« August 2003 | Main | October 2003 »
It's got strawberries and opacity and it's available on the drop-down menu on the sidebar. It'll be in the gallery shortly. (Sorry Opera users, but the opacity effect doesn't work in that browser.) The strawberry images are from iStockPhoto.
Even though I haven't posted in days, my hits are way up because of all the searches I'm getting about the new Martin Luther movie.
Here are some positive reviews:
And some negative reviews:
Predictably, Catholics hate this movie and Protestants like it. I haven't seen it -- it isn't playing here yet. I may end up waiting for it to come out on video.
One of the main criticisms of this movie is that Luther is portrayed too heroically, and that the bad parts of his character are ignored. For example, Luther was anti-Semitic, especially in his dotage. Yet, Luther was not the only one of his time who was anti-Semitic. Much of Christendom, including the leadership of the Catholic Church in Luther's time, was anti-Semitic. So, I think there is enough guilt to go around, in that regard.
Also, the movie has been criticized for being anti-Catholic. Well, I'll have to see the movie myself to determine if that's the case. When I saw Elizabeth a few years ago, I thought it was very anti-Catholic. If Luther is anything like that movie, then I'll have to agree. However, I don't think it is anti-Catholic to acknowledge that Luther had a point and that there was corruption in the Catholic Church of his time.
And for anyone who got here searching for Luther info, here are some previous posts:
Update (10/7/03): Eric Seymour, who is helping to fill in for Joshua Claybourn this week, saw Luther and liked it. There's quite a discussion going on in the comments of his post.
Sorry for the dearth...I'm too weary and drained to blog lately. I'll be back when I'm feeling better.
According to Lynn, my blog name would be a "girl band. Or, on second thought, maybe one of those bands where you can't tell the gender of most of the members."
You mean like one of those early-80s New Wave bands with big, pouffy, moussed-up hair and tons of make-up? Sounds about right...
I don't know whether to find this site hilarious or sad. Actually, it's a little of both. The site is dedicated to bashing various Christian artists for Crimes Against Uprightness™. Sixpence None the Richer actually (**gasp**) have lyrics about spiritual struggle! Don't they know that a real Christian is happy, happy, HAPPY 24-7 and never, ever has a single doubt?
Rich Mullins may have been drawn to...Catholicism! **swoon**
And look at what they have to say about the previously mentioned Steve Taylor. "Guilty by Association" indeed...
(Via Mark Shea.)
Update: By the way, they hate C.S. Lewis too...he's "devilish"!
While writing the previous post, I was reminded of this essay by Steve Taylor that Jared at Thinklings posted about the other day. Taylor points out how some Christians seem to think artistic expression is an unworthy endeavor, unless it's done for the sake of propaganda:
...We send out the not-so-subtle inference that if you have to be an artist, if you can't find a more worthy, spiritual profession, you can redeem yourself by way of a thoroughly unbiblical sub-hierarchy in the world of artistic expression. At the top of the truly Christian pursuits in the arts are all songs that mention Jesus by name, followed by end-times novels and movies, followed by the sequels to end-times novels and movies, and at the bottom of that list are any forms of artistic expression that allow room for imagination, nuance, and renewing of the mind.Am I exaggerating? Not much.
Is it any wonder that we've got so few quality artists claiming Jesus as Lord? For better or worse, people tend to go where they're wanted. We've managed to tell a generation of artists, "Your work has no value to God unless you're willing to turn it into lowest common denominator propaganda. But if you are, we've got a system in place that can provide a pretty comfortable living for you."
Taylor then goes on to explain the importance of being "salt and light" in the culture, rather than hiding away in a little subculture:
If we're not actively engaging culture, if we're not showing our world the relevance of Jesus to all walks of life, we're being disobedient.
Taylor ends his essay with a warning that engaging the mainstream culture can be dangerous -- there's the risk of becoming a casualty. However, he says that this is a risk that must be taken.
As they say, RTWT.
And if I may add a couple of things...
Taylor mentions the Bob Briner book Roaring Lambs. I have the book, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet -- I've only skimmed it. If you've read the book and have any thoughts, feel free to post them in the comments.
