Seven Pounds - Palm Sunday

Last night I watched the movie Seven Pounds.  The star of the film is Will Smith.

I was completely confused for quite a while in the movie.  It starts with Will Smith calling in to 911 to report a suicide, his own.  You know throughout that he at one point was married and that he is somehow connected to a car accident that took the lives of seven people.  The description of the film lets you know that he's helping seven strangers!  But it's hard to tell how he's helping them and even who the seven people are for most of the movie.

Spoiler Alert starting now!  Don't read onward if you don't want to know what happens in the film.  I'd recommend watching the movie then coming back to finish reading the rest of this post. 

Will Smith gives his awesome beach house to a lady who has two kids so they can flee the beatings of her boyfriend. As the movie nears its ends you see that he gives a bone marrow donation for a boy who is dying.  All along he's been helping a lady who has a failing heart and is waiting for a donor for a transplant.  It also appears that he somehow plans on helping a blind man (Woody Harrelson). 

At the very end, you realize that just as he gave bone marrow to help the little boy, he plans on giving his heart and eyes to help the lady and the blind man.  No way!  Back to the beginning of the movie, he calls in his suicide.  Then it keeps playing from there and he crawls into a bathtub full of ice-water, you know, to preserve the organs he plans on donating.  He then drops the deadliest creature on the planet into the tub with him, the box-jelly fish!  He's stung.  As he is dying it flashes to the accident.  He was the driver of the accident that killed his wife (maybe just fiance) and six others (one of the seven being his unborn child).  He dies!  But the lady gets his heart and the blind man, named Ezra, gets to see!  His childhood friend knew his plans and he was the one who was able to set-up the transplants. 

It's pretty insane as it unfolds.  For most of the movie, as it cuts forward and back the film doesn't let you know what he's doing and tricks you into thinking he's a bad guy, but then a good guy, and etc.  you are left in the dark not certain of what is actually happening or what the goal is.  You discover though that his brother needed a lung, he gave part of his liver to a woman who needed it, gave his home to the one lady, bone marrow to the kid, something to other guy (I think I missed what that was as I was watching it), his heart and his eyes.  He killed seven people by mistake, but with his own life gave life to seven others!

For Palm Sunday 

Palm Sunday marks the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and many of his people claimed him to be their king, although they didn't know that they were actually selecting their passover lamb (since today is the day Israel selected the lamb for slaughter for the passover - God and his timing and planning!).  He then willfully hung out in the city until his crucifixion.  He never once fought or defended himself, although he could have easily done so.  Why did he so passively suffer one of, if not the worst possible death, Roman crucifixion?  Because he knew that by offering his life, he could give life to many!

We are not like Jesus and can't die to give eternal life to someone else, and we certainly shouldn't be like the Will Smith character in Seven Pounds and commit suicide to save others, although what if you wanted to do so... wow!  That would be a sign of love and dedication.  In the movie, this was more of an act of guilt or retribution, not love, but what if you knew your wife was dying and could use your heart?

Regardless, what I walked away from the movie recognizing is that God the Father sent his Son to die for us!  Jesus willingly gave his life.  We all have been given the gift of life from God.  The Father has blessed us to be a blessing to others.  We can give of our lives, gifts, and talents to bless others.  Just as Jesus in his last night with his disciples broke bread and gave it to them saying that it was his body broken for them, we too can give of ourselves to others and bless them.  And in this giving we too will truly find life.

For this week of Holy Week (the name given to the week in the church from Palm Sunday to Easter), let's look to Jesus and do our best to follow in his willful and sacrificial steps. 

Stairway to Heaven has a hidden, Satanic message.

"Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin played backwards contains Satanic lyrics, words actually being sung to Satan.  Is this true or is it not true?  It can only be done with a record player.  I could be corrupted as a judge because I first watched videos that played the song backwards with lyrics of what you are supposed to hear if it's Satanic.  Interestingly enough, I've seen different versions of the lyrics and some of them are quite, quite different, but every time I have listened to it I do hear whatever is posted with the song.  Is this a case of the mind just synching up what's being heard with what is being read?

