»My Christianity parable theory«

This is what I think a hidden message of the movies might be:

Agent Smith = sin
The Oracle = the Holy Spirit
The Architect = God the Father
Neo = Jesus Christ
The Merovingian = Satan
Exile Programs = demons
The Real World = the spiritual world/battle
The Matrix = the physical world we see
Choice = the choice to see and live in the spiritual world

The Architect(God The Father) created the Matrix(the physical world we see) initially as sublime and perfect(the garden of Eden). Our "primitive cerebrum" kept trying to wake up(wanting to see the spiritual world, adam ate the apple), and "entire crops were lost."

The "choice" that humans have is to accept the matrix(the physical world we see), a cover for the real battle of the humans vs. the machines(our choice to do good vs. sin), where the machines enslave humans(sin enslaves human choices).

The Architect(God The Father) has been trying to balance the equation(reconciling his creations to himself) by creating many versions of "the one"(offers to make peace with humanity through the jews and the law) which all previously failed and zion had to be destroyed(the jewish people were not able to choose against sin and were destroyed, only to be rebuilt again in an endless cycle).

The One(Jesus Christ) was only able to finally bring peace and the freedom for people to make the choice to be in the real world(the spiritual world) by taking on Agent Smith(our sin) on to himself and becoming Agent Smith(sin). That is when Smith(sin) was defeated, so that we can make the choice against the illusion of the Matrix (the physical world we see), and to live in the real world(the spiritual world where we see the choice we can make to fight sin).

Throughout the movie Neo(Jesus Christ) accepts who he is and eventually understands what he must do and that he must die by taking on sin. He has to "think" for a while, a parallel could be made to Jesus praying in the garden before he is betrayed by Judas.

The Architect(God The Father) who cannot go back on his word and now allows this choice, as he states that he isn't human. He cannot understand the choice people have made against him because he is perfect and cannot understand the decision against perfection.

The purpose of a "lesser being," and "intuitive program to understand the human psyche," The Oracle, is to understand choice. The Oracle(The Holy Spirit) knows everything, everyone, and tells people exactly what they need to hear. She helps people to understand why they have made the choices they've made. A person can either accept what she has to tell them or not.

In the end The Architect(God the Father) asks the Oracle(The Holy Spirit) how long this peace will last... and she says as long as it can. She is asked if they will see neo again and she says yes(The return of Christ).

The Merovingian(Satan) has survived Neo's predecessors(the other attempts of reconciliation) and thinks he will survive Neo. His rogue programs(demons) have chosen "exile." His character is very slick and deceptive.

I have only seen the second matrix a few times and so am not as educated as most but here is my take on the christianity metaphor in the Matrix:

The Architect- God
Neo- Christ
The Oracle (and chinese helper guy)- Prophets (maybe Elijah, Moses....)
Morpheus- John the Baptist
Trinity- Aposlte Paul or Peter
Merovingian- Anti-christ
Smtih- collective conscience of Satan, little "satans", Satan's manifestation of sin
Big bad machine- Satan
Cypher (in all movies)- Judas Iscariot
Keymaker- Bible, Word of God
Keys- Laws and Commandments (the final key being the great commandment of love)
Zion- Jerusalem
Heads of Zion- The Pharisees

Thats basically what I got out of it, I may be ass backwards but it works in my head. Two related questions that remain: Is the Holy Spirit directly represented anywhere? and What was the Trainmaster and the Train suppose to represent?

Neo = Christ
Trinity = God (until death)
Morpheus = John the Baptist and later the faithful church
Cyper = Judas
Oracle = Prophets of the Old Testament (until Trinity's death) then God
Agent Smith = Satan (until destruction in M1)
Merovingian = Gatekeeper to hell (during Christ's descention after crucifiction)
Architect = Satan (after Agent Smith's destruction)
Smith (not Agent) = Anti-Christ
Zion = Heaven
Matrix = Earth
Source = Hell

I know that it seems that the Architect is God, but there are a few things to consider. One is that Satan would believe himself to be God. Another is that he is the father of equivocation. He explains to Neo that he created the Matrix, but we must consider that the Matrix is the illusion world that is keeping the human race trapped in damnation. Slavery to the source. It is only once they make the choice to wake up that they can escape that prison. He is also the one sending his army to destroy Zion. This is the beginning of Armageddon.

The Architect explained that when he created the illusion world, the Oracle came up with the element that allowed it to work. She introduced free will. This is what God did for the world when He sent Christ to be crucified and save us. How does he save us? By defeating death.

Once Neo is killed in the first one, he is resurrected and destroys Agent Smith. They show him coming back in the first one because no allegory is perfect, and this puts things a little out of order, but M2 is all about his decention into hell and defeating death. He defeats the Merovingian by freeing the keymaker. The KM allows him passage through the gate to the source (hell) where he makes his choice.

