or as I keep saying, “you don’t replace something with nothing.” the blue people movie is more evidence that in our modern culture spirituality is fine, but Christianity or other specific organized religion is off-limits. Jonah has an interesting piece up called “Avatar and the Faith Instinct.”
a bit to tease you over there to read it.
But what I find interesting about the film is how what is “pleasing to the most people” is so unapologetically religious.
Nicholas Wade’s new book, The Faith Instinct, lucidly compiles the scientific evidence that humans are hard-wired to believe in the transcendent. That transcendence can be divine or simply Kantian, a notion of something unknowable from mere experience. Either way, in the words of philosopher Will Herberg, “Man is homo religiosus, by ‘nature’ religious: as much as he needs food to eat or air to breathe, he needs a faith for living.”
Wade argues that the Darwinian evolution of man depended not only on individual natural selection but also on the natural selection of groups. And groups that subscribe to a religious worldview are more apt to survive — and hence pass on their genes. Religious rules impose moral norms that facilitate collective survival in the name of a “cause larger than yourself,” as we say today. No wonder everything from altruism to martyrdom is part of nearly every faith.
The faith instinct may be baked into our genes, but it is also profoundly malleable. Robespierre, the French revolutionary who wanted to replace Christianity with a new “age of reason,” emphatically sought to exploit what he called the “religious instinct which imprints upon our souls the idea of a sanction given to moral precepts by a power that is higher than man.”
here is an interesting perspective on how much truth to give someone in their moment of pain and how our hearts have to be divinely prepared before some truths make sense to us at all.
a taste:
2.Then there’s an important truth of practical and pastoral theology. Sometimes the right explanation is the wrong explanation. It may be correct. It may be orthodox. But some people just aren’t ready to hear it.
That’s one of the lessons we can derive from the book of Job. Some of what his friends told him was unobjectionable in its own right. But it was tactless to say those things to a grief-stricken man.
Sometimes the truth doesn’t help. Sometimes it’s futile to explain things to an individual. And that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the explanation, as such.
and here is more after retelling the story of Tamar, Judah and Perez:
It also served a larger purpose in God’s redemptive plan. As a result, the tribe of Judah became the line of promise (cf. Ps 78:59-72; 1 Chron 5:1-2). And, for her part, Tamar became a link in the chain leading all the way up to Christ (Mt 1:3).
Of course, that’s with the benefit of hindsight. We know how the story ends. We know how things turn out. But from within the story, from Tamar’s timebound perspective, it may seem utterly bleak.
And, of course, future Christians are to us what we are to Tamar. The past makes more sense to those living in the present. Our present is someone else’s past. Our future is someone else’s present.
As timebound creatures, we all find ourselves in inexplicable situations. What was bad at the time may be a future good. What was bad for one man may be good for another.
And that’s how God often operates. Making the best of the worst. This isn’t just an afterthought, either. Rather, it’s a divine strategy which underlies much of human history.
If that’s too much for you to stomach, then you might as well become an atheist. You can sit there on your pink cloud, with your can of air freshener, and rue the terrible things you see below–or else you can agree with God’s way of doing things, and learn to see the hidden wisdom of his ways.
emphasis added by BKI
what he said. “if that is too much for you to stomach, then you might as well become an atheist.” That is what I want to tell people like Wes Widner.
this is a great read and a fun take on the new smurf native movie. Takes down radical earth loving environmentalists along the way.
In Avatar, James Cameron has created a world that justifies the smug arrogance and bitter alienation of the radical environmentalist. The alien world of Pandora really is a maternal Gaia spirit, with every bit of the flora and fauna connected in a mystical web that capitalists and soldiers are too blind and stupid to see. The alien Na’vi really are what infantile liberal mythology has made of the American Indian: innocent, peace-loving, simple, and so harmonious with nature that they can literally plug it into their pony tails. Lacking the conflict and flaws that make the Indians so fascinating and tragic, the Na’vi are utterly boring, aside from the heroine brought vividly to life by a remarkable performance from Zoe Saldana. The childlike environmentalist daydream of a “perfect” society, sustainably at peace with Mother Nature, is captured in the image of the Na’vi tribe snuggled in hammock-like leaves, embraced by the vast branches of their goddess tree. No ambitions, no failures, no questions, no achievement, no future. These giant blue aliens leave absolutely no carbon footprint.