Also, this essay must have been written a while back, because sadly, Taylor's Squint company is no more. In this recent interview, Taylor explains what happened. (Link first seen on JYB a couple of months ago.)
When I first heard about Revolve, the New Testament of the Bible in the form of a fashion magazine (like Cosmopolitan, Glamour or Seventeen), I decided to find out more before judging the whole project. You see, I hate, hate, HATE fashion mags! I hate the whole philosophy behind them. I think they pretty much sell the wrong values to women, especially young women. The values that say that you have to be junkie-thin, wear the latest, most trendy clothes, wear the right make-up and have the morals of a prostitute to live up to your full potential as a woman. As far as I'm concerned, fashion mags are vapid, destructive crap.
So here we have a Bible in that's in the same format as one of these magazines, in an attempt to appeal to the teenage girl demographic. Many other blogs have commented on Revolve. My first instinct was to find the whole idea silly and questionable -- especially considering my hatred for fashion mags. But then, some have made the argument that Christians need to engage the culture and not act like we're up on a cloud somewhere -- that we need to be relevant. I agree with this.
However, there are things about Revolve which disturb me. Many of those things are brought up in this Christianity Today article. Is it good to associate the word of God with the empty-headed shallowness of fashion magazines? As pointed out in the article and elsewhere, fashion mags are ephemeral -- people flip through them and then throw them away. Nobody keeps them. Should the Bible be presented in such a disposable format?
Then there's this from the CT article:
On page 186, the girls can find "Top Ten Great Christian Books." C. S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers haven't made the list. Top honors go to Witnessing 101 by Tim Baker and published by Transit Books. In fact, all of the top ten books have been recently published by Thomas Nelson, most of them through Transit Books.Here's another curiosity: The eighth of the top ten great Christian books is titled Why So Many Gods? Its authors are Tim Baker and Kate Etue. Kate Etue is also the senior editor of Revolve. She was the one promoting the biblezine on CNN recently.
No C.S. Lewis, but instead, recommendations of books that just so happen to be published by Revolve's publisher. That tells me a lot about this project...
But on the other hand, perhaps Revolve could have some value. It could at least get teenage girls thinking about what the Bible says. Once they are through with the "milk" that Revolve offers, hopefully they will be ready for some real "meat".
Also, I figure if Revolve upsets San Francisco Chronicle columnist and anti-Christian whackjob Mark Morford this much, it must have some merit. (Apparently, the very idea that someone somewhere is dressing modestly or practicing abstinence really chaps Mr. Morford's butt.)
So, to sum up -- I have to go with my initial instincts about Revolve being silly and questionable. However, perhaps some good can come of it. Only time will tell if Revolve bears good fruit.
Update: Oh, now this is too funny! Thanks to Alicia for the link!
Did you know that today be Talk Like a Pirate Day? Well, you do now. I translated this post with t'English-to-Pirate translator. And, I'll have you know, me pirate name be Mad Dog Rackham, so you better watch yourself!
(Via a whole buncho'folks.)
I've just finished a new skin with a fall theme. The autumn scene comes from iStockphoto.com. The bullet and separator come from House of Lime. I used the method described here to do the rounded corners on the sidebar and content areas. It will be added to page 2 of the gallery shortly. Enjoy!
Sharon sees some similarities. Jay Solo has some additional thoughts. Here are the comments I made on Sharon's post:
I don't cuss on my blog, because...well...it just feels wrong to me. I cuss in real life when I'm angry. I'm not proud of that and I try not to do it. I like to try and keep my worst instincts under (some) control on my blog.I know how to shoot a gun, and I have no problems with guns. But I'm no Annie Oakley. :-) I used to enjoy going to the range, but I haven't been in a couple of years because the closest range to where I live went out of business. People who get all prissy and scared about guns annoy me.
And I was a geek-girl in high school as well. I usually sat on the breeze-way during lunch, eating some kind of junk-food and drinking a Coke while frantically trying to get some last-minute homework done.
Personally, I don't care if the "in" crowd in blogdom likes me or not. I try to be nice to people (for the most part) and if they return the kindness, that's wonderful. If not, I'll just write them off as jerks and forget them.
