ReformedAnglican

Breaking the Mold

2012-01-03T19:07:00.001-08:00

Christian formation means not letting the worldpress us into its mold.

Jon Tyson| posted 6/13/2011

As a Christian leader, I amgrieved by statistics indicating that believers and non-believers live almostidentical lives: similar sexual ethics, spending patterns, and lifestylechoices. Despite spending millions of dollars on transformation campaigns,conferences, books, curricula, worship music, small groups, multimedia,Internet churches, and all forms of relevance and engagement, Christians areremarkably like the world.

This is compounded by real confusion about how tohealthily engage the culture around us. So we end up, sadly, "of the worldbut not in it." Why do our best efforts seem to make so little difference?And how can we help our people grow into actual Christ-likeness?

I agree with James Wilhoit, author of SpiritualFormation as if the Church Mattered: "Spiritual formation is the taskof the church. Period. Spiritual formation is at the heart of its whole purposefor existence. The church was formed to form. Our charge, given by Jesushimself, is to make disciples, baptize them, and teach these new disciples toobey his commands."

The apostle Paul addressed this issue in a letterto a young church in one of the worldliest cities in history: Rome in the firstcentury. After describing the human condition and the character of God, thepower of the gospel, sin, law, grace, election, and love, Paul calls for aresponse: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God'smercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing toGod—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of thisworld, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:1-2).

Paul knew, and I am coming to realize, thatbefore we see real gospel transformation, we must be aware that the world inwhich we live is not neutral. We live in heavily contested space: The enemy ofour souls is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10; 1 Pet.5:8).

On a human level, corporations compete for brandloyalty, educational institutions compete for worldview, and we are continuallymarketed to, mocked, rewarded, seduced, and compelled by the things around us.

Maybe Paul was trying to rouse the Romans to seethat until we identify and confront the forces that seek to conform us, ourattempts at transformation will be continually undermined. It's like trying tobail water out of a sinking ship, while ignoring the work of plugging the holesthat are causing the ship to sink.

We are trying to offer a solution to people, whenthey don't really see that there is a problem.

Cultural formation

How exactly does the world shape us into itsimage? I recently asked my eight-year-old daughter a question, and she replied,"Whatever." I asked her where she learned to respond to others'questions in this way. Her response: "Everywhere."

It's this "everywhere" that shapes ourlives.

Paul was asking the Romans to consider the largerforces that formed people into Romans. Then he wanted them to consider howJesus transformed Romans into Christians.

For us, rather than simply asking how to makeAmericans Christian, we first need to ask what makes Americans American, andthen decipher how Jesus can transform Americans into Christians. That allows usto see substantive progress in spiritual formation.

Pastoring in New York, not unlike the city ofRome, I've struggled to decipher these forces of cultural formation, and toopen our people's eyes to them.

The French philosopher Michel Foucault calledthis shaping of people into a worldly mold "the normalization of theindividual." Think about how these forces press us into the world's viewof "normal."

• Education: Almost all educationis secular, even at a kindergarten level. At the college or graduate schoollevel, belief in God is often seen as childish at best, and a seriousintellectual impediment.

• Media: Media is pervasive, pouringstory after story into our lives, most of them contradictory to the way ofJesus. What was once held sacred has been transformed into entertainment. Inmost media, truth has been reduced to sound bites, and the sensational drownsout the substantive.

• Marketing: One commentatorestimates that we see more advertisements in a single year of our lives thansomeone 50 years ago saw in an entire lifetime. We ourselves have been branded.

• Economics: We learn from ourearliest years that more is better, and better is not enough. We spend much oflives trying to keep up acquire things and experiences in order to feel goodabout ourselves. The supreme value of life is how much we can acquire. Successis defined by one word: more.

• Sexuality: The message of ourculture is that sex is purely physical, and that as long as no one is hurt,people can determine their own sexual practices. The rise of pornography hastaken sex out of the bedroom and turned it into a form of entertainment.

• Religion: All religions areseen as equal and valid, and to claim that one is true and the others are notis cultural treason. The only belief you can hold with conviction is that thereisn't any true-for-everybody belief.

Growing up in a culture like this, we quicklyfind that a sermon on Sunday, or a weekly youth group talk, can hardly give usthe tools to renew our minds and be transformed into the image of our Creator.

American Dreaming

The most popular story in the world is the storyof the American Dream. America is a place where you can start with nothing,and, by your own hard work and determination, rise out of poverty and obscurityto become a successful person whom others admire.

Our major institutions—education, business, evenfamily—distribute this story to us in various forms. We are taught to behardworking and competitive, to win, to get ahead. We are pushed to succeed andaccumulate, and we feel like failures if we don't.

The media take this story and then distribute itwith alarming effectiveness to every component of our lives. From carefullycomposed Facebook profiles that show how well we are doing to the onslaught ofreality TV shows always designed with a competitive edge to generate winnersand losers, we absorb a message: to strive and succeed as an individual.

The result holds massive sway over the actualpractices of our lives. Afraid of being left behind or missing out, we shop,browse, sit, watch, work, and slave, all in pursuit of the American dream.

These practices set the pace for what we actuallyvalue, and these values often determine the major choices and habits thatdefine our lifestyle.

Here lies the tension we all feel. Our theologyis defined by Jesus, but our lives are defined by some other lord.

Instead of believing (Phil. 1:21) that "to live is Christ" (thepurpose and mission of our lives) and "to die is gain" (in hisglorious presence), we end up reversing the great mission of the Christianfaith.

The American version says, "To live is gain,to die is Christ"—live now and accumulate all you can in terms of wealth,pleasure, sexual experience, luxury, privilege, and fun, and when you die, youget to go to heaven, too, and do it all over again, except better. Our storyhas been co-opted.

The gospel in contested space

Imagine yourself in first-century Rome, walkingto attend one of the local house-church gatherings. You walk past the PalatineHill, where the elites of Rome watch over the world's most powerful city andwhere Christian martyrs had been set on fire in order to light up Nero's drunkenparties. You walk past the local theater, and hear the crowds roar at theretelling of the stories of Rome's history. You pass a group of Roman soldiers,taking a break from enforcing peace in the world—the kind of peace that hadcrucified a Jewish rabbi named Jesus about 25 years earlier. You continue onpast the Circus Maximus, a giant chariot-racing stadium and gladiatorialcomplex, and you realize other believers had been martyred there for disloyaltyto the empire.

You walk past dozens of temples to Roman gods,houses of prostitution, images of the emperor on buildings, temples, coins, andbenches, and then enter a house where believers are meeting to worship Jesus asLord and seek first his kingdom. There one of the elders announces that Paulhas written a letter to your church. Then he reads: "Do not be conformedto the image of the world, but be transformed through the renewing of yourmind."

You, a first-century Christian, would not havethought of one immediate social or political issue when hearing these words.Instead, you would have been overwhelmed with the reality that everything inyour life—the story, institutions, practices, values, and lifestyle of theempire—was working in unity to conform you into a good Roman citizen.

It was not one thing in particular, buteverything in general, that was pressing you into its mold. The goal of a goodRoman citizen was to embody Rome's values, to be an icon (a small image) of theempire as a whole.

