wong (a very underappreciated character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
I spent several hours continually studying and going back and forth with this Christian Infinity Gauntlet and its Infinity Stones and with the Infinity Gauntlet and its Infinity Stones. I chose the colors and tried matching up all the Infinity Stones the best that I could. I think I did a pretty good job, too. There were some that could have gone in a couple different directions, but it is all one in the same. However, if you disagree with any of this, feel free to speak up. I would love to hear your thoughts.
“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” 1 Timothy 6:11
When Paul wrote out 1 Timothy 6:11, he had order in mind. If he had order in mind, I think it is only right that I go through each of these Infinity Stones with order in mind. With that saying, we did the Righteousness and Godliness Stone already, now we will talk about the Faith Stone. In accordance with the Faith Stone I paired it with the Soul Stone.
I chose the Soul Stone for a couple of reasons. The first thing I did with all the Infinity Stones, I wrote down all the colors that coincide with each of the original MCU Infinity Stones. Then I wrote down how the color of those stones match up metaphorically with the Bible. Throughout the Bible, the color orange is portrayed as: fire of God, deliverance, passionate, and praise.
Then I went and saw what the color of the original MCU Infinity Stone was. The orange Infinity Stone was the Soul Stone. The Soul Stone could do a lot, but its main attributes are that it allows the holder capture and control souls of another being (we will talk about more of what it really could do later).
William Barclay wrote, “Second, there comes a group of three virtues which look towards God…Faith, pistis, here means fidelity, and is the virtue of the man who, through all the chances and the changes of life, down even to the gates of death, is loyal to God.”
Faith is an action. Faith to me is the hardest thing in the Christian life. It is the easiest to obtain, but the hardest to act out. I think this is why it perfectly parallels the Soul Stone. Faith to me is as simple as one word, belief; to fight your doubts and not waver. Sometimes I thank God that all we “need” is a mustard seed sized faith in order to move mountains. There are days where I am radiating with faith, and other I am jealous of those people who are overflowing with faith.
You need the first two attributes, righteousness and godliness, in order to have faith. They are the foundation that you build your faith on. If you don’t know how to do right and how to act, and you don’t believe in God how can you say you have faith.
Ephesians 6:16 says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” The Armour of God that Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6 is based off of a Roman soldier’s armour. A Roman solider usually had one of two kinds of shields. The one shield was a small round one that was about the size of a trash can lid, while the other was called the scutum (the one that Paul was talking about). A scutum was usually about 2 feet wide and 4 feet long, it was shaped like a door (it covered an entire crouching solider). It was covered in canvas, then leather, then embroidered with iron around the edges and the center. A shield is meant to protect us and the same is with our faith. The scutum’s canvas was soaked with water in battle. During battle a Roman solider would have to deal with plumatae. Plumatae are flaming missiles, similar to javelins. The soaked canvas would put these out. The missiles were not mean to harm the solider but mainly to distract them and cause as a diversion. This is something that the devil does to us. He shoots flaming arrows at us in order to distract us. When he distracts us, this is where is able to pounce.
Faith is what gets us through the tough times, the seasons, the ups and downs. COVID-19 is a huge test for a lot of us and our faith. A lot of us, myself included, were hit hard by this pandemic. We lost our jobs, we don’t know when our next paycheck is, we don’t know how we are going to pay our next bill; some of us got sick, had a loved one get sick, and some of us know of someone who passed or even had a loved one pass away. It has been a really hard time and our faith it being tested to its limits. However, we are called to trust and have faith. As bad as it sounds in my opinion (this is what helps me) doubt is a slap to the face of God. However, we are human, we are naturally born sinners and we are going to doubt. It is okay to doubt, no one is perfect. It is okay to get knocked down. The thing that matters is the amount of times you get knocked down can’t outweigh the amount of times that you get back up.
Matthew 17:20 say, “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” This is an incredible thing to remind ourselves of, we just need the faith the size of a mustard seed in order to move mountains. A little bit of faith is all we need to get out of a rut. But just like that mustard seed, it must grow. We have to continue to water that seed and allow it to grow into a great big tree of faith.
