I’ve recently been watching atlantis and amongst the easy saturday late afternoon programming/writing and style is the idea of fate. It isn’t a new theme but is a traditional theme which origins with the classics and meanders its way to us in our times via Star wars, The Matrix, Doctor Who and other forms. The kernel of most of these fate-based dramas is that the choice character has a pre-determined path and we, the audience, are compelled as the hero/villain/focus fights/embraces their destiny.

In ancient times, Fate was seen as an external force, or even like a deity with personality, conspiring or helping people on the allocated path. I doubt that numerous people nowadays actually believe in this existential personification but I do wonder if DNA is the modern-day internalisation of the fates. I am not taking anything away from the awesomeness of DNA but rather looking at the way people view their own genetic makeup. I’ve been pondering if people accept their nature and behaviour as an extension of their DNA makeup. I’m XXX because of my genetic structure and because it is in every cell, I can’t change so why don’t I just accept it and move on. You can believe that your encoding is luck (ala tim Minchin, somewhere in the middle of this ) or something from God?

As a christian, I kinda of believe the latter but with a question. If I am part of some fallen creation, therefore my body and thus my DNA is corrupted to some level. I believe that the image of God remains within but there are bits round the edge which have been distorted and broken and can that be also reflected in my sequencing? Is the “thorn in my flesh” actually in my flesh? Is the call to follow God, a heroic call to rebel against the corruption manifested in every cell and to overcome this programming ala kryten? I'm also keen to emphasise the role of grace in this struggle, it isn't that I can do it all by myself but actually I can only "rebel" by the strength of God within. I try to walk forward but when I fall/fail/screw up/break things, God's grace covers me. I do, however, still need to take the step forward.

Return to the initial point about Tv and does the escapism from the struggles and fate which makes such good tv not as a source of encouragement but as a means to persuade us that this is only feasible in the land of fiction. Is it easier to switch off then switch into a life of struggle ?