ATLA airbending – Breath of Life

Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to a new series of faith-meets-fandoms blog posts! This month, I’m really enjoying reflecting and studying the four elements/nations of the ATLA world, and I’m sharing my learning here. Hope you enjoy!

Fandom: “Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom.” – Uncle Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Verses: Genesis 2:7, Psalm 33:6, Ezekiel 37:5-10, 36:26, John 3:5-8, John 6:36, Ephesians 2:4-7, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:1, Matthew 6:19-21

Truth: Every breath that we take is a gift from God and a reminder of His goodness and His presence. He has power over life and death, both physically and spiritually, and wants to resurrect our spiritual selves through His Son.

The fandom: ATLA airbending

I’ve been researching the many facets of all the elements and bending styles, and have really enjoyed gaining some understanding on each one. Here are some observations about the Air Nomads and airbending based on Fandom.com’s ATLA wiki:

• Because the Air Nomads continually sought spiritual enlightenment, all were born with airbending ability
• The key to airbending is flexibility: finding and following the path of least resistance
• Airbending is almost purely defensive, although it can be used to fend off multiple attackers
• Airbenders seek to use their opponents’ energy against them
• They will adapt to their surrounding s and prefer evasive maneuvers
• Airbenders are pacifistic and need constant spiritual awareness and connection to keep their skills strong
• Airbenders emphasize intuition and imagination
• the airbending/ Air Nomad lifestyle requires a rejection of material wealth for the sake of spiritual awareness and growth

GOD is: Breath of life

Based on the characteristics of ATLA airbending and the verses listed below, here are a few thoughts on who God is:

• God is our Creator who gives us life, breath, energy, and personality
• God is sovereign over the winds and the air that we breathe
• God is closer than our breath- we have constant access to Him through prayer, made possible by Jesus his Son
• Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have renewed life, energy, and Spirit, which brings peace and freedom
• Maintaining a spiritual connection to Him through prayer and obedience is vital to our living the abundant life promised to us. Although our salvation can never be taken away, growth and fellowship can be hindered by our own behavior or neglect to seek Him

We are: alive because of God/reborn through Christ

Here are some observations about what airbending and the verses below might have to say about our identity as humans:

• As humans, we are created beings who receive life from our Creator. Every breath is a gift, and a reminder of God’s presence and care for us.
• We are recipients of God’s gift of life, when we acknowledge it and when we don’t
• We are able to receive new life in Christ, and the peace and freedom He gives
• We are free to let go of our earthly concerns (kinda like the Air Nomads), knowing that the Lord is in control. This doesn’t mean detaching ourselves entirely from the world, but I think it does mean refusing to let ourselves be weighed down by all the things.

The verses: breath, wind, spirit

The word most often translated as “breath, wind, or spirit” is ruach in Hebrew. This word can refer to a variety of things, from the breath we breath physically to our personality and heart or emotional state. It can also refer to the Spirit of God that lives in believers. The official definition in the online lexicon that I use is: “wind, breath, mind, spirit; vivacity, vigor; courage; prophetic spirit; living, breathing being; seat of emotion, moral character; Spirit of God, the third person of the trinity; energy of life; breath of air, air in motion, breeze.” Here are some verses I found that use this word :

(And here’s the original, much longer list of allllll the verses)

Literal, physical breath or wind

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person.

Genesis 2:7

The scene described in this verse is part of the reason that we believe humans are different than animals. That we have the spirit of God, the thing that makes us special, the fact that we’re made in the image of God, and the belief that there is more for us beyond the end of this life. Whether you take the creation story of Genesis as literal or metaphorical, it’s a picture of how uniquely He’s made each of us, in His own image, with a little of His personality and nature to reflect in ours.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their lights.

Psalm 33:6

Wait, so the same breath that gave birth to all the heavens and the stars and the galaxies also gives me breath and life and energy and all the things?? That is SO COOL!!

