“Is Jake Sully the Savior of the World? (i.e. Pandora)”

 Lessons From the Outer Limits: They Always Need a Savior – Part #4

  By Richard Allen – August 25, 2025

As I mentioned in the first three Blogs of this Series: “Lessons From the Outer Limits,” men are blinded to God and the gospel because of “Reprobate Minds” (Romans 1:28). But even in our “spiritual blindness” we keep coming back to eternal themes that mimic Biblical Truths. While this understanding is not saving, it still shows that the “image of God” is imprinted on our Hearts, Minds and our Consciences! This week’s Blog is based on a very well-made Sci-Fi movie, a Blockbuster at the “Box Office.”  This movie set new standards for Special Effects and Cinematography, unequalled in both creativity and ascetic beauty. Of course I’m talking about James Cameron’s Avatar (2009)! Like so many other Sci-Fi dramas, Avatar drives home one universal truth: We always need a Savior!

In the last Blogs in this series, I commented that fallen men and women “just can’t help themselves” when they wonder about the deeper questions of life, death and our immortal souls.  We all subconsciously know that we’ll have to give an account someday. James Cameron’s “Avatar” is an amazing Epic, set on a distant moon called, Pandora. We are quickly introduced to the movie’s main hero, Jake Sully, a paraplegic twin of a recently deceased brother, who was a scientist-researcher specifically trained to go to Pandora. There he would use an “avatar” body of an inhabitant as a vehicle to communicate with another species. Here’s the Movie and Synopsis website’s summary of the plot:

Jake Sully, a paraplegic Marine, takes his deceased twin brother’s place in the Avatar program on the moon Pandora. Pandora is inhabited by   the Na’vi, a tall blue-skinned humanoid race. The humans seek to mine a valuable mineral called Unobtanium, which is located under the Na’vi’s sacred home, the Hometree. Jake’s mission is to gather intelligence about the Na’vi while controlling a genetically engineered Na’vi body, his ‘avatar.’  As Jake spends time in his avatar, he bonds with the Na’vi, learning their customs, language, and connection to nature. He falls in love with Neytiri, a Na’vi warrior which deepens his respect and loyalty to the Na’vi. Meanwhile, the head of the human security force, Colonel Miles Quaritch, is impatient to clear the natives and mine the unobtainium, leading to a conflict with the Na’vi and Jake. Jake’s growing affection and respect for the Na’vi leads him to betray the humans after they destroy Hometree. Colonel Quaritch’s forces attack the Na’vi, resulting in a large battle that sees the planet itself fighting back, the wildlife of Pandora rising to defend the Na’vi. In a final battle, Jake faces off against Quaritch while Neytiri saves Jake from his human form’s exposure to Pandora’s atmosphere.” https://synopsisandreviews.com/avatar-synopsis-review-plot-summary/

For those of you who have not seen this movie, let me encourage you to give it a try, maybe  after reading my blog. If you can get past the “environmental-pantheistic-anti-capitalist spin,” you’ll find it entertaining. And you’ll be amazed at the Biblical themes that almost jump off the screen. That is what makes this movie special – the underlying “Gospel themes,” that the director James Cameron clearly did not want to convey – but did so in spite of himself.  The Na’vi people from the Omaticaya Clan are ficticious. But their humanlike qualities and deep connection to the Ecosystem on Pandora and their love of nature, reminds me of Native Americans and their love of the created world. The Na’vi refer to Pandora as their “mother.” Jake Sully – one of the “Sky People” (as the Na’vi call humans), comes from a world in which their clans have “killed their mother,” that is – the’ve ruined the environment. As Jake’s consciousness is transferred (by high tech) into the Na’vi body, a genetically matched avatar to his brother’s (and his own) DNA, he is immediately amazed that he can once again walk, run and move as a healthy creature. He can also breathe in the Pandoran atmosphere.

On Jake’s very first foray into the wilderness of Pandora, he’s separated from the main group, and must run for his life from several very large predatory animals that populate the planet. Clearly on his own, Jake uses his survival skills as a Marine to make a spear and light a torch. As night falls, he is attacked by a pack of multi-legged dog-like creatures. While fighting valiently, there are just too many of them for one person. Little does he know, but another Na’vi warrior, a young female named Neytiri is aiming an arrow at Jake, ready to kill him. She sees him as an abomination, a Human-Na’vi hybrid that should never have been created.  But just as Neytiri lines up her shot, an Atokirina Seed, floating in the air from the Tree of Souls, lands right on her arrowhead.  These Atokirina are Seeds from this Tree of Souls where their deity, Eywa abides.  Neytiri later explains that these seeds are “pure spirit,” so she heeds this as a sign not to kill Jake.  Rather, she joins in the fight against the doglike pack, killing some and driving the rest off. 