What happens to this wish-fulfillment watercolor of eco-paradise? Why, greedy idiots with guns and bulldozers show up to mow it down, of course. Humans suck, man. They deserve to die… and die they do, in a hail of arrows, fangs, teeth, and lots of screaming plummets from great heights. All those military toys beloved by the right-wing warmongers of the military-industrial complex prove to be useless against the righteous fury of an aroused Gaia and her chosen champion, a redeemed soldier who has seen the error of his ways. Take that, Marine killbot slaves of Big Business.
I can’t resist putting the last paragraph up too, but you really do have to go read the rest.
Avatar was written by a man who thinks those who disagree with his environmentalist obsessions are so blind that, in the future they will create, the last decent man in the universe will lead a far more noble alien race to victory over us, and literally renounce his humanity as part of his reward. James Cameron invites you to join him in the most beautifully rendered adolescent daydream of suicide ever created, and share his sense of righteous superiority over those who refuse to applaud at the end. I’m a sucker for good-looking dragons, so I gave him a golf clap for those.
here is the beginning of a fascinating disquisition.
The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus’ Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season; in the cold month of December, on the other hand, sheep might well have been corralled. Yet most scholars would urge caution about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical.
He has been doing a series showing God’s sovereignty in everything and especially in salvation in each non-Pauline epistle of the New Testament in order to show that this doctrine is not something that only Paul writes about. Interesting stuff.
I would also recommend three posts of his for those of you struggling with the sovereignty of God in salvation.
So why? Why did I get so upset? Why is the idea of a God who chooses certain people over others so offensive, when the Bible we read every day is crammed full of situation where God does just that? How did I go 6 years, knowing this God, yet never truly understanding how the Bible clearly says He interacts with man?
One thing any Bible believing Christian must agree on is that some people go to Hell when they die. God’s just wrath against some sinners is not forgiven, and they take the wrath themselves. If Jesus died so that people could be saved, and God is powerful enough to do whatever He wants, why doesn’t He make everyone go to Heaven? Do people go to Hell because they just didn’t make the right decision?
I didn’t cheer, by the way. Too much Merle Haggard in my blood, I guess. Like to see you make that movie in Afghanistan, fella…about 14 hours ago from Tweetie
James Cameron’s last big propaganda film was filled with Celine Dion crooning. This one: Jane Fonda on a Viet Cong missle launcher.about 14 hours ago from Tweetie
If you can get a theater full of people in Kentucky to stand and cheer for the defeat of their country, your special effects are quite good.about 14 hours ago from Tweetie
Here at the movie theater. Half of us here; half of us late. Just like Sunday School!about 18 hours ago from Tweetie
fixing to take a posse of @SBTS students to see this movie about fighting smurfs. Seems to be a Christmassy thing to do.about 18 hours ago from Tweetie
and here is Dr. Moore’s more in depth review called Rambo in Reverse.
Here is the beginning:
If you can get a theater full of people in Kentucky to stand and applaud the defeat of their country in war, then you’ve got some amazing special effects.
I just left opening night of James Cameron’s gazillion-dollar epic film Avatar. The reviews were right. The plot is laughably cliched. And the special effects are the most jaw-dropping you’ve ever seen. What I wasn’t quite ready for was the preachiness of the propaganda.
Here is what he tweeted before knowing the results:
Path report is 2ndary at best…good report doesn’t mean much, bad report doesn’t mean anything…my days r numbered and nt by ths report
12:10 PM Dec 15th from TweetDeck
and here is what he tweeted afterward:
why not me? Why not you?
about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck
I am praying with great desire. My desire is that God would heal Matt, hand him to Lauren and the kids to be her husband and their daddy, restore him to the pulpit, empower him to preach his heart out for the magnification of Jesus, and one day let him play with his grandkids. I think God wants me to desire those things and ask Him for them, knocking until my knuckles bleed, making it clear to God how I desire Him to respond. And, those desires are good. But those desires are different than our hope.
If our lives are but a mist that vanishes after a “little while” then we should probably be wise in how we spend our “little while.”
John Piper gave a series of messages in 2008 about not wasting our lives. Use some of your allotted time to listen to them. It will be well worth it. I especially liked his “don’t waste your robbery” illustration but all of it is very good.
