Good tunes

Here are three of my favorite songs of the last couple weeks:

Coconut Skins - Damien Rice



- I can't say I'm positive that I know what this song is about, but that's the way some of the best of them are. I think it's about doing something with your life...that's how I take it, anyway. In the words of Stephen King: Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.

Keep Fishin' - Weezer



- I heard this song for the first time a week or two ago. It's been pretty much my favorite Weezer song ever since. I've obviously been caught posing as Weezer fan...obviously, I'm embarrassed...but, I'm ready to right my wrongs and pay more attention to their Maladroit album. Also, this has to one of their coolest music videos, but with the last few sentences in mind, I may not be an expert.

When That Evening Sun Goes Down - Van Morrison

- ...no video for this one, but the whole Tupelo Honey album has gotten more airplay in my old fashioned CD player than anything has since the new Bruce Springsteen album. The whole CD is incredibly optimistic and upbeat. It's what you would get if you striped a summer popcorn-flick away of all of its cliches (theoretically...something could possibly be left over). When That Evening Sun Goes Down is my current favorite on the album.

Once last thing...Martin Sexton's Camp Holiday Christmas album kicks the pants off the high (and pretentious) octaves of Josh Groban's new album Noel (...sorry, I couldn't figure out how to do the fancy "e").

Luke 23 & the God we want

Here's something I noticed in the crucifixion story in Luke today. Luke 2 is more appropriate for the season...but, what can you do...

Verse 35 - "...the rulers scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved other; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!'"

Verse 39 - "One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!'"

Verse 40 - But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?'"

Two people (the rulers & the criminal) thought they had Jesus figured out according to what made sense to them...therefore, it made sense to them to kill him, after all, if Jesus was God, he should be able to get himself off the cross.

The proper response seems to be the "other" criminal who fears God. I think it's easy to fall into an attitude of God-should-do-this/God-should-do-that...because it makes sense to us. The better response seems to be a fear of God. "Fear of God" can be sort-of a vague term, but I think something that has to be understood with that phrase is 'awe'. Maybe it's a little like reading about DNA or the human genome project...Scientists have a map of the human genome...they study it and are constantly finding out more about it. But, no scientist is going to claim that they comprehend it or that they understand how all the proteins and chemicals work. Our genes our too complex for us to understand at this point. If God is real, I have a hunch that he is much bigger than DNA or genomes...our awe/fear of God should be a significant part of our life.

I think its fair to infer from this passage in Luke that a false understanding of how God works (stemming from pride) is part of what allowed these people to justify the killing of Jesus. I suppose a good question to ask ourselves is "In what ways are we 'killing' God in our lives due to our false (proud) understanding of Him?" It's also interesting to note that the fear of God that this criminal had led him into a deeper relationship with God...I think we would typically assume that the opposite would happen.

I read a Patrick Morley quote in college that has stuck with me. His idea was similar to this: "Are we serving the God we want...or are we serving the God who is?". I think it's a healthy question to ask.

The End of Embryonic Cloning?

Although it definitely won't get as much press as Dolly the sheep received, one of the key figures in embryonic cloning (and creator of Dolly) appears to be abandoning the embryonic method of cloning. This is good news, because it means that perhaps the use of embryos for stem cell research will decrease in popularity...if other scientists follow his lead. It also points to the ridiculousness of the whole idea from the very beginning...even if it worked...and was morally unproblematic, where would all the eggs come from to create the embryos for the cloning?

Here's an article about Ian Wilmut's change in research:
Dolly Creator Prof Ian Wilmut Shuns Cloning

Dedication..."The Neon Bible"

I'd like to dedicate this song to Joel Osteen and his new best-seller. Also, don't forget to check out The Arcade Fire . They are Canadian...and quite good.

Neon Bible Lyrics
by The Arcade Fire

A vial of hope and a vial of pain,
In the light they both looked the same.
Poured them out on into the world,
On every boy and every girl.

It's in the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is right.

Take the poison of your age,
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page,
What I know is what you know is right,
In the city it's the only light.

It's the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is right.

Oh God! well look at you now!
Oh! you lost it, but you don’t know how!
In the light of a golden calf,
Oh God! I had to laugh!

Take the poison of your age,
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page,
It was wrong but you said it was right,
In the future I will read at night.

In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival,
If the Neon Bible is true

Emerging Info

I'm proud to say that my last post stirred up a little controversy...both here and at another page. I wish I had the time to interact with some of the discussions and debates before they become old news (Mike...don't argue with librarians...dictionaries don't lie). But, instead of attempting anything constructive, I thought I'd point out two resources that I think are helpful in understanding the emerging church. The first one (pdf) is emergent friendly, the second one (mp3) is not...I'm trying to be balanced.

Scot McKnight - What Is the Emerging Church?

Mark Driscoll - 2007 Convergent Conference (Driscoll's talk is Session 3)

"...often against people who are really onto something."

Read Tony Jones' post...in which (as in all emergent dialog) there a good vibe overpowered by an over-all sense of "something's not quite right here"...

http://tonyj.net/2007/11/06/daddy-whats-a-heretic

And, to quote Tony's blog...What is a heretic?
“It’s what someone says,” Mike told her, “when they’re trying to hurt and silence someone else. It’s been used a lot in history, and often against people who are really onto something.” (That’s a paraphrase. Mike said it better.)

Perhaps, "Mike" is on to something...maybe heretic isn't a bad word. Maybe gnosticism is a good thing, maybe Christ wasn't God...maybe the whole Trinity thing is a farce...perhaps Mary wasn't a virgin when she conceived Jesus. Or, maybe the word heretic is a sobering word...maybe a person should use the opportunity of being called a heretic to see if there's any chance that they've wandered into dangerous waters?

And, just to formalize my feelings...I think I'm officially tired of all things emergent. So what if they've given evangelicals some good questions that we've been missing over the years... I'm tired of them saying "I wonder what would happen if the Bible wasn't inspired" and then saying "I never said the Bible wasn't inspired". "I wonder...what if Mary wasn't a virgin?"..."Oh, I actually never said that Mary wasn't a virgin." This would potentially be tolerable if it wasn't followed up with "Why is everyone picking on me? I didn't do anything...look at these evangelicals...all they want to do is fight...join the emergent side...we're actually not a side, we're just the misunderstood folks who everyone is picking on."

I'm sure emergent-ism will pass soon...not soon enough for me, though.

Hebrews 5:11-14
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Jason Schwartzman's band "Coconut Records"

Jason Schwartzman has an album out...and, it's pretty good. Jason is famous in Wes Anderson circles for Rushmore...and, now The Darjeeling Limited. When you bought the album you used to get a Polaroid taken by Jason himself, but now you don't.



Check out this link for a sweet Jason Schwartzman interview...
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/pmcc/view/jason_schwartzman_coconut_records_and_more

Also, his MySpace site has a good interview with Jimmy Kimmel...
http://www.myspace.com/coconutrecords

Need Help With "The Pianist"

Somebody's going to have to help me out with The Pianist. It's been on my need-to-watch list for a while, so I realize I'm having this discussion a little late in the game.

