What's Next? (02/29/04 - 4 Comments)
This has been a long and somewhat difficult week. I spent the first part of the week stressing about The Passion of the Christ, wondering what the movie was going to be like and wondering if I should even see it. Finally Wednesday rolled around and against my better judgment I went to see it. I chronicled my disappointment and concerns in four rather long articles. I was gratified to see that there are many...
The Passion of the Christ According to Emmerich (02/28/04 - 26 Comments)
The Passion of the Christ has been described by Protestant leaders as being �factually accurate,� �very accurate [in the details],� �realistic,� �biblical,� �an accurate account,.� �a true representation of Jesus� and �close to the Scriptures.� All of these quotes were taken from The Passion Outreach Web site, a resource dedicated to helping churches of all denominations capitalize on this movie. This movie is continually described as an exceedingly accurate portrayal of the gospel account of...
Movie Review: The Passion of the Christ (Part Three) (02/27/04 - 114 Comments)
This site has never experienced traffic like it has had over the past two days following my review of The Passion of the Christ. At the time of writing this twenty five people have posted comments about the story and I have received many more comments via email. Surprisingly it seems many people agree with my assessments in so far as I say that the movie is the gospel on a macro level but anything...
Movie Review: The Passion of the Christ (Part Two) (02/26/04 - 176 Comments)
This is the second part of my review of The Passion of the Christ. The first part can be found here and is a scene-by-scene description of the film. In this part I am going to analyze the movie under several headings. I do not pretend to be an authority on movies so I will analyze the content of the movie - its quality as a representation of the Bible and not its quality as...
Movie Review: The Passion of the Christ (Part One) (02/25/04 - 51 Comments)
This is part one of a two part review of the movie The Passion of the Christ. In the first part I am going to give a detailed scene-by-scene synopsis of the film. It will contain plenty of spoilers so if such things bother you, you may want to skip it. However, if you are at all familiar with the gospel stories you already know much of the story. Tomorrow I will follow the synopsis...
I Have Seen The Movie... (02/25/04 - 7 Comments)
I have seen The Passion of the Christ and will have a full review later this evening. I have a prior committment this evening but will post the review when I return....
The Reviews Are Coming In... (02/24/04 - 8 Comments)
Reviews are finally starting to pour in for The Passion of the Christ. I have been looking forward to reading some of the reviews since to this point the vast majority of people who have seen the movie are either Christians or are at least religious. They are hardly able to objectively judge and evaluate the movie. Now, though, we have hoards of secular reviewers who will be writing reivews. The site I go to...
A Note About When Good Men Are Tempted (02/23/04 - 2 Comments)
A few weeks ago I read and reviewed the book When Good Men Are Tempted. It is a book that deals with sexual purity, attempting to both explain the cause and the solution to the struggle every man faces. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and gave it a recommendation. Yesterday the author, Bill Perkins, happened across this site and posted his thanks for the review as well as some information about his new project, Six...
Banner of Truth on The Passion (02/23/04 - 13 Comments)
Thanks to Maryanne for sending me a link to an excellent article in The Banner of Truth entitled Five Reasons Not To Go See The Passion of Christ. The author (Andrew J. Webb) focuses on the movie's origins, script, theology, medium and main character. Many of his points are similar to ones I have been thinking, praying and writing about. Here are some pertinent quotes: This is in marked contrast to the Jesus film, which...
Blog of the Week - Between The Cushions (02/22/04 - 1 Comments)
Between the Cushions has an element of mystery to it. New to blogging, the author seems to prefer to remain pretty well anonymous, identifying himself only as "lj." He has recently posted some interesting articles dealing with topics such as Devotions and Spiritual Success. He tends to update a few times a week and his site is a good one to add to your "rounds."...
Unnatural (02/21/04 - 4 Comments)
My son is three years old and has recently begun to become aware of the existence of death. At only three he has far greater capacity to wonder and to ask questions than he does to understand. This makes it difficult and as his father I struggle to try to share with him what death is and how something so terrifying and so final can be made an occasion of wondrous joy. Today while my...
More About Mel (02/21/04 - 5 Comments)
Should this make me nervous? I know I sometimes have the tendency to "throw out the baby with the bath-water" but quotes like this do not do much for my confidence in the effects this movie will have: "After both of The Passion screenings I attended, the Protestant women talked about identifying with Mary as a mother who was watching her child suffer. From whatever point in his spirituality Gibson's treatment of Mary is springing,...
Another Day, Another Thousand Tickets (02/20/04 - 3 Comments)
The church bought up another 1000 tickets and I have spent the day editing the site to work them into the system. At 2 PM we got the system live and have again been overwhelmed with the response. The tickets are nearly gone. All this ticket stuff has eaten severely into my blogging time so I apologize for the lack of meaningful content. I'll find something interesting to write for tomorrow!...