A friend of mine put this question up on Facebook last night:
Michael Irvin “would trade it all for 19-0” and wonders: What would you trade it all for?
a question like that crawls up into my brain and rolls around for a little while.
first of all the lawyer in me wants to explore the parameters of the question for a little while to avoid answering. what do you mean “trade it all?” what is getting traded? what are you left with afterward? family? fame? fortune? flea bitten fauna?
If “trade it all” really means all, then that makes the question a lot harder, because what is the use of getting whatever you are trading to get if you don’t have family with which to share it?
See the thing is that I know the right answer is “Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 13:44-45. But this is a case where knowing the right answer and feeling it seem to be two different things.
would I really give up everything in exchange for the Kingdom of Heaven? really? Or would I rather the answer be ten million dollars so that I don’t have to worry about money anymore? If the latter, then is financial security the idol that I trust more than God?
would I really give up everything in exchange for the Kingdom of Heaven? really? Or would I rather the answer be kids that turn out ok, get good educations, marry nice people and in turn have kids that turn out well? If the latter, then is family security the idol that I trust more than God?
would I really give up everything in exchange for the Kingdom of Heaven? really? Or would I rather the answer be health and a long life? if so, then is health and life on this earth the idol that I trust more than God?
would I really give up everything in exchange for the Kingdom of Heaven? really? Or would I rather the answer be ________________? If so then is ___________________the idol that I trust more than God?
See what I mean? questions like that end up rattling around for a little while. Maybe the answer is to stay off Facebook to avoid them. Maybe? :->
The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse traditions. Many say they attend worship services of more than one faith or denomination — even when they are not traveling or going to special events like weddings and funerals. Many also blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects. And sizeable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups say they have experienced supernatural phenomena, such as being in touch with the dead or with ghosts.
this is what I call the “salad bar” approach to religion. Mixing and matching greens, vegetables, bacon bits and seeds with a preferred dressing and creating one’s own special religious approach. I know and am friends with a fellow who calls himself a “quaker buddhist”.
People in this modern secular age aren’t rejecting religion; they are rejecting doctrinally sound, biblically based Christian faith. Go check out the tables for yourself. fascinating.
hat tip to Byron York who looks at the beliefs of democrats v. republicans in the study.
on a somewhat related note, check out this video of Lord Monckton engaging in socratic conversation with a lady from Greenpeace on the subject of anthropogenic global warming.
video via Hot Air which also has a video with interesting graphs made from data from core samples of arctic ice.
Moreover, the New Calvinism displays considerable diversity. African-American rapper Curtis “Voice” Allen is known for his distinctively Calvinist lyrics (“I been exposed to bright lights, the doctrines of grace, I’m elected, imputed perfected . . . Cuz nothing can stop his plan, and as far as the east is from the west more than time zones, man”). The New Calvinists admire not only white Puritans but “black Puritan” voices like Lemuel Haynes and Anthony Carter, who gives an African-American take on the themes of the New Calvinism in On Being Black and Reformed.
and here is the third of Kevin’s responses to the article.
3. Not kingdom enough. Billings would like to see the New Calvinist think big, embrace the cultural mandate, and be salt and light in all areas of society. This one is tricky, because the neo-reformed movement is simply not agreed as to how important this emphasis should be. Some would applaud Billings’ point about cultural transformation. Some would be wary of it. Others would say, “sounds good, but that’s the role of individual Christians, not the church as church.” Be a salt and light? Absolutely. Be neo-Kuyperian? Depends on who you ask.
check them both out. good stuff with which to finish the weekend.
This is a very important point. Many shows, and much of the message coming out of popular American culture, is that we are all destined for greatness. We are all destined to do a job we not only like, but love. We are, in spite of any statistics to the contrary, bound to fall into a perfect, passionate love. We will all be powerful and unique, especially if we go to college.
Of course, just like most of us don’t have the body types of movie-stars, most of us will also not be millionaires or celebrities. Most of us will only ever achieve moderate financial success. Most of us will only be content with our work. We will dislike many of our bosses and co-workers and will have to learn to live with them as best we can, just like we learn to live with our imperfect families. Are we all just under-achievers then?
