A Question on Movie-Watching

I wonder if after reading this you’ll all think I’m a fundamentalist or something for asking the question, but I’ll ask anyhow.

Since the acquisition of Netflix (the most amazing thing in the universe) I’ve been engaging in a lot of movie watching. Usually I try to see movies that are good pieces of filmmaking that leave me with plenty of things to think about later, like Babel or The Last King of Scotland and so on. Sometimes, however, a lot of things I’d rather not be seeing are introduced in the film; occasionally they actually pertain to the plot, but most of the time I consider them completely unnecessary exaggerations of nudity of violence.

I remember David’s statement in Psalms 101:3, saying he will set no wicked thing before his eyes. I wonder if we should take the same stance, forfeiting some truly remarkable art in some movies because they include unncessary displays of sexuality of violence. And if we don’t take that stance, why shouldn’t we? Is it something we just have to deal with in a fallen world, cleaving to the good and abhorring the evil?

I ask because lately I’ve found myself saying, “Yeah, this was a really great movie, except it had plenty of sex and violence.” What do you all think about this, or am I just a fundamentalist for even asking?

out of the closet meme

I can just imagine the interesting hits I’m going to get from that title alone.

Anyway, before I come out of the theological (or otherwise) closet, I will say I am out of the hospital. Thanks for your prayers. I came upon this meme at Ben Myers’s fantastic blog. With that, I give you my confessions:

I confess I cannot stand most Christian Contemporary Music

I confess I used to be an expert in Left Behind, fluent in both the young adult and adult novels

I confess I considered burning my Harry Potter books at one point in my life

I confess that I think N.T. Wright’s voice is soothing

I confess I think N.T. Wright is one of the best things to happen in a long time

I confess I enjoy the Roman Catholic liturgy, though occasionally I feel quite confused at what to do and when

I confess that when I could not find my parents, I feared the rapture had occurred

I confess that literature, theology and biblical studies consistently fight for first place in my life

I confess that as much as I enjoy Dvorak or Bach, few things pump me up as much as Japanese Rock.

Okay, I tag Matt, Mike, Byron, and Kyle.

I am…

back. =)

Credo

I haven’t had much exposure in my life to creeds. So as I listened to this electronic mass from the fantastic Adom9, I decided to look up the lyrics to the latin and the English translation. I find it so gorgeous. And the best thing is that Catholics get to recite this every mass!

Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium,
Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum,
Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero.
Genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri:
Per quem omnia facta sunt,
qui propter nos homines,
Et propter nostram salutem
descendit de caelis.
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto
ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis:
sub Pontio Pilato
passus et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in caelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum Gloria
judicare vivos et mortuos:
Cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in spiritum sanctum,
Dominum, et vivificantem:
Qui ex Patre, Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio
simul adoratur, et conglorificatur:
Qui locutus est per Prophetas.
Et unam sanctam catholicam
et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma
in remissionem peccatorum.
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.
Et vitam venturi saeculi.
Amen.

*lyrics from here

Distortation or Fabrication

I read this this morning and thought of how similar it was to Kyle’s post yeseterday.

“Before Paul will even come to a report of his specific prayers, he establishes what is after all the appropriate context for all Christian prayer, reflection and exhortation: the worship and adoration of the God who has lavished his love upon us.
Who is this God, then? Why is he to be worshiped and adored in his way?
Paul’s answer, which he never gets tired of repeating and which we should never take for granted as we hear it, is that the true God, who deserves and should receive our glad worship, is the father of the Lord Jesus, the king, the Messiah. He is not the same as the gods and goddesses of the pagan world. He isn’t just a divine force, a vague influence or energy loosely known as ‘the sacred.’ He is the God who made the world, and who has now made himself known in and through Jesus. As far as Paul is concerned, any picture of God which doesn’t now have Jesus in the middle of it is a distortation or a downright fabrication. “

- “Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters” by Tom Wright

Speaking of fabrications, Kim Fabricus just does not stop with his insightful and erudite posting in Ten propositions on being human. Here are some snapshots:

“Gifts of God to the world, we live like we are God’s gift to the world. We act like we are self-caused, self-made, independent, indispensable, as though our non-existence were inconceivable. We act, in other words, like God. And in acting like God we act against God. We sin.”

