DISCLAIMER 2: There will be SPOILERS in this blog entry. If you want to watch the show or are in the process of watching the show, I beg you not to read on until after you’ve watched the show. There are so many amazing twists and turns in the show that I don’t want to ruin anything for you.
Wow. After hearing so much about Breaking Bad, I decided with some reservations to give it a shot. Wow. Two and half weeks and 66 episodes later, I’m still reeling from the brilliant storytelling of BB. What an amazing show and a remarkable picture of humanity gone wrong. Not only was BB gripping and filled with suspense, it hit very close to home because it was so real. It’s authentic and relatable to so many people for one reason, I think—sin. Sure, we live in a world that does not really acknowledge the reality of sin. But the Biblical truth is that we are all born with a sin nature, so when we see sin and its consequences, there is a certain level of both understanding and empathy we all bring to the table. I, for one, was reminded with great clarity of my own capacity to fall and just how fragile the soul can be once we start to make allowances for small sin. I was also very quickly convicted about any judgement I may cast on others when sin makes me every bit as monstrous as Walter White, the show’s anti-hero. I could write so much more, but here are three spiritual lessons from Breaking Bad that I found impactful.
1. There is a story behind every sin. A lot of times we see the choices others’ make and we rush to label behaviors or make a spiritual judgement. While there are certainly Biblical mandates about behavior that make these notions valid, we fail to see things the way God sees them when we fail to dig a little deeper. Without knowing much about BB besides some vague references from commercials or others’ conversations, I knew Walter White as a man who was a vicious, possibly deranged, meth kingpin. He killed people. He sold drugs to people. He brought extreme danger to his family’s doorstep. While all of those things were true, they certainly don’t tell the entire story of Walter White. The man was an under-paid, under-appreciated chemistry teacher and part-time cashier who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer shortly after his fiftieth birthday. He was a pushover and a social punching bag for others. It was these hardships, along with a genuine desire to provide for his family after his death, that led Walter to take the first steps towards dealing drugs.
I wonder how often I have jumped to conclusions about the sins of others without really trying to understand their stories. Maybe if I really knew where people were coming from, it would be a little easier to love and a little harder to throw stones. This is not a matter of justifying as sin as much as it is a call to love people deeply enough to learn how they got in the mess to begin with.
2. Bad company corrupts good character. This concept is obviously Biblical, and it plays out in BB just as the Bible says it will. We see this particularly in the life of Skyler, Walter’s wife of 16 years. In seasons 1 and 2 of BB, Skyler is an innocent victim of Walter’s deception and is clearly the virtuous partner in the relationship. She knows nothing of his illegal activities and is simply trying to navigate the major changes happening in her husband and in her marriage. When she comes to the realization that Walter is selling drugs, she is faced with the choice to walk away or to silently approve with inaction, and she chooses the later. This decision to cover up Walter’s sin indirectly leads to a series of corrupt choices; an affair with her boss, a return to addictive habits, constant lying to family and friends, tax evasion, and eventually, laundering millions of dollars in drug money.
I’ve always explained to my students that it is easier to pull someone down a hill than it is to drag them up. This is precisely true when it comes to casting our lot with sinners, particularly when we choose to cover up their sins or give our approval. We should not be surprised when these close connections tend to pull us away from our most important connection, our relationship with Christ.
3. Sin intoxicates and then devours. The transformation Walter makes from episode 1 to episode 66—mild-mannered chemistry teacher to sociopathic drug lord—is astounding. You feel like you are watching a completely different show by season 5. In the opening season, Walt has good intentions but through a series of bad choices and unfortunate events winds up in a world of trouble. He and his partner kill two men—one accidentally and one out of self-defense. Not exactly what Walter expected when he decided to try selling a little meth. By the end of the program, over 200 people are dead as a result of Walter’s choices. Some deaths were entirely indirect and cannot be entirely attributed to him. However, he chooses to kill dozens of people as he falls deeper and deeper into sin, all in the name of “doing what has to be done.” By the time the show ends, Walter has gone from doing everything for his family to killing and drug-dealing for pleasure. “I did it for me. I liked it,” says Walter regarding his actions. “I was good at it. And I was really -- I was alive.” He has been so intoxicated with sin, so devoured by it, that he is no longer himself. He is another person—“Heisenberg”—and the old Walter is gone. His entire world has been destroyed—his marriage is over, his son has disowned him, his money is gone, he will be remembered as a criminal—and worse yet, his worldview has been perverted and twisted beyond recognition. We need to take a close look at Walter White’s life.
We need to remember that this destruction started with small choices of pride and greed. Our own “small sins,” our white lies, do not stand alone. They are the first links in a chain of sin that can and will eventually crush us if we don’t make a 180. Walt never did and I’m convinced that he was wholly unable to make that turn by the end of BB.
Great shows are gripping because they portray the human experience in a way that resonates with us. Breaking Bad is stellar in this sense, and paints a clearer picture of sin and it’s destructive nature than any other show or movie I have seen. Watch it if you want a real picture of sin, and if you’re ready to be convicted of your own shortcomings. Watch it if you want to better understand and love others. Watch it if you love amazing writing and acting and want to binge on it.
Oh, and in case anyone was worried…I have no heightened desire to take meth, sell meth, or cook meth. I also don’t want to kill anyone, and I’m actually more sensitized to killing. I haven’t started using bad language and I’m still telling the truth to my wife. :)
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