C-bomb with fandom spoilers: Link and Zelda

I want to see how many days in a row I can blog while my hubby is out of the country.  Here is my first day.

I started reading the Legend of Zelda manga series.  I don't have time to play the game, but after putting together a puzzle of the map of Hyrule, I decided I needed to explore those places.

To the dismay of some people, the first book, "The Ocarina of Time," reminded me of the Calvinistic struggle between God's sovereignty and man's decisive responsibility.  Link, the main character, travels to Hyrule Palace to see if he can help solve the darkness that has come over the land caused by the evil Ganondorf.  He meets Princess Zelda who claims she dreamed of a green angel who dispelled the darkness over the land.  He was destined to be the Hero of Time, and on learning that he collects the three stones that make the Tri-Force that summons the goddesses and opens the Temple of Time so that Link can play the ocarina, sleep for seven years and age into a teenager, and win against Ganondorf. 

So, it's rather pagan, but it goes to show that everyone knows they do not completely control their lives, but they still have a responsibility to carry out their purpose in life.  Link did not decide to do nothing while he became the Hero of Time.  He actually worked to find the stones and then to fight Ganondorf. 

In the Bible, you can see this same tension.  In Romans 4:3, Abraham is credited with righteousness because he believed.  He believed simply because God gave him a promise and chose Abraham to bless the world through that promise.

At the same time, James 2:14-17 talks of people who wish to end poverty and hunger but do nothing to help the people.  "Faith without works is dead."  Abraham became righteous because God chose him, but he waited mostly patiently for 75 years until he could have a son with his lawful wife Sarah.  Yes, he tried to help God by having a son with another woman, but despite his flaw, God sustained his faith so much that he was willing to sacrifice his long-awaited Isaac on an altar as a burnt offering because God told him to do so.  No questions asked.  He just packed up and went to Mt. Moriah, and then God pre-enacted Christ's crucifixion and resurrection by sparing Isaac and sending a lamb to take the punishment for Isaac's sins. 

I'll do another geeky illustration of this in my next blog.