“This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: ‘Behold, I am going to make breath enter you so that you may come to life. And I will attach tendons to you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come to life; and you will know that I am the LORD.'” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [loud] noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, tendons were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘The Lord GOD says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, so that they come to life.”‘” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Ezekiel 37:5-10

This passage speaks again to the sovereignty of God over all of creation and His ability to bring dry, lifeless bones back to life. The people who originally heard this story/prophecy preached to them would have connected it back to Genesis 2, and also to the promise in the previous chapter that God would take the stone-cold hard hearts of His people and give them soft, receptive hearts of flesh instead (Ezekiel 36).

Spiritual/symbolic breath or birth in Christ

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and [the] Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

John 3:5-8

“Born again” also means “born from above”, with the sense of having a new life in Christ. This is something we can’t do for ourselves; we must be born again through repentance, cleansed by Jesus, and have the Spirit breathed into us. the commentary I read said, “You don’t understand everything about the wind, but you see its effects. That’s just how it is with the birth of the Spirit.” We don’t have to fully understand everything about the Spirit in order to receive the new life that Christ offers.

Here’s a commentary I like with more thoughts on John 3.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

I’ve included this passage in this list because even though it doesn’t include the words “breath,” “wind,” or “spirit,” it speaks into the reason for God’s offering of new life in Christ. He was motivated by kindness, love, and grace, a desire for relationship with the people He created that isn’t hindered or prevented by the problem of sin.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

John 6:36

As believers, we know that our source of life, both physical and spiritual, is God alone.

Peace, freedom and letting go of worldly concerns

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17

In Christ, we’re set free in many ways: free from condemnation, guilt, sin, death, the old Law, and blindness to the Gospel (all discussed earlier in 2 Corinthians 3) — and free to access the loving presence of God.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

By rejecting materialism and dedicating their lives to altruism and meditation, the Air Nomads believed that they achieved peace and freedom. As believers in and followers of Christ, we have the choice to reject our flesh (our natural desire for self-indulgence and rebellion against God) and follow Him instead. This verse speaks to the fact that freedom is partially up to us; we must refuse both the desires of our flesh and the unnecessary rules and rituals that some would have us follow (that’s what the surrounding verses are talking about). True freedom comes from knowing that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, but that we have it forever, without reservation, because of Christ.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

The idea is that earthly treasure is fragile and temporary, while heavenly treasure is secure. Since earthly treasure (power, wealth, possessions, etc.) is of no ultimate (eternal) value, it doesn’t make sense for disciples of Jesus to dedicate our lives to expanding our trasures (even though earthly things aren’t intrinsically bad). We can use our material resources for eternal good right now, we just can’t bring them with us to Heaven.

Find out more about this passage here : )

My journal pages

I’m journaling this month in a super-cool spiral notebook that I found at five Below for a really great price! It’s ATLA themed, and since I didn’t like the original cover (it was cool, but too angry for my taste), I decided to make my own 😸 Here’s a look at the new covers, plus some of the pages where I’ve journaled about ATLA airbending:

Application – connecting ATLA airbending to the Gospel story

This particular aspect of ATLA (airbending) speaks to the “I am” portion of the gospel story. It shows us that God is the source of our life from the moment we’re born, long before we’re willing or able to receive the gift of new life offered by Christ. I think you’ll agree that this life isn’t perfect, and the things that we seek out to fill our lives with and give us peace, freedom, and all the other good things will never truly satisfy us. We are in desperate need of a Savior who can bring us back to life and free us from the burden of the Law – of knowing that we’ll never be able to satisfy the expectations of a good and holy God.

It also speaks to the fact that we are all made in the image of God, with our “spirit,” our personality and character, our ability to innovate and use our imaginations coming from Him.

Because God’s nature is kindness and grace and love as well as holy justice and righteousness, He sent His Son Jesus to earth, to live a human life with flesh and bones and breath, and then to give up that life so that He could redeem us. He won our freedom and peace, and gives us new life through the power and work of Holy Spirit.

And that, my friends, is the Gospel according to ATLA airbending.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post on Avatar the Last Airbender and the idea of airbending as a symbol of the breath of life in us. What did you think? Have any ideas for further study or reflection?

Happy fangirling!