One thing that I couldn't quite cope with as I was blogging about Fauna feeling sympathy for Maleficent was that Fauna actively contributed to Maleficent's death. She didn't give Prince Philip the sword that slew Maleficent, but she did contribute some magic to it before he threw it straight into her heart. That wasn't exactly a loving thing to do. Yet sometimes, such actions are necessary. War was a necessary evil many times in Nephite and Israelite history, and at one point in particular, God told Nephi that sometimes wicked people have to die so that God's righteous purposes can be accomplished. Maleficent had to die in order for there to be a happily ever after for everyone else, but I'm still having a hard time wrestling with Fauna's decision to help Prince Philip kill her. She was, in my opinion, the most caring of the three good fairies, having initially suggested that they try to reason with Maleficent, noting that "she can't be all bad." In fact, no person who ever lived on the earth was 100% evil. And yet, some of them were evil enough that they had to die.
Part of my justification for Maleficent's death was that she was, at that moment, trying to kill Prince Philip, who was loved by his father and probably his kingdom, too, and who was the only hope of awakening Princess Aurora, who was loved by her parents and her whole kingdom. If Prince Philip had died in his fight against Maleficent, a lot of people were going to be upset by that - many of them heartbroken. And once Prince Philip lost his shield, either Maleficent would die (or at least be defeated) soon, or he would. Since Maleficent was too powerful to subdue in any non-fatal way, the fairies, including Fauna, had only one choice. Still, that must have been a hard choice for Fauna, who had probably never harmed a living soul before in her life.
I hold on to the belief that Fauna had a great deal of sympathy for Maleficent (at least, she had a great deal more sympathy for her than anyone else had). I'm trying to gauge what her feelings were at the time she enchanted the sword, but I can't see her face very clearly on our copy of the video, and from what I can see, the artists had left her expression blank. I guess they thought that no one would try to dig into the emotional conflict of a character who mostly keeps to the background and contributes more to the comedy of the movie than to the plot. Silly them. But still, I imagine that Fauna felt a little bit torn when she helped enchant the sword for Maleficent's death. Or maybe that slightly-sad on her face is Fauna's resting facial expression. I'm sure I would have been torn if I had as much sympathy as she had.
God has far more love for His children than Fauna had for Maleficent, but sometimes, in His infinite wisdom and eternal perspective, He sees fit for some people to suffer and die. And yet, I still believe that everything He ever does, He does because He loves us. How can He kill someone out of love? Partly, He could kill one person out of love for others. That's what happened to Laban, whom God commanded Nephi to kill. And that's also what happened with Maleficent. Sure, it's tragic for Laban and Maleficent, but they kind of had it coming to them, and it would have been far worse for everyone else if they hadn't died.
It's still kind of hard to accept that a being so pure and good could be even partially responsible for the death of anyone, no matter how evil they were. Re-reading my blog posts from the last time I blogged about this battle, I was reminded that there is Always hope for people, even after they lost their virtue, so it's tragic whenever anyone dies before they change their hearts and choose to repent. But any being who is committed to the cause of good has to be committed to the greater good, and sometimes that means ending the life of someone who theoretically might have repented later, had they lived. It's a tough judgement call for anyone. Luckily, the final judgment is the Lord's. For the rest of us, hopefully we'll never be put in the position that Nephi and Fauna were put into, but if we ever are, I pray that we'll have the Spirit with us to help us make the right decision, whether that means sparing a life or ending one.
1 comment:
Compassion and killing do sometimes keep company. There times when killing must be done. To save the innocent. Sometimes for the good of the evil doer.
God flooded the entire earth partly out of compassion. The people were so evil that not only were they digging deeper holes for themselves, but the children they were raising had no chance to know truth and good. It was probably a painful thing for Him. I imagine much of the flood waters could have come from His tears, but it was the compassionate thing to do for the good of mankind. Maleficent MIGHT have changed eventually, but the path she was on was one of destruction for all around her.
I think at the time of battle, Fauna might have been more concerned for Philip and Aurora and not feeling much for Maleficent. I think she might have shed a tear for her later, but not really regretted her decision.
IF some creep was hurting/seriously threatening one of my children or grandchildren and I could stop them by killing them, you bet I would, despite them being my spiritual brother and being capable of eventual change.
I still mourn Lucifer and the others, but that doesn't mean that their damnation was wrong. Their damnation does not mean that God didn't / doesn't love them, either. When one choose evil. one chooses death.
Post a Comment