Rome was forming people to believe that Caesarwas Lord. Jesus was renewing people's minds to see that he was Lord.

Rome was forming people politically to believethat peace was made though power and domination. Jesus was renewing people'sminds to believe that peace came through servanthood.

Rome was forming people through entertainment tobe attracted to sexuality and violence. Jesus was renewing people's minds tosee that art is what's good and true and beautiful in his world.

Rome was forming people economically to believethat the rich got more, and that the poor were commodities. Jesus was renewingpeople's minds to see that the poor and the rich were equal in the kingdom, andthat it was better to give than to receive.

Now, imagine walking home through the streets ofRome and trying to make sense of how to live out this verse. To love yourspouse, raise your children, earn a living, interact with neighbors andfriends, and fulfill civic duties. My guess is that your mind would beswirling.

What sort of deep and ongoing work of the Spiritwould it take to transform you from the image of Rome into the image of Jesus?You would have to surrender your whole life to this pursuit. You would have topresent yourself as a living sacrifice, an offering to God himself. Anythingless than offering the whole of your life to God in response to his invitationwould be both futile and laughable.

Every day as a pastor I glimpse how those firstRomans must have felt upon hearing these words about "being conformed tothe image of the world." New York City is arguably the fashion capital ofthe world, the finance capital of the world, the international relationscapital of the world, the entertainment capital of the world, the media capitalof the world—you get the point.

A person walking to our church through the citycould walk down Madison Ave., through Times Square past the MTV studios, pastthe United Nations Headquarters, through the Fashion District, through the artsneighborhoods, through the heart of the gay community, past Wall Street, to sitin a church and hear me expound the apostle Paul's words about not conformingto the world.

Many of the people in this congregation work inthe institutions that define what worldliness is for our time. Any seriouspastoral work here has to take into account, not just the sinful nature andtendencies of the flesh, but the realities of the world that powerfully pull usinto their story and mode.

As C.S Lewis put it, "You and I have need ofthe strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment ofworldliness."

Breaking the spell

Saint Peter wrote to the Church in exile:

"Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners andexiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live suchgood lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, theymay see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Pet.2:11).

We are pushed to succeed andaccumulate, and We feel like failures if we don't.

I often hear people say that the need of the houris being a "relevant church." Some people argue that the world'sattitude toward the church (indifferent at best, and hostile at worst) isbecause they don't understand what we are trying to do, or that we don'tconnect with them, or that we aren't relevant.

I would humbly disagree. Though I'm not opposedto being relevant, in practice we often end up mirroring the world rather thanengaging it.

Jesus didn't tell his parables so that peoplecould "connect with his points." Jesus told his parables to awakentheir imaginations to the new reality of the kingdom of God that was breakingin around them. I believe that the real need of the hour is a robustdiscipleship that engages the whole of our lives with the Lordship of Jesus,the resurrected head of the church.

Our church is not far from Times Square, sorather than entertaining people in church (as if they need any moreentertainment), we need to equip them with a gospel that has the power totransform them into a movement of grace, working its way through the whole ofour culture like salt and light, for the common good.

Rather than simply consuming the story of theworld, we need theologians and thinkers, pastors and authors, screenwriters andsongwriters to tell an alternative story to the American dream. We need thebiblical story, the overarching, overwhelming epic of the creation, fall,restoration, and renewal of the kingdom of God and its beautiful king.

We don't need to withdraw from secularinstitutions but to engage them with the truths of the gospel. We need our bestleaders in education, politics, media, arts, and international relationssalting the world with the truth of Jesus and his heart for us all.

We need to help reshape the systems that we havecondemned, unleashing systemic good rather than the systemic evil that is soprevalent today.

We also need to help people living as radicalindividuals discover the beauty of covenant community, and renew theircommitment to the local church.

Rather than just following consumeristicpractices, we need to create and cultivate alternative practices, birthed notout of planned obsolescence, but from excellence and discernment. Thesepractices, based in generosity and goodness and selflessness andsustainability, confront our greed and desire for more, and teach us to live inGod's world in God's way.

We also need to rediscover the ancient spiritualpractices that help us grow in the image of Jesus. Reading, fasting, restingand celebrating help us encounter the grace and goodness of God.

The great work of being a pastor isnot entertaining the saints, but transforming them.

This then leads to a real impact being made onour values. Our lives begin to reflect God's heart and concerns, and our choiceto live for Jesus begins to make sense and fit into God's overarching plan forthe whole of our lives. We then become living sacrifices, and our minds aretransformed. Instead of the mold of the world, we can begin to see the good,pleasing and perfect will of our loving God. This is articulated beautifully byStassen and Gushee in Kingdom Ethics:

"Where Christian faith is functioning as itshould, it serves as the governing paradigm for life. Life is governed by thenarrative of God's coming reign in Christ and the way of life appropriate toit. Ultimately, in a growing Christian life, this process becomes secondnature. One is so absorbed into kingdom living and one's identity as Christ'sdisciple that it essentially becomes impossible to respond to the circumstancesof life from any other frame of reference."

Labor pains in New York

Paul referred to the Galatian church as "mydear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth, until Christ isformed in you."

This is definitely more than theory for me. Ipastor a network of congregations in some of the most godless neighborhoods inAmerica, and in spite of the odds, sprouts from the seeds of the gospel havebroken through the secular concrete of Manhattan.

We have Wall Street traders, steering theircareers away from greed into radical generosity. We have people in the fashionindustry who get behind the veneer of beauty with restorative and creativeprojects for victims of sex trafficking and battered women.

We have families living in proximity and sharingresources and valuing community above convenience as they live as the people ofGod. We have media executives working on new stories and programming thathighlight the good, the true, and the beautiful. We have artists creating outof a renewed imagination, offering compelling works of hope in a culture ofcynicism. The list goes on.

The great work of being a pastor is notentertaining the saints, but transforming them. Helping them to be a compellingpreview of the world to come, as the kingdom of God comes near.

Then, as our people live lives of true and properworship, they will find God's good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Jon Tyson is pastor of Trinity Grace Church inManhattan, New York.

Tree of Life- A "Sort of" Emperor Has No Clothes Piece of trash

2011-11-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

Terrence Mailck's fourth film in four decades, The Tree of life, just came out. I made it through 30 minutes and said, "That is enough." The movie is plotless, pretentious and without roots to reality. It is so funny to me that critics, who have no idea what the movie is about, are using pretentious verbiage like "kind of" and "sort of"- words that people use when they do not have substantive things to say but want to sound like intellectuals- to describe the movie, or should I say, "film." We sort of call movies films when we want o sound sophisticated. Call it a film, call it a movie, I call it a piece of trash. The emperor has no clothes.

The best review of this movie so far is below, really.

James Vincent McMorrow

2011-07-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

While working out at the gym, my friend tossed me a Cd and said, I am pretty much obsessed with listening to this guy. Check it out. The CD has been in my car playing over and over agin for the past two months. So, now I pass it on. I am pretty much obsessed with listening to this guy. Immaculate lyrics and beautiful vocals. Thanks James, thanks Dublin, thank you Matt for introducing me to this great artist.