When Jake tries to thank her, she’s indignant because the useless killing of the dog creatures was not necessary, but rather Jake's fault. Undaunted, Jake asks her: "Then why didn’t you let your little doglike friends kill me?” She apparently had not formulated a good answer, but rather scolded him as being “like a baby,” then proceeded to take off, ready to leave him in the forest alone. Jake has no other course but to follow her as she climbs across large tree branch highways. She tells him to go back, but as she does, many many of the Atokirina Seeds (pictured above) softly land on him – covering his upper body. Neytiri is amazed, signifying that this is something she had obviously never seen happen before. These “pure spirits” from the “Tree of Souls” were literally “anointing” Jake Sully as the Savior of Pandora! This may sound silly, but just think for a minute.  Jake Sully in his avatar was Fully Na’vi and at the same time Fully a Sky Person. To the Neytiri, Jake was special, like a “God-Man” – one whom she saw as part of the Sky People from beyond.  They possessed immense power and were able to travel from “world to world,” forcing their will on any inhabitants on any planet. But at the same time, Jake was in their very form: A blue Na’vi almost ten feet tall, with the same characteristics they had. For all practical purposes, he was one of them.  While Jake was there initially to do the bidding of the human corporation who wanted to mine Unobtainium for greed, he quickly bonded with the Na’vi people – taking up their cause – all to save them from Evil Sky people. Jesus came to save us from the “wrath of God” for our sin, and the spiritual wickedness in “angelic realms” who had brought about our ruin – the enemy of our soul, Satan.

I am not the first movie reviewer or commentator to notice that the name Eywa – the deity of the Na’vi people, is an obvious backward reference to Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament. Again, I’m not saying that Eywa is actually a real god. But it’s ironic that the god of the Na’vi people is a “mother,” and not “God the Father” as Scripture teaches. While Neytiri and the other Na’vis eventually grow to see that Jake Sully is a very special being, it’s Eywa’s attention to him that makes him a Savior. Ultimately, Jake faces off with Colonel Quaritch, who is clearly the Satan-like nemesis in this Sci-Fi tale. The irony is, Jake’s Na’vi avatar – coupled with his military training – makes him an even match for Colonel Quaritch.  Despite the Colonel fighting from inside a 15’ tall robotic suit, it turns out that it is Jake’s frail human body, lying in a casket-like uplink pod, that makes him vulnerable. Were it not for Neytiri’s help, Jake would have been killed by Colonel Quaritch. He does defeat the Evil One, Colonel Quaritch, and rejoins the Na’vi people as their rightful leader. But Jake can’t be bound by his human body, constantly needing to feed and care for his frail paraplegic frame in a mechanical “uplink pod,” trying to lead his people part-time from his blue avatar body. 

So, after defeating the forces of the “Sky People,” the decision is made to bring both Jake’s human body (replete with a breathing apparatus) to the “Tree of Souls,” along with his blue avatar body, asking Eywa to raise his consciousness into his blue avatar permanently. Taking the breathing apparatus off, Jake has to “die as a man” to be reborn in his new form.  It’s certainly not the Biblical model, but the movie once again mimics the need for the “God-Man Savior” Jake Sully to die, in order to become a new creation, the Savior of Pandora!  But this time, his conscience is transferred – not by a mechanical uplink to his blue avatar – but by the power of Eywa, the mother of all Na’vi souls. As the movie ends, you see Jake’s human shell lying – unmasked and peaceful, his broken human body obviously dead. Further, you see Jake Sully’s blue face lying still, looking up – as his eyes open! Eywa had raised Jake Sully from death to life, as the rightful King and Savior of Pandora!

In closing, it might be easy to reject all these observations as mere coincidences. If you do, I understand. Again, I’m not trying to claim that “Hollywood is proclaiming the gospel.” Just like so many other movies with similar themes, I think James Cameron and other Hollywood producers, directors and writers would tell you: “No, we were not trying to mimic Biblical themes or imitate Jesus Christ in His unique role as the God-Man Mediator.  We are just trying to make an entertaining movie that tells a great story.”  I’m not disagreeing with any of them. But what I am saying is: “Despite their own desires, unbelievers reveal there is a Gospel Story – watered down and un-saving as it might be – hidden in their hearts and consciences.”  We all long for a Savior, someone Godlike and yet human and touchable, who can understand our struggle, pain and desires. And even though we don’t consciously intend for our stories to mimic the Person and Work of the Only True Savior, Jesus Christ, we know that God’s eternal truth – arising from our own hearts will rise up to excuse or condemn us at judgment.  Here’s an interesting translation of Romans 2:15 to close:

“When those who have never heard God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman” (Romans 2:15).

Soli Deo Gloria!