It conveyed that the Nazis were bad...but, I've seen that before. It was mostly about this guy locked up in apartments, being alone. But, it didn't have that I'm-alone sense that Castaway had. Maybe it was about how music can bring even enemies together? But, there was only really one scene that pointed to that. It seems with all the buzz that came along with the movie that there must be some underlying theme that passed me by.

Why I Pretty Much Hated "The Devil Wears Prada"

There was a moment at the end of The Devil Wears Prada when I felt as though the whole movie might have been redeemed. The movie is about the allure of power...success...and, I suppose fashion fits in as well. The young novice character (Anne Hathaway) gets a job working for a super-influential clothing designer. Guess what? Our novice knows nothing about clothes, nor does she give a rat's patootie for fashion. Guess what else? By the end of the movie her rags turn to riches (cliches seem appropriate here) and she becomes one of "them"... By "them", you know what I mean...those rich folks in the high rises, snooty, consumed with their jobs and absolutely nothing else. (To be fair at this point, I should point out that Meryl Streep does a good job with her character.) The good guys are Hathaway's friends at the bar, the bad guys are the ones making money. So, our rookie fashion character is slowly pulled to the dark side...and, there's this scene where Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are in the car together and Meryl Streep tells her devoted protege that they are quite similar...they're made out of the same material, if you will. It's at this moment that I thought the movie was coming together. If the last 1.5 hours of light-hearted display of transformation into a snooty fashion figure were for a purpose...and, if this purpose was to show how easy it is to be sucked into a vice....then, we were on to something good. What if Meryl Streep had used her cunning to trap Anne Hathaway into a situation she really could not get out of? What if Anne Hathaway at this moment discovered that she did love her career and her power and her new wardrobe more than everything else in the world...and she decided to continue down this road?

Because it is easy to get trapped in a situation that is pretty horrible because a bunch of little slippery steps have caused you to slide into this spot you never thought you'd end up in. And, in a movie depicting this, I can see how this process could be displayed as it was in The Devil Wears Prada. So, at this moment of the movie, I was hoping for a little severity. I was hoping that she was stuck in the bed she had made...I was hoping that she discovered that she was just like Meryl Streep's character...I was hoping for a little of Al Pacino / Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate and less of what I'd been fed up to this point.

Well, Anne Hathaway gets out of the car, tosses her cell phone in the fountain, and gets a regular job of her dreams. ...There are basically no repercussions to her actions over the course of the movie. She gets what she wants and all is good in the world. In my mind this ruins what was shaping up to be merely an average movie anyway. How bad is a situation that has no repercussions? I mean, really, are we concerned at all about realism if you can screw your friends and your family, work yourself to death and then pause and go back to normal. If the non-repercussion part of the movie is real, then, the rest of the movie that portrays Anne Hathaway as heading for trouble is a lie. I don't see how both can be true.

Like I said, it wasn't that great of a movie to begin with. And, as always, I'm reading too much into this little popcorn flick. But, as an easily annoyed person, this one bugged me with its basic lie and its flippant ending.

Vegetative States - Jesse Ramirez

This isn't exactly unbiased reporting...but, it makes you think.

Awakenings: The Schiavo case revisited
(...it's not really about the Schiavo case)

Sherwin Williams - Fix the Environment with...Paint

In this world of political correctness, where all things environmentally friendly, green, and organic are all the rage...it's quite amusing to see someone who just doesn't get it.

Romantica - America

If you want to hear some good music, you can hear Romantica's latest album here:

http://www.romanticamusic.com/music.html

I give it an A+.

"The wakeup call of my adult life"

Have you seen this Bill Hybels lecture on how Willow Creek's strategy for maturing Christians has been wrong all these years? It's a great discovery...but, the video disturbed me a little.

http://revealnow.com/story.asp?storyid=49

I'll start with the Greg Hawkins interview (the pastor who discovered this problem at Willow Creek). Here's a quote:

"And I sit there Sunday after Sunday and I wonder, are we spending those folks money in the right way? Really...would they feel great about how we're investing their resources?"

I understand the need to be good steward of the money God trusts us with. But, really, the standard here seems a little fishy to me. I know I'm bordering on judgmentalness and over-analysing a single two and a half sentences...isn't there a bit of an overemphasis on the people in the pew? Should our motivation stem from the fact that we're misusing money...or, even better/worse...because people wouldn't "feel great" about how we're spending their money? Something seems awry here...shouldn't a church be wondering: How does God feel about how we're spending His money? What does the Bible indicate I should do with the money? These are oversimplistic questions...but, I don't get the vibe that Greg Hawkins started with anything except wondering how he could give people more bang for their buck.

Here's what I like, though. I like a big church admitting that they made a big mistake...I like the fact that they aren't trying to hide anything. I like the fact that the crowd applauds when he says: "...we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become self-feeders."

I'd like to be optimistic because I think Hybels hits the nail on the head with the problem...people are relying on the church too much and not learning how to grow on their own. But, the solution to the problem - a health club style discipleship program? - seems like more of the same to me.

Lee Strobel dot com

Here's a resourse worth spending a few minutes at:

http://www.leestrobel.com/

Think YouTube...apologetics...and evangelicalism.

Bioethics: A Primer for Christians by Gilbert Meilaender

Little Miss Sunshine Revisited

So, I got two comments and a taunting Email from my last post. Naturally, I’m thinking Little Miss Sunshine is really bringing in the hits to my blog, so I better give the fans more of what they want. So, here’s a snippet into my mind where I overanalyze the movie and life in general.

I’m pretty sure society is extremely wicked, screwed up, troubling, sinful…pick your adjective and/or verb. But, I have a hunch that in some sense it’s about a gazillion times worse than what we think it is. The reason it’s worse is because people show you what they think they want you to see. They pretty up their problems and misery so that they can keep up with the “prettiness” their neighbor has created in their own life. If the dressed up version is as bad as some of the dressed-up-versions are, I have a hunch that there’s a lot of crap going on behind people’s doors. Verbal abuse, physical abuse, internet porn of all shapes and sizes, prejudice, hatred…

But, what if people didn’t hide how depraved and flawed they really are? Think about it for a second.. Let’s imagine a church setting. What if the guy next to you in church told you that he looked at porn for two hours the night before? What if the lady next to told you that she beat up her husband with a frying pan the night before? …I think the cringe factor that I feel as I type those things is symbolic of the problem. We don’t want to know about it…probably for the same reason we don’t want to be part of a big brother program in the community or volunteer at the hospital or ask the family with the handicapped kid over for dinner. It’s inconvenient, it’s uncomfortable, it takes investment and follow up…etc.

…here Little Miss Sunshine enters into the equation. It’s a movie that shows a screwed up, “potty mouth” family coming to grips with who they are. Then, instead of prettying up who they are they celebrate their discovery. The reason I love the ending is that in about 5 minutes it tells the whole story of the movie in an allegory. I’m not going to argue that it doesn’t step over the line a little…but, I wouldn’t argue too much that it does, either. The reason why is that a naïve girl who has been taught an awful dance by her dirty grandfather is sort of what’s going on with us. It’s my belief that we’re made to be God-glorifiers…typically when we stumble into sinful actions in our life we do so naively…and, then we look as out of place as that girl did on stage. The comedy of the scene…the unusualness of seeing someone who isn’t pretending in that setting…the dark streak that goes through it all…there’s so many things going on all at once…this tension is what feels good and (for lack of a better word) “real” about the scene.