Introducing the Civil Wars

2011-05-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

I sat stunned in my car yesterday listening to The Civil Wars harmonize in a live show on The Word Cafe. Christian song writer Joy Williams is no stranger to stunning music. Teaming up with John Paul White makes this duo epic.

Check out the infamous Edie's Attic performances of You are My Sunshine and Billie Jean from their first recorded live show.

The Best Superbowl Ads for 2011

2011-02-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

Super bowl ads seem to always have elements of humor, sensuality, male & female stereotyping and lots of incredible story telling. Some company’s commercials aren’t worth commenting on and others seem to be able to capture the human story year after year.

This year, we had the usual funny and manly categories telling great stories about what it means to be human. Two growing categories are Epic commercials and commercials that take us through a timeline, or emphasize history.

Standouts for me were VW’s Dark Vader commercial, Coca Cola’s Border Crossing and Chrysler’s very moving Eminem

FUNNY

Carmax I Feel Like

There was a lot of irony in this commercial which always gives us this three second delay in humor… “I feel like a kid in a candy shop”… all the way around until you hear, “I feel like a customer in carmax.”

Doritos House Sitting

Doritos pushes the envelope and often uses shock humor and surprise to make us love their stories. In this ad we see Doritos having resurrection power, “I missed you grandpa.”

Pepsi Shooting Cooler

Every Superbowl should have a “Revenge of the Nerds” storyline and this one even made fun of preppy people.

EPIC

Three ads felt Epic, like they were not just telling earthly stories, but ones were the whole universe was involved. I loved these ads.

***Kia Optima One Epic Ride

***Coca Cola Dragon

***Volkswagon Darth Vader Kid

MAN TARGET

The following commercials all seemed to have men as their target audience.

Snickers Roseanne Barr

Careerbuildercom Chimps

Bridgestone Reply All

Budweiser Tiny Dancer

Bridgestone Beaver

Volkswagon Black Beetle

***Coca Cola Border Crossing

Chevy Lassie Truck

HISTORY

I really like the way so many technologically driven corporations are tapping into the fact that even though their industry depends on change and progression, they are now old companies that have histories that span generations and tell the stories that help us understand who we are and where we came from.

Chevy Volt

Hundai Old School

See Video HERE

Carmax Service Station

***Chrysler Eminem

Mercedes Diddy

NOT REALLY WORTH MENTIONING

The Soooooo Creepy Doritos Finger Licking Commercial

Josh Garrels Featured on The Bible Illustrated

2011-01-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

The amazing music of Josh Garrels is featured on an album that you can find on Band Camp called The Bible Illustrated.

Check out the music here:

Josh Garrels - Josh Garrels-Don't Wait For Me

Josh Garrels - Josh Garrels-Season Of Rain

Josh Garrels - Josh Garrels-All Creatures

Josh Garrels New Album Coming Spring 2011

2011-01-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

Those who love the music of Josh Garrels are anticipating the release of his new album. According to Josh's blog, the album is in production right now and will be released in the Spring. The Album will be titled Love & War and the Sea In Between.

Additionally, having a stop by at Josh's site will allow you to spend some time with his music- simply stunning music that glorifies God in a palpable way.

"Farther Along" - Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

"Ulysses" - Josh Garrels 2010 from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

Ten Most Significant Cultural Trends of the Last Decade

2011-01-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

by Andy Crouch

Originally printed in Qideas

Ten years is a very short time. As I reflect on the world in 2011 compared to the world in 2001, I’m less struck by how much has changed than by how much is the same. Terror, war, new technology, economic boom and bust, surprising political triumphs followed by sudden changes of fortune—yup, sounds like the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, and 1960s to me. It’s almost axiomatic that any change big enough to shape an entire nation or society happens in long waves spanning generations, not a mere ten years.

Indeed, when I reflect on the most significant developments of the never-adequately-named 2000s (the aughts? the aughties? the naughties?), it seems that almost all of them were well under way in 1999, or even 1989. At the same time, in the last ten years some long-wave trends accelerated in notable ways. Acceleration matters. In one sense, walking, riding a horse, driving a car, and traveling by plane are simply variations on the millennia-old human theme of mobility, tracing back literally to the earliest signs of our restless race. But the difference between five miles an hour and 500 miles an hour is not just a quantitative matter of speed, but a qualitative change in the horizons of possibility.

Here are ten significant trends in North American culture that accelerated dramatically in the 2000s—almost always for better and for worse at the same time.

One | Connection

By far the most significant acceleration was in our technologies of connection. In June 2000, 97 million mobile phone subscribers existed in the United States; in June 2010, the number rose to 293 million. Urban and suburban Americans swim in a sea of WiFi (sitting in my living room on a quiet side street I can see 8 wireless networks)—and in the middle of Nebraska, you can get online at McDonald’s.

What did not take off in the 2000s was “virtual reality”—a world constructed entirely of disembodied bits, populated by avatars and existing only in the realm of the ideal. As the 2000s ended, the virtual-reality world Second Life was on virtual life support.

Instead, we used technology to reinforce our embodied relationships. Facebook was the highest trafficked website in 2010 (US subscribers in 2000: zero; in 2010: 116 million). Look at your Facebook friends—unless you are a celebrity, the vast majority of them are people you have met in the flesh. Same with the recents on your cell phone. Rather than replacing embodied connection, our devices supplemented and extended it, an electromagnetic nervous system to match the physical infrastructure of transport built in the twentieth century.

Two | Place

Therefore, oddly enough after a decade of wild growth in invisible telecommunications, place mattered more in 2010 than it did in 2000. Travel and transport remained basically flat throughout the decade. Total vehicle miles driven, while an impressive 3 billion miles in 2010, were only up from 2.7 billion miles in 2000, a period during which the population increased from 288 to 318 million—meaning the average American drove less in 2010 than in 2000. At 9:45 tomorrow morning there will be roughly 4,500 commercial flights in the air, just as there were on 9:45 the morning of 11 September 2001—no change despite a decade of economic and population growth. And mobility, the hallmark of twentieth-century United States culture, declined throughout the decade and reached a post-war low in 2010, with less than 10% of American households changing their address.

At the Q gathering in 2010, urbanologist Richard Florida observed that young adults meeting one another no longer ask, “What do you do?” They ask, “Where do you live?” More and more people will change careers in order to stay in a place—connected to family, friends, and local culture—than will change place to stay in a career. The 20th-century American dream was to move out and move up; the 21st-century dream seems to be to put down deeper roots. This quest for local, embodied, physical presence may well be driven by the omnipresence of the virtual and a dawning awareness of the thinness of disembodied life.

Three | Cities

Cities, the places where both connection and local presence can thrive simultaneously, had an extraordinary renaissance in the 2000s. The revival of American cities was underway already in 2000, but it reached its full flowering by 2010. Of course not every single American city flourished in the last decade, but those of us old enough to remember New York, Chicago, Atlanta, or Houston circa 1990—not to mention Portland, Columbus, or Phoenix—can only be astonished at the way economically fading and often crime-ridden city centers revived as centers of commerce and creativity.

