Creation Series: Creator and Family Feature Friday: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

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Throughout the next few weeks, we will be going over the creation account in Genesis. Today we will be looking at our Creator. Creation is something that reveals God to us and helps us understand Him. However, creation is also something that is revealed to us by God and throughout the next few weeks, we will look at the truths of the faith to help us understand the created order.

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High School Activities:

We are more than just cosmic accidents. We have a God that loves and care for us. By our very existence and interaction with creation, we can know that there is a God. This is what we call natural revelation. It’s natural because our own reason can provide for us the conclusion that their is something beyond us.

However it is through Divine Revelation- God speaking and revealing himself to humanity, that we know the Christian God. We know God is trinitarian, not by our own reason but by God’s very revelation to humanity. We know our Creator, and we know him intimately because he wants us to know him.

CCC 50: By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

We were more than just cosmic accidents. We were loved into existence.

A lot of people will critique the Church for not engaging in science, but this is far from the truth. The more we learn about the created order, the more we learn about the Creator himself.

For great information on the connection between faith and science, check out the Magis Center. They have a plethora of free resources to answer the tough questions on the relationship between faith and science. Click HERE for a talk on Faith, Science and Creation.

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Family Feature Friday: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

This week for Family Feature Friday, the movie will be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971 version please). It is rated G, runs 1hr 29min, and can be purchased or rented HERE. This is a children's movie with an underlying Christian theme behind the whole story. Even though the whole plot and movie are designed to entertain children, there can be quite a dark undertone as calamity befalls each child. The reason that the 1971 version is so important is because of what Charlie does to deserve the Chocolate Factory is completely different in each movie. In the 2005 version, it almost seems like Charlie wins the factory by "being less bad" than the other kids and the movie seems to imply that being poor is a merit in itself. However, in the 1971 version, what earns Charlie the factory is his remorse, and repentance for his actions.

1. Each of the children represent a deadly sin in their own right. Which deadly sin belongs to each of the children?
A: Veruca: Greed; Violet: Pride; Augustus: Gluttony; Mike: Sloth.

2. Charlie's grandpa is the one that comes up with the idea to quickly steal a sip of the fizzy drink because "no one is watching". He then says, "a small one won't hurt us". He takes a sip himself, and then shares the forbidden drink with Charlie. What famous Biblical Story does this remind you of?

A: Adam and Eve eat from the tree.

3. The Oompa Loompas come out to sing a song every time something happens to one of the children and they say "if you are wise you'll listen to me". What do they preach in each of their songs. If you act like them, what will you gain according to them?
A: For the most part, they preach moderation, but in one of the songs they blame the parents for making their children spoiled. You will live in happiness just like the oompa loompas do.

4. Reflect on how the following Bible verse relates to the movie.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

Did each of the children create their own predicaments? Or were they unavoidable accidents?


5. The Chocolate Factory is meant to represent paradise, but each of the children disqualify themselves from living in paradise (like the oompa loompa do) by breaking the rules. Even Charlie Breaks a rule. So why does he get paradise in the end?

6. At the end of the movie, Charlie's Grandpa, after being told that "you lose!", walks away making disparaging remarks about Willy. He essentially accuses Willy of being cruel for not over looking the rule-breaking. He then huffs and tries to convince Charlie that he is better off without Wonka or his paradise. Who wants to be a part of something so exclusive he thinks.

Who are the people or what are the things that make us think that we don't really need paradise to be happy? What made Charlie realize that his grandpa was wrong? What would have happened if he followed his grandpa out the door?