So there you have it. I'm still a misfit after all these years. Except now, I don't care that I am...
Here's a couple of "must read" items for the weekend...
You would think that, on 9/11, jerks could just quit being jerks for one day. That they could restrain their jerkiness for just 24 hours. But noooo...
Update on the first item: She's been fired! How cool is that? (And a small correction...it looks like this incident originally happened on TV.)
This whole subject is sort of in the same vein as this earlier post. InstaPundit had the picture of The Falling Man on the top of his page yesterday. Today, he is being criticized for posting the photo. Bryan Preston responds to InstaPundit's critics. Andrea Harris also has a couple of responses.
Here's a good article from a while back about Johnny Cash from Thunderstruck: "Johnny Cash approaches Judgment Day with faith".
I got up to sad news about two celebrity deaths -- one expected and one unexpected.
When June Carter Cash passed away a few months ago, I had a feeling that Johnny Cash wouldn't be with us much longer. They are now together forever. When I was I kid, my parents had a compilation of hits from the 1950s on 8-track. One of my favorite songs on the tape was "I Walk the Line". It had such an odd, but yet likeable sound. The lyrics were a beautiful testament to love and faithfulness. Although I'm not much on country music, I always liked Johnny Cash. Perhaps this is because his music didn't sound like typical country music. Although he struggled with many hardships and demons, he was a man of great faith who loved God. And now he is with God.
John Ritter of Three's Company fame also died -- very suddenly of heart problems. I was only about nine or ten years old when that show came on the air. It was considered kind of racy then, but it seems pretty innocent now, by today's standards. I didn't see it as racy...I was just a kid. I just thought it was a funny show. Ritter's character Jack was what made it funny. May he rest in peace.
This post on blogs4God mentions a "Media Fast" that some took part in. Those who participated abstained from the media for the duration of 9/11. The reason being that the media has a tendency to exploit -- that it is insensitive to the victims and their families to show the scenes from 9/11.
Dean Esmay and Rachel Lucas (among many others) have a different opinion of showing scenes from 9/11. They believe it is important to remember the events of that day. They believe the media is wimping out by not showing these events. I would say that blogdom is picking up the media's slack in this regard.
While I think the idea behind the Media Fast is a noble and understandable one, I have to say that I agree with Dean and Rachel on this. I think a balance can be struck between insensitively exploiting the events of 9/11 and sanitizing them. Unfortunately, the major media seems to have trouble finding this balance.
It seems to me that people are falling asleep again. They are getting too comfortable, too complacent. They need to remember. Remember the victims. Remember the devastation. Remember the hate and fanaticism that fueled the attacks. Remember that the problem hasn't gone away. Remember to be vigilant.
Here are some more posts that are good reminders, posts that will keep us awake. There are many more than this -- these are just a few:
From the inimitable Lileks' 9/11 Bleat:
Of course some people are impatient with those who still recall the shock of 9/11; the same people were crowding the message boards of internet sites on the afternoon of the attacks, eager to blame everyone but the hijackers. They hate this nation. In their hearts, they hate humanity. They would rather cheer the perfect devils than come to the aid of a compromised angel. They can talk for hours about how wrong it was to kill babies, busboys, businessmen, receptionists, janitors, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers - and then they lean towards you, eyes wide, and they say the fatal word:But.
And then you realize that the eulogy is just a preface. All that concern for the dead is nothing more than the knuckle-cracking of an organist who’s going to play an E minor chord until we all agree we had it coming.
Sharon at The Brazos de Dios Cantina had to sit through one sorry sermon...on 9/11 of all days. I don't blame her for being angry at this priest's drivel. Basically, this guy was saying that we should forgive 9/11 because, well, we had it coming:
I was angry, angry that little young heads had to hear that forgiveness viewing what happened as justice for not giving enough to people who needed it, and not being kind and forgiving enough. Angry that young heads full of mush would see 9-11 as justified action against a people who have a two-by-four in their eyes. Angry that no word of what good has come out of all of this. "A wake up call!" the priest said, as if we were still inured in our own arrogance when it happened, and now we need to forgive them, because after all, we deserved it.
