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- 01/05/10
- 9
Euan Murray
This was good to read in an article about a sports star: “Euan said: ‘It’s basically all or nothing, following Jesus. I don’t believe in pick ‘n’ mix Christianity. I believe the bible is the word of God, so who am I to ignore something from it?’” He recently announced that he will no longer play games on Sunday. You can hear an interview with him at this link.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
This article gives cause for concern in regards to the next Narnia movie. It seems that once again they’ve decided to excise most of the Christian content from the film. This series certainly isn’t living up to the promise of the first film.
Veith on Avatar
Veith writes about Avatar: “I went to see Avatar on New Year’s Day. It was just awful-ludicrously, unintentionally-comically awful. The story was insufferable, making a clumsy parallel with the War in Iraq, just as you commenters who saw it reported. James Cameron had the idea for this movie for years, we are told, and back then in his circles our conflict in Iraq was all about the evil President Bush and how we were just fighting the war over oil.”
This was good to read in an article about a sports star: “Euan said: ‘It’s basically all or nothing, following Jesus. I don’t believe in pick ‘n’ mix Christianity. I believe the bible is the word of God, so who am I to ignore something from it?’” He recently announced that he will no longer play games on Sunday. You can hear an interview with him at this link.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
This article gives cause for concern in regards to the next Narnia movie. It seems that once again they’ve decided to excise most of the Christian content from the film. This series certainly isn’t living up to the promise of the first film.
Veith on Avatar
Veith writes about Avatar: “I went to see Avatar on New Year’s Day. It was just awful-ludicrously, unintentionally-comically awful. The story was insufferable, making a clumsy parallel with the War in Iraq, just as you commenters who saw it reported. James Cameron had the idea for this movie for years, we are told, and back then in his circles our conflict in Iraq was all about the evil President Bush and how we were just fighting the war over oil.”
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Comments (9)
Not the first Scot to say he won’t compete on Sundays.
(Oh, the end of the article you linked to stats that.)
My wife and I saw the film and the instant parallel we saw was “Dances with Wolves” and a manifest destiny conflict and a soldier trapped/forced to live in the indigenous society for a spell before seeing through their eyes.
The war over oil comparison is a reach since the residents of the Middle East were already selling us their resources. Plus, the aliens in the movie parallel North American native tribes.
BTW, we thought the plot was predictable (“Dances with Wolves”) but the movie making was stunning. Another case of, “if you’re looking for it, you’ll probably find it” in regards to Hollywood politics. I could point to a number of possible NT themes entwined in the native culture, most similarly to a Tolkien allegory or two.
Hey, it was a fun date night at the very least. :)
The plot of Avatar was far too predicable like Fern Gully meets Dances with Wolves, and you were hit over the head with this ending 15 minutes in(at least, I saw it then)It wasn’t a slam on Christianity rather it was promotion of new ageism/Buddhism(that tree is all of us, we are the parts of the great tree and it gives us life immortal if we are worthy when we perish)…Also it isn’t totally an anti-war film unless it’s suggesting that bringing the battle to the baddies is anti-war…. Cameron seems to suggest the weaker force must fight harder than then mighty force and this is morally right because they were there first…. It’s just anti-American warriors, they are the only evil in the film… Scientist are good unless their science does not agree with the liberals and capitalists who funded the mission from the start are morally questionable and become evil…..
yes a liberal film…. but great visuals along the way…
That”s really bad news about Dawn Treader. After LWW, it’s my favorite for all of its clear vignettes about aspects of the Christian life. But can any of us be surprised that the producers don’t understand Lewis’ “vision”? The article states that Doug Gresham was given the choice of accepting the changes of not making the movie. I wish for all our sakes he’d had the intestinal fortitude to not make it.
A response to the Dawn Treader news has been posted at Narnia Fans, FYI: http://www.narniafans.com/archives/8059
A response to the Dawn Treader news has been posted at Narnia Fans, FYI: http://www.narniafans.com/archives/8059
I’m curious about what folks think about this statement by Euan Murray…
“Jesus said, ‘If you love me, keep my commandments’ and there are 10 commandments - not nine.”
This is something we’ve been discussing around our house recently.
Tim, you don’t seem to express any personal opinion on Avatar, but I must say that Veith’s opinion saddened me somewhat. An epic story usually presents an undeniable opportunity to present the gospel in a way that is relevant to a postmodern world. The themes of frustration, sacrifice, redemption, are usually present in epic films, such as Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc., and are also the themes of the gospel story of Jesus coming down to us. These films are tools that Hollywood is unwittingly giving to Christians around the world, which can help us communicate the gospel to a world in need.
Unfortunately, many who label themselves as Christian conservatives seem to exhibit this near-refusal to think critically about art, culture, and film, in general. As a result, Narnia and LOTR films are automatically the “acceptable” film vehicles for Bible discussions, parallels, etc., while Twilight, Harry Potter, or Avatar would not be acceptable. Instead of thinking critically, we simply look for buzzwords to tell us what our opinions should be. There are undeniable gospel parallels in all of these stories, and, as Romans 8 says, the creation itself is waiting with eager expectation for people to come to know Christ and be free of the corruption of evil. We ought to use the tools we are given to communicate Christ to a postmodern world — not condemn a director for some agenda he might have.
As pure entertainment, I must say that I really enjoyed the movie. There were times that I could really relate to how the main character must have felt during his learning the native ways. The visual effects were incredible as well. I almost imagined myself on the back of one of those creatures flying.I must say however that I had a little bit of a hard time ignoring the obvious New Age Pantheistic world. Everything in this world including plants animals etc.., were connected.The more I think about that, the more I am ashamed of myself for enjoying the movie.
I went with my 22 year old daughter and her boyfriend and when I asked what they thought of the movie, my daughter said; “Wow! But I didn’t like the false god worship.”
I think her words summarize my reaction as well.