I think this brings us back to where I left off with my explaining-what’s-wrong-with-the-world paragraphs. Admitting the problem isn’t only part of the answer. Little Miss Sunshine ends with a celebration of the freedom of admitting your problems. If everyone went around admitting their problems all the time without doing anything about it, I think the digression may be exponential. But, I think part of the beauty of really expressing what’s wrong with you is that this release looks so ugly that we want to take care of it. Taking care of it appropriately is what Little Miss Sunshine is missing. Problems and ugliness appear too much like a yellow Volkswagen van that doesn’t run properly...if everyone pitches in together, then a community of people makes a bad situation not as bad and, in fact, the bonding experience of going down together is the beauty of it all.

…and, I think that’s all I have to say for the moment on Little Miss Sunshine. Be careful in the comment section, 3 comments and an Email might point toward more needless ramblings and run on sentences.

Little Miss Sunshine

We watched Little Miss Sunshine last night. I love (for the most part) the message of this movie. My take...feel free to provide your take...is that the movie is saying that most people's lives are like a child beauty pageant. We take our lives and dress them up with our screwed-up, self-centered ideas of perfection...and, in essence, create some sort of a freak show. In reality, we ought to be real about our problem filled lives, because everybody's lives are full of problems. The movie's answer to this issue seems to be that we should celebrate our troubled lives, without any emphasis on fixing the trouble. I think they're on to something...our lives are filled with hypocrisy and fraud (I was reminded of this just a few hours ago as my wife and I had a mini-fight in the back yard and all I could think of is "be quiet, so the neighbors don't hear")...however, there are answers to our problems. And, while we shouldn't pretend that we're perfect we should continue to address the problems.

Also, the second half of this movie is hilarious...the last scene of the movie is one of the funniest endings I've seen in a very long time. And, for those interested, this one definately deserves its R rating.

Stephen Colbert - Bruce Springsteen

"Living in the Future"

This is disturbing...

"A UK couple has received approval from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to have their IVF embryos screened for early onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD). "

(...full article)

(Also see this article)

For some reason, I thought the world couldn't get any more screwed up... The sci-fi world you see in movies like Gattica is probably prophetic of what is to come.

Take Your Internship and...

I haven't taken the time to figure out whether I 100% agree with this quote or not...but, I'm sure I'm 100% agree with it's sentiments. It's why I think pretty much the whole NT was written to local churches...

"We acquire habits of conduct, not by constructing a way of living upon rules or precepts learned by heart and subsequently practised, but by living with people who habitually behave in a certain manner: we acquire habits of conduct in the same way as we acquire our native language. There is no point in a child's life at which he can be said to begin to learn the language which is habitually spoken in his hearing; and there is no point in his life at which he can be said to begin to learn habits of behaviour from the people constantly about him. No doubt, in both cases, what is learnt (or some of it) can be formulated in rules and precepts; but in neither case do we, in this kind of education, learn by learning rules and precepts...If we have acquired a knowledge of the rules, this sort of command of language and behaviour is impossible until we have forgotten them as rules and are no longer tempted to turn speech and action into the applications of rules to a situation." -Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics, 1962.

Rob Thomas' Best Lyric

"Everybody's trusting in their heart, like their heart don't lie."
- Rob Thomas' (Mr. Matchbox 20, himself)

Rob Thomas is pretty lame. But, I think that's a pretty good line. Almost as good as "...it's 3 AM...I must be lonely". ...I guess they can't all be winners. Some people bat around .250, though.
Here's a good quote by a guy named John Murray to refine Rob's thoughts:

"...we must not suppose that the measure of our understanding or experience is the measure of the Spirit's working." - John Murray

Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

I can't get enough of Belle and Sebastian's latest album The Life Pursuit. It has a more polished sound than some of their earlier albums. The "Indy" sound for the sake of being indy doesn't do much for me (not that their preceding albums totally did that)....this album has a smooth sound which makes it very easy to listen to. It also has (for lack of a better word) a groove that keeps things optimistic and peppy as they flirt with several different styles of music while still keeping their album coherent.

Best of all the album has lyrics that use quirky stories to deliver their punch. Probably best suited to the previous musical themes I've posted here is Act of the Apostle I & II, which chronicle a person who is interested in believing in God, but not quite there yet.

My favorite has to be The Blues are Still Blue which (I think) is a love song about a lazy lover who doesn't quite put enough effort into life to keep the blues away. No matter what it's about, it's a toe-tapper...

Well, look at the kid from school

He's teaching mamas and papas how to be a little cool

He's changing fashion, the way he dress

The tracksuits are old, and the hoody's way too moody

For a kid with the will to funk

He dances in secret; he's a part-time punk

Definitions

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA): "cost per year of life saved"

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA): the bottom line of a benefit-cost ratio stated in monetary figures that express the common measurements

Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs): "if an extra year of healthy (i.e., good quality) life-expectancy is worth one, then an extra year of unhealthy (i.e., poor quality) life-expectancy must be worth less than one." -Alan Williams

Discounted Future Earnings (DFE): determining the monetary value of lives by considering what people at risk of some disease or accident could be expected to earn if they survived

Willingness to Pay (WTP): how much individuals would be willing to pay to reduce the risks of death

- Definitions from Principles of Biomedical Ethics

Bob Dylan & Jesse James

For what it's worth, the two movies I'm currently most excited about seeing are:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Another movie about Jesse James...this one has Brad Pitt...and, a ton of good reviews. Here are two:

http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=6936

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33899

...and, I'm Not There...which goes with the theme of the-more-the-merrier and offers 6 Dylans. Reviews:

http://blog.cleveland.com/top_entertainment/2007/09/toronto_international_film_fes_1.html

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/FILM_BOB_DYLAN

Asubry Park Rehearsals

Check out this site to see the songs Springsteen has been working on for the new tour:

http://www.pointblankmag.com/conciertos

Chocolate Jesus: Tom Waits & Christianity

The best song written on your average, every day Christianity is Chocolate Jesus by Tom Waits. This is the best video I could find of it. Tom Waits is pretty weird, so his interpretation of it may be a little "non-palatable". His album version is a better, I think. But, I like what he does on Letterman, it's very street-corner-evangelist. Here's the song, the end has a short interview with Dave explaining the inspiration for the song. Also, I'm being serious, I think it's probably the best song on what Christianity is for most people. This line is so biting that it's perfect:

When the weather gets rough / And it's whiskey in the shade / It's best to wrap your savior / Up in cellophane

The whole song, though, is a wonderful word picture of the sacreligious way we tend to treat God. Tom Waits' word pictures are a good contrast to C.S. Lewis' images of Aslan.



artist: Tom Waits lyrics
title: Chocolate Jesus
album: Mule Variations

Don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
But I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more

I fall on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

Well I don't want no Anna Zabba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul

(Solo)
When the weather gets rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied

More on 3:10 To Yuma

Here's a good review of 3:10 To Yuma that offers only mild spoilers, doesn't give away the whole plot, and gives a good recap on the state of the western...also, he uses the f-word.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33898

Enjoy...