People Want To See The Passion! (02/19/04 - 3 Comments)
On Sunday my church began to give out tickets to The Passion of the Christ. We purchased several thousand tickets, buying out entire shows, which gives us the ability to speak with the crowd, give out literature and invite people to our church. On Sunday we had a few people come by the site and order tickets. It slowly increased during the week. Then yesterday evening the local paper, the Oakville Beaver, ran a full-page...
American Idolatry (02/19/04 - 2 Comments)
Thanks to Dave for sending along a link which ties in nicely to my post from last week entitled I Love What I Hate. Weekly DV presents a short but hilarious mockumentary studying Americans and their gods....
Some Good Music (02/18/04 - 0 Comments)
My buddy Jason of Jason McGibbon Project fame just had me upload some MP3s to his Web site. There are three preview clips and one full song available for download. Why not head over there, click on the CD Info and Music Preview tab and take a listen? Make sure you listen to "Do I Know You" which happens to be my favorite track from the album. I recently discovered the music of Dale Nikkel....
Reaction to Mel Gibson (02/18/04 - 1 Comments)
I watched with great interest as the Christian world reacted yesterday to Gibson's interview on Primetime. As I expected, he was the talk of the blogging world yesterday. Meandean over at Blogs4God compiled a partial list of bloggers who wrote about Gibson. (You will have to scroll down a little bit to find the article). Based on what I read on those blogs and on various forums around the Internet there are three main views...
Mel Gibson on Primetime (02/17/04 - 20 Comments)
I watched Mel Gibson's interview on ABC last night with great interest. I must say that generally I was impressed with the way he handled himself. Though at times I became half convinced that he had overdosed on caffeine before the interview, I thought he remained composed and fielded questions quite well. However, he did stumble in one very important area. Diane: When we talked with Gibson and his actors, we wondered, does his traditionalist...
Fishers of Men (02/17/04 - 2 Comments)
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat...
Unbelievers Must Be Stupid... (02/16/04 - 6 Comments)
If I were to use the average church outreach program as a guide, I would have to assume that the average non-Christian is lazy, stupid, ignorant, unwilling to learn and suffering from attention deficit disorder. He has two kids that he loves but never spends any time with, leaving him racked with guilt. He is trying to hold a marriage together but his wife ranks a distant second to his career. It really seems that...
Sunday Reflection (02/15/04 - 0 Comments)
THIS DAY IN JESUS’ NAME WE MEET This day in Jesus’ Name we meet, Our Lord, Redeemer, King; This day around Thy mercy seat We all Thy praises sing; Thou gavest us this day of rest, Of holiness divine; Lend comfort to each troubled breast, And make us ever Thine. Oppressed with earthly toil and pains The weary week did close; Yet God’s own day of peace remains When spirits seek repose. Let Sunday’s sweet...
Valentine's Wisdom (02/14/04 - 2 Comments)
My reading in Proverbs today seemed to fit nicely with Valentine's Day. Proverbs 12:4 reads "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband." Naturally my thoughts today tend towards my wife anyways and this seemed to be confirmation of what I already felt. I then turned to the very end of the book where we find a poem dedicated to the virtuous wife. We do not get the full impact of this poem when...
I Love What I Hate (02/13/04 - 4 Comments)
I love television. I love to be able to turn my mind off at the end of a hard day’s work and just lie back on the couch with nothing more to think about than who will be the next person voted off the island. I love following the lives of fictional characters whose lives seem so much more interesting (and funny) than my own. I love a good whodunit, trying to determine which of...
This & That (02/12/04 - 0 Comments)
I have an article nearly written but it seems that real life continues to get in the way of blogging. I have about 10 Web projects underway at the moment, not to mention a family, friends and a church that all seem to want a bit of attention! I will post the article tomorrow and try to do some good writing on the weekend so I can actually put some worthwhile content on this site...
Dove Award Nominees Announced (02/11/04 - 5 Comments)
Today the nominations were announced for the 35th annual Dove Awards. It seems that the Doves will maintain their reputation of nominating popular albums over good albums. The top nominees are Steven Curtis Chapman (as usual), Third Day (as usual), Cece Winans (as always) and Stacie Orrico. Let’s look at some of the categories: Song of the Year: "All About Love"; Steven Curtis Chapman; Sparrow Records, Peach Hill Songs (BMI) Child of Mine"; Mark Schultz,...
Newsweek on The Passion of the Christ (02/10/04 - 0 Comments)
Newsweek is featuring a cover article on The Passion of the Christ in their current issue. You can read the full text of the article here. From a Christian perspective the article shows terrible theology and a view of the Bible that strips it of its inspired origin. Though deeply flawed, the article makes for an interesting read. An example: Amid the clash over Gibson's film and the debates about the nature of God, wheth-er...
'Passion' poised for heavenly B.O. (02/10/04 - 1 Comments)
An interesting article on Yahoo News which you can read in full here. Though not a single television ad has aired for "The Passion of the Christ" two weeks before its release, Mel Gibson (news)'s depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus is eclipsing mainstream Hollywood fare in audience interest...Total awareness for "Passion" is 60%, but much higher among men and women over 25, where it tops 80%. First-choice ratings for men and women over 25...
