Recently I've been hearing a lot about this movie coming out called "The Golden Compass". I don't have a tv or get the newspaper and don't really listen the radio so newswise I'm relatively far behind the curve. In light of that I've been hearing about this mostly through the conservative christians in the church I've been going to as well as facebook groups bearing the titles liks "Boycott the Golden Compass", "DON'T support the Golden Compass" or "Boycott the Golden Compass: An attack on Christianity" asking for my support.
I never really agreed with this sentiment towards the movie, but I think I finally pinned down the core of the issue for me. A lot of people that I've talked to or heard from who are upset about this act almost as if this movie is a surprise. As if it is a shock that someone would oppose Christ and his message. And it seems to me that as a follower of Christ, we should be the least surprised. Jesus promised this kind of stuff, Peter and Paul both went through it and promised it as well.
It's not the feeling of surprise that gets me, but it seems like a lot of believers are feeling threatened by this movie (and that's all it is a is a movie). I don't know if they've read the bible or not, but satan himself can't destroy God's kingdom, let alone an atheist children's author. And if you're not able to take a step back from your faith and wrestle with it, then I think you've got bigger problems than an anti-God movie.
One of the big beefs I've been hearing about this is how it's marketed and aimed at kids. Sure, this may not be something you want to sit your kid down in front of and leave it at that. But I think it's a great way start dialogue with your kid (especially if your kid already know Jesus) and start letting the kid grow their own faith. People put the Narnia stories up on their pedastol because they are "christian", but really the Narnia stories are in the same boat as this compass deal, they're all just stories. Narnia can't and should not replace the Gospel. We worship Jesus, not Aslan.
As christians, we have the advantage: we know we will be challenged, and we know who wins in the end. With those out of the way, perhaps retaliating isn't the answer. My two cents: don't worry about the movie, or it's message. It's nothing new. Use it as a discussion point with your neighbour. Use it help your own faith grow. Anti groups and boycotts put walls up between us and the people we are to minister to. That's what satan wants, walls, not movies, but walls between people and Jesus' love.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Picture Perfect
So I was talking with a table of junior high boys in sunday school this morning and after a certain point in conversation, the whole scene struck me as perfect. You know how you get those feelings at certain moments in your life where everything seems as it should be? A glimpse of heaven sort of, where it seems like God has completely saturated every aspect of that moment. They are you usually pretty fleeting, but often leave lasting impressions.
I'm confident that I socialize better with kids than I do with adults. Especially kids who aren't at the stage where they are too cool be a kid. Maybe it's because something inside of me misses that part of childhood... I don't know. For instance, last week I went to this movie that was showing a bar in town. I was this super retro, from the 60's, movie about Choinard (the guy who started Patagonia company) and some buddies climbing in Patagonia. I walked in and the place was packed. I generally don't go to bars, I don't do the whole bar talk thing very well. I have a hard time standing around BS-ing with people that you're yelling at to hear over the din and loud music. So walked in and I looked out back and there's a bunch of little kids having a snowball fight. I'd rather join them than try to play the bar scene. And I did. It was fun.
Like I said I was talking to table of junior high kids this morning about Jesus. And partly why it seemed all perfect was because they were being so... them. In response to a question or whatever subject was at hand, often they would blurt out something seemingly unrelated. They weren't doing it to be annoying or disruptive, but that's what was going through their heads. Even now, in my day to day conversation, someone will say something that inside my head triggers some story, or factoid that's totally unrelated to the converstaion and my mind goes off on this tangent until I realize that I missed the last half of whatever that person said cause I was busy chasing this rabbit in my head. Naturally I pretend that it never happened and that I am totally following what my counterpart is saying to avoid looking like a fool. How rad is it that these kids were verbally processing their thoughts with me, no matter how off topic it might be.
The overarching lesson of the day was "who is Jesus?" and somewhere along the line, one of these kids' mental spinoffs prompted him to ask the rest of the group if we had ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He proceeded to recount the scene in the grail room with all the grails encrusted in gold and jewels and the true grail being simple and wooden. At that point it hit me just how perfect our story is. Our relationship with God has been called "the greatest story ever told" and I never really think about it, but it is so amazingly perfect. Every aspect of life in this story fits together perfectly down to the tiniest detail.
The idea of God coming to earth to save his creation in itself is genius. But the raw power, wrath and love og God entering a baby born to a poverty stricken couple in backwoods podunk town. In a place where all the distractions, wealth, power, everything was absent and it was just God slipping in the back door to save humanity. The whole story is so unimagineable and at the same time so perfect it has to be real. You can't make that stuff up.
Those times when all is as it should be, I think are flickers of God's kingdom here on earth. A small snippit of how it will be when his kingdom comes for good. And the more I understand each year of God's ridiculous plot to save the world, the more each year I get stoked for Christmas, to celebrate the turning point in the story.