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 To Yuma is one of the 10 best westerns ever made. Maybe the thrill will leave in a couple days...maybe repeated viewings will lessen its punch. But, for now, I'm going to sleep thinking that a new movie has moved into my top five list of favorite westerns. My conscience won't allow me to give the specifics as to why I like it. ...A quick disclaimer to say that this is one of the most violent movies I've seen in a few years...with that in place, I say, go see this movie before it leaves the theater...go see it before someone spoils any of the movies subtle surprises. 3:10 To Yuma and Unforgiven are the two best westerns made in the last 20 years. If you disagree, let me know what movie I'm missing... I'll end there; hopefully, enticing you to see the movie, without setting it up to let you down.

Wild Hogs and Guaranteed Movies

Here's a tip: If you're looking for something to do on a Friday night don't rent Wild Hogs. Similarly, I would recommend never renting Wild Hogs. It has the humor of a straight-to-video Disney sequal mixed with PG-13 sexual induendos...and, you get a couple butt shots thrown in for free. It's the first movie I've turned off halfway through and returned since the Steve Martin remake of The Pink Panther.

Another tip: The video store won't refund your money if you don't like the movie. Or, in the words of the 21-year old kid at the register, "I'm sorry sir, but we don't guarantee that you'll like the movie...". I need to give him some credit because as the saying goes...you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer.

But, really, anywhere else...if I buy or rent something that doesn't live up to the advertised quality, I can get my money back. My theory is: if more people turned off their movies and returned them...or, walked out of the theater and requested a refund maybe there would be some glimmer of a blip forward in the quality of our art. I'd like to see the Top 10 movies at the box office and the Top 10 Refunded tickets placed side to side. However, I don't give alot of credit to the American movie goer, so these statistics may reveal absolutely nothing. After all, there were about 2 million copies of Wild Hogs on the rack, and I have a hunch they are there for a reason.

...so, I dished out another dollar or two and rented Thank You For Not Smoking and An Inconvenient Truth. Thank You For Smoking was probably one of the best movies I've seen this year. I've only watched a half hour of An Inconvenient Truth (a.k.a. - An Ode to Al Gore), and I was hoping for more...what are you going to do on a Friday night anyway? ...read a book?

David Hume Quote On Compassion

"No [com]passion of another discovers itself immediately to the mind. We are only sensible of its causes or effects. From these we infer the passion: And consequently these give rise to our sympathy." - David Hume


...lots of pronouns in that quote. What I think Hume is saying is that your not going to feel any compassion toward others until you're around others. If you're not around the hurting, the sick, the poor, you're not going to have any empathy toward them. This isn't to say that you won't have feelings of compassion and empathy...you will, but perhaps only toward the person you feel most deserves it...yourself.

I noticed tonight that our pastor was mentioned on Joshua Harris' blog a couple days ago. Here's the link:

http://www.joshharris.com/2007/08/for_preachers_learning_from_mr.php

Aubrey de Grey

"Like the downward pull of gravity without which the dancer cannot dance, the downward pull of bodily necessity and fate makes possible the dignified journey of a truly human life."
- Leon Kass

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
- Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12: 9-10)

John 11:5-44
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Boys and Girls in America

"Since men enjoyed very great leisure, they used it to pursue many kinds of commodities unknown to their fathers; and that was the first yoke they imposed upon themselves without thinking about it, and the first source of the evils they prepared for their descendants. For, besides their continuing thus to soften body and mind, as these commodities had lost almost all their pleasantness through habit, and as they had at the same time degenerated into true needs, being deprived of them became much more cruel than possessing them was sweet; and people were unhappy to lose them without being happy to have them."
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

...I wrote some other stuff, but deleted it. Rousseau is a tough act to follow

Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home

There may be a song better than this one...but, I haven't heard it yet.



Also, Sam Cooke may have the most perfect voice on God's green earth.

And, for Springsteen fans like me...it's hard to under-estimate the influence of Sam Cooke on the Boss. Specifically, Springsteen has sucked his vibe straight out of the marrow of the following songs:

(What A) Wonderful World
Meet Me At Mary's Place
Having A Party
Twistin' the Night Away

In some sense, if there's no Sam Cooke, there's no Bruce Springsteen.

Also, here's Sam Cooke singing Blowin' in the Wind.

Lots 'o Links

Click on the link below for a helpful table of contents (with hyperlinks) to Mark Dever's series on "Where'd All These Great Calvinists Come From?". I'm including the subjects up for discussion to tempt you....

http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org/2007/08/monday-morning-.html

1. The Writings of C. H. Spurgeon
2. The Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
3. The Publications of the Banner of Truth Trust
4. Calvinists Evangelizing - Jim Kennedy and Evangelism Explosion
5. Calvinist Leadership in the Inerrancy Controversy
6. The Founding of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
7. J.I. Packer and Knowing God
8. The Teaching Ministries of R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur
9. John Piper
10.The rise of secularism and decline of Christian nominalism

Bruce Springsteen: Magic

"We’ve been together since 1974 and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more excited than he is right now about this record.”

-- Jon Landau (Springsteen’s manager)

Modern Day Gnostic Heresy

"'A market economy has nothing remotely to do with getting what you want. It has everything to do with making yourself feel good about what is available' (Carl Elliott, Better Than Well). This is a Gnostic truth indeed, for it trades in and ultimately depends upon there being a radical distinction between the feeling, wanting human subject--that is, the 'I' who feels and wants and the particular, concrete circumstances of any one person's existence.

"Seen through the lens of orthodox Christian theology, such a distinction is nothing more than heresy. For what self, apart from the gift of the body, exists to shop the identity market? And if the mind and identity itself can be altered with medications, what part of the disembodied self is making these choices? Apparently there is nothing left to enliven this puppet self but the tiny part of the mind or soul that makes choices. Choosing itself becomes the defining mark of human identity. In remaking identity as a consumer item, the person is whittled away into sawdust, and modernity's precious autonomy is revealed as little more than the triumph of the well."

- Joel Shuman & Brian Volk (Reclaiming the Body: Christians and the Faithful Use of Modern Medicine)

...more on Keepon the Robot

There's a line at the beginning of the movie AI where William Hurt says: "...in the beginning, didn't God create Adam to love him?" The scene opens a movie that examines what makes a person human...and perhaps more profoundly, what do we look for in other humans? ...what expectations do we have of others? ...what do we need from others? ...can a robot fill this gap?

There's a group of folks out there called transhumanists. Transhumanism as described by Nick Bostrom of Oxford University:

Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.
http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html

A key step in achieving this goal of transhumanism is getting computers/robots to form relationships and show emotions to people. ...and, this is why Keepon the robot is so fascinating. Here is a quote from Keepon's webpage describing the project.

We are developing and evaluating an architecture that will allow these robots to perceive, model, and generate social rhythms such that the robot's behaviors are synchronized with those of a human interactor. We believe that rhythmic synchrony will be as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.

