What would happen to a child if one day.. when he came home, he found out that his whole family had been brutally murdered, leaving just himself survives? Yes, this movie depicts the life of this unfortunate character. In short, this boy had no choice but left the scene, went to a temple, and changed his identity, fearing that he would be chased by the murderer. Living as a new person, he dedicates his life to seek for revenge. It was as if revenge was the only purpose of his life. Years after years, the boy grew up to become a man, a cold-blooded zombie who thirsts for murdering the group who had killed his whole family. It was to the extent that he married the murderer's daughter, just to kill her father. Finally he meant to kill her as well by setting up a blast in his own house's kitchen. His wife get serious burn injury and was at the brink of death, she then was taken care in the hospital. At last he just knew that she wasn't really the murderer's daughter. He felt sorry. Then only he started to took care of her, and perhaps, starting to love her. But too bad, she died because the injury was too serious. At last, he commited suicide.

What a tragedy! I tried to place myself in the situation of the unfortunate fella. I think his life was too miserable. What is so happy about finding your entire family being murdered? What would it feel to find yourself having to change your identity overnight, being a different person? What would it feel to be tortured by the past for years? (That's the reason he still seeks revenge though it happened decades ago!)  What would it be like to succeed in a revenge, and yet it hurts you even more? If revenge itself already brought about emptiness, guilt, now it costs you your loved ones as well. Simply put, is there anything 'good' about his life? Is there any reason he shouldnt act the way he had acted? Is there any reason for thanksgiving? Isn't this the normal thing to do? What would you do if you were in his position?

Just sparing some thoughts.. this too, had been a question in my mind for a long time. First, the obvious reason to explain why he had turned that way, into a cold blooded person, was not because he was 'cold blooded in nature', not because he was strong or even having the liking of murdering anyone. In contrast, it was because he was an extremely weak person. A weak person who's traumatic, whose psychology had been affected as he was forced to face the cold blooded reality of life. Now if that's the case, who then, is to blame? Can we blame a person for being weak? Is being weak a wrong thing? Or perhaps you said that the manifestation is wrong.. Should he then, be weak and keep quiet? What if that would kill him? (if he's weak, then forcing him to keep quiet will surely kill him, eg, he might commit suicide, knowing he's mentally unstable) Hmm...

Legalistic acts, meaning simply to stick strictly to the laws, is too common to be found. I said 'simply' because some people just blindly stick to laws because they are 'laws'! They do so without questioning them. I'm not against authority, laws, or government whatsoever. But the thing we need to understand is that laws are made for a purpose. If we fail to see the purpose behind those laws, then we are too narrow-sighted. The consequences may sometimes be absurd. Let's have an example : Suppose a mother tell her son not to talk to strangers. This son remembered what his mother had told him, and obeyed it all the time (although now he has become a grown up). Or lets take another example.. (pardon me for being to exaggerating). Suppose you're the only person on the planet, and since you wanna stick to the law, you still stop your car when the traffic light goes red. This is what would happen if we take things legally, obeying the law just for the sake of laws itself, and failing to see the motivation why those laws are given. Aren't these the same cases as with the Pharisees? Who obey the Ten Commandments just for the sake of obeying the law? Well perhaps my analogies wasnt perfect at all, since here we're talking about 'divine' laws. I called them divine because we know, no matter how grown up one has become, the law is still applicable. The values conveyed are not contextual. It is eternal! But still, although they are divine laws, those laws are there for a purpose! And if we fail to see those purposes, then we fall into the reductive view of the law as adopted by the Pharisees. Yes, a law is indeed a 'dead' thing, it is there to convey something of a bigger purpose. There is more to it, and hence we should not stop in the laws itself. 

Another example : Let's say a man said to his lover 'If you love me, you should spare a time for me two hours everyday.' If the girl is legalistic, one day she would say to her spouse '...but I have spared two hours! Isn't that enough? Haven't I give what you want?' (suppose that day she really had spent two hours). Well, it is simply missing the point.

So what are the consequences of this? We knew that laws aren't there by itself, it is made for a purpose. If so, then being 'right' or 'wrong' would never be determined by obeying or not obeying the law! For the above examples, if the boy was mature enough, he is right to talk to strangers. If the girl loved her spouse, she may as well reject to obey his 'law' for certain times when she is really busy! But reducing the law to merely 'words' to be obeyed is more unacceptable! Although you might perform better than what the law demands, lets say the girl then calculated and hence willing to spend time with her spouse for two and a half hours, but she set it to be the maximum, thinking 'it is already above the two hours that is demanded', it is still not getting the point!

The truth about laws (i dunno if this include scientific laws), is that it never stops in itself. It has greater meaning to it. And the question of right and wrong, is independent from the law, though we might not as well go to the other extreme saying that, using the same analogy, 'since it doesnt matter if i don't spend two hours, then why do you complain if this time i just spend 1 hour like yesterday?'. The reason here, relates to 'relation'. Just like the Ten Commandments, what God wants is 'relation', not simply 'obedience'. And not obedience with burden, but obedience with joy, where freedom to obey it is given much priority. I think this is logical... and it confirms too what Paul said..

1 Cor 10:23 : Everything is permissible - but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible - but not everything is constructive.

Yeah.. i think it makes sense..isnt it?