The challenges often associated with urban life, meanwhile, began a movement to the suburbs that may well accelerate in the 2010s. The frontiers of justice, mercy, compassion, and reconciliation are now in the suburbs—places where connections are harder to sustain and local culture is thinner and less appealing than the cities. Some suburban environments will reinvent themselves, but multi-generational poverty, crime, and gangs that provide a substitute social network where others have failed are already as common in Westchester County as in the Bronx, in the San Fernando Valley as in Compton. The really radical and difficult place to raise a family by 2020 will be . . . the suburbs.

[See Tim Keller's Q talk on "Grace and the City" and Joel Kotkin's on "The Future of the Suburbs."]

Four | The End of the Majority

Everywhere in the 2000s, cultural majorities collapsed. Predominantly black neighborhoods became half Hispanic. White rural communities saw dramatic immigration from Asia and Latin America. City centers became internationalized. Mercados and Asian food markets sprung up in suburbia and in exurbia (drive down a thoroughfare well beyond the 285 beltway in Atlanta, and you will see shop signs in a dozen different languages). White Americans were still a bare majority of the population by the end of the decade, but in delivery rooms they were already only a plurality (the largest of many minorities).

We are all minorities now. Evangelical Christians are a minority, as are liberal Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, and atheists. The establishment of Will Herberg’s 1955 book Protestant—Catholic—Jew is now a minority. Barack Obama is a minority, but so is Sarah Palin. Republicans are a minority—so are Democrats, and so are independents.

There may never have been a society in history that was as culturally, religiously, and politically diverse as the United States is today—except perhaps the Roman Empire. There are few models for how such a diverse community can sustain itself, and plenty of models for failure. Perhaps the most hopeful model is a community that arose at the edges of that Empire and eventually spread to its heart, among whom there was neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female.

Five | Polarity

We used the technologies of connection and the commitment to place to sort ourselves into more and more tightly homogenous subcultures, refuges both virtual and real from the heterogeneity of our society. Republicans became more Republican; Democrats became more Democratic. Salon lost ground to the Huffington Post—CNN lost ground to Fox News. A president elected on the premise of unity presided over two years of ever-sharper rhetoric of division and seemed unable to change the game. Hipsters got more extremely hip. The Reformed became truly Reformed.

It was not at all clear, as polarization accelerated, that anyone could convince any large number of Americans that they had anything crucial in common.

Six | The Self Shot

When movie directors in the 2030s are trying to convey in a single glance that their scene is set in the 2000s, they will use the self shot—the self-portrait shot from a digital camera or cell phone held by one hand extended away from the subject. We look out at our own hand, perhaps squeezing another friend into the frame, composing our face in a smile or a laugh. We are shooting ourselves.
.
The visual presentation of the self accelerated in the 2000s. Previous generations saw themselves most often in mirrors. But mirrors do not show us what others see—they show us a mirror image with right and left reversed. The difference is subtle but real, and symbolic of a deeper reality. Now most 20-year-olds have seen thousands of images of themselves as others see them. In the 2000s we learned to shape and groom our image for public consumption. Body modification—augmentation, reduction, smoothing, straightening, whitening, tanning, not to mention tattooing—became normative. The closing years of the decade gave us the word “manscaping.” Enough said.

Seven | Pornography

Underneath it all was porn. Pornography is as old as visual art, but in the 2000s it was more ubiquitous than it had been since the ancient Greeks erected herms at every crossroads. Superimposed on every image of our own bodies, and the bodies of our friends and lovers, were the idealized bodies of pornography and its close cousin, advertising and popular culture, which differ from porn only in not consummating the voyeuristic impulses they arouse.

And yet as omnipresent as porn was, it remained underground—a subject of shame even among the most secular and urbane. Our culture seemed to draw back from the brink at the same time as it plunged into the abyss. The bestselling memoir was titled Eat, Pray, Love, not, Eat, Pray, F@#k. No one really wanted the culture of porn to become a runaway train. But neither was anyone sure how to stop it.

Eight | Informality

Men untucked their shirts. Billionaires wore jeans. The most powerful CEO in America was universally known as “Steve.” Indeed, informality was now a sign of privilege—only low-status workers wore uniforms. And the ubiquity of the camera meant that everyone—including celebrities, politicians, business leaders, people who in past decades would have been insulated by privilege—was caught off guard, meaning that status now accrued to those who could be most artfully informal, rather than those who could protect themselves from view.

Most institutions, with layers of tradition and deference accumulated over years, struggled to stay relevant to an informal culture. Tie-wearing network news anchors were eclipsed by cable-channel comedians with open collars. Journalistic codes of integrity and objectivity looked simply foolish next to the raw data of The Smoking Gun and Wikileaks. Marriage, with its vows and formal attire, became for many young people a distant aspiration far on the horizon, while cohabitation became the accepted gateway to adult relationships. A crippling blow was dealt to the cultural legitimacy of the oldest institution of all, the Roman Catholic Church, not by sexual abuse per se (almost all the cases reported had happened at least a decade earlier) but by the realization of how its hierarchy had covered up the scandal. The most informal and anti-institutional demographic cohort in a century, Generation X, moved uneasily and unsteadily into adulthood—symbolized neatly by its most celebrated religious movement, the emerging church, refusing to institutionalize at all and naming the leader of its most prominent organization a “coordinator.”

Nine | Liquidity

Wealth was ever more disconnected from real assets. Countries that pumped one particular liquid from the ground acquired vast resources of sovereign wealth that went looking for high returns. The most storied and prominent financial firm, Goldman Sachs, ended its century-long system of limited partnership and become a publicly traded company. Hedge funds made billions by trading not shares, but shares of bets on the future price of shares (and derivatives far more exotic). Your mortgage, once the most boring and staid of financial instruments, was sliced and diced into tranches of risk.

Money sloshed around the globe like quicksilver (the title of Neal Stephenson’s epic 2003 novel about the earliest moments of modernity). It sloshed beyond the borders of nations, of national regulators and politicians, quickly breaching the levees of international financial standards like Basel 1 (replaced by Basel 2, soon to be replaced by the soon-to-be-swamped Basel 3). Anyone unwilling to swim in the sea of liquidity drowned (or, as one Wall Street executive said, as long as the music was playing you had to keep dancing). As money sloshed, prices of oil, food, housing, and labor spiked, then collapsed, then threatened to spike again. Those who could trade on volatility often made untold fortunes; those actually needing to buy and sell real goods often suffered.

Ten | Complexity

There was a bull market in oversimplification, and no shortage of attempts to find someone to blame or, more hopefully, some way to make a difference. At the close of the decade some Christians were especially excited about the potential for cultural elites to change the world—just at the moment when elites everywhere were waking up to how little they could do to change anything at all. If there ever had been reliable levers of power—the Federal Funds Rate, Fashion Week, the New York Times bestseller list, the Nobel Peace Prize—they no longer carried much leverage in a world of countless connections, devolved into countless particular locations and conurbations, filled with fractious and fissiparous minorities, and ceaseless self-preoccupied informality. It was not a good time, to say the least, to be a central planner.