For example, synchrony between the tempo of a speaker's voice, the punctuation of the speaker's gestures, and the frequency of a listener's nodding is characteristic of smooth and comfortable interactions. Social scientists such as William S. Condon and Adam Kendon have identified interactional synchrony as a phenomenon that plays an important role in the regulation and coordination of movements, vocalizations, and other social cues.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~marekm/projects/beatbots

Keepon has a microphone in "his" nose, two cameras for eyes, and his yellow rubber skin. He makes his own decisions as to his dance moves. He can be set up to dance according to the sound of the music or the movement of other people dancing. Perhaps this is a step closer to the questions of AI and the sci-fi world of the transhumanists?

A Dancing Robot for Rhythmic Social Interaction

The Extropy Institute

The World Transhumanist Association

Nick Bostrom

Betterhumans

John Piper is Bad

Coveting Prestige

I watched The Prestige this week. It's a movie about two rivaling magicians in the late 1800s. More than that, it's a study in obsession...perhaps the more specific word "coveting" could be used.

The movie shows that what you are obsessed with is what you become. And, what you covet you will never attain...because the thing that you want, the thing that looks appealing...the thing your imagination has already experienced (the warmth, the taste, the feel, the buzz)...that thing is never quite what you tricked yourself into believing it would be. That same trick of the mind is almost always transfered to something bigger and better, because there is always something bigger and better to obsess over and covet.

Movies like The Prestige are the true horror films, in my opinion. They're the movies that shine lights into the depths of what we are capable of. In other words, they're movies that show us the potential of our darkness.

ABC

"It is a cheap zeal that reserves its passions to combat only the sins and temptations of others."
- Don Carson (The Gagging of God, p 358)

The Gospel Coalition Interviews

The Gospel Coalition webpage now has interviews up.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/interviews.html

Don't miss "What Makes the Gospel Coalition Different?" by Tim Keller and Don Carson.

Keepon, The Robot

Someday robots will rule the world...


http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~marekm/projects/beatbots/

Christian Music

The distinction between "Christian music" and "secular music" is truly an unhelpful one. A couple exceptions (people who do find it helpful): the Christian music industry, parents who don't want to be involved in their children's culture...these are stereotypes, I'm sure, but I think there's something there. These three lyrics came to mind this morning as I was thinking of some songs that contain honest reflections of the world.

We spend all day getting sober
Just hiding from daylight
Watching TV
We just look a lot better in the blue light
Well, you know I gotta get out
Bit I'm suck so tight
Weighed by the chains that keep me...

And this girl listens to the band play
She says "where have you been?
I've been lying right here on the floor"
Well, I got all this time
To be waiting for what is mine
To be hating what I am
After the light has faded
- Adam Duritz

I ain't never been to Vegas but I gambled up my life
Building newsprint boats I raced to sewer mains
Was trying to find me something but I wasn't sure just what
Funny how they say that some things never change
- Ryan Adams

In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live,
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips

Now there's a loss that can never be replaced,
A destination that can never be reached,
A light you'll never find in another's face,
A sea whose distance cannot be breached

Well Jesus kiss his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still you tears,
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared."
- Bruce Springsteen

Trouble - Ray Lamontagne

If you haven't checked out Ray Lamontagne, you should. Here's one of my favorite songs of his. I like the relationship between trouble, worry, and the woman who saves him. All three might be the same thing...

"The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World"

Succinct and clear. The best thing I've read/heard in regards to Christians interacting with postmodernism. If you know of something better, let me know.

The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World
by Tim Keller

The Gospel Coalition

If you haven't already done so...take a trip over to The Gospel Coalition web-page. It is up and running with stuff to listen to, read, and watch.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/

The Gospel Coalition may be something that blows over in a few years, or it may be the start of an impacting voice in evangelical churches. The site has pretty pictures of the first Gospel Coalition conference...but, it's more a site for folks interesting in reading (or listening to) focused thoughts on the gospel's place in church ministry.

The organization started out of a relationship between Tim Keller and Don Carson. It grew from those two into a coalition of (mostly) pastors. And, then, morphed into this gospel coalition. From what I've heard stated, it's likely that The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel will alternate years for their conferences. The web-site above will grow in its documents and aids to those interested in the practical application of the gospel in their ministries.

...if you have to pick just one of the lectures, go with Tim Keller.

Viewer Mail - Answering the Atheist

My buddy Andy and I used to convene in high school study hall every day and discuss our late nights with David Letterman. One of our favorites was Thursday night when Dave would answer the viewer mail. Paul Shaeffer would sing..."letters, we gets stacks and stacks of letters....letters". The story is semi-true, I'm not sure how excited we actually were for viewer mail, but since Andy's wife has plagued my comment section with deep, dark atheistic questions I thought it was an appropriate intro.



So, here we go with our first instalment of viewer mail...

'Life happens: we decimate the rain forests and kill the native species; the earth's crust destroys our coastland and kills lives. It's the flux and flow of life. There is no cause or reason. It's the looking for a reason that fosters the anger and resentment.' Where do you categorize this type of atheist? And how do you answer him?

I've been reading some of the philosophy genre lately...in thinking about my answer, I can already see that effecting/affecting me. Anyway, without any further stalling on such a question...

Categorizing & Answering:

In my mind, the issue of "cause" seems to be the weak area of this atheist's argument.

"There is no cause or reason." To me it seems that a causeless, reasonless world has no anger and resentment in it because nothing has existed to cause the anger/resentment. I'll attempt to explain my thinking behind that statement. By the very act of saying "it's the looking for...that brings anger", the person has entered into an causal argument stating that the cause of B is A. In this case, the cause of anger and resentment is in the looking-for-a-reason. Therefore, if my second rate logic works, how could there be any anger/resentment in the world when we've removed some sort of evil causing it? Whether this "evil" is a tsunami, an earthquake, or looking for a reason for suffering...there has to be a cause.

Let's assume for a moment that the cause exists, but it is unknowable ("There is cause and reason, it is unknowable. Anger is a result of searching for the cause."). In this case, perhaps we would feel emotions of anger when we experience the frustration of tracking down something unknowable. Still, I would want to ask similar annoying questions. For example, our new and improved statement seems to have tracked down a knowable cause of anger and frustration...and, again, this anger stems from trying to pinpoint any causes. But, if our statement were true , we would not have been able to discover the unknowable cause of our frustration toward discovering causes. In other words, we still have a causal statement, it has just been expanded with a "it is unknowable" footnote.

If my two short paragraph's semi-coherent statements are convincing...and, if the atheist admits that some sort of "cause" exists in the world, then the discussion moves to a different level. What is the cause? The where does evil come from question should be as difficult for an atheist as why does suffering exist is for a theist.

That is the long answer to your question. The short answer is that I would just try to confuse him or her with alot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo until they were confused and walked away.

Anyway, I'm not sure any of that actually works logically. Another option would be giving them a 4 Spiritual Laws Tract. How would you answer the question?

Anger At God

We want to decipher God. We want to figure Him out. We want to turn him into a video game, a book, or a Rubik's Cube. We want something that we can finish, unlock, and put on the shelf.

Once we understand something we can make sure it follows the rules. If it does abide by the rules we experience comfort. If it breaks the rules we experience anger. Think about sports. There’s anger that enrages thousands when the referee misses the call.

The question emerges: Does/can God miss the call? We certainly act like he has the ability to. Our rage and bitterness is frequently focused on God rather than the sin that should be the focus of our anger.