Evanescence Makes A Stand for The Truth (02/10/04 - 9 Comments)
Evanescence were big winners at the 2004 Grammy Awards, walking away with the awards for Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance. Amy Lee accepted the awards on the band's behalf since Ben Moody left the band last year. Of greater interest to me was her time on the red carpet. She was nabbed by Joan Collins who asked her about being a Christian band. Amy responded, "We were never a Christian band, that...
The Passion of the Christ Article (02/09/04 - 2 Comments)
The New Yorker ran a fascinating article on The Passion of the Christ in their September 15 issue. It gives a lot of the background to the movie, focusing on Mel Gibson's background and beliefs as well as the controversy the movement generated based on its perceived racism. The full text of the article can be read here. Here are some interesting snippets: I told Gibson that I am a Protestant, and asked whether his...
The Living Word (02/09/04 - 4 Comments)
I believe every Christian has had an experience like I had a few days ago where a passage of the Bible I had read many times and even memorized suddenly took on a whole new level of meaning to me. If you are a regular reader of this site you will know that I have been pouring over the five solas of the Reformation, trying to understand what it was that triggered so great an...
Grammy Awards (02/08/04 - 3 Comments)
The Grammy Awards are underway as I write this. I couldn't really care less about the show since the only two categories I really care about were given out in the pre-telecast portion of the show. The winner of the Rock Gospel Album was Audio Adrenaline for Worldwide. It just so happens I picked this album up last week and am actually quite impressed with it. Petra's album was probably slightly better, but Worldwide was...
100 Days (02/08/04 - 2 Comments)
Today marks the 100th consecutive day I have posted on this site. I think it also marks the longest I have ever maintained my interest in any one thing. Usually I get enthusiastic about something for a few days and then it tapers off. But this site is still the favorite part of my day. I love writing for it and I love posting on it every day. Since today is Sunday and a day...
This & That (02/07/04 - 1 Comments)
It turns out our church, along with giving out about 2500 tickets to The Passion of the Christ, will be distributing copies of John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ. I enjoy Piper's writings and consider him a very trustworthy teacher, so I am thrilled that we will be giving these out. At just over $1 each (as per his special offer I linked to yesterday) it is a cost-effective way of getting some good...
The Passion Of Jesus Christ (By John Piper) (02/06/04 - 0 Comments)
John Piper has just released a new book titled The Passion of Jesus Christ. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? The book is obviously intended to coincide with the release of the movie. He is offering cases of 108 of the books for a suggested donation of $130 provided you promise to give the books away (rather than sell them). I have not read the book (though I intend to read the chapters posted on the...
The Passion of the Christ & The Second Commandment (02/06/04 - 0 Comments)
I found the following article posted over at He Lives. I had intended to go searching for just such an article today, so thanks David for saving me the Google time. It was not until I had finished reading that I noticed it was written by a close friend of my parents who is also a former pastor of mine. The article looks at the second commandment and then draws examples of violations of it...
The Passion of the Christ - A Different Perspective (02/05/04 - 1 Comments)
The L.A. Times published a fascinating article in yesterday's edition about The Passion of the Christ. Written from a skeptical point-of-view, it provides some interesting food for thought. Below are some excerpts: Just what kind of box office "The Passion" will do when it opens Feb. 25 is impossible to predict. But it is clear that Gibson has tapped into a network of Christian church-based marketing that has been maturing for decades and that has...
Pragmatism Part Two (02/04/04 - 6 Comments)
After posting about pragmatism yesterday I spent some time “corresponding” with various people about it, mostly by email and MSN Messenger, though at times I do step back in time and carry on old-fashioned verbal communication. I found that there is a misunderstanding about what pragmatism is. So let me explain by way of two examples. Example 1 A church of 250 people has been offered the opportunity to have a popular female minister preach...
An Introduction to Pragmatism (02/03/04 - 1 Comments)
Pragmatism has become a dominant force in the Christian world. I want to take a brief look at the history of pragmatism and then show how it has influenced the church. In following days I am going to write about areas in the Christian world where it has had a significant impact. Pragmatism is rooted in the philosophy of men like John Stuart Mill who had a great formative influence in philosophers like John Dewey...
The History of Protestantism (02/02/04 - 1 Comments)
Two years ago I won an auction on eBay for J.A. Wylie’s History of Protestantism. This huge three volume history of Protestantism was written in the late 1800’s and was published until 1920’s. It was republished for a short while in the 1980’s but it was a small print run and is no longer available. I was fortunate, then, to purchase the series in an edition printed in the late 1800’s that was reasonably priced...
Sunday Reflection - The Shorter Catechism (02/01/04 - 2 Comments)
This Sunday let's look at what the Westminister Shorter Catechism teaches about honoring the fourth commandment. This is a very traditional view of how the Sabbath day is to be honored - a view that, for better or worse (probably worse), is rarely recognized in Christian circles today. Q. 57. Which is the fourth commandment? A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do...
