On Sunday afternoon, Cile and I sat on the couch and absorbed the three hour tour of Gilligan’s Island. We were both tired. I was recovering from a twenty-four hour bug, but wasn’t sleepy. She slept. I stayed awake. I watched four of the six episodes and pretty much knew each storyline and joke before the cast members experienced them.
One has to suspend a lot of reality to embrace the show, but it’s worth it. How can one person like Gilligan make so many mistakes without being exiled? How come the professor can create so many inventions and never be able to get them rescued? For a three hour tour, how come the Howells packed so much luggage and money? What did Ginger need with an evening gown? How come their clothes were always clean? How good are the AM radio waves and how long do batteries last? How do you make banana cream pie without the necessary ingredients and an oven?
As I was watching the shows unfold before me, I realized two important aspects of humanity that were continually fleshed out in the show.
First, Man at His Best. The seven castaways come together to survive, and even thrive on their island. Leadership is provided by the Skipper and Professor, though clearly they seek input from the other five castaways. You don’t usually see them making decisions from selfish motives, but always for the good of the group’s survival and rescue.
None of that is to say that they were an idyllic society. They struggled with situations and with each other. Conflict was a normal part of their lives as danger lurked and/or feelings got hurt. But the group could not survive without the individual, and the individual couldn’t survive without the group. So when conflict arose, reconciliation was always woven into the solution. Let’s face the facts, it was a TV show and conflict is a key component of keeping the viewer’s attention. And, the writers needed a reset button to film the next week’s episode, so the conflict was resolved by the end of the show. That said, the lesson taught was valuable: we need each other to survive.
Secondly, Man is Bad. In the realm of suspending belief, they found themselves on a deserted island not located on any map. Yet visitors upon visitors stumble upon the island, because it’s not found on a map? A famous hunter, an actor pretending to be “Tarzan,” a knock-off Beatles and Monkeys rock band, The Mosquitos, and multiple others appear on the show. The rise of hope is felt and they believe the new visitor will contact authorities to have the castaways rescued. But they never do. The visitors usually have a deep dark secret and are afraid it will be exposed and ruin their own lives. So selfishly, and in the spirit of self-preservation, they keep the castaways and island a secret. They move on with their life, while the castaways are “condemned” to their prison.
The Bible continues to paint mankind with both brushes, a little bit of good and quite a bit of bad. Paul quotes that Psalmist to reinforce the depravity of mankind, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom. 3:10). At our very best, we have mixed agendas and shades of evil. We may be giving, but too many times it comes with strings attached. No one stands before God in all purity, because we’re tainted in sin. On the other hand, the Bible speaks highly of good people like Cornelius who generously cares for the poor (Act. 10:2) or Tabitha who is described as “always doing good and helping the poor” (Act. 9:36). But even at our best, we still need a Savior to redeem us from our own sin.
So here we are a mixture of something good and something bad. Sometimes the good in us shines very bright and sometimes it doesn’t. Other times the bad in us overpowers the good and what we experience causes shame. Maybe the hope is found in accepting, embracing and owning God’s grace. After all, the theme song to Gilligan’s Island can be sung to the tune of Amazing Grace.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)