Examples of Anatomy and Guilt in Disney Movies

God at the Movies: 'The Lion King' (Guilt)

When I began to think about this particular post, a lot of ideas came to mind. 'The Lion King' is such an iconic movie that covers a vast amount of themes, such as: loss, identity, courage, fatherhood, love, purpose, betrayal, and friendship. I could really dissect this film forever, but guilt was a theme that really stuck out to me as something I wanted to discuss. It's a major theme in the film and it's something a lot of people, including myself, have gone through.

Guilt is one of those issues that not too many people want to discuss with others. It can sometimes be seen as a weakness to be dealing with guilt. Holding onto the past can stop someone from living a fruitful life. It prevents someone from having a prosperous relationship, a fulfilling career, and an overall enjoyable life. In "Lion King," we discover that Simba allowed his past to dictate his future, allowing his guilt to become part of his identity.

Most people will tell someone who is dealing with guilt to get over it and move on. They think guilt is something people can easily just get rid of. Sometimes it is easy to move on, but other times it can follow someone for days, months, years, or even the rest of their lives.

What people don't realize is that there are two types of guilt: true guilt and false guilt.

The first type of guilt is true guilt: guilt that bothers you because you did something wrong, but it'll only last until you find a resolution. This is confessing to cheating on a math test or telling your parents that you had lied about where you were the night before. Once you tell the truth, you begin to feel relieved and you can move on with your life, even if there may be consequences. This type of guilt is typically short-term and may or may not affect your long-term future.

The second type of guilt is false guilt: guilt that sticks in the back of your brain for months or even years for making a mistake. However, unlike true-guilt that goes away after confessing to a crime, false guilt will stay with you even after making a confession to force you to believe that you are a terrible person. It makes you unable to forgive yourself for what you've done. This could be from cheating on a spouse, not taking the big risk that you should have taken, or thinking that you inadvertently murdered your father. But if we know what the Bible says, then we know that this isn't how God wants us to live.

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

Having guilt is normal. It's what makes us human. Without guilt, we'd be walking around thinking that every action was acceptable without feeling remorse. Feeling guilt is what makes friends find amends after an argument. It's what makes a thief confess to a crime. It's what makes someone work harder to not repeat the same mistake again. Guilt is a great thing to have, but it can also be our worst enemy. It can turn on us and devour us whole from the inside out. Guilt is what made Judas commit suicide after turning in Jesus to the authorities. Guilt is what made David commit murder after sleeping with a married woman. It was guilt that haunted Moses for killing a man to save another. And it was guilt that made a little lion cub run away from his homeland after been accused of killing his own father.

Having a guilt-striken mind can make us feel like we are in constant turbulence. It's like having someone in your head playing back footage from the event and there's no way to turn it off. Small things in life can sometimes trigger bad memories or bring you back to the event.

For Simba, it was his own reflection in the water. Instead of seeing who he truly was, all Simba could see was failure and disappointment within himself. He couldn't go back home to face his family, because of how disappointed they would all be in him. He had let down everyone he loved, including his father, which was the most painful for Simba.

However, it wasn't until a snarky meerkat and a smelly warthog taught Simba a new phrase that would forever change his life: hakuna matata (Swahili: No problems).

Hakuna matata wasn't just a phrase (or a passing craze) it was a way of life. If you were to speak the words of hakuna matata, you were to also live the way of Hakuna Matata. That meant always looking forward, never back. It meant never beating yourself up for making a mistake. The past is the past and there isn't anything you can do about it.

But God wants you to know that he also has a nifty word for you that will solve all of your problems. It's a word much greater than hakuna matata: Aphiêmi (Af-ee'-ay-mee ).

What is Aphiêmi?

Aphiêmi is how Jesus says 'forgive.'

But aphiêmi goes a lot deeper than to just forgive someone. Anyone can say, "I forgive you." It means to "hand over," "to get rid of," and "leave something behind." Essentially, it's "let it be" (we can thank the Beatles for that one).

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

To be purified. To be cleansed. To be as white as snow. Doesn't that just sound perfect? You may think it sounds like an impossible fantasy, but this is exactly what Jesus asks of us. We see an example of aphiêmi in a very important and well-known part of the Bible: the Lord's prayer.

"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:12

In other words, "Leave behind our mistakes as we leave behind the mistakes of others." It's in this prayer that we become more Christ-like as we are to forgive others just as, in the same way, God forgives us. We're asking God to let go and leave our sins, mistakes worries, heartbreaks, sufferings, and guilt behind — never to be seen or heard from again. This is aphiêmi and it's the same mentality that we need to not only have with others, but also ourselves.

Even after singing hakuna matata, the guilt was still inside Simba, because he was just masking his guilt with a temporary bandage. Simba was never able to fully forgive himself. It was only when the wise old mandrill, Rafiki, showed Simba his true purpose and identity that he was able to finally find aphiêmi. Simba was able to abandon the false life of hakuna matata and rediscover who he really was back home with his family.

So what guilt is keeping you from discovering aphiêmi? Are you living a life of hakuna matata where you are trying to bury the guilt without facing it head on?

Once we are able to look beyond our guilt and to remember who we really are, then only can you begin to feel a bit more free. Not only will we begin to feel free, but we can begin to embrace true aphiêmi.

Examples of Anatomy and Guilt in Disney Movies

Source: https://medium.com/@ericdanielmedina/god-at-the-movies-the-lion-king-guilt-7ab0142b545c

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