Here's a video with the song played backwards with no lyrics.  Watch it and see if you hear a Satanic message.  By the way, you might have to listen to the whole song, since some of the people who claim there is a hidden message don't have it matching with every line of the song being played forwards.  Let me know if you hear anything?

In closing, I think this song is actually pro-Christian and anti-Satan.  The song the way I interpret it is about a lady who has it all, beauty, riches, and fame, and she thinks that with her own abilities she can buy her salvation.  However, she finds that salvation can't be bought.  The store to do so is closed.  There's still time for everyone who is on her path to get on to the other path as the famous line in the song says.  But then again, who can tell with this song?  It could mean anything?  There's even a line about when all is one and one is all.  That certainly sounds like new-age mysticism.  Here is what I do know.  In Genesis 28 Jacob has a dream of a stairway that connects heaven and earth and in John 1:51 Jesus references this dream and essentially says, "I am the Stairway to Heaven."  When you look at Christianity and what the Bible teaches, it is the only religion which says the way to salvation can't be bought.  It's the only free religion in the world.  It's the only religion in which God has stepped down and has done it all for your salvation.  The Stairway has come down to us, and Jesus is that Stairway.  He is a Rock that doesn't roll. 

An American Antique Mall - Non-Christian Culture

Let's take a stroll through an American Antique Mall!  

San Juan Capistrano, California

Nice set of containers.

As to be expected, lots of country-style antiques.

Nothing, too out of the ordinary for an antique barn mall!

Of course, Santa and the Buddha hanging out is quite a juxtaposition.

And the Buddhist antiques just kept coming...

                                                                                                          

And then things get even more out there...

Antique Ouija Board

Oh, nice antique picture...

Not!!!  It's a hologram that changes as you walk past it.  Sort of spooked me at first.  I wasn't expecting to see this in the Antique Barn Mall right next to the historic San Juan Mission!  

Magic potions anyone...

Or some other creepy stuff.  It's like walking into the attic in the movie, The Goonies.

What's the point to me showing all of this?  At the downtown historic walking street of San Juan Capistrano, in an American, country-style, barn antique mall, there are Ouija boards, skeletons, magic potion ingredients, skeletons, loads of Buddhist trinkets, jewelry, and statues, as well as an entire section dedicated to old Playboy magazines.  We are definitely beyond being a "Christian" nation.  The culture of America is moving far from its Christian roots.  This is vital for us to know as Christians, because this means we need to change our methods of outreach and the way we interact in the community.  We're moving into a post-Christian culture as a whole.  We also need to be more on guard and knowledgeable of what is "out there" so we can better defend against it and also communicate with those who are a part of this non-Christian culture! 

The Most Redeeming Films of 2010

 Here's a list of the most redeeming films of 2010 according to the critics of Christianity Today.  To see this article on their website click here.  If you click on the links in their article for each movie, you will be directed to a page for that specific movie.  Maybe if these critics are correct, that these movies contain stories of redemption, they can be peppered into the religious conversations Christians have with others.  Jesus taught in parables; he told stories to express his teachings of his relationship to the Father, to us, to the world, to the kingdom of God, etc.  Maybe we can use modern day stories that contain redemption elements in a similar fashion. 

The Most Redeeming Films of 2010
For the third straight year, a Pixar flick tops our list.
posted 2/04/2011

Our film critics are not on Pixar's payroll. Nor are they getting any under-the-table perks from the animation studio. There's a much less sinister reason that a Pixar movie—in this case, Toy Story 3—tops our Most Redeeming Films list for the third consecutive year: We think their movies rock.

It's not just the astonishingly good animation. It's the phenomenal storytelling, the depth of character development, the keen insight into the human condition—even from the perspective of plastic playthings. One of our critics confesses that he cried at the end of TS3 all three times he watched it—and will likely do so the next three times. That's what Pixar films do to us.

As for what makes Woody and Buzz's final adventure so redeeming, there's plenty: The usual themes of love and loyalty run loud and clear. Toys though they may be, the friends are willing to risk their lives for one another. And their owner, Andy, now college-bound, isn't about to relegate his old playtime buddies to a box in the attic, never to be played with again—or at least for decades. Instead, he takes a selfless step in the end, giving Woody and Buzz and the rest a new lease on life—a rebirth, so to speak. It's no surprise that many of the creative types at Pixar are Christians, as they churn out soul-stirring stories year after year. (For the record, Up topped our Most Redeeming list in 2009, as did Wall-E in 2008.)

