I enjoyed The Sopranos, but Tony Soprano had a warped view of Christianity. Unfortunately, much of Christendom shares his worldview:
– When Christopher got shot, Tony said, “How could this happen?” He never considered the consequences that one’s actions bring upon himself. He was more than willing to be a thug and a gangster, but he didn’t understand how he could be forced to deal with the likely outcome.
– In praying for Christopher when he got shot, Carmella said, “Help us carry on in service to you.” What was she thinking? That while she was a partner in crime with Tony, and living the good life on his stolen money, that she was somehow simultaneously in the Lord’s service because she considered herself to be a good person and she sometimes had good intentions?
– Tony, expressed that the kind of people who go to hell are: “The worst people; the twisted and demented psychos who kill for pleasure; the cannibals; people who molest and torture little kids; kill babies; the Hitlers. The evil deserve to die.” He never considered his own sins of bribery, extortion, and murder of being just as deserving of hell. Of course the truth is that the kind of person who goes to hell is the one who rejects the saving faith of Christ Jesus who died for his sins–regardless of the degree or sin or evil. To God, sin is anything that misses the mark of His perfect righteousness. Yet the prevailing worldview (especially expressed in Tony’s Catholicism) is that some sins are worse than others and we can each decide which ones are deserving of hell, and we can set the failing boundary just below what we have personally done.
Tony considered himself to be a soldier–a Mafia soldier–and soldiers don’t go to hell. It’s just business. His Mafia family had order and codes that weren’t to be broken. He was deserving of heaven because of his code of honor, his loyalty, his family (although with no loyalty to them), and his guts.
Tony, on Chris’s death, “He was just starting his life.” Actually, he was about half-way through a normal life expectancy. In another episode, he virtually condoned abortion–a death that truly is just at the beginning of life.
Tony: “Life is a series of distractions until you die.”
Tony’s psychiatrist: “Who knows where you’d be without medication.” (Would he have been better or worse off without it?)
Tony: I try to do what’s right. I’m not perfect, but I do right by my family.
A rival mafia boss: All of a sudden, holding your kids, my grandkids in my lap is very important to me. (How touching, for a professional gangster and murderer.)
Tony: It’s against our principles–a sin.