Yet all this complexity also contained the seed of certain kinds of promise. The human brain, after all, is also complex, interconnected, embodied, improvisational, constantly being rewired—simply put, the most complex system known in our universe. The culture of North America in the 2000s took several not inconsiderable steps toward having those same qualities. Not without risks, not without loss, and with every expectation of grave difficulty ahead. And yet in the most surprising places what was emerging could be called intelligence. Of course, intelligence needs to be married to wisdom—and in surveying the history of that most elusive of all cultural goods, we can only conclude that the 2000s left us neither worse nor better off than human beings have ever been.

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In your opinion, did Andy miss something? What would be on your list?

Reformed Anglican Top 10 Films of 2010

2011-01-05T21:10:00.001-08:00

It was a tough year for films. However, those that were worthy of praise as films that have depth, tell a compelling story, and capture the culture rose up out of the garbage heap of movies that obsessed about horror, crack-addicted-action-filming, and stupidity. Having said that, most of the great films of 2010 were very dark. From the moving post apocalyptic dystopian plot in The Book of Eli to the amazing meth lab drama of the Ozark mountains in Winter's Bone, the great films this year were very gloomy. Even the animated wonder of Despicable Me and Toy Story 3 featured orphans, an evil villan as anti-hero, a jaded kid who has forgotten his childhood and an evil fluffy teddy bear that smelled like strawberries.

1. Winter’s Bone

2. Despicable Me

3. The Book of Eli

4. The Fighter

5. Exit Through the Gift Shop

6. The Ghost Writer

7. Toy Story 3

8. Inception

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

10. The Social Network

Reformed Anglican Top 10 Songs of 2010

2011-01-03T21:00:00.001-08:00

Here is my very subjective top ten list for best songs of 2010. These are the songs from 2010 that either consistently ended up on my itunes playlist or that I really enjoyed hearing on the radio throughout the year. Since I like, rock, indie, folk, alternative and whatever is excellent in music, the list is a bit eclectic.

1. The Black Keys (Brothers) Tighten Up

It’s Rock N’ Roll. Guitar and drums and that’s it. Like The White Stripes or early Zepplin, The album is superb and this song seemed to always be playing on the local radio station in Pittsburgh.

2. Colonizing the Cosmos (Colonizing the Cosmos) Dear Citizens

When front man Josh Moyer sent me the pre-release of their debut album I listened to the whole thing three times in a row and then told my wife, “This is epic.” There are few albums today written in a way that tell a story throughout. Fewer still where ten of the 15 tracks on the album are amazing, catchy, and enduring as songs that will show up on your play list over and over and over again.

3. Regina Spektar (Live in London) Laughing With

This Russian Jewish genious immigrated to the US at 9 and has risen to be an amazing voice is music. Laughing With is a stunningly beautiful song voiced by a woman who believes in the God she is talking about.

4. The Avette Brothers (Live, Volume 3) I and You and Love

I and You and Love came out in 2009 and I have been listening to that whole album ever since. The live album has a great version of I and You and Love as well as a deep well of Avette excellence.

5. Mumford & Sons (Sigh No More) The Cave

Everytime I hear Mumford and Sons I just stop what I am doing and listen. This band creates very traditional sounds combined with all of the benefits of the technology of the new millennium.

6. Vampire Weekend (Contra) Giving Up The Gun

There are so many great bands out now. Vampire weekend is sophisticated, deep, hip, and playful all at the same time. Their songs get stuck in your head.

7. Kt Tunsall (Tiger Suit) Uummannaq Song

This Scottish singer-song writer has energy reminiscent of Sinead O Connor. The Tiger Suit album is good but this song and Fade Like a Shadow stand out on the album.

8. Pomplamoose (Covering Lady Gaga) Telephone

Jack and Natalie sent out all these youtube releases covering famous songs. I most cases, I liked the covers better than the originals. In the Spring of this year, they released this Lady Gaga cover and now what seemed like an inane bit of pop drivel is full of life and vigor. I love Pomplamoose.

9. Kings of Leon (Come Around Sundown) Radioactive

Last summer I sat with a bunch of 40 year olds who were commiserating about how they don’t make good music anymore. Of course, since they only listen to music from the 80’s they were not able to pick up on the amazing music that is being made today. Kings of Leon make great music. It is raw, stright forward Rock N’ Roll.; arena rock that can hold up to anything out there. The Come Around Sundown Album proves it once again and radioactive is just one in a series from a great album.

10. Kid Rock (Born Free) Born Free

Yeah, Kid Rock. No, seriously. This “kid” from Michigan is not just rappin about bein a cowboy. The album sounds like Bob Seger meets Brice Springsteen in the trailer park. So, of course, I love it. Born Free is a great song.

Dennis Prager: Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality

2010-10-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah's prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity.

This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage), and began the arduous task of elevating the status of women.

It is probably impossible for us, who live thousands of years after Judaism began this process, to perceive the extent to which undisciplined sex can dominate man's life and the life of society. Throughout the ancient world, and up to the recent past in many parts of the world, sexuality infused virtually all of society.

Human sexuality, especially male sexuality, is polymorphous, or utterly wild (far more so than animal sexuality). Men have had sex with women and with men; with little girls and young boys; with a single partner and in large groups; with total strangers and immediate family members; and with a variety of domesticated animals. They have achieved orgasm with inanimate objects such as leather, shoes, and other pieces of clothing, through urinating and defecating on each other (interested readers can see a photograph of the former at select art museums exhibiting the works of the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe); by dressing in women's garments; by watching other human beings being tortured; by fondling children of either sex; by listening to a woman's disembodied voice (e.g., "phone sex"); and, of course, by looking at pictures of bodies or parts of bodies. There is little, animate or inanimate, that has not excited some men to orgasm. Of course, not all of these practices have been condoned by societies -- parent-child incest and seducing another's man's wife have rarely been countenanced -- but many have, and all illustrate what the unchanneled, or in Freudian terms, the "un-sublimated," sex drive can lead to.

De-sexualizing God and religion

Among the consequences of the unchanneled sex drive is the sexualization of everything -- including religion. Unless the sex drive is appropriately harnessed (not squelched -- which leads to its own destructive consequences), higher religion could not have developed. Thus, the first thing Judaism did was to de-sexualize God: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" by his will, not through any sexual behavior. This was an utterly radical break with all other religions, and it alone changed human history. The gods of virtually all civilizations engaged in sexual relations. In the Near East, the Babylonian god Ishtar seduced a man, Gilgamesh, the Babylonian hero. In Egyptian religion, the god Osiris had sexual relations with his sister, the goddess Isis, and she conceived the god Horus. In Canaan, El, the chief god, had sex with Asherah. In Hindu belief, the god Krishna was sexually active, having had many wives and pursuing Radha; the god Samba, son of Krishna, seduced mortal women and men. In Greek beliefs, Zeus married Hera, chased women, abducted the beautiful young male, Ganymede, and masturbated at other times; Poseidon married Amphitrite, pursued Demeter, and raped Tantalus. In Rome, the gods sexually pursued both men and women.