(Strange how those who spout this garbage never call for those who are angry at America for whatever reason to forgive us. Why is the call for forgiveness a one-way street?)
Sharon then pretty much nails down the meaning of forgiveness:
Because *I* believe it means not letting hatred ruin the day or for your joy in God's love. Forgiveness means acknowledging what is right and wrong and responding correctly to it, but it also means not letting hatred keep you hostage.
Forgiveness does not negate the need for justice. This priest and many like him seem to think justice means vengeance, but that is not the case. I just think it's very telling that he thinks the terrorists' vengeance is justified, whereas America's alleged vengeance is not.
This post will stay at the top until after September 11. On that day, the front page of this blog will go black, with a simple tribute.
My recollections of that horrible day are in this post from last year.
Michele from A Small Victory is collecting 9/11 remembrances in The Voices Project.
Two sites that remember those lost:
(Photo courtesy of iStockPhoto.com. Click for larger view.)
I could not finish reading this story, but I feel I should link it. Here are some excerpts:
THEY BEGAN JUMPING NOT LONG after the first plane hit the North Tower, not long after the fire started. They kept jumping until the tower fell. They jumped through windows already broken and then, later, through windows they broke themselves. They jumped to escape the smoke and the fire; they jumped when the ceilings fell and the floors collapsed; they jumped just to breathe once more before they died. They jumped continually, from all four sides of the building, and from all floors above and around the building's fatal wound.
Indeed, there were reports that some tried parachuting, before the force generated by their fall ripped the drapes, the tablecloths, the desperately gathered fabric, from their hands. They were all, obviously, very much alive on their way down, and their way down lasted an approximate count of ten seconds. They were all, obviously, not just killed when they landed but destroyed, in body though not, one prays, in soul. One hit a fireman on the ground and killed him; the fireman's body was anointed by Father Mychal Judge, whose own death, shortly thereafter, was embraced as an example of martyrdom after the photograph—the redemptive tableau—of firefighters carrying his body from the rubble made its way around the world.
Those tumbling through the air remained, by all accounts, eerily silent; those on the ground screamed. It was the sight of the jumpers that prompted Rudy Giuliani to say to his police commissioner, "We're in uncharted waters now." It was the sight of the jumpers that prompted a woman to wail, "God! Save their souls! They're jumping! Oh, please God! Save their souls!" And it was, at last, the sight of the jumpers that provided the corrective to those who insisted on saying that what they were witnessing was "like a movie," for this was an ending as unimaginable as it was unbearable: Americans responding to the worst terrorist attack in the history of the world with acts of heroism, with acts of sacrifice, with acts of generosity, with acts of martyrdom, and, by terrible necessity, with one prolonged act of—if these words can be applied to mass murder—mass suicide.
I couldn't read much more after that.
(Via Mark Shea.)
Take a look at this site and read about Terri Schiavo's situation. This is an outrage!
(Via Open Book.)
I think this video clip is really funny. (Via a comment on LGF.)
For those referred to in this rant of mine, I suggest that they read this and learn something. No, they don't hate us because we don't give enough foreign aid:
'IT is not the American war machine that should be of the utmost concern to Muslims. What threatens the future of Islam, in fact its very survival, is American democracy." This is the message of a new book, just published by al Qaeda in several Arab countries.
Al-Ayyeri argues that the history of mankind is the story of "perpetual war between belief and unbelief." Over the millennia, both have appeared in different guises. As far as belief is concerned, the absolutely final version is represented by Islam, which "annuls all other religions and creeds." Thus, Muslims can have only one goal: converting all humanity to Islam and "effacing the final traces of all other religions, creeds and ideologies."
He says that it is vital to prevent any normalization and stabilization in Iraq. Muslim militants should make sure that the United States does not succeed in holding elections in Iraq and creating a democratic government. "If democracy comes to Iraq, the next target [for democratization] would be the whole of the Muslim world," Al-Ayyeri writes.
(Via Common Sense and Wonder.)
