The rocky road to redemption

An AB Philosophy graduate of Adamson University, the author is working as a manager in a fine dining restaurant abroad. He plans to pursue post-graduate studies and set up a foundation for the poor someday.

Religion for centuries has been one of the causes of conflict. Many people fight and die for it even at the expense of innocent people who get caught in between. Some are confused about what they are really fighting for. It seems hard to understand why men use religion as a reason to fight when in fact it is not.

The Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom, just recently became a favorite of mine. It made me think what is the "kingdom" all about. Is it a place where good people go when they die as Christians believe? Or, is it just a mental state which man desires to be in to forget life’s harsh realities?

In the movie, the Kingdom of Heaven refers to the City of Jerusalem, the cradle of Christianity. Orlando is a swordsmith named Balian of Ibelin who is grief stricken upon losing his only child by miscarriage and his wife by suicide. In the old Christian tradition, a person who commits suicide could not be administered the burial rite as is customary for Christians. They believe that they have no place in heaven and are damned in hell. Upon learning that the priests cut off her head and took off his ring, Bloom kills one of them in anger and flees.

He has yet to fully recover from the tragedy, regain his faith and sense of purpose and direction. Orlando accepts the offer of his father (Liam Neeson), a baron and a knight in charge of defending Jerusalem from foreign invasion to find redemption. They go to Jerusalem. Orlando suceeds his father as baron when the latter dies.

In my life, I always feel the need for redemption from my past.

I always feel the need to ask forgiveness from God for all my shortcomings and for hurting the people I truly love, from the girl I promised to come back to after finishing college and my parents for having married early and not pursuing law as planned. I got to the point of depression and hopelessness and decided to seek God for deliverance.

Balian feels the need for deliverance, too. Having succeeded his father as defender of Jerusalem, he faces the Herculean task of defending the city against the Muslims under the indefatigable leadership of Salahudin. He knows from the start that it’s impossible to win a war against them because they are greatly outnumbered.

But Balian believes he could give them a good fight. He assembles all able-bodied men to fight for Jerusalem. He encourages them to fight and die bravely with honor. He may not have won the battle, but he saved what is truly important in Jerusalem, its people.

Balian may have lost Jerusalem but not "his kingdom," which, is in his heart and which nobody could take away. He found his redemption.

In our life, we have our own kingdoms that we value and protect. It may mean different things to different people. For me, a simple life, a loving family and a merciful God are more than enough to make me happy. This is my kingdom. And this, is my redemption.