In the 2006 Alfonso Cuarón sci-fi flick ‘Children of Men,’ Clive Owen plays Theo Faron, a man tasked with delivering the last young woman on Earth capable of having children to a place where she will be protected and looked-after. For some unknown reason, everyone else has become infertile.
The film is set in the not-so-distant future, the year 2027. And the premise is gripping. With years having passed since the last child was born, humanity has devolved into chaos and disorder at the realization of the finitude of mankind. And now that a woman has been found who is somehow fertile when none of the other women on Earth are, everyone is going to want to use her for their own political aims.
“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future,” as Adolf Hitler is often quoted.
Fast-forward to the present. Or rewind to the present. I suppose it all depends on whether you work from when this movie was made and released, or else work from when the film is set to take place.
This past weekend, in celebration of Father’s Day, I introduced my own seven children to another apocalyptic vision of the future. Or should I say, ‘last year’?
I had forgotten that the 2002 film Reign of Fire, starring Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, and Gerard Butler, was set in the year 2020. Funny, that. Or at least we all thought so.
But here too, the subject of having children to continue on the human race features prominently. And the importance of fathers to this plot also cannot be understated. Just look at Christian Bale’s character Quinn Abercromby. Or, for a darker example, consider the final dragon needing slain.
Psalm 127:3-5 reads as follows.
Behold, children are a heritage from Yahweh,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
So what should we make of the COVID vaccine being dangerous to women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant?