But the Lady did not appear to be listening to him. She stood like one almost dazed with the richness of a day-dream. She did not look in the least like a woman who is thinking about a new dress. The expression of her face was noble. It was a great deal too noble. Greatness, tragedy, high sentiment–these were obviously what occupied her thoughts. Ransom perceived that the affair of the robes and the mirror had been only superficially concerned with what is commonly called female vanity. The image of her beautiful body had been offered to her only as a means to awake the far more perilous image of her great soul. The external and, as it were, dramatic conception of the self was the enemy’s true aim. He was making her mind a theatre in which that phantom self should hold the stage. He had already written the play.
here are a couple of bits from his article, but go read the whole thing.
[In starting Cornerstone Church] I simply followed what other churches in America had done. I didn’t even think twice about it. But as I look back, I’m amazed that I didn’t consult the Scriptures as my primary resource. Had I done so, “church” probably would have looked different.
If I had consulted the Bible first, I probably would have created a gathering that emphasized loving one another. Instead, I spent years running a service that left little room for love. It quickly became the most popular service in town. It was “successful.” The problem is, we defined success as a lot of people coming, enjoying the service, and receiving some sort of benefit. Our motives seemed pure, and good things were happening, so we didn’t question much.
REDEFINING SUCCESS
How would we define success if the Bible were the only standard by which we judged our church? If you had no theological training or previous church experience—if you did nothing but read through the Bible fifty times—what would you consider to be essential for a gathering of believers? How would you measure the success of a church?
…….
We have trouble building our churches exegetically, however, because we are surrounded by so many influences, and each of these beg us to think subjectively. My thinking is constantly affected by my Asian culture, my American culture, my Southern Californian culture, my evangelical church culture, and a host of other factors. Then I have my own flesh that begs me to believe what I desire to be true. There is so much in this world that would keep us from simply listening to the voice of God.
When I began to realize this, I prayed that God would allow me to ignore the prodding of my culture, my lifestyle, and my flesh as I searched the Scriptures for an exegetical model of church. I have listed some of my conclusions below.
on a somewhat related note, yesterday at Austin Stone, Matt reminded the church about its vision to be a church “for the City.”
We are seeking to live out the same desire as Francis Chan to do church biblically instead of culturally.
you will notice over on the left sidebar that I added a button that looks like this:
I have put some of my pictures on QOOP for folks to buy download print or whatever. Let me know if there is something else on my Flickr page that you would like for me to put in the QOOP store.
here is a helpful reminder of our role in the scheme of things from Jeremiah Burroughs courtesy of Kevin DeYoung.
I beseech you to consider that God does not deal by you as you deal with him. Should God make the worst interpretation of all your ways towards him, as you do of his towards you, it would be very ill with you. God is pleased to manifest his love thus to us, to make the best interpretations of what we do, and therefore God puts a sense upon the actions of his people that one would think could hardly be (The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, 224, emphasis added).
Matt Chandler’s surgery to remove a mass from his frontal lobe begins in about 20 minutes. Be in prayer for him during the surgery and for a complete recovery.
Here is a post from Matt going into surgery about the things for which he is thankful.
The beginning:
The last seven days have been some of the most interesting of my life. I have felt anxiety, fear, sadness and a deep and unmovable joy simultaneously and in deeper ways than I have felt before. I am grateful for this heightened sense of things. Today at 10:45 a.m. CST I will have a good portion of my right frontal lobe removed. I head into that surgery with a heart that is filled with gratitude and hope.
Here are some of the things I am thankful for in no particular order:
I am thankful for the thousands of you who have prayed and fasted for my health. It has brought far more tears to Lauren’s and my eyes to receive this kind of attention from the Church universal than this tumor has.
I’m thankful for health insurance because I’m guessing they aren’t doing my five-hour surgery for free!
C.J. Mahaney has some thoughts about what we can all learn from Tiger Woods and his troubles this last week. Excellent stuff. Go read it all.
Hunted by Sin
But Tiger is being hunted by something more menacing than journalists. Tiger’s real enemy is his sin, and that’s an enemy much more difficult to discern and one that can’t be managed in our own strength. It’s an enemy that never sleeps.
Let me explain.
…..
And this story should humble and sober us. It should make us ask: Are there any so-called “secret sins” in my life? Is there anything I have done that I hope nobody discovers? Is there anything right now in my life that I should confess to God and the appropriate individuals?
And this should leave us more amazed by grace because there, but for the grace of God, go I.
But feel free to click through if you must have the gory details regarding misuse of public computers involuntary enlisted in the search for alien life to the tune of 1.2 to 1.6 MILLION dollars.
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