Where Satan Lurks: Avatar or the Plunder Pile?

Since I initiated this particular Avatar stuff, I'll try to clear it out of the way (despite the fact that I'm in danger of giving Satan a small reason to grin by indulging in a wee post).

Mark Driscoll is entirely right that Avatar makes a great tool in Satan's well-manicured hands. Only a slight knowledge of the film makes it easy to imagine several scrumptious ways in which Satan or his fellows have no doubt put this film to excellent use in millions of lives. (Not that we humans really need help from Satan every time we put something to a gross and destructive use; Sabotaging Avatar viewers might be too simple a task for even a junior tempter.) However, when Driscoll consigns the film to Satan's domain (by sloppy implication anyway), he's doing more harm than good. (And I have no doubt that Driscoll could happily and skillfully clarify this fact himself.) Everything delightful about the film (find several examples in the posts below) comes from the fact that all the materials and skills that James Cameron had to work with were designed by God and pronounced good by God because they display the Creator's glory in wonderful ways. Those who watch the film (or discuss it from the sidelines) combat sin most effectively when they enjoy the good for what it is at the same time as they talk honestly about godless ways to abuse the film (or godless conclusions to draw from it). I'm convinced that idols topple most thoroughly and promptly when we learn to enjoy them as God intended.

But all the same things can be said of this blog or any "God-honoring" effort. If I should be grading or doing dishes instead of trotting out theological fundamentals, I'm putting the Plunder Pile to a use that would (at the very least) warm the cockles of Satan's heart.