Our Most Redeeming Films of 2010 list below is precisely that—the year's best movies that include stories of redemption. Several of the films feature characters who are redeemers themselves; all have characters who experience redemption to some degree. Some are feel-good flicks; others, a little less so. Several of the films are rated R and PG-13 and are not intended for young viewers, so please use discretion. But in all of these films, redemption is certainly one of the main characters.

The Most Redeeming Films of 2010

1. Toy Story 3

Directed by Lee Unkrich
(Disney / Pixar) | Rated G

2. The King's Speech

Directed by Tom Hooper
(Weinstein) | Rated R

3. Get Low

Directed by Aaron Schneider
(Sony Pictures Classics) | Rated PG-13

4. True Grit

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
(Paramount) | Rated PG-13

5. Winter's Bone

Directed by Debra Granik
(Roadside Attractions) | Rated R

6. Despicable Me

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
(Universal) | Rated PG

7. Tangled

Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
(Disney) | Rated PG

8. The Fighter

Directed by David O. Russell
(Paramount) | Rated R

9. Letters to Father Jacob

Directed by Klaus Härö
(Olive Films) | Not Rated

10. Like Dandelion Dust

Directed by Jon Gunn
(Blue Collar Releasing) | Rated PG-13

The New Counterculture #2

Many questions arise from the article I attempted to summarize in the last post.  Mainly: 1). What is counterculture?, 2.) What is the established/prevailing culture?, and 3.) Who exactly are the "young evangelicals?"

My personal opinion is that the answers to those questions are pretty subjective.

The main points I see in calling the "younger evangelicals" countercultural according to the article I read are:

• The younger evangelicals have more of a social vision based on the person of Jesus Christ.  They are not trying to be opposite the popular culture or against the popular culture, but they seek to transform the culture through servanthood, instead of politics, which the older evangelicals seem to have focused on doing. 
• Ultimately the issues of war and poverty and discrimination cannot be resolved through counterculture visions of the sixties.  Socialist values and sexual liberation are the consequences of that era and they haven't helped build community, personal freedom, and justice, but have actually thwarted such goals. 
• The only way to resolve these issues is through a counterculture that lives out the values of God's Kingdom.  
• The values of God's Kingdom run deeper than the "conservative" right.  Read the Sermon on the Mount.  Those ideals aren't exactly seen in the "conservative" mindset.  Apparently, younger evangelicals are seeking a different way than the older evangelicals.
• The younger evangelicals see themselves as being redemptive and transformative in the culture, and to do so they must interact with the world, and they do, just not in the political sphere. 
• For the younger evangelicals, mega-churches that wall themselves off from the world by creating a Christian culture which is not that opposite of the world by having churches with weight rooms, gyms, swimming pools, coffee shops, parks, and book stores, isn't really counterculture, but just creating more of the same with a different stamp on it (a fish or a cross).

The New Counterculture #1

I've referenced and quoted a book called Lies That Go Unchallenged in Popular Culture (Colson, Charles), and I'm going to do so again.  The book is a series of short 2-4 page challenges to certain lies in popular culture.  Today I took a look at one of these entitled, "The New Counterculture."

The section notes that the anti-war protest of the sixties was a counterculture movement that was marked with socialist values, sexual freedom, and a tearing down of marriage and the nuclear family.  This movement however was so successful that now the ideals of that counterculture are no longer counterculture.  The definition of what is counterculture has thus changed.

The charge in this article is that the anti-war protesters of today are not "counterculture."  "Counterculture" is based upon the idea that everything one has been told is a lie.  The anti-war protesters of today do not maintain this view which would entail everything, not just war, so everything in life has been a lie, meaning war, race, sexuality, and art.  According to Paul Buhle of Brown Univeristy, as quoted by Colson in the article, "The only thing that unites people today is fear of the consequences of war."

So who is "counterculture" now?