Given the sexual activity of the gods, it is not surprising that the religions themselves were replete with all forms of sexual activity. In the ancient Near Fast and elsewhere, virgins were deflowered by priests prior to engaging in relations with their husbands, and sacred or ritual prostitution was almost universal. Psychiatrist and sexual historian Norman Sussman describes the situation thus: "Male and female prostitutes, serving temporarily or permanently and performing heterosexual, homosexual oral-genital, bestial, and other forms of sexual activities, dispense their favors in behalf of the temple." Throughout the ancient Near East, from very early times, anal intercourse formed a part of goddess worship. In ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan, annual ceremonial intercourse took place between the king and a priestess. Women prostitutes had intercourse with male worshippers in the sanctuaries and temples of ancient Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Corinth, Carthage, Sicily, Egypt, Libya, West Africa, and ancient and modern India. In ancient Israel itself, there were repeated attempts to re-introduce temple prostitution, resulting in repeated Jewish wars against cultic sex. The Bible records that the Judean king Asa "put away the qdeshim [temple male prostitutes] out of the land"; that his successor, Jehosaphat put away out of the land ...the remnant of the qdeshim that remained in the days of his father Asa"; and that later, King Josiah, in his religious reforms, "broke down the houses of the qdeshim." In India until this century, certain Hindu cults have required intercourse between monks and nuns, and wives would have intercourse with priests who represent the god. Until it was made illegal in 1948, when India gained independence, Hindu temples in many parts of India had both women and boy prostitutes. In the fourteenth century, the Chinese found homosexual Tibetan religious rites practiced at the court of a Mongol emperor. In Sri Lanka through this century, Buddhist worship of the goddess Pattini has involved priests dressed as women, and the consort of the goddess is symbolically castrated.

Judaism placed controls on sexual activity. It could no longer dominate religion and social life. It was to be sanctified -- which in Hebrew means "separated" -- from the world and placed in the home, in the bed of husband and wife. Judaism's restricting of sexual behavior was one of the essential elements that enabled society to progress. Along with ethical monotheism, the revolution begun by the Torah when it declared war on the sexual practices of the world wrought the most far-reaching changes in history.

Inventing homosexuality

The revolutionary nature of Judaism's prohibiting all forms of non-marital sex was nowhere more radical, more challenging to the prevailing assumptions of mankind, than with regard to homosexuality. Indeed, Judaism may be said to have invented the notion of homosexuality, for in the ancient world sexuality was not divided between heterosexuality and homosexuality. That division was the Bible's doing. Before the Bible, the world divided sexuality between penetrator (active partner) and penetrated (passive partner).

As Martha Nussbaum, professor of philosophy at Brown University, recently wrote, the ancients were no more concerned with people's gender preference than people today are with others' eating preferences:

Ancient categories of sexual experience differed considerably from our own... The central distinction in sexual morality was the distinction between active and passive roles. The gender of the object... is not in itself morally problematic. Boys and women are very often treated interchangeably as objects of [male] desire. What is socially important is to penetrate rather than to be penetrated. Sex is understood fundamentally not as interaction, but as a doing of some thing to someone...

Judaism changed all this. It rendered the "gender of the object" very "morally problematic"; it declared that no one is "interchangeable" sexually. And as a result, it ensured that sex would in fact be "fundamentally interaction" and not simply "a doing of something to someone".

To appreciate the extent of the revolution wrought by Judaism's prohibiting homosexuality and demanding that all sexual interaction be male-female, it is first necessary to appreciate just how universally accepted, valued, and practiced homosexuality has been throughout the world.

The one continuous exception was Jewish civilization -- and a thousand years later, Christian civilization. Other than the Jews, "none of the archaic civilizations prohibited homosexuality per se," Dr. David E. Greenberg notes. It was Judaism alone that about 3,000 years ago declared homosexuality wrong.

And it said so in the most powerful and unambiguous language it could: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is an abomination." "And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed an abomination." It is Judaism's sexual morality, not homosexuality, that historically has been deviant.

Greenberg, whose The Construction of Homosexuality is the most thorough historical study of homosexuality ever written, summarizes the ubiquitous nature of homosexuality in these words: "With only a few exceptions, male homosexuality was not stigmatized or repressed so long as it conformed to norms regarding gender and the relative ages and statuses of the partners... The major exceptions to this acceptance seem to have arisen in two circumstances." Both of these circumstances were Jewish.

Bible truth

The Hebrew Bible, in particular the Torah (The Five Books of Moses), has done more to civilize the world than any other book or idea in history. It is the Hebrew Bible that gave humanity such ideas as a universal, moral, loving God; ethical obligations to this God; the need for history to move forward to moral and spiritual redemption; the belief that history has meaning; and the notion that human freedom and social justice are the divinely desired states for all people. It gave the world the Ten Commandments, ethical monotheism, and the concept of holiness (the goal of raising human beings from the animal-like to the God-like). Therefore, when this Bible makes strong moral proclamations, I listen with great respect. And regarding male homosexuality -- female homosexuality is not mentioned -- this Bible speaks in such clear and direct language that one does not have to be a religious fundamentalist in order to be influenced by its views. All that is necessary is to consider oneself a serious Jew or Christian.

Jews or Christians who take the Bible's views on homosexuality seriously are not obligated to prove that they are not fundamentalists or literalists, let alone bigots (though, of course, people have used the Bible to defend bigotry). Rather, those who claim homosexuality is compatible with Judaism or Christianity bear the burden of proof to reconcile this view with their Bible. Given the unambiguous nature of the biblical attitude toward homosexuality, however, such a reconciliation is not possible. All that is possible is to declare: "I am aware that the Bible condemns homosexuality, and I consider the Bible wrong." That would be an intellectually honest approach. But this approach leads to another problem. If one chooses which of the Bible's moral injunctions to take seriously (and the Bible states its prohibition of homosexuality not only as a law, but as a value -- "it is an abomination"), of what moral use is the Bible?

Advocates of the religious acceptance of homosexuality respond that while the Bible is morally advanced in some areas, it is morally regressive in others. Its condemnation of homosexuality is one example, and the Torah's permitting slavery is another. Far from being immoral, however, the Torah's prohibition of homosexuality was a major part of its liberation (1) of the human being from the bonds of unrestrained sexuality and (2) of women from being peripheral to men's lives. As for slavery, while the Bible declares homosexuality wrong, it never declares slavery good.

Those who advocate religious acceptance of homosexuality also argue that the Bible prescribes the death penalty for a multitude of sins, including such seemingly inconsequential acts as gathering wood on the Sabbath. Thus, the fact that the Torah declares homosexuality a capital offense may mean that homosexuality is no more grave an offense than some violation of the Sabbath. And since we no longer condemn people who violate the Sabbath, why continue to condemn people who engage in homosexual acts?