More questions: Why? Why are we so easily angered at God? Perhaps it stems from partial belief? Let’s examine two extremes of the spectrum…

A) A true atheist. If a true atheist exists, they are incapable of feeling any true emotions toward God. I don’t believe in Santa Claus, therefore, when my car breaks down or my wife gets sick or when a friend dies…I am incapable of being angry at Santa Claus. Any anger at God assumes the existence of that God.

B) Who else is never angry at God? We need to stretch ourselves here…we need someone who is the total opposite of an atheist…someone 100% confident in the existence of God. Hopefully, without cheating, I can use Jesus as an example. Equality with God seems in some way to be the opposite of atheism.

So, does someone 100% confident in the existence of God get angry at God? Was Jesus ever angry at God? Did He have reason to be?
When Lazarus died…
When His Father was sending Him to a cross…
When He wept…
…was He angry at God? Did He have reason to be?

What does this tell us? I think it tells us that any anger at God must exist because we live our lives somewhere in the middle of this unbelief scale. There seems to be some sort of tension here, and I think it comes out in many of the Psalms. On the one hand, there's alot pointing to a brutal honesty of our emotions toward God. But, on the other hand, a contentment with our lack of understanding of God does not seem to be encouraged (James' "count it all joy" passage comes to mind).

I've been thinking about Psalms 116 a little bit lately. Here are two verses from this optimistic Psalm (make sure you check out the context sometime):

I believed, even when I spoke,

'I am greatly afflicted';

I said in my alarm,

'All mankind are liars.'

The two quotations seem as though they are statements the author is not proud of, in one sense. But, he still admits that he believed when he spoke. Even honest discontent still reflects a belief in God. Perhaps we can call this "anger" at God. If so, the emotion doesn't seem to be the problem, I think the problem is the follow up to the emotion. Do we feed the emotion with Truth or do we follow it up with an extra dose of self-pity? I think it's a hard question to answer, because the question seems to imply some limits to our negative emotional expression toward God. ...all sorts of slippery-slope troubles seem to tie me up in these thoughts.

For the sake a semi-short post, I have two thoughts. Anger at our situations, frustration at God, whatever we call it, needs to be expressed. It's honest...if God already knows how we're feeling, why should we try to mentally hide anything from Him. But, these emotions need some reminders of who God is...and I think they specifically need reminders of the cross. If anger at God is only possible along side of a level of unbelief…then, that unbelief begins at our understanding of the cross.

Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

God had to be up to something when He sent His Son to the cross. Sometimes we act/think as though God was up to nothing when He sent Jesus to die.

A second passage that seems relevant is Paul's quotation of the Psalm mentioned earlier.

II Corinthians 4:13-14

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

Although I haven't done alot of study on this passage, there seems to, at the least, be an emphasis on an overarching awareness of God's love through the cross in our speech. I think it's safe to infer from Psalm 116 that any expression of frustration or anger toward God be reigned in with thoughts of God's love through Christ's death.

So, in regards to anger at God. I think it stems from a lack of understanding of God. And, since a full understanding of God and His ways is impossible...maybe the best thing we can do in times of intense hardship is meditate of the love expressed through the cross, have faith in a God bigger than us, and, if possible, relax. There is much good in seeking to know God more. But, red flags should appear any time we think we have God figured out. He’s not a puzzle. He’s not a riddle. And, I think it is safe to say that He never misses the call.

Abortion in the Movies - If it's good enough for Al Mohler's blog...

...I borrowed this link from Al Mohler's blog. It's a great article about abortion and the movies. Here is the link:

You Won't See Termination 2 at the Movies

It's about how Hollywood can't seem to bring itself to promote abortion. And, I think the article is on to something. I think movies are a good example of that circular pattern of the culture feeding on the media and the media feeding off the culture. As already mentioned on this blog, movies give us an insight into what the culture is up to. I think this example offers us insight into the fact that few people in this generation view abortion as any sort of a happy ending. And, as the article states, if it's not a child...if it's a mass of cells, why shouldn't an abortion provide a potential happy ending.

As a school project, I entered overacheivish mode and did a 50-page project (huge fonts, lots of double space, etc.) categorizing bioethics in the movies. With several exceptions abortion is almost always viewed negatively (If These Walls Could Talk was one of few exceptions). You can see similar negative trends with cloning, which is intricately tied to the problem of abortion in my mind. The natural aversion to modifying and killing humanity is worth paying attention to. Will this aversion lessen in another 40 years because it's something left over from our parents generation? Or, will we still squirm when it comes to cloning and abortion because it's part of our make up, our conscience, what is written on our hearts?

Sunbeams

These types of thoughts have been very appealing to me lately, especially in a political sense. Since, I haven't had time to post any of my own attempts at thought-provoking-ness lately, maybe these folks will fill the space better than I would.

"An assumption deeply integral to capitalism...[is that there's] not enough to go around: not enough love, not enough time, not enough appointments at the food-stamps office, not enough food stamps, not enough money, not enough seats on the subway. It's pervasive. We learn mistrust of each other, bone deep: everything is skin off somebody's nose." - Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'" - Martin Luther King Jr.

"If those who owe us nothing gave us nothing, how poor we would be." - Antonio Porchia

(quotes taken from The Sun - Issue 374, February 2007, pg 48)

"I...like...totally made...like the worst song ever"

Want to hear what is possibly the worst song ever? Check out this doozy...



"What's great is...like I didn't realize it at the time..but, it's like...I totally evolved and went to the next level..." - Avril Lavigne

Sunshine - Matt Costa

They don't make music much better than this. This song is a wonderful blend of tension and contrasts. The optimism of the melody faces off against the realistic view of life that the end is on its way. But, in spite of it all, Matt says nothing negative about the life-taker, instead the cycle of it all points toward the beauty of the situation. It's pop music at its finest, no matter what your radio's silence may tell you.



Sunshine

Sunshine
I'd really like to tell you
Oh my sunshine
Even though your skies are blue
You're drying up my bed
How can I get any rest now?
Sha la la la la la la la

Someday
You will get the best of me
Oh someday
Probably when I'm old and grey
I'm lying in my bed
And I will soon be put to rest now
Sha la la la la la la la

Sunshine
I'd really like to tell you
Oh my sunshine
Even though your skies are blue
You're drying up my bed
How can I get any rest now?
Sha la la la la la la la

Someday
You will get the best of me
Oh someday
Probably when I'm old and grey
I'm lying in my bed
And I will soon be put to rest now

I'm lying in my bed
And I will soon be put to rest now (Ooh ooh) [x2]
Sha la la la la la la la

How to Process a Movie Pt. 4

Movie Watching Opportunity #3

3. A good movie offers the opportunity to understand the way others are thinking.

Art when done well offers an avenue into the deepest parts of other people’s minds (and hearts). It’s an incredibly unique opportunity to see what motivates other people, to see what drives them, what gives them purpose…in one way it’s the most amazing and exciting thing about seeing a movie. Imagine a person reaching both hands up to their chest, sinking their fingers into their skin, and opening up the doors to their true self. It’s an amazing way to understand the culture around us.