Professor Robert Webber calls the "younger evangelicals" the new counterculture group (again quoted by Colson).  What is the motivation for these young activists?  It's not fear.  It's hope.  Hope in Jesus Christ.  They see themselves to be "a redemptive, transformative place in the world."  Webber expects the war on terrorism to call this new young group to make a proper distinction between the church and the nation, and their place in both of these.

In Romans 13, it is clearly stated that authority has been established by God to protect, care, and punish evil.  All of which are the duties God has given to the governments in the world, who are God's servants in the world.  Martin Luther said that the 1st use, or function, of the Law of God, is that of a curb.  Curbs block and restrict.  The function of the Law as a curb is to restrict evil and reward good.  The laws of the land, by whichever government in the world, are thus an example of the crubing function of the Law. Of course, not every nation is perfect, and if rulers do not live up to their calling God will bring them low and build up replacements. 

The "new evangelicals" recognize this role of the government.  They see that the government's role is to offer aid towards the physical side of its people's lives.  The role of the Church, however, is to proclaim Jesus to the people, tending more towards the spiritual needs of the people (although the church is also called to care for people physically).  Christians belong to both of these kingdoms and have roles in both of them.  "The Church, then, is a counterculture that has a different vision of the world than that of people who are not in the Church," writes Webber.  Younger evangelicals can bring about change in the world, not through political power and protests, as the counterculture of the sixties did, but through following the way of their leader Jesus, through humble servanthood.

More on Hollywood, Sex, and Infidelity

In yesterday's blog, I brought to attention something I learned about Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives; they're both produces by gay males.  From Charles Colson's Lies that go Unchallenged in Popular Culture I learned that he thinks these shows "misgivings about marriage and family life reflect the creators' own concerns."  What we are seeing the women characters do on screen is actually a depiction of a certain type of gay-male sexuality - which has always been known to be promiscuous.

With that in mind, let's take the step to think about all of Hollywood.  Who are the producers?  Who are the writers?  What do they believe?  How does it come accross on screen, and do we truly recognize what is being sold and how it affects us?

Colson poses some questions for a group approach on this issue: "How do you challenge and encourage others to grow in fidelity and integrity?  Do you have access to men's or women's support groups when you need them?  Would a person in your church who needed help have somewhere to go?"

He also gives some personal questions to consider on how we can influence culture: "How can you show that the positive results others see in your life are based on the hope you have in eternal life through Jesus Christ?"

Please, take some time and consider answers to these questions.  Post your thoughts as well.

Who are the producers? Does it make a difference?

My wife and I recently saw a play at a dinner/theater, which is produced by a Christian church.  Previously we had seen The Sound of Music, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Dancing in the Rain.  The first two of course had obvious Christian themes, especially the one about Joseph the Dreamer.  The play we just watched however, Anything Goes, had virtually no story, racy costumes, and sex joke, after sex joke.  Because we knew it was produced by a Christian church, this seemed shocking.  Who you are and what you believe does lead one to expect certain attributes in your life and work, and when those attributes are not present; something is wrong.

This teaching can be found in the Bible.  James 3:9-12 reads, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

This of course is a good mirror for myself, because I do not always live up to my calling, and certainly none of us do.  This brings me to praise God all the more for the mercy that he bestows upon all creation and for the grace he has made available through Jesus.

Now, think about the latest movies and television shows.  What messages do they contain?  What is their content?  And when we look at the producers, actors, actresses, writers, and directors, should we be surprised?  And what is the effect of these programs on society and us?

With this in mind, did you know that the producers of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives were gay men?  Charles Colson writes that "It's altogether likely that the show's misgivings about marriage and family life reflect the creators' own concerns."  And he cites Lee Siegal as writing that Sex and the City is "an ingenious affirmation of a certain type of gay-male sexuality," which is notoriously promiscuous.  Siegel called the popular show, "the biggest hoax perpetrated on straight single women in the history of entertainment."  What we are seeing on screen as women having anonymous, random sex is actually a justification of the gay male producers view of sexuality.  Let's then ask how has this show has influenced heterosexual females?

Knowing the producers of Hollywood and knowing their beliefs, does it come as any surprise that the "entertainment" produced in America shows a poor light on marriage and presents monogamy as virtually impossible, and in fact something that is not desirable? 

What are your thoughts on these issues?