The answer is that we do not derive our approach toward homosexuality from the fact that the Torah made it a capital offense. We learn it from the fact that the Bible makes a moral statement about homosexuality. It makes no statement about gathering wood on the Sabbath. The Torah uses its strongest term of censure -- "abomination" -- to describe homosexuality. It is the Bible's moral evaluation of homosexuality that distinguishes homosexuality from other offenses, capital or otherwise. As Professor Greenberg, who betrays no inclination toward religious belief writes, "When the word toevah ("abomination") does appear in the Hebrew Bible, it is sometimes applied to idolatry, cult prostitution, magic, or divination, and is sometimes used more generally. It always conveys great repugnance" (emphasis added). Moreover, the Bible lists homosexuality together with child sacrifice among the "abominations" practiced by the peoples living in the land about to be conquered by the Jews. The two are certainly not morally equatable, but they both characterized a morally primitive world that Judaism set out to destroy. They both characterized a way of life opposite to the one that God demanded of Jews (and even of non-Jew -- homosexuality is among the sexual offenses that constitute one of the "seven laws of the children of Noah" that Judaism holds all people must observe). Finally, the Bible adds a unique threat to the Jews if they engage in homosexuality and the other offenses of the Canaanites: "You will be vomited out of the land" just as the non-Jews who practise these things were vomited out of the land. Again, as Greenberg notes, this threat "suggests that the offenses were considered serious indeed."

Choose life

Judaism cannot make peace with homosexuality because homosexuality denies many of Judaism's most fundamental principles. It denies life, it denies God's expressed desire that men and women cohabit, and it denies the root structure that Judaism wishes for all mankind, the family.

If one can speak of Judaism's essence, it is contained in the Torah statement, "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, and you shall choose life." Judaism affirms whatever enhances life, and it opposes or separates whatever represents death. Thus, a Jewish priest (cohen) is to concern himself only with life. Perhaps alone among world religions, Judaism forbade its priests to come into contact with the dead. To cite some other examples, meat (death) is separated from milk (life); menstruation (death) is separated from sexual intercourse (life); carnivorous animals (death) are separated from vegetarian, kosher, animals (life). This is probably why the Torah juxtaposes child sacrifice with male homosexuality. Though they are not morally analogous, both represent death: one deprives children of life, the other prevents their having life. This parallelism is present in the Talmud: "He who does not engage in propagation of the race is as though he had shed blood."

GOD'S FIRST DECLARATION about man (the human being generally, and the male specifically) is, "It is not good for man to be alone." Now, presumably, in order to solve the problem of man's aloneness, God could have made another man or even a community of men. But instead God solved man's aloneness by creating one other person, a woman -- not a man, not a few women, not a community of men and women. Man's solitude was not a function of his not being with other people; it was a function of his being without a woman. Of course, Judaism also holds that women need men. But both the Torah statement and Jewish law have been more adamant about men marrying than about women marrying. Judaism is worried about what happens to men and to society when men do not channel their passions into marriage. In this regard, the Torah and Judaism were highly prescient: the overwhelming majority of violent crimes are committed by unmarried men. Thus, male celibacy, a sacred state in many religions, is a sin in Judaism. In order to become fully human, male and female must join. In the words of Genesis, "God created the human ... male and female He created them." The union of male and female is not merely some lovely ideal; it is the essence of the Jewish outlook on becoming human. To deny it is tantamount to denying a primary purpose of life.

Few Jews need to be informed of the centrality of family to Jewish life. Throughout their history, one of the Jews' most distinguishing characteristics has been their commitment to family life. To Judaism, the family -- not the nation, and not the individual -- is to be the fundamental unit, the building block of society. Thus, when God blesses Abraham He says, "Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

The enemy of women

Yet another reason for Judaism's opposition to homosexuality is homosexuality's negative effect on women.

One of the most remarkable aspects of contemporary societies' acceptance of homosexuality is the lack of outcry from and on behalf of women. I say "outcry" because there is certainly much quiet crying by women over this issue, as heard in the frequent lament from single women that so many single men are gay. But the major reason for anyone concerned with women's equality to be concerned with homosexuality is the direct correlation between the prevalence of male homosexuality and the relegation of women to a low social role. The improvement of the condition of women has only occurred in Western civilization, the civilization least tolerant of homosexuality.

In societies where men sought out men for love and sex, women were relegated to society's periphery. Thus, for example, ancient Greece, which elevated homosexuality to an ideal, was characterized by "a misogynistic attitude," in Norman Sussman's words. Homosexuality in ancient Greece, he writes, "was closely linked to an idealized concept of the man as the focus of intellectual and physical activities...The woman was seen as serving but two roles. As a wife, she ran the home. As a courtesan, she satisfied male sexual desires." Classicist Eva Keuls describes Athens at its height of philosophical and artistic greatness as "a society dominated by men who sequester their wives and daughters, denigrate the female role in reproduction, erect monuments to the male genitalia, have sex with the sons of their peers..."

In medieval France, when men stressed male-male love, it "implied a corresponding lack of interest in women. In the Song of Roland, a French mini-epic given its final form in the late eleventh or twelfth century, women appear only as shadowy marginal figures: "The deepest signs of affection in the poem, as well as in similar ones appear in the love of man for man..." The women of Arab society, wherein male homosexuality has been widespread, remain in a notably low state in the modern world. This may be a coincidence, but common sense suggests a linkage. So, too, in traditional Chinese culture, the low state of women has been linked to widespread homosexuality. As a French physician reported from China in the nineteenth century, "Chinese women were such docile, homebound dullards that the men, like those of ancient Greece, sought courtesans and boys."

While traditional Judaism is not as egalitarian as many late twentieth century Jews would like, it was Judaism -- very much through its insistence on marriage and family and its rejection of infidelity and homosexuality -- that initiated the process of elevating the status of women. While other cultures were writing homoerotic poetry, the Jews wrote the Song of Songs, one of the most beautiful poems depicting male-female sensual love ever written.

A final reason for opposition to homosexuality is the homosexual "lifestyle." While it is possible for male homosexuals to live lives of fidelity comparable to those of heterosexual males, it is usually not the case. While the typical lesbian has had fewer than ten "lovers," the typical male homosexual in America has had over 500. In general, neither homosexuals nor heterosexuals confront the fact that it is this male homosexual lifestyle, more than the specific homosexual act, that disturbs most people. This is probably why less attention is paid to female homosexuality. When male sexuality is not controlled, the consequences are considerably more destructive than when female sexuality is not controlled. Men rape. Women do not. Men, not women, engage in fetishes. Men are more frequently consumed by their sex drive, and wander from sex partner to sex partner. Men, not women, are sexually sadistic. The indiscriminate sex that characterizes much of male homosexual life represents the antithesis of Judaism's goal of elevating human life from the animal-like to the Godlike.

The Jewish sexual ideal

Judaism has a sexual ideal -- marital sex. All other forms of sexual behavior, though not equally wrong, deviate from that ideal. The further they deviate, the stronger Judaism's antipathy to that behavior. Thus, there are varying degrees of sexual wrongs. There is, one could say, a continuum of wrong which goes from premarital sex, to celibacy, to adultery, and on to homosexuality, incest, and bestiality. We can better understand why Judaism rejects homosexuality if we first understand its attitudes toward these other unacceptable practices. For example, normative Judaism forcefully rejects the claim that never marrying is an equally valid lifestyle to marriage. Judaism states that a life without marrying is a less holy, less complete, and a less Jewish life. Thus, only a married man was allowed to be a high priest, and only a man who had children could sit as a judge on the Jewish supreme court, the Sanhedrin. To put it in modern terms, while an unmarried rabbi can be the spiritual leader of a congregation, he would be dismissed by almost any congregation if he publicly argued that remaining single were as Jewishly valid a way of life as marriage. Despite all this, no Jew could argue that single Jews must be ostracized from Jewish communal life. Single Jews are to be loved and included in Jewish family, social, and religious life.

