From Faith to Houses of the Holy: belief systems of Supernatural
Firstly let me state up front: Sera Gamble and Kim Manners = OTP
Can you believe they haven’t worked together since Dead in the Water? That’s just wrong.
Sera (with Raelle Tucker) was responsible for the great episode Faith.
In that episode the boys’ stance on a greater good - oh lets call him God - as established:
Dean: I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer?
Sam: Maybe it’s time to have a little faith, Dean.
Dean: You know what I’ve got faith in? Reality. Knowing what’s really going on.
Sam: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday?
Dean: Exactly. We see them, we know they’re real.
Sam: But if you know evil’s out there, how can you not believe good’s out there, too?
Dean: Because I’ve seen what evil does to good people.
Layla: Maybe God works in mysterious ways.
However at the end of that episode Dean says he’ll pray for Layla even though he was not “usually the praying type”.
The boys have had some similar exposure to religion or at least a personal belief in God, through their family and probably from people like Pastor Jim. And a similar exposure to evil and a personal belief in demons.
And yet the boys end up with different belief systems. They want the same thing - to have something like enables them to believe that evil, or chaos, won’t win. That want they do has meaning; that the family business can actually succeed. A framework for a approaching a world where they both know for a fact that evil exists.
The difference, I think, is that Dean chose to believe in the way of John Winchester, while Sam turned to God.
From John, Dean learnt how to battle evil. He learnt that a true aim, and some good research and a bit of Latin, were effective. And like all organised systems of belief, John provided his own definitions of what was right, and wrong, of the way to behave and be in the world (like hating supernatural things). In the Church of John Winchester, you believe you have to do things yourself. You are responsible if things go wrong. Dean believs you can always choose.
And I think on some level, John was Dean’s higher power. As he said to Gordon in Bloodlust: So you're always thinking to yourself, he's indestructible. He'll always be around, nothing can kill my dad. Then just like that - he's gone.
Worshipping at the altar of Dad didn’t work out for Sam. As I discussed in The Evil in Me, Sam had always found evil and hunting difficult to deal with “you known this job. Man, it gets to you.” (Phantom Traveler). John’s way (just as giving him a .45 to deal with his fear) didn’t work for Sam. He wasn’t comforted and I think Sam looked elsewhere to make sense of his world and cope with it.
And the division between the boys isn’t as clear as you might think. Dean does believe in things he can’t see. In both Faith, and in IMToD, he has a feeling in his gut that something is wrong. I think a lot of his vehement dismissal of Good, and in this episode angels in particular, is because of the question it raises.
If Good exists why did his mother die? He believes Mary was without blame (without sin?) and cannot conceive that a power of Good would let her die. Interestingly in Faith Dean says that playing God… deciding who lives and who dies, that’s a monster in my book. I think implicit in this is - God is a monster for letting my mother die.
Of course there is a long theological discussion to be had here about free will, or how evil exists in the presence of good or God. I think what Dean learnt from John was that evil exists and it can kill you and this happens regardless of whether you are good or bad. And if you are strong enough and smart enough you can stop it.
Sam’s observation of Dena as lab rat was accurate in some way. Dean’s world is very much based on obtaining an expected response from an action. (And by the by I love that we have three types of ecstasy in this episode - sexual (the magic fingers), chemical (glow sticks and a Dr Suess Hat) and religious.)
In contrast in Sam’s belief system being good, doing good is rewarded. That’s how he’s been behaving since he found out the secret. Save as many people as possible and maybe the balance of the scales will change - his good will be rewarded.
An theme in both Faith and HotH is how is evil or wrongdoing defined. In Faith, the people being taken by the reaper under Sue-Ann’s instruction had done wrong by her own system of morality - a gay teacher, an abortion activist, a protestor against Roy.
In HotH the people being punished are people who have or who intend to kill or harm another person. Again the question Gordon raised in Hunted is posed - do you kill someone because of what they might do? This is interesting twist in the scenario here - Father Gregory’s ‘instruments’ are offered a chance at redemption, but their victims are not.
In both episodes we are told “it’s up to God to decide who lives and dies.” Of course this may be comforting or not, depending on whether you believe in a wrathful vengeful God or a forgiving God.
Dean had his belief system shaken (shattered?) with John’s death, the revelation of the secret and the encounter with Lenore. Does he believe what he saw was the will of God? I think he’d like to, to have that comfort, and that backup with looking out for Sam, and I think he wants to support Sam’s beliefs too.
I mentioned earlier Dean’s belief that “you always have a choice”, and this is in contrast to Sam’s insistence on “his destiny”. I’m interested that Sam claims it as destiny. Why? The Demon has plans for him sure but there is no evidence of pre-ordination - it's just an evil sonofabitch doing bad.
The boys are in a place where neither of their belief systems are proving adequate in providing wither support or guidance in what to do. What makes me sad and afraid for them. But at least they have each other.
