The problem of hope

The problem of hope.

Hope.  A problem?  Absolutely!

A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous.

You have to realize where this quote is from to understand it.  Please - read on.

The context for the quote above -

President Snow: Seneca... why do you think we have a winner?
Seneca Crane: [frowns] What do you mean?
President Snow: I mean, why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four of them at random and execute them all at once? Be a lot faster.
[Seneca just stares, confused]
President Snow: Hope.
Seneca Crane: Hope?
President Snow: Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.
Seneca Crane: So...?
President Snow: So, CONTAIN it.

Got it yet?

Yes - Hunger Games.  I finally watched it a couple says ago.  In a way - I was surprised.  But in another way - I wasn't surprised at all.
As Christians, we believe that God is everywhere.  Given that - we should be able to see something of Him - well - everywhere.
And yes - Hunger Games was no different.

Obviously, the quote from President Snow isn't something God would say.  After all, Snow, if anything, is the embodiment of evil.

But before we go there, here's something of what the movie is supposedly about from Huffington Post -

If one accepts the truisms of internet memes, in the spring of 2012 as a culture we gathered in dark theaters to be entertained by teenagers killing each other. For those who had not read the books, The Hunger Games movie seemed to be simply a glorification of the worst sort of violence. In a time when school shootings plague our nation, the idea of being entertained by a film about teenagers killing each other seemed utterly inappropriate. Naturally, protests of the movie abounded and numerous calls were sent out to boycott the film and get the book banned from school libraries--all of which served as exercises in missing the point.

...

But far from being a distraction or celebration of violence, at its core Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series is ultimately a story about hope. It is a hope which holds that resisting injustice is not futile, that violence can come to an end, and that a better world is indeed possible. Interestingly, despite the marketing, glitz, and glamour surrounding the release of the Catching Fire film, that message of hope has been central to the promotion of the second film.

Not surprisingly, I think the Huffington Post actually missed the point -
maybe not the point of the movie -
but the point of the word hope.

However - if what they wrote so far wasn't bad enough - they actually kept going -

A little hope can keep people in line. Offer people rewards in heaven someday after they die as long as they are good submissive people now and you keep them subdued.

And so we have now come full circle to my original point.

Thank you Huffington Post for making the point for me!

In order to really understand the significance of this quote (which apparently wasn't in the book - but was added for the movie) - one needs to look no further than C. S. Lewis and The Screwtape Letters.  That book was written from the point of view of Screwtape - who was mentoring his nephew, Wormwood.  The mentoring process, if you're not familiar with the book, was to train little Wormwood to become a devil.  As such, all of the letters in the book were written by Wormwood to guide his nephew as he tries to keep his "patient" from turning to God - and instead to "our father below".  In other words - Satan.

And there it is. 

The one who would look on a little hope as a good thing - and lot's of hope as a bad thing - would be Satan.

I'll let you come to your own conclusions on the Huffington Post's statement about a little hope for going to heaven being something to keep people subdued.

I will say though - a lot of hope for going to Heaven should do anything but keep people subdued.  No one living at the time of Jesus would likely have considered him quiet, submissive, or subdued.  He was killed in no small part for being such a radical that the leaders were afraid of Him.

Referring to the image at the top - this is what can happen with a lot of hope -