The choice he makes shows that God is not willing that any should perish, but that he can only save those who believe. Therefore, Neo has to save Trinity because she believes, and those that are still trapped in the Matrix are not believers.

The final movie is Revolutions (Revelations) which is all about Armageddon. There is the battle between Heaven and Hell, and there is also the battle between Christ and Anti-Christ. When Neo makes his final return to the Matrix, it is post rapture, and post tribulation, where we see that everyone remaining has been turned into a Smith (they have all taken the mark of the beast, and there is no chance of redemption) That is why there are no people shown left inside the Matrix at the end. They must still have crops that have not yet been inserted, which is why the Architect says that they will be freed if they wish, but the only ones left are God, Satan, the pure child (Sati), Seraph the angel closest to God, and Neo (dead? alive? being carried by an angel back to heaven?)

I could go on, but this is already really long. If there are more questions, comments, or counter-points I would love to hear them. I am still working some things out in my head, and these discussion really help

Using Gnostic Christianity as opposed to the orthodoxy....(This movie is ALL derived from gnosis) these are the character symbols that come up...

The Source-The unseen unknowable God/Divine Energy
The Architect- The gnostic Demiurge, The imperfect god who created this imperfect world (the matrix)
The Oracle-Sofia the divine light of God (often associated w/ The Blessed Virgin Mary)
Neo-Christ....obvious
Morpheus-John the Baptist...way obvious
Trinity-Mary Magdalene (Jesus's "companion"/wife)
Merovingian-Lucifer, the fallen angel (exiled program)
Seraph-Michael the Archangel
Smith-The Anti-Christ...by nature of mathematics alone 1 + -1=0

Alot of people want to read buddhism and hinduism into this movie, but it just isn't there. In a direct way at least. Much of the Gnostic Christian tradition was derived from eastern influences....and the movies are directly correlated to this tradition

What causes you to think Neo is Christ?

jliechty wrote:

Using Gnostic Christianity as opposed to the orthodoxy....(This movie is ALL derived from gnosis)

What makes you say that Christianity and Gnosticism are one in the same?

Why should a good old ancient sun god like NEO become Jesus? Why do you think the goddess wins in the end? *smile*

matrix-explained.com...

Gnosticism uses the christian gospel texts. Therefore it is a form of christianity.

Jliechty has the best parable ideas if you use gnosticism.

I don't think the ones for traditional Christianity work because they presume God is the architect when the architect is blatantly evil and Christian God is not.

Plus the architect is never seen after Smith's destruction so he can't be 'Satan after Smiths destruction'

I think the best way is to base it on Pauline theology in the following way

The Architect: The Law

Smith: Sin (spritual death?)

Oracle: Faith (or focus for faith in God)

Trinity: Love for mankind (or focus for Jesus' love for mankind)

Morpheus: The prophets (J the B in particular)

Cypher: Judas (or all those who doubt upon hearing about Jesus)

Meravingion: Satan (or temptation, giving in to human nature, perhaps even Adam who initially gives in to sin and through whom all mankind becomes condemned)

Seraph: Angel (perhaps the one who guards the tree of life, keeping it from Adam, in Genesis)

Neo: Jesus Christ (Probably shown as dumb because he also represents all of us and our spiritual choice. We have to choose to believe in Christ - Neo has to choose to believe in himself.)

Sati: The new covenant

The source: God?

Fatpie42 wrote:

Gnosticism uses the christian gospel texts. Therefore it is a form of christianity.

That may be true, but it blatantly denies the need for a Savior because gnosticism states that the spiritual is perfect. Why then, would a gnostic need Christ to die?

According to some gnostics Christ never truly died. However in the gnostic text 'the apocrapha of john' he goes down into the demiurges hell where none of the devils could touch him because of his purity and he frees those imprisoned there.

Jesus came to show us the way to God and since we all must die he does this too. I think whether you go into the details of atonement or not it is an amazing thing that someone as pure as Jesus was willing to join us in our fate and could say along with "my god, why have you forsaken me". For me it shows the understanding of god more than anything.

According to gnosticism, by faith in Jesus we open the way to spiritual development (towards gaining gnosis) that would not be possible without him. While we are on earth we are still dual in nature and cannot shed our physical side without Jesus.

Fatpie42 wrote:

According to some gnostics Christ never truly died. However in the gnostic text 'the apocrapha of john' he goes down into the demiurges hell where none of the devils could touch him because of his purity and he frees those imprisoned there. Jesus came to show us the way to God and since we all must die he does this too. I think whether you go into the details of atonement or not it is an amazing thing that someone as pure as Jesus was willing to join us in our fate and could say along with "my god, why have you forsaken me". For me it shows the understanding of god more than anything. According to gnosticism, by faith in Jesus we open the way to spiritual development (towards gaining gnosis) that would not be possible without him. While we are on earth we are still dual in nature and cannot shed our physical side without Jesus.