Sometimes faith requires sacrifice. There are times you have to go against everything that you know and have been taught. But that is the definition of faith, believing in something better. Obviously, there is a difference between dumb faith and right faith, but that is what we have God for. He is the ultimate root to our faith, and he is the one that helps discern our way. His word is the light to our path (Psalm 119:105). We have to pray the most underrated prayer in the Bible. Mark 9:24 says, “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” When we are in times of trouble, we are to lean on and trust in God. If we ask for faith and wisdom he will give freely (James 1:2-18).
“To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power the Stone demands a sacrifice…In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul.” – Red Skull
I am going to educate you on the MCU for a second or two (a little closer to two), but don’t skip it because it is necessary for the full explanation and the full experience.
After the whole universe came to be, the four immensely powerful Cosmic Entities created the 6 Infinity Stones out of 6 singularities. The Soul Stone represents the soul. There is a lot of mystery that lives in the backgrounds of the Soul Stone. A lot of people were well versed in the 5 Infinity Stones, the powers and locations; but never the Soul Stone. This is what would helped people consider it the most dangerous of the Stones. Not even the Asgardians knew much about it. The Soul Stone made its MCU debut all the way at the end of Phase 3 in Infinity Wars. The Soul Stone is found on the planet Vormir, which is guarded by the once evil Red Skull. Red Skull was banished there by the Space Stone (Captain America: The First Avenger) after he abused the power of the Space Stone. It did this knowing that he would not be able to obtain the Soul Stone himself, so he was cursed into becoming the immortal Stonekeeper and advisor to anyone that dared to try to retrieve it. At the beginning of Thanos’s hunt for the Infinity Stones he sent his goons to patrol and look for the Stones’s locations. Gamora and Nebula found the location but concealed the location from Thanos; he knew they knew but played along. He played along until the right time by torturing Nebula forcing Gamora to tell him where the Soul Stone is. Thanos brought Gamora with him to retrieve the Stone, as they approached the Stone Red Skull told him how to obtain the stone. The way you obtain the Soul Stone is by sacrificing someone you love. Thanos tearfully tossed Gamora over the cliff to get one step closer to his “destiny”. The Soul Stone’s reign in Infinity War didn’t last too long after Thanos obtained it. After obtaining it he then went to his home planet of Titian to battle for the Time Stone. Thanos used the Power Stone and the Soul Stone to find the real Dr. Strange after he tried to trick Thanos by replicating himself several times. Thanos after obtaining the Time Stone teleported via Space Stone to Wakanda where he ripped the final stone needed, Mind Stone, out of Vision’s head; then we all know what happens next…SNAP (If you had the Infinity Gauntlet, what would happen when you snapped your fingers?)
Like I said before the Soul Stone has some of the biggest mysteries surrounding it, but it is deemed by most as the most dangerous of the Infinity Stones. The Stone purposely imposes a test in order for it to be obtained. This test is sacrifice, the only way to obtain the stone is by sacrificing someone you love. This sacrifice is permanent and irreversible, not even the combination of all 6 Stones can bring that person back. The Soul Stone has the ability to manipulate the soul and has the ability to resurrect and conjure someone that is dead. Thanos didn’t use it much expect for in combination with the Power Stone and the combination of the other 5 in the Snap. The Soul Stone however contains a pocket dimension, where the souls of the past can communicate. The environment of this pocket dimension, Soulworld, is determined by the subconscious of the wielder. After Thanos snapped he saw his daughter Gamora and after Iron Man snapped he saw an older version of his daughter.
“Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say, it has a certain wisdom.” -Red Skull
If you had the Infinity Gauntlet, what would happen when you snapped your fingers?
Doubt is normal. Even the people that walked with Jesus and saw Jesus be Jesus doubted. They didn’t know if he we truly the Messiah or from God. Thomas in the end didn’t believe that Jesus resurrected until he felt the scares of our Lord. Faith is more than a thought or feeling, it is an action. We, at times, are called to have a sacrificial faith. A sacrificial faith that tests our faith and everything we know. We have to ask for an increase of faith and an increase of God. Jesus in the end showed us how to pray for faith and how to pray in a time of need. Through Matthew 26:36-45, he prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Have a faith that is passionate. Have a faith that praises God. Have a faith that help deliver your hearers.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
If you had the Infinity Gauntlet, what would happen when you snapped your fingers?