DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Bruce Banner or the Hulk?
© NaimaLett.com/blog

The Avengers © Marvel

“So, which one is it? Are you a big guy that gets all little or a little guy that sometimes blows up large?”

That’s the question the security guard asks Bruce Banner, portrayed by Mark Ruffalo, after his alter-ego Hulk crashes to earth and wakes up in a pile of rubble in this deleted scene (above) from Marvel’s The Avengers, 2012’s top-grossing film which made over $1 billion worldwide.

“I’m not even sure,” Bruce aka The Hulk explains.

Is his true identity the Hulk?
Or is his true identity Bruce Banner?
Which one is actually in control?

Couldn’t we ask ourselves the same question?

Are we the Hulk, a mean-green smashing machine who sometimes allows control?
Or are we Bruce Banner, a human being who sometimes gets angry and loses control?

Got me to thinking about my own life before and after I believed in Christ. I think I was definitely more Hulk pre-Christ: unbridled impulse, tearing up a lot of stuff along the way. Hopefully, I’m more Bruce Banner post-Christ: doing my best to keep my natural, harmful tendencies in check.

The difference is that Bruce is relying on himself to find an answer to redeem his inner Hulk. I’m relying on God. Contrary to popular belief, I understand that I/we are not innately good and cannot truly get a handle on our sinful tendencies by simply looking inwardly.

The Apostle Paul explains his/our great struggle in Romans 7:14-25 (excerpt): “…Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Don’t we all have the Hulk in us, waging war, ready to knock folks out?

© Marvel

Little boys and girls run around saying, “Hulk smash!”, while big little boys and girls want to. That’s who we naturally are. But once we confess that’s not who we want to be, destroying everything in our path, we need One who can actually give us a new nature. And even with our new nature, we still have to make the choice to do the right thing. If we were to be completely honest, we might admit that most days, it’s an all out internal war! Thanks be to God who delivers us.

I wish this scene would’ve made it into the film, but I understand why it was cut. If I recall, a battle for the world is ensuing and the Hulk is needed. To cut away to this philosophical interlude of Bruce Banner waxing poetic about identity issues probably slowed the pace down way too much.

Do we really want to ponder who Bruce is or who we really are?
Or do we go see The Avengers in 3D IMAX to see the Hulk smash?

Exactly,
Naima

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