“To be human is to be self-contradictory. Sin is a surd, or, as Barth said, an impossible possibility. That is why we cannot fit sin into any system: it is inherently inexplicable, irrational – it doesn’t compute. To be human is also to be self-contradictory in the sense that in acting against God, we act against ourselves: we are self-destructive – we are always pushing our delete key.”

(I’ll be pleased if anyone can tell me what distortion I’ve included in this post, since I made the fabrication fairly clear).

Why bother blogging…

when people like Scot McKnight do an amazing job of it and make it look amazing? I, however, trudge along. Well, I think the people who read this like me. I hope.

By the way, my life will soon be sucked away by that which is known as Myspace. Thanks a lot, friends!

I just proofread my hyperlinks – check out this spam.

I want to go to Asbury

Ben Witheringon has been on fire these past few days, so I recommend you go read at least the three latest posts.

And you should read this too: “‘If you read about the life of Isaac (or any other OT person, really), you don’t read anything like ‘and at age 9, Isaac asked YHWH into his heart.’”

Teach me to write like Kim Fabricus

If any of you know me, you will know that I have some pacifist leanings. And I care about the environment! I know, dangerous combination. Anyway, I think that Kim Fabricus is making some persuasive points at Faith and Theology in his marvelous style – I encourage you all to read the postscript and the discussion if you find the former stimulating.

 Propositions on Peace and War: a postscript

Baptize me

I really am going to get around to that series on baptism…someday.

Anyway, I wanted to refer you all to that crazy Mexican’s post on baptism. I myself was baptized three times, (once as a child in a Roman Catholic baptism, then again later when I was like, um, 8-12? and then again when I was 14-15). so I figure I have to be in the community by now.

The 8-12 year old baptism was one brought about by my church’s teaching that baptism occurs after “getting saved”. As the semi-pelagian catechism puts it:

Q: What is baptism?
A: Baptism is the act whereby, by the performance of something that seems quite silly in front of everyone, I prove that I really, really mean it.

So yeah, basically a believer’s or credo baptism that follows profession of faith in Christ.

After going through a period of intense doubting and even professing agnosticism/atheism, I eventually returned to my Christian roots and got “really saved.” I don’t really know what was genuine, but the most change and consistent Christian living has occurred after that 14/15 year old conversion. I was then baptized about a month afterwards.

I’ve read some different ideas about baptism these days, and I could see myself moving in a paedo-baptist direction in the future. Even my reading of pivotal passages like Romans 6 has changed. I’m not dogmatic about such things. I typically say, “If you profess faith in Christ, get baptized as soon as possible.” A stricter stance than that will have to come with much thoughtful and prayerful study.

That’s all I have to say for now. Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Those Crazy Vegetables

“Well, to make a short story, um, even shorter, the prophet Nathan (Pa Grape) tells King George a story (with the aid of a beautiful flannel graph) about the rich man and the poor man with the sheep . . . you know. Anyway, King George decides to make things right. Thomas comes home from the pie wars (without his mind) and King George gives him a hot bath and his own rubber ducky. Thomas gets his mind back and his ducky back, and King George promises never to be selfish again. (Too bad things didn’t work out so well for Uriah the Hittite and David in the Bible.) Is this the way you want your children to learn the Bible?


I found the above funny, and the following sad:

“High school youth groups are run more like secular encounter groups rather than a place where the rigorous study of God’s Word takes place with its real-world application.7 Although not written specifically about VeggieTales, the following comments are appropriate: “It is tragic that churches have trivialized God by creating a user-friendly deity who lacks mystery and transcendence.”
All from this great article by Gary DeMar.