First, there's this Agape Press article. (Link via Relapsed Catholic.) An excerpt:
Although the film is very frank, Strand says he has yet to hear of any criticisms from Roman Catholics. Certainly there has been no backlash comparable to the reactions from some of the Jewish community to Mel Gibson's as yet unreleased The Passion.
Then there's this lengthier article in Thrivent magazine:
Theological wrangling, however, isn't exactly a recipe for box-office blockbusters. So, why make a movie about a church reformer? Director Eric Till, auteur of the award-winning "Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace," points to Luther's pivotal place in history.Scholars regularly rank Luther among history's most important figures. The Biography Channel recently named him third among the most important people of the last millennium. And a 1953 film called "Martin Luther" was a sleeper hit that earned two Academy Award nominations and remains a steady seller on home video. The story is popular because Luther was a man of uncommon conviction and courage, Till says. "We're all aching for a leader who won't lie," the director explains. Luther stood up for his beliefs, at great personal risk. "That was brave," the director says. "We're in dire need of people like that these days."
Luther was the epitome of the modern man, suggests Fiennes. His tale is heroic in the best sense. "You can't keep a man down and you can't control him," the actor says. "Sooner or later he will gain knowledge and, through knowledge, the power to be liberated."
In this post from a couple of weeks ago, a commenter wondered why Mel Gibson didn't portray himself as one of those nailing Jesus to the cross, if the true intent was to show that we are all responsible for Jesus' crucifixion. The commenter went on to say that Gibson would never make such a bold statement in the film.
Well, Alan at Theosebes links to an article in Chronicles Magazine which reveals that Gibson has done just that:
But nothing I have read about Passion suggests that Gibson is making this movie to blame anyone. I was moved by the interviews Gibson and Jim Caviezel, the actor playing Christ, gave EWTN, where they spoke of their desire to use the film to glorify Christ. Indeed Deal Hudson has written that “one of the two glimpses of Gibson in the movie is when you see his hand placing the stake on Christ’s palm—thus underlining Gibson’s own guilt, which in Christian theology he shares with all mankind, for the death of Christ.”
Emphasis mine.
It's nice to have a good laugh after a crappy day...
(Upon seeing this in the morning paper my first grumpy, intemperate, sarcastic thought was, "Yeah, kill the babies and let the murderers live!")
Update: Joshua Claybourn wonders where all the anti-death-penalty protesters were during Paul Hill's execution. I have to admit that I wondered the same thing myself. Well, there were "more than a dozen" here in Pensacola, FWIW.
Update 2: Roy Jacobsen thinks the media may have chosen to ignore the anti-death-penalty protesters in this instance. (And I didn't get the title of this post from his post -- I swear!)
Dean's World has a really good discussion about forgiveness and what constitutes a sincere apology. I chimed in a couple of times, but the best comments (on mercy, justice and forgiveness) are by someone named Scott Harris.
I have posted about this subject before. Forgiveness is one of those things I struggle with.
Nine years ago, Paul Hill murdered an abortionist and an escort outside an abortion clinic here in Pensacola. Tomorrow, he will be executed for those murders. To this day, he is completely unrepentant.
Hill may be anti-abortion, but he is not pro-life. Ego, hatred and vengefulness drove him to take the law into his own hands. He is not a martyr and he is not a hero. As a pro-lifer, let me say that what Hill did was horrible and is a grave sin.
"The sooner I am executed...the sooner I am going to heaven," said Hill, who is to be executed Wednesday night. "I expect a great reward in heaven. I am looking forward to glory. I don't feel remorse."
The ultimate judgment of Hill is up to God. However, I think it's safe to say that if Hill doesn't repent of murdering two human beings, he's in for a rude surprise when he stands before God.
Update: The news story link I used when I first posted this has expired, so I updated the link. The quote I used came from the first story.
I just deleted a comment on one of my posts that was nothing but a bunch of links for casinos, pr0n and, um, male member enlargement. The IP was 61.181.5.70. Is this a new, unfortunate trend? Has anyone else gotten one of these comments?
Whatever the case, such comments will be deleted as soon as I'm aware of them and the IP addresses will be banned.
Update (9/30/03): Just tracking back to this post on Troll Alert to make more people aware of this spammer IP.