When the doors to the self are open, we find new ways to communicate spiritual truths to people. We see where they are hurting and can understand ways to love them and discover appropriate paths to travel on as we reach out to them. We have an important message to deliver and any clues as to the best means of presentation are valuable. The illustration of Paul on Mars Hill is so common here I hate mentioning it. But, if you haven’t pondered Paul’s methods in Acts 17…well, I guess you should.

There’s something else worth mentioning here. When movies are honest, they portray a view of the world that is surprisingly similar to the Bible’s view of the world. This is why so many honest movies are dark and have a depressing flavor. A movie that doesn’t portray some sense of the shadowy corners of humanity should immediately cause red flags to spring up.

How to Process a Movie Pt. 3

Movie Watching Opportunity #2

2. A good movie is an opportunity to discover effective methods of communication.

Whether we agree or disagree with the methods, movie creators are able to communicate on a deep level. Christians should be vitally concerned with communication. With a little discernment and awareness a movie can give us insight into the methods of some of the most skilled communicators of our day . When we ask ourselves “how does this presentation speak to people?” we are a step closer to being a better communicator.

For example, in the 70s Stephen Spielberg made Jaws. Because of technical problems he was forced to keep the viewer from seeing the shark until late in the movie. Luckily for him (and us as viewers) this omission of the “monster” in his monster movie greatly heightened the suspense of the film. By the time the shark is revealed our curiosity has increased exponentially compared to what would have happened if Spielberg had immediately showed us his movie villain.

What good does this knowledge do for us? It can remind us that sometimes it’s good to save the heart of our message until the end. Instead of immediately stating the big idea, it is sometimes acceptable to raise the anticipation. Perhaps we can see a little of this in the parables or in Proverbs. If you don’t give all the immediate answers it forces people to think about what you’ve said.

A second example…MTV. Pick almost any MTV movie and/or the television channel. Three second clips. Then, on to something new. Flashy. Restless. Impatient. And, yet it communicates.

Observing MTV allows us to study another communication tool. I’d argue that this flashy style is useful occasionally, but continued use of this method (or any method) will have negative consequences. There’s a point in using two examples here. Even though we’ve taken one step further in discernment (in that we have examined a communication technique), we still aren’t able to take our discernment antennas down. Some styles of communication are appropriate in different situations. You don’t see MTV producing Schindler’s List and you don’t see PBS creating music videos.

Christians are people who should be very concerned about their message and how to deliver it. This could be the most overlooked / under-rated benefit of movie watching that there is.

How to Process a Movie Pt. 2

Movie Watching Opportunity #1

1. A good movie is an opportunity to meditate, mull over, and ask hard questions about what we believe.

Notice the phrase “what we believe”. Theology shouldn't come from movies. Instead, a movie should be like that nasty professor who always asked you those difficult questions about your faith that made your brain hurt. A movie can provide us with an hour and a half of hard questions that (when handled properly) should send us to our Bibles for sharpening.

The easiest way to explain this principle is by providing some questions that reflect this type of thought process. For example:

Does this movie allegorize Scripture in any way?
In what ways does this movie align itself to Scripture?
In what ways does this movie veer away from the Bible’s Truths?

When we question movies in this fashion they can sharpen our knowledge of the Bible (especially when discussed with other people) because we are now thinking as we watch. Our brains are now searching for truth and error for 2 hours instead of laying dormant for 2 hours.

Again, this point highly implies that we have a knowledge of the Bible as we head into our movie of choice. A sign that something is amiss is a desire for entertainment without a desire for Truth. In this scenario your entertainment will soon become your truth.

How to Process a Movie Pt. 1: An Incredibly Long Post

There’s a way out of those awkward conversational pauses that we always seem to find ourselves in. In high school it seems I was more comfortable with this easy cheat, but as I became older I felt as though I should play by the adult rules. Lately, I’ve been reverting to my old ways. The cheat is “movies”. Ask a person what movie they’ve seen lately. It gets 95% of the population talking.

The question is: Why does it get 95% of the population talking? The answer is not a hard one, it’s because everyone is watching movies. Not only are people watching movies, but they’re being affected by them. This is no small influence, either. People light up when they have a chance to reveal the movies they have under their belt. A movie conversation is made of the same high-caliber stuff as a how-are-the-kids conversation.

There’s a problem, though. And, it’s a big problem. People don’t think. We make our trek to the movies, and return from our quest with a good plot outline and possibly some good quotes. We now have the ability to say We loved it or We hated it. But, the ability to say why we loved it or hated it seems to be missing. Sure, we can give answers like “special effects” or “it was funny”, but is this sufficient?

This is a problem for a good chunk of society. But, for Christians this should be an even deeper problem. If we assume that God is real and He’s intended His truth to be revealed through the Bible, then a Christian should consider carefully what they put in their brain (Romans 12:1-2; Philipians 4:8; 1 Peter 1:13-21).

The solution to this problem is not more drivel on how Christianity and morality and all things chipper and happy are seen in movies like Casablanca, Silence of the Lambs, and Napoleon Dynamite. My problem with this type of writing isn’t specifically with anything that’s been written. I enjoy the postmodern activity of ignoring all the artist’s intentions and rendering my own meaning. I’m concerned with the fact that few of these writers take seriously the activity that they are engaged in. Too often they look at the process of finding the spiritual in movies as a type of game. My argument is that movie-processing is more than a game, we should never turn off the device that filters what goes into our brain.

I view the brain as a storehouse. The senses are the loading docks for this storehouse. And, there’s this guy…at least it’s a guy in my mind…and he examines everything that makes its way into this storehouse. By nature this guy is a pretty lazy dude who doesn’t like to work.

This character exists in all of our minds. So, perhaps one person views a Die Hard movie coming in on the loading dock and their storehouse manager says: throw it over there in the action movie pile. Harry Potter…toss him over there between the kid’s-movie pile and the fantasy pile…yeah…right there near where Lord of the Rings is sprawled out. We allow this guy to be lazy as the information enters our minds and therefore our brains look like a lazy teenager’s messy bedroom.

This storehouse doesn’t need to look this way, though. The great thing about our brains is that these movies I mentioned can be sent to more than just one part of our mind. For example, as Lord of the Rings enters the brain-storehouse it can be flagged fantasy. But, if the guy (or gal) waiting on the loading dock is properly prepared, they can immediately send it to a dozen other departments at the same time: friendship, loyalty, good vs. evil, appeal of power, mission, leadership. If our loading dock character stays busy after they’ve directed the movie to its appropriate locations then, it can continue flagging it at later dates.

Our job is to train the loading dock character properly. This guy’s training is a two-part task. One, he needs to know what he’s on the look-out for and, two, he needs to know how to process it. Both are difficult tasks. But, both tasks are essential and should be part of our daily lives anyway.

Think about politics. We typically don’t allow the guy on the loading dock slouch time when a politician is speaking to us. We’ve sharpened up what we stand for politically and we place all the information that we attain in the appropriate brain compartments. We don’t listen to Presidential candidates and think…oh, that was a nice speech, I’ll put that in the nice speech corner. No, instead we put it in the Republican corner or the Democrat corner. We fine-tune the filing system by stapling a note stating the items we agreed/disagreed on. We can further filter things by stacking them according to health care, social security, military policy.