How did he get into hell without dying?

Fatpie42 wrote:

According to some gnostics Christ never truly died. However in the gnostic text 'the apocrapha of john' he goes down into the demiurges hell where none of the devils could touch him because of his purity and he frees those imprisoned there. Jesus came to show us the way to God and since we all must die he does this too. I think whether you go into the details of atonement or not it is an amazing thing that someone as pure as Jesus was willing to join us in our fate and could say along with "my god, why have you forsaken me". For me it shows the understanding of god more than anything. According to gnosticism, by faith in Jesus we open the way to spiritual development (towards gaining gnosis) that would not be possible without him. While we are on earth we are still dual in nature and cannot shed our physical side without Jesus.

i am going to admit. I know very little about the gnostic religion. I assume you are a gnostic (correct me if I'm wrong) and to keep you from being offended with me personally, please correct me and forgive me if I say anything untrue to your beliefs.
I almost agree with your second paragraph. The only thing I find to be a little bit of a "gray area" is "Jesus was willing to join us in our fate". I believe that our fate was to die both physically and spiritually and to be separated from God forever. Jesus was sent to earth in order to take our place and while our physical bodies will die (or be Raptured) our spiritual bodies will not IF we have accepted the glorious gift of Christ Jesus' death on the cross. Then we are destined to eternal life with him. For those who don't, they are destined to eternal damnation and separation from God forever. Can I ask you a question? I know you believe in both Heaven and hell, because you have mentioned them both. If you died right now, where would you go? why?

I am not gnostic. But even so I find the concepts strangely appealing. If I am making mistakes then true gnostics ought to correct me.

There are a great many different gnostic doctrines, just like there were initially many different traditional christian doctrines until they were sorted out (in the council of nicea and suchlike). Interest in being precise about doctrine is a very Christian take on religion.

Some gnostics believed that Christ was entirely spirit and only appeared to be physical. These same gnostics believed the Simon the Cyrene died on the cross and not Jesus. (Muslims believe something similar (not that he wasn't physical). They believe when the guards came to arrest him one of them found his face changed to look like Jesus's and he was arrested instead.

However, the apocryphon of John seems to contradict this view (though I may be wrong) since it seems to talk of Jesus going into hell and freeing those held captive there.

Gnostics believed that salvation came through religious knowledge. Through looking for God and purifying themselves through religious knowledge. Knowledge in this sense is very similar to the way traditional christians read the gospel together and gain solidarity from it on how to live their lives as christians.

One thing I don't like about gnosticism (sorry to any gnostics) is it's anti-sex emphasis. Oh well!

Okay, so I understand you. You refuse to accept the gnostic doctrine based on their belief about (premarital?) sex, right? Do you have any beliefs?

pre marital sex? lol! No you don't understand me. Gnosticism claims that humans born in this world are "diamonds in the mud" which need to be freed from the physical world by gnosis (or religious knowledge) which is gained with Jesus' help.

Producing more babies produces more diamonds in the mud who must be freed. As a result gnostics were anti-sex! not anti sex-before-marriage!

Personal opinion?
Personally I think the absence of contraception meant that in the past sex before marriage would be very irresponsible. However, these days I think that it is not so much of a problem and marriage is more of a symbol of the bond which has already occured within a relationship. Many people who get married these days have already had sex before the wedding night or even before the engagement and I would see no harm in this myself.

Okay, you're rejecting the gnostic idea againdt reproduction. But what I meant by my question is do you have any spiritual beliefs in general?

I gave my belief on sex before marriage! What do you want from me? Blood?

If you don't explain what you mean by "spiritual beliefs" I cannot hope to answer you. If you mean beliefs about spirits... well I don't believe in ghosts. Does that help?

Blood? No! What i mean by spiritual beliefs is do you associate yourself with any religion/beliefs system? What do beleive about thinks outside the physical world (or do you believe there is anything aside from the physical)? That sort of thing....[/quote]

what do you mean by "physical world"? By physical do you mean the sensation of touch?

Why don't YOU tell me what you think about things - and I'll tell you why I do or don't agree? Making me put my neck out first is unfair since you have left your question so open-ended.

P.S. Gotta say this! I went to see Radiohead tonight! They so rock!

1st of all, i have no idea what magicman was talkin about, and i'm pretty sure he doesn't either. jliechty was the closest i saw. these movies were based after gnosticism (it's not 'gnosis') and not any other religion.

The Archetect - Ialdabaoth (or Yahweh in christianity). he is the god of the bible, but in gnosticism, he is considered evil, as he created this world (the matrix) out of vein.