Can you believe they haven’t worked together since Dead in the Water? That’s just wrong.
Sera (with Raelle Tucker) was responsible for the great episode Faith.
In that episode the boys’ stance on a greater good - oh lets call him God - as established:
Dean: I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer?
Sam: Maybe it’s time to have a little faith, Dean.
Dean: You know what I’ve got faith in? Reality. Knowing what’s really going on.
Sam: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday?
Dean: Exactly. We see them, we know they’re real.
Sam: But if you know evil’s out there, how can you not believe good’s out there, too?
Dean: Because I’ve seen what evil does to good people.
Layla: Maybe God works in mysterious ways.
However at the end of that episode Dean says he’ll pray for Layla even though he was not “usually the praying type”.
The boys have had some similar exposure to religion or at least a personal belief in God, through their family and probably from people like Pastor Jim. And a similar exposure to evil and a personal belief in demons.
And yet the boys end up with different belief systems. They want the same thing - to have something like enables them to believe that evil, or chaos, won’t win. That want they do has meaning; that the family business can actually succeed. A framework for a approaching a world where they both know for a fact that evil exists.
The difference, I think, is that Dean chose to believe in the way of John Winchester, while Sam turned to God.
From John, Dean learnt how to battle evil. He learnt that a true aim, and some good research and a bit of Latin, were effective. And like all organised systems of belief, John provided his own definitions of what was right, and wrong, of the way to behave and be in the world (like hating supernatural things). In the Church of John Winchester, you believe you have to do things yourself. You are responsible if things go wrong. Dean believs you can always choose.
And I think on some level, John was Dean’s higher power. As he said to Gordon in Bloodlust: So you're always thinking to yourself, he's indestructible. He'll always be around, nothing can kill my dad. Then just like that - he's gone.
Worshipping at the altar of Dad didn’t work out for Sam. As I discussed in The Evil in Me, Sam had always found evil and hunting difficult to deal with “you known this job. Man, it gets to you.” (Phantom Traveler). John’s way (just as giving him a .45 to deal with his fear) didn’t work for Sam. He wasn’t comforted and I think Sam looked elsewhere to make sense of his world and cope with it.
And the division between the boys isn’t as clear as you might think. Dean does believe in things he can’t see. In both Faith, and in IMToD, he has a feeling in his gut that something is wrong. I think a lot of his vehement dismissal of Good, and in this episode angels in particular, is because of the question it raises.
If Good exists why did his mother die? He believes Mary was without blame (without sin?) and cannot conceive that a power of Good would let her die. Interestingly in Faith Dean says that playing God… deciding who lives and who dies, that’s a monster in my book. I think implicit in this is - God is a monster for letting my mother die.
Of course there is a long theological discussion to be had here about free will, or how evil exists in the presence of good or God. I think what Dean learnt from John was that evil exists and it can kill you and this happens regardless of whether you are good or bad. And if you are strong enough and smart enough you can stop it.
Sam’s observation of Dena as lab rat was accurate in some way. Dean’s world is very much based on obtaining an expected response from an action. (And by the by I love that we have three types of ecstasy in this episode - sexual (the magic fingers), chemical (glow sticks and a Dr Suess Hat) and religious.)
In contrast in Sam’s belief system being good, doing good is rewarded. That’s how he’s been behaving since he found out the secret. Save as many people as possible and maybe the balance of the scales will change - his good will be rewarded.
An theme in both Faith and HotH is how is evil or wrongdoing defined. In Faith, the people being taken by the reaper under Sue-Ann’s instruction had done wrong by her own system of morality - a gay teacher, an abortion activist, a protestor against Roy.
In HotH the people being punished are people who have or who intend to kill or harm another person. Again the question Gordon raised in Hunted is posed - do you kill someone because of what they might do? This is interesting twist in the scenario here - Father Gregory’s ‘instruments’ are offered a chance at redemption, but their victims are not.
In both episodes we are told “it’s up to God to decide who lives and dies.” Of course this may be comforting or not, depending on whether you believe in a wrathful vengeful God or a forgiving God.
Dean had his belief system shaken (shattered?) with John’s death, the revelation of the secret and the encounter with Lenore. Does he believe what he saw was the will of God? I think he’d like to, to have that comfort, and that backup with looking out for Sam, and I think he wants to support Sam’s beliefs too.
I mentioned earlier Dean’s belief that “you always have a choice”, and this is in contrast to Sam’s insistence on “his destiny”. I’m interested that Sam claims it as destiny. Why? The Demon has plans for him sure but there is no evidence of pre-ordination - it's just an evil sonofabitch doing bad.
The boys are in a place where neither of their belief systems are proving adequate in providing wither support or guidance in what to do. What makes me sad and afraid for them. But at least they have each other.