My encouragement is to get that lazy guy directing traffic at the loading docks to stand up and get ready for action. We need to make sure he’s alert and prepared. Here are some basic principles that he/she should be aware of.

1) We need to make the most of our time. (Eph. 5:15-16)
2) We should do everything as though we’re serving the Lord. (Col. 3:23)
3) We should seek cross-worthy thoughts and activities. (1 Cor. 2:2)

These three principles are intricately related to our whole life…which includes movie watching. I’m pleased to inform you that these questions do not suck the “fun” out of the movie watching process, instead it propels you to exciting new levels.

A good movie is an opportunity. The next three-ish posts will list of some of the opportunities the movie-watcher is provided with.

Why D minuses Don't Matter to "Christian" Art

There are few things more overrated than Christian entertainment. Of course, it’s only overrated in the Christian bubble…and, of course, it’s hard to argue with the many spiritual defenses without straying too far into the boundaries of judgemental-land. I have two theories why the Christian arts are so weak...

Theory #1: The Ratio Theory
This theory rests on the premise that most “secular” art is of low quality as well. However, because there’s such a huge mass of secular art there’s still a lot to choose from. Let’s look at music as an example. And, allow me to make up some figures. Let’s assume that for every 10 albums put out in a year 1 of them is a winner. That’s a ratio of 1:10…or a percentage of 10%. ...stay with me, arithmetic is not my favorite genre, either. But, if 1,000 albums come out in a year, then 100 of them are of high quality.

Let’s feed this same ratio into the Christian music industry. Let’s assume that 500 albums are produced in the Christian world…this means 50 albums are of high quality. This means there’s half the number of quality albums, making this music harder to find. I think there’s something to this theory, but it needs to be counterbalanced with Theory #2.

Theory #2: The Grandmother Theory
This theory states that there is a ridiculous amount of grandmother-izing in the Christian music industry. A Christian musician makes an album or a Christian author writes a book and suddenly the grandmother comes out in everyone. All of a sudden Charlie’s in jail after robbing a liquor store for his crack habit and grandma is on the phone to Charlie’s parents telling them that he’s not that bad, he’s still a good boy…etc. Similarily...a “Christian” puts out a CD that sounds like Mickey Mouse in a Britney Spears costume and suddenly it’s worth listening to because “the lyrics are good” or because “it’s pretty good for the Christian world”.

Both these theories put together make for a low percentage of quality art in the Christian world. Generally, I find that it’s not worth my time to wade through the scummy waters of the Christian entertainment sub-culture and/or train myself to like the truck stop coffee they typically offer.

I’m not forsaking my Christianity by saying this…I’m all signed up for whatever promotes “Do all things for the glory of God”. I think this is fully possible in the “secular” world. I find that it’s much harder for me to justify my time when I spend it listening to low grade Christian music than it is when I listen to folks like Pete Yorn, Wilco, or my favorite, Bruce Springsteen. Some people would argue that the reverse is true for them.

The next few posts are going to be about processing art and entertainment. Movies will be the activity of choice, but I think the principles are true of any artistic medium.

Honey Nut Scooters

I realize most people exit this stage of humor development around 4th or 5th grade... But, I noticed Honey Nut Scooters at the store the other day and bought it, just because it made me laugh and because it reminded me of an old Phil Hartman SNL skit. For what it's worth...

Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter

Until further notice the best rock and roll record of 2007 is Jesse Malin's Glitter in the Gutter. This album gives me a buzz I haven’t felt since the first time I watched Top Gun. Its perfect pop coating allows each tune to go down easy while still pumping disgruntled fists with vain rock-and-roll promises that everything is going to be alright. Jesse Malin tugs, pulls, pushes, shoves…takes you by the hand and says “Hold on tight, this is a crazy ride”....and he does it without all the pretencious smarm of the last few sentences. It’s probably the best rock and roll record in 20 years…but, who’s keeping track?

http://www.jessemalin.com/

10 Best Albums of 2006

1. Modern Times - Bob Dylan
2. American V - Johnny Cash
3. Post War - M. Ward
4. We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - Bruce Springsteen
5. This Old Road - Kris Kristofferson
6. Continuum - John Mayer
7. Suprise - Paul Simon
8. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
9. Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady
10. Sam's Town - The Killers

An Ode to the Weak Mind

Matrix-like downloading into the brain
    we wish for this
A mind trained to remember quickly and never forget
    we wish for this
Our past has always wished for our present
    we're still wishing for more.

Maybe the beauty comes from the in-between
    it doesn't come from the knowledge.
We might cure disease and vanquish evil
    but the future would provide more and new.

Our best...our focus...our motivation
    the importance rests here.

Daniel Johnston vs. Frank Gehry

What makes an artist good? I've seen a couple documentaries lately that relate to the subject, The Devil and Daniel Johnston and Sketches of Frank Gehry. It's quite debatable whether Daniel Johnston or Frank Gehry are "artists", I'm of the persuasion that they are...artists.

But, maybe they're not...which makes me ask my question: "what makes an artist good?".

If myself and two others are inspired by a someone's indie-rock band does that mean they've created a praise-worthy piece of art? Or, should I be given credit for using their personal expression for good in my own life?

Maybe we should do a head count? Whoever's art speak to the greatest number of people...they are the great artists. This seems faulty, because Britney Spears is a pretty popular person, but she is the anti-thesis of good art, in my opinion.

Is this discussion even possible? Are there any "absolutes" to art, or is it a truly subjective experience? If it means something to you, should you stamp it, label it with personal quality, and move on?

How do Daniel Johnston and Frank Gehry play into this discussion? Daniel Johnston's music is unproduced garbage to most people. But, in a way, that's part of the beauty...the other beauty is a guy 100% expressing himself and vulnerably clearing the brush away for everyone to see what life is like in the mind and heart of this one person.

Frank Gehry is different. He creates buildings outside the societal norm. He's aware of the difficult process of expression. He sees the balance of creating something you like versus something someone else likes and he works within that equation.

Both Gehry and Johnston are creating things that are different from the norm. But, does different-from-the-norm mean art, or does it just mean "different" and "interesting point of view"?

With all those questions, I have few dogmatic answers. Here's my current hunch, though. There are several variables to keep in mind when it comes to art. 1) Does the expression touch someone? If it does, to what degree? 2) Do levels of investment exist? In other words, is commitment to the artist's work rewarding?

So, you factor these things together...Britney Spears is art, however, she gets low points, because a) her "art" only speaks to American 8th grade girls and b) the entirety of it is comprehended in one listen. Now, let's shoot Shakespeare into the equation... a) this art has spoken to multiple generations, cultures, and age groups, and b) people are continuously being inspired by it and discovering new aspects for why it speaks to them. Shakespeare has a high level of investment capability, if you put in a lot, you're going to get out a lot.

If that paragraph is confusing to you, just picture the old Sunday school song "Deep and Wide". The best art is wide, in that it touches a wide number of people...and, it's deep, you can dive far below the surface and discover things.

I'm not sure where Frank Gehry and Daniel Johnston fit in the scope of my mathmatical equation...I may need to do some fine tuning. However, I think the two elements are key in the discussion of art. I think there's a subtle difference between personal expression and art and this deep/wide idea seems to help my mind grapple with the concepts.