Agent Smith - Satan - always out to get the good people (Morpheus and them) and of course Christ (Neo)

the new Smith - the antichrist, or acording to Isiah 54:16 (Smith's license plate in the movie reads "IS 5416") he is the destroyer created by God. in that chapter it says the he will not prevail, and he doesn't in revolutions. this is not the same smith as in the 1st movie, but is more like a copy of him, this time with a different goal and representing someone different (the antichrist not satan).

The Oracle - The Torah (Bible). not just because she tells of prophesies, but according to the Haggadah (a piece of jewish pseudepigrapha), the torah (personified as a woman) was with god (John 1:1) 2000 years before the creation of earth.

Seraph - and angel, probably Michael or Gabriel

Merovingian - Beelzebub, chief of demons(exiled programs). in the Gospel of Nicodemus, christ gives beelzebub dominion over the underworld (the train station)

the Twins - I don't know, could someone figure this out

Neo - Christ. He died and was resurected (M1) defeated satan (Smith in M1). he exorcised people (agents) resurected people (trinity) and was prophesized (by the oracle).

the Matrix - Our Materialistic World (earth). some pieces of non-canonical text tell that there were once worlds before ours that were destroyed by god before he created another. ( that is the 6th matrix accoriding to the movie).

the Real World - Our Spiritual (True) World.

Zion - the Kingdom of Heaven.

Cypher - Judas

Fatpie42 wrote:

what do you mean by "physical world"? By physical do you mean the sensation of touch? Why don't YOU tell me what you think about things - and I'll tell you why I do or don't agree? Making me put my neck out first is unfair since you have left your question so open-ended.

physical world- the things we can see, touch, etc.

The only reason that I didn't give my beliefs/opinions first is because I didn't want you to think I was pushing them on you. I figured that I could give you a chance to speak before me so that when I did say something, I had previously earned the right to speak

Smith is not Satan. Christ didn't kill satan because if he had satan wouldn't exist anymore and it is generally believed that he does. The merovingian is satan - he survives Neo.

Smith is either (by gnostic standards) a reaction from the architect to try to prevent humans gaining gnosis or (by traditional christian standards and much more likely) sin.

The twins are demons - to say they are ghosts is to state the obvious.

The film is not about the end of the world - it is about the resurrection. The antichrist is not mentioned in the gospels (satan is), only in the revelations. That means Smith cannot be (or is unlikely to be) the antichrist.

Please read my above post about what all the characters represent - I think it is better than magicman's - I have tried to apply it to both gnosticism and traditional christianity (not at the same time of course).

You're right, the 1st matrix was about the resurrection, but the last 2 were about the apocalypse. Christ didn't kill Satan, but he did triumph over him through his death and resurrection, which is represented by neo coming back to life and killing smith. The word "Antichrist" only appears once in the bible (1 John, not Revelations), and this is as many different people, not just one person who was to bring about the end of the world. In revelations, he is called the beast (the 1st beast with 10 horns and 7 heads). The antichrist could either be the son of satan, or an incarnation of satan himself (smith). No one really knows.

I don't think either of the movies are about the apolcalypse.

The theology of the resurrection is, in its very nature, escatological. But the films do not refer to anything in the Revelations which is the only Biblical book exclusively about the end of the world.

I feel that the first film can be seen as a film about the resurrection. But in terms of the whole trilogy it can be seen as a film about Jesus' baptism. Jesus' baptism is noticed as the point after which Jesus begins to perform miracles. Also on a symbolic level, the baptism of individuals is referred to as 'dying to sin'.

The matrix revolutions is blantantly about the resurrection. We can even see a clear and quite unsubtle image of the cross.

More subtle however, (see if you can see it) is the image of the lotus which can be seen later as Neo's body is carried away. The Ba'hai temple in Delhi is in the shape of a lotus because it is an image which appears to be almost universal to all religions. In Buddhism it is seen as an auspicious sign.

Interesting ideas! I've got a few of mine own, but let me get this out of the way before I burst.

Quote:

Gnosticism uses the christian gospel texts. Therefore it is a form of christianity.

OK...the definition of Christianity adopted at the coucil of Nicea (around 325) is encapsulated in the Nicene Creed, which was slightly changed by the Catholic Church later due to some Gnostic problems (the Gnostic idea was that :

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

And, specifically stated in the documentation from the Council:

Quote:

Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made out of nothing; or who maintain that He is of another hypostasis or another substance [other than the Father], or that the Son of God is created, or mutable, or subject to change, [them] the Catholic Church anathematizes.

OK...that said, please be careful trying to explain a religion you have not studied...there is far too much room for error and misleading.


Now...on the Matrix characters - I'm only going to post a few because I have a very indepth site at