{"id":728,"date":"2015-09-21T12:49:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T18:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/?p=728"},"modified":"2015-09-21T12:49:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-21T18:49:59","slug":"the-scorch-trials-wckds-road-of-good-intentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/2015\/09\/the-scorch-trials-wckds-road-of-good-intentions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scorch Trials: WCKD’s Road of Good Intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"scorch-trials\"<\/a>
From Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Way back in the Paleolithic 1980s, sage philosopher Mr. Spock told us that \u201cThe needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, Spock recanted later, after Captain Kirk and his bevy of co-workers stole a starship to rescue him. But the core philosophy seems pretty logical, right? Lots of thinkers through the ages have thought so. It\u2019s a central tenant to the philosophy of Utilitarianism. \u201cThe greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation,\u201d Jeremy Bentham, one of Utilitarianism\u2019s great-granddaddys, once wrote. The scientific morality of Sam Harris, the celebrated atheist, has been compared to Utilitarianism a time<\/a> or two<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And WCKD, the scientific body behind the events of The Maze Runner<\/em> series, thinks this sort of pragmatic Utilitarianism\u00a0makes sense, too.<\/p>\n

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials<\/em> doesn\u2019t exactly present WCKD in the best light. The mysterious organization, headed by scientist Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson), strings up teens by the score and drains them of their blue fluid (whatever that is) until they\u2019re just dried-out bits of teen jerky. It\u2019ll do the same to our hero Thomas (Dylan O\u2019Brien) and all his pals if it can catch them. Slap a black pointed hat on Ava, and you can easily picture her telling Thomas, \u201cI\u2019ll get you, my pretty\u2014and your little Newt, too!\u201d<\/p>\n

But The Scorch Trials<\/em> also shows us how Ava and the rest of WCKD got to this point.<\/p>\n

\"scorch<\/a>
From Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The world of The Scorch Trials<\/em> probably makes the Maze\u2014from which Thomas and his friends escaped in the last movie<\/a>\u2014seems positively idyllic. The dystopian land looks like it\u2019s been baking in a blast furnace for a few decades, and a terrible disease known as the Flare has turned many of its inhabitants into zombie-like creatures. They act in human, but it wasn\u2019t always so. They were husbands, wives, children. The disease twisted their minds in such a way that some ripped out their own eyeballs to still the terrible visions. Now, it\u2019s twisting their bodies, too.<\/p>\n

There is but one hope: Some people are immune to the Flare, and the younger you are, the more likely you are to be immune. These lucky few may carry, it would seem, a solution\u2014a solution that could save humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI swore an oath to find a cure, no matter the cost!\u201d Ava tells Thomas. Yes, the cost has been high, she acknowledges. But given the stakes, the cost seems justifiable\u2014at least from a Utilitarian point of view. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. <\/em>From that point of view, it seems almost selfish for Thomas and his few friends to stand in the way of WCKD\u2019s scientific search for salvation. It seems immoral.<\/p>\n

But Thomas\u2019 sense of morality differs from WCKD\u2019s. And his is, I think, a little more Christian.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like Thomas is averse to sacrifice: Over and over, he\u2019s shown a willingness to risk his life for his friends. He\u2019s no coward.<\/p>\n

Bully for him,<\/em> Ava might say. But are his friends really more important than all the thousands or millions of people he doesn\u2019t know? People in desperate need of a cure?<\/em><\/p>\n

But I think there\u2019s more at work here. Yes, Thomas is trying to save a small collection of lives. But he\u2019s also acknowledging something pretty important: That life itself<\/em> is precious\u2014priceless, in fact.<\/p>\n

When we look at what Jesus did on the cross, I think it reflects more the morality of Thomas than of Ava. His crucifixion wasn\u2019t the product of crunching the numbers. It was a product of love. He didn\u2019t sacrifice himself primarily for generic humankind: He did it for you. And for me. He knows<\/em> us, and He gave His life for us because each and every life is precious to Him.<\/p>\n

And you know what? If just one of us was saved by His crucifixion, I think Jesus still would\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n

Also important: Jesus chose <\/em>his path. It was not chosen for him. By His own free will, Jesus sacrificed His mortal self. By his own free will, Thomas chooses to risk his. That\u2019s what sacrifice is. What Ava and WCKD do is just plain killing.<\/p>\n

\"scorch-trials<\/a>Good intentions or no, WCKD reduces human life to a commodity\u2014to be harvested as society deems necessary. Our worth, WCKD suggests, is determined by supply and demand, and the demand in Scorch Trials<\/em> is great indeed. But by his actions, Thomas suggests that our worth is set elsewhere. We have a divine right to choose how to live our lives\u2014and we alone choose when to risk it.<\/p>\n

Our society operates a little like WCKD sometimes. Courts and insurance companies stick dollar figures on what a life is worth. Fetal tissue is harvested. Wars, and wartime decisions, are often based on grim Utilitarian calculus. In our fallen world, perhaps there\u2019s no escaping the commoditization of life.<\/p>\n

But The Scorch Trials<\/em> does give us a reminder that we\u2019re worth more than we\u2019re sometimes told. And that we\u2019re all worth saving.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Way back in the Paleolithic 1980s, sage philosopher Mr. Spock told us that \u201cThe needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.\u201d Sure, Spock recanted later, after Captain Kirk and his bevy of co-workers stole a starship to rescue him. But the core philosophy seems pretty logical, right? Lots of thinkers through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[25,30,263,264,262],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-freedom","tag-maze-runner","tag-philosophy","tag-sacrifice","tag-scorch-trials"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Scorch Trials: WCKD's Road of Good Intentions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Way back in the Paleolithic 1980s, sage philosopher Mr. Spock told us that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." 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