After the death of Yoda in ROTJ, Luke leaves Yoda’s hut and heads back towards his X-wing. Talking to R2, Luke tells the droid that he cannot go on alone. Shortly thereafter, we see the Force figure Obi-Wan walking towards Luke.
More than a bit perturbed, Luke asks him “Why didn’t you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.”
Obi-Wan deflects Luke’s question by telling him a story. “Your father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I have told you was true, from a certain point of view.
Luke is unconvinced and asks “A certain point of view?”
Obi-Wan, starting to get philosophical, continues, “Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”
Luke found that difficult to believe and we should as well. There is a movement today to deny absolute truth. Yet, the truth is the truth.
There are absolutes in life.
There is right and wrong.
Truth is discovered not invented.
Truth is knowable. Truth is unchanging.
When Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” He was making a statement of absolute truth.
When someone believes and another denies Jesus is the way, the truth or the life, one of them is right and one of them is wrong. They both cannot be right. Truth is noncontradictory.
While we might remember and experience an event differently than someone else, we cannot lie like Obi-Wan did and claim that Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin. Vader is Anakin and Anakin is Vader.
Join with Me to Spread the Gospel
This post is a modified version of a devotional from my upcoming devotional book.
As millions of kids, teens, and young adults face a world that is rapidly removing any trace of Judeo-Christian values from the culture, there is still hope to reach them.
The Gospel is for all people and throughout all time.
You can help the next generation learn about the Gospel by using Star Wars.
There are valuable lessons that can be learned from Star Wars. My devotional book looks at the live-action Star Wars movies (Episodes I to IX, Rogue One, and Solo) and pull out different lessons and take-a-ways.
If you wish to join me in using Star Wars to share the faith, please consider purchasing the daily devotion I am published in November 2019.
Always thought Ben’s answer here was kind of sketchy- they (Yoda and Ben) should
have told Luke the truth- forewarned is forearmed, as it’s said. Instead by not telling Luke they took a much greater chance Luke, defeated and disarmed (literally, almost) might take up his father’s offer and join the dark side.
Agreed. Hard to trust someone when you find out they’ve been lying to you for a long time.
I love this! Very well said. For most of my life I believed that there was no absolute truth but rather each person had their “own truth” that they would express and live out in the world. Thus, as a child it made sense to me that Obi-Wan’s words were true. He shaped his truth in order to protect Luke’s feelings. Oh how troublesome this understanding is! This type of moral relativism, or truth “from a certain point of view”, is dangerous and cowardly. I love Obi-Wan but he is most definitely flawed in his thinking here. I think that Luke recognizes this fact and manifests it in his behavior on the Death Star in his fight with Vader. He realizes that “from a certain point of view” succumbing to his anger in order to overpower Vader could be seen as moral and good because he would defeat an evil enemy. But the truth within him allows him to recognize that his anger and power actually made him weak and the same as the very evil he was fighting against.
I agree with you, Nick. Whether we lie about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or Tooth Fairy, a lie is a lie.