I'm confident that I socialize better with kids than I do with adults. Especially kids who aren't at the stage where they are too cool be a kid. Maybe it's because something inside of me misses that part of childhood... I don't know. For instance, last week I went to this movie that was showing a bar in town. I was this super retro, from the 60's, movie about Choinard (the guy who started Patagonia company) and some buddies climbing in Patagonia. I walked in and the place was packed. I generally don't go to bars, I don't do the whole bar talk thing very well. I have a hard time standing around BS-ing with people that you're yelling at to hear over the din and loud music. So walked in and I looked out back and there's a bunch of little kids having a snowball fight. I'd rather join them than try to play the bar scene. And I did. It was fun.
Like I said I was talking to table of junior high kids this morning about Jesus. And partly why it seemed all perfect was because they were being so... them. In response to a question or whatever subject was at hand, often they would blurt out something seemingly unrelated. They weren't doing it to be annoying or disruptive, but that's what was going through their heads. Even now, in my day to day conversation, someone will say something that inside my head triggers some story, or factoid that's totally unrelated to the converstaion and my mind goes off on this tangent until I realize that I missed the last half of whatever that person said cause I was busy chasing this rabbit in my head. Naturally I pretend that it never happened and that I am totally following what my counterpart is saying to avoid looking like a fool. How rad is it that these kids were verbally processing their thoughts with me, no matter how off topic it might be.
The overarching lesson of the day was "who is Jesus?" and somewhere along the line, one of these kids' mental spinoffs prompted him to ask the rest of the group if we had ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He proceeded to recount the scene in the grail room with all the grails encrusted in gold and jewels and the true grail being simple and wooden. At that point it hit me just how perfect our story is. Our relationship with God has been called "the greatest story ever told" and I never really think about it, but it is so amazingly perfect. Every aspect of life in this story fits together perfectly down to the tiniest detail.
The idea of God coming to earth to save his creation in itself is genius. But the raw power, wrath and love og God entering a baby born to a poverty stricken couple in backwoods podunk town. In a place where all the distractions, wealth, power, everything was absent and it was just God slipping in the back door to save humanity. The whole story is so unimagineable and at the same time so perfect it has to be real. You can't make that stuff up.
Those times when all is as it should be, I think are flickers of God's kingdom here on earth. A small snippit of how it will be when his kingdom comes for good. And the more I understand each year of God's ridiculous plot to save the world, the more each year I get stoked for Christmas, to celebrate the turning point in the story.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
izzle's
So I walked into this coffee shop the other day and the gal behind this counter was wearing a t-shirt that had a picture of Jesus' face on it and it said "fo' shizzle, Jesus is fo' rizzle" Along the same lines I've seen shirts and bumper stickers with things like "Jesus is my homeboy" or "Jesus saves after every level" (with a little nintendo controller. Jesus bobbleheads on dashboards anyone? I believe God has a sense of humor and these type of things have their place in showing Jesus to the world. Fo' shizzle, God is relationalizzle and personalizzle with each individual and you better believe that's an important message. And of course someone being as personal with me as God is, I would expect it to be someone I can laugh (as well as cry) with.
But at the same time, stuff like this only paints half of a picture. Yeah God will laugh with you and as a follower of Christ I know I need to be careful that I don't neglect the other half of who God is. God is holy folks. Which is really nice to know when I step back and think about it. I'm not so sure I want my eternal life in the care of a clown. God is full of power and wrath. There's a song that cuts me open each time I hear it (it's best at loud volumes) and the chorus says "The earth shakes, trembles and quakes and the mountains shook out of fear, He made darkness His covering, the bursting rain clouds of the sky, and from the brightness of His radiant face, hailstones and bolts of light, the Lord thunders, the Lord thunders."
We trust Him because He loves and stoops down to us, but we worship Him because He is powerful and holy. They go hand in hand in a perfect balance that we can only marvel at and give praise to God for being who He is.
But at the same time, stuff like this only paints half of a picture. Yeah God will laugh with you and as a follower of Christ I know I need to be careful that I don't neglect the other half of who God is. God is holy folks. Which is really nice to know when I step back and think about it. I'm not so sure I want my eternal life in the care of a clown. God is full of power and wrath. There's a song that cuts me open each time I hear it (it's best at loud volumes) and the chorus says "The earth shakes, trembles and quakes and the mountains shook out of fear, He made darkness His covering, the bursting rain clouds of the sky, and from the brightness of His radiant face, hailstones and bolts of light, the Lord thunders, the Lord thunders."
We trust Him because He loves and stoops down to us, but we worship Him because He is powerful and holy. They go hand in hand in a perfect balance that we can only marvel at and give praise to God for being who He is.
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