By James Wilson
(Ed. Note: Christmas approaches. My next few posts will focus on
preparing our hearts not just to celebrate but to emulate.)
Mel Gibson’s compelling film, Hacksaw Ridge, is the story of Desmond Doss. A Christian of the 7th Day Adventists, Doss is shown enlisting in World War II’s Army with the caveat he will be an unarmed combat medic. He is bullied by the men, his sergeant, unit commander, and other officers as they pressure him to carry a weapon despite his vow and the notes written into his record respecting his conviction. Under courts-marshal he avoids military prison when the court receives a letter from his father’s World War I commander – now a general – reminding the court of Doss’ constitutional right to practice faith – as he understands it – in the Army.
The cinematic story is a substantially accurate portrayal of Doss’ history. A few incidents are modified for cinematic purposes – Doss was actually drafted in 1942 but chose to serve rather than accept an employment-based deferment. He was wounded multiple times – as shown – but the injuries came some weeks after the events of the film. Director Gibson left out some of Doss’ verified heroics because he believed the audience would not believe them. The film is yet another example of fiction being more truthful than mere facts. The story is one every American – indeed every-one – should see for the same reasons we need to see Saving Private Ryan and Gibson’s masterpiece, The Passion of the Christ. They are just that important.
Desmond Doss does not advocate no soldiers bearing arms; that would beg the question of having a military in the first place. He drags his wounded sergeant from the battlefield while the other man fires on pursuing Japanese; he is grateful to have his life saved by gun toting buddies. He is – however – no hypocrite. He is simply a man under conviction that he is to save life rather than take it on the same battlefield where death is feasting in the most graphic combat depiction I have ever seen. He expects others to serve God – or their own ideas – as they are convicted.
7th Day Adventists are not all pledged to non-violence; Doss’ father and brother – as faith committed he is – serve their country and their God with firearms in hand. At the end of the day this film is not about violence versus non-violence. It is about acting on what we may separately believe God has called from us. It only makes sense if we imagine God really has a specific plan for each of us and that He really works all things together for good – Romans 8:28 – in those who love Him and are called according to His Name. It is about standing in embodied witness to God’s glory, moving the hearts of those who believe him a coward or unstable with the evident miracles accompanying some of his rescues and the faith-fueled courage infusing all of them.
Doss received the Medal of Honor – first earned without firing a shot – for rescuing seventy-five men under fire atop Hacksaw Ridge during the battle for Okinawa. He remained there alone for some twelve hours of rescuing after his unit retreated under the withering Japanese fire.
After finally vacating the ridge his unit delays action to retake it until Doss has finished praying for them on the beach. They have seen too much incarnation of his God in his behavior to make a move before he says they are ready in Christ. His witness has brought all of the men to a place of at least respect for His Lord, the open door to devotion.
For Doss not all commandments are created equal. With lives at stake he returns to combat on the Saturday Sabbath he observes, breaking his commitment to do no work that day. Yet even with Japanese about to enter the shell hole sheltering him and another he declines to shoulder the rifle close at hand. How does he distinguish between the absolute and the circumstantial prohibitions? With fear and trembling, though I reckon he hears Jesus justify His own Sabbath breaking with the remark that His Father is working still and so must the Son.
Many Christians believe the 7th Days are a cult. Really? Jesus says, “By their fruits you will know them.” Whatever their denominational strengths or weaknesses the Spirit is strong enough to speak through their ranks to a heart seeking God’s heart. Doss’ gift is his witness following the Lord to hell and back – and this is the gift of this film.
We live in a season of Great Awakening and fatal self-reliance in Church and society I call Maverick. Participation requires re-engagement with the whole of Scripture and the fullness of God’s Spirit while sacrificing our sacred cows of doctrinal interpretation and entitlement. The many challenged entitlements and “certainties” presented in this film offer a perfect entre to this Maverick season.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times, and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@gmail.com
