How Chewbacca is Like the Scriptures

The Star Wars series is one of the highest grossing franchise movies in history, ranking 4th only behind The Marvel Series, Harry Potter, and James Bond at $6.4 billion. And although we all joke that the more recent part of the series would have been better off without Jar Jar Binks, the movie wouldn't have been the same without another character. Chewbacca.

Even now in between movies, YouTube videos abound with Chewie fun. And it's because Chewie was so memorable and loveable in a big, wet, sometimes grumpy dog that is kind of rebellious but completely loyal type of way. And although we can't understand a single word (or grunt) that he says, we love him and respect him all the same.

But what if we never understood what Chewbacca said? What if there was no Han Solo to quickly respond to Chewbacca's outbursts in an outrageous, sarcastic, and funny way? Honestly, the movie would have gotten boring and confusing very quickly. We'd all be saying,

"I don't understand the point of this big, hairy, dog guy. He's kind of cute like I want to adopt him, but snore! Move on! I want to see more of that cool Jedi stuff!" Or maybe we would have turned the movie off right then and there and missed out on the whole series!

And all the coolness about Chewbecca would have been lost. Like we never would have known that he is a male Wookiee warrior, smuggler, and resistance fighter that's been around for hundreds of years and wants to pull people’s arms out of their sockets. Yep, if there had been no Han Solo, we would have just thought Chewbacca was a big dog with a bad attitude.

I kind of think that the scriptures are like Chewbacca. They are always there like a loyal friend, but sometimes when we crack open that book, we just don't understand what in the world it's saying to us. All we hear is crazy -ite names that take us minutes just to pronounce. And we are so exhausted from the trying to read it and understand all those "thee's" and "thou's" that we close the book and say, "I'll try again tomorrow" but then a week goes by before we do.

The point is...Chewbacca just wouldn't be interesting without an interpreter, Han Solo. And sometimes the scriptures are hard to read and understand--and find enjoyable--if we don't have an interpreter as well. But luckily we do! Our Han Solo is the Holy Ghost. Han Holy Ghost!

That's why starting scripture study with a prayer is so important! You want to begin your reading with your interpreter close!

Then focus on the message of the chapter instead of the individual words or things you don't understand. Find the story and then think about what the theme of the story is. Just as it wouldn't make sense to stop and pick apart the sound pattern that Chewie makes when he is saying, "A storm trooper is behind you!" instead of running for your life or turning to fight, it is important to focus on the message instead of the individual words or trivia-like knowledge you gleaned from the pages. (The knowledge that "The ark was exactly 300 cubits in length" might impress your religion teacher at BYU, but recognizing the message that “the Lord provides the ‘blueprints’ when He commands us to do anything that seems impossible is a much more relevant and useful lesson that we can learn and apply in our own lives.)

In addition, an interpreter is so key to scripture study because sometimes the Holy Ghost tells you something not exactly in the scriptures that is absolutely and poignantly applicable to you. Just as Han Solo added his additional commentary (that was admittedly sometimes very rude, which the Holy Ghost will never be) to the message that Chewie was trying to convey, the Holy Ghost will gently and kindly tell us additional things that we need to know, such as

1. How you can apply this to your life

2. Someone else that might need to hear this message

3. An additional scripture or General conference talk that is similar that you should go read

4. An analogy that teaches the same principle and helps you to understand it (like this Chewie analogy)

5. And so much more!

One more note: don't go into reading with a bad attitude and a hard heart! If you do, you most certainly will have a boring or unenjoyable experience because you won't be letting the Holy Ghost interpret. Here's an example of someone who approached the character of Chewbacca with a hard heart and therefore didn't enjoy his character as much as the rest of us.

Roger Ebert, a famed critic said of the character Chewbacca, "This character was thrown into the first film as window dressing, was never thought through, and as a result has been saddled with one facial expression and one mournful yelp. Much more could have been done. How can you be a space pilot and not be able to communicate in any meaningful way? Does Han Solo really understand Chewie's monotonous noises? Do they have long chats sometimes? Never mind."

I wonder what Ebert had to say about Jar Jar Binks later?

The point is...even the coolest character or book can be rendered boring if you go into it with a bad attitude.

Just as Chewbacca is one of the coolest characters in Star Wars because we can understand him through Han Solo, we too will find the scriptures to be cool, applicable, and enjoyable as we use our own Holy Ghost interpreter.

Happy reading! And may the Force/Holy Ghost be with you.