Bridge to Terabithia - faith perspectives
Thursday, May 31st, 2007One of the unanswered question of the story/movie “Bridge to Terabithia” was “did she go to heaven?” Of course the answer is “we don’t know”.
On the one hand, she did not believe in Jesus, at least not explicitly in the movie. She does not believe that “God is doing all those good things and does not have time to condemn people to hell.”
It was interesting to see how the storyteller contrasted the two families. The boy’s Christian family was serious, and not much fun. People in the family (at least in the beginning) are not as loving/forgiving, and not as close to each other. They were afraid of conflicts and afraid of confronting others.
On the other hand, the girl’s family, not explicitly Christian, but they seem to be ‘free’, joyful, and loving. The girl has a beautiful sense and appreciation of God, she enjoys and appreciates His creation. She was daring to be different, to tell the truth, and to stand up both to help and to challenge others. We have a lot to learn from her character.
Our perspective is we don’t know if at the last moment of her life, when Jesus comes, if she accepted or rejected Jesus. We can never say that someone would or would not go to heaven since someone can always accept the faith before the end. However, it is always better to do so as early as possible to live a fuller life here on earth, as well as preparing us for the eternal life.