Whenever I see I movie like Adjustment Bureau with such strong theological implications, I like to give a quick review of its theological statements and see how they compare with orthodox, biblical Christianity.
I have to start by saying I enjoyed the movie. It is very interesting, and it grabs your attention the entire time. Although I do not know much about the writer and director, I have to say that this movie is written to present a strong theological view.
Is this movie about God?
I want to make clear that Adjustment Bureau is about God. The movie shows men running around in hats that basically have control over every mans life. The men in the hats quickly reveal themselves as executers of a "plan". They did not write the plan, but they execute or "make adjustments" in order for the plan to happen. At points they call themselves angels, but they show very early in the movie that they have an allegiance to a higher power. In the movie they call the higher power "The Chairman" but they clearly say that people "know him by different names." At the end of the movie they say that "everyone knows him, but in different ways." So it is clear that this movie is talking about God, or at least some sort of God, force, higher power, etc. Either way, this movie is a theological statement about who God is and how he operates. So what statement does the movie make about theology?
The Chairman's Plans Are Frustrated
First, Adjustment Bureau presents a theological claim that Gods plans can be frustrated. In the movie the workers control what people do so The Chairman's plan is carried out. However, people can frustrate this plan. In fact, the entire movie is based off of an event where the main character is supposed to spill his coffee so he will miss a bus "according to plan". But, a worker misses him, causing him to get on the bus that he was supposed to miss. This begins the story of the main character frustrating the plan of The Chairman, by being with a girl he is not supposed to be with.
But the Scripture is clear that "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand...the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth...the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isaiah 14 - ESV)
It clear from Scripture that God's does have a plan. So in that sense, the movie is true. There is a book (allegorically speaking) that is written where God has a sovereign plan that we can say is already written. Just as the movie show shelves and shelves of books that show the plans of The Chairman.
However, our God's plans cannot be broken, frustrated, or annulled, but they are sure from the beginning of time.
The Chairman Changing Plans
Secondly, Adjustment Bureau presents a theological claim that God changes. The Chairman constantly changes His mind, and even at the end of the movie, The Chairman rewrites his plan in order to match the plan that the main character creates. This is not the God of Christianity.
In fact, one of the workers gives a whole speech about how The Chairman rewrote the plan several times, let go of his plan, changed the plan, handed his plan over to people, and then took it back when they messed it up. Again, this is not the God of Christianity. Our God is unchanging and His plans are unchanging.
The Mutually Exclusivity of Fate and Free Will
Thirdly, Adjustment Bureau presents a theological claim that fate and free will cannot coexist. Ultimately, this is a movie about fate and free will. The movie asks the question: Do we have control of our lives? Or is our life planned out and we have no control? This is a philosophical question that has been asked through the centuries. Generally there have been three responses to this question. One response is determinism, which says God writes a plan and man is just a puppet without any decisions or freedom. The second response is the libertarian view, which says that man has free will and that God just lets man make decisions with little or no sovereign control over these decisions; he solely forknows them. The third response is compatibalism, which claims that God is sovereign, yet man is responsible and makes true decisions. The last view, compatibalism, has been the dominant view amongst biblically orthodox theologians throughout the history of the Christian church. Although this movie presents a mixture of determinism and free will libertarianism, it presents these possibilities as mutually exclusive, either the character is in the plan of The Chairman, which is deterministically controlled by him, or the main character is free to make his own decision, apart from the plan of The Chairman. However, a Christian worldview teaches that God does have a sovereign plan, which he decreed before the foundation of the world, no one can frustrate this plan, yet the plan is secret, man cannot break it, and man paradoxically still makes true decisions, and they are held responsible for these decisions.
The Chairman Is Not All-Knowing or All-Loving
Lastly, Adjustment Bureau presents the theological claim that God is not all- knowing or all-loving. While watching the move the viewer quickly begins to not trust The Chairman. It is easy to think in the movie that the main character knows best, he should be with the women, and this crazy chairman is just trying to hurt him! In the end they confirm this point: The Chairman was wrong. In this sense, they state that God does not know best, and man knows better. This is scary. I am glad this is not the God of Christianity. Because, our God is all knowing, and knows what is best for us, and loves us, so we can trust in His sovereign plan.
Adjustment Bureau: Worldview Fail
Ultimately, the Adjustment Bureau is an interesting movie, and one to see. But it presents a strong worldview that is inconsistent with orthodox, biblical Christianity. It should be comforting to know that we have a God who wrote a plan in His unchanging, trustworthy, all-loving, all-knowing character, that He is all-powerful so His perfect plan will come true, and we can still make our own choices without ever frustrating this sovereign plan. This is very different from The Chairman presented in the Adjustment Bureau.
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