These attitudes toward not marrying should help clarify Judaism's attitude toward homosexuality. First, homosexuality contradicts the Jewish ideal. Second, it cannot be held to be equally valid. Third, those publicly committed to it may not serve as public Jewish role models. But fourth, homosexuals must be included in Jewish communal life and loved as fellow human beings and as Jews. Still, we cannot open the Jewish door to non-marital sex. For once one argues that any non-marital form of sexual behavior is the moral equal of marital sex, the door is opened to all other forms of sexual expression. If consensual homosexual activity is valid, why not consensual incest between adults? Why is sex between an adult brother and sister more objectionable than sex between two adult men? If a couple agrees, why not allow consensual adultery? Once non-marital sex is validated, how can we draw any line? Why shouldn't gay liberation be followed by incest liberation?

Accepting homosexuality as the social, moral, or religious equivalent of heterosexuality would constitute the first modern assault on the extremely hard won, millennia-old battle for a family-based, sexually monogamous society. While it is labeled as "progress," the acceptance of homosexuality would not be new at all.

Again, Judaism's sexual ideals, especially its opposition to homosexuality, rendered Jews different from the earliest times to the present. As early as the second century B.C., Jewish writers were noting the vast differences between Jewish sexual and family life and that of their non-Jewish neighbors. In the Syballine Oracles, written by an Egyptian Jew probably between 163 and 45 B.C., the author compared Jews to the other nations: The Jews "are mindful of holy wedlock, and they do not engage in impious intercourse with male children, as do Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Romans, specious Greece and many nations of others, Persians and Galatians and all Asia." And in our times. sex historian Amo Karlen wrote that according to the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, "Homosexuality was phenomenally rare among Orthodox Jews."

Moral and psychological questions

To all the arguments offered against homosexuality the most frequent response is: But homosexuals have no choice. To many people this claim is so emotionally powerful that no further reflection seems necessary. How can we oppose actions that people have not chosen? The question is much more instructive when posed in a more specific way: Is homosexuality biologically programmed from birth, or is it socially and psychologically induced? There is clearly no one answer that accounts for all homosexuals. What can be said for certain is that some homosexuals were started along that path in early childhood, and that most homosexuals, having had sex with both sexes, have chosen homosexuality along with or in preference to heterosexuality.

We can say "chosen" because the vast majority of gay men have had intercourse with women. As a four-year study of 128 gay men by a UCLA professor of psychology revealed, "More than 92 percent of the gay men had dated a woman at some time, two-thirds had sexual intercourse with a woman." As of now, the one theory we can rule out is that homosexuals are biologically programmed to be homosexual. Despite an understandably great desire on the part of many to prove it (and my own inclination to believe it), there is simply no evidence that homosexuality is biologically determined. Of course, one could argue homosexuality is biologically determined, but that society, if it suppresses it enough, causes most homosexuals to suppress their homosexuality. Yet, if this argument is true, if society can successfully repress homosexual inclinations, it can lead to either of two conclusions -- that society should do so for its own sake, or that society should not do so for the individual's sake. Once again we come back to the question of values. Or one could argue that people are naturally (i.e., biologically) bisexual (and given the data I have seen on human sexuality, this may well be true). Ironically, however, if this is true, the argument that homosexuality is chosen is strengthened, not weakened. For if we all have bisexual tendencies, and most of us successfully suppress our homosexual impulses, then obviously homosexuality is frequently both surmountable and chosen. And once again we are brought back to our original question of what sexual ideal society ought to foster -- heterosexual marital or homosexual sex.

I conclude:

Homosexuality may be biologically induced (though no evidence of this exists). but is certainly psychologically ingrained (perhaps indelibly) at a very early age in some cases. Presumably, these individuals always have had sexual desires only for their own sex. Historically speaking, they appear to constitute a minority among homosexuals.
In many cases, homosexuality appears not to be indelibly ingrained. These individuals have gravitated toward homosexuality from heterosexual experiences, or have always been bisexual, or live in a society that encourages homosexuality. As Greenberg, who is very sympathetic to gay liberation, writes, "Biologists who view most traits as inherited, and psychologists who think sexual preferences are largely determined in early childhood, may pay little attention to the finding that many gay people have had extensive heterosexual experience."
Therefore, the evidence overwhelmingly leads to this conclusion: By and large, it is society, not the individual, that chooses whether homosexuality will be widely practiced. A society's values, much more than individual tendencies, determine the extent of homosexuality in that society. Thus, we can have great sympathy for the exclusively homosexual individual while strongly opposing social acceptance of homosexuality. In this way we retain both our hearts and our values.

Is homosexuality an illness?

Society, in short, can consider homosexuality right or wrong whether or not it is chosen. Society can also consider homosexuality normal or ill whether or not it is chosen.

Though the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, did not think that in and of itself homosexuality meant that a person was sick, according to his standards of psychosexual development, he considered homosexuality to be an arrested development. But until 1973, psychiatry did consider homosexuality an illness. To cite one of countless examples, Dr. Leo Rangell, a psychoanalyst, wrote that he had "never seen a male homosexual who did not also turn out to have a phobia of the vagina."

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its official listing of mental illnesses in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders. Gay activists have used this as a major weapon in their battle for societal acceptance of homosexuality. But, for many reasons, the APA decision has not resolved the question of whether homosexuality is an illness, and the question may well be unresolvable. Given the mixed moral and judgmental record of psychiatry, especially since the 1960s, all one may conclude from the APA's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of illnesses is that while it may have been right, organized psychiatry has given us little reason to trust its judgment on politically charged issues. For these reasons, the fact that the American Psychiatric Association no longer labels homosexuality an illness should not persuade anyone that it is not. Given the subjective nature of the term "mental illness," given the power of gay activists, and given the political views of the APA leadership (as opposed to most of its members), the association's vote means nothing to many observers.

If social pressures forced psychiatrists in the past to label homosexuality an illness, how can we be certain that social pressures in our time have not forced them to label it normal? Are present-day psychiatrists less influenced by societal pressures than were their predecessors? I doubt it. So, putting aside psychiatry's ambivalence about homosexuality, let us pose the question in this way: "Assuming there is such a thing as normal, is it normal for a man to be incapable of making love to a woman (or vice versa)?"

Presumably, there are only three possible answers:

Most homosexuals can make love to a woman, but they find such an act repulsive or simply prefer making love to men.
Yes, it is normal.
No, it is not normal.

If the first response is offered, then we have to acknowledge that the homosexual has chosen his homosexuality. And we may then ask whether someone who chooses to love the same sex rather than the opposite sex has made this decision from a psychologically healthy basis. If the second response is offered, each of us is free to assess this answer for him or herself. I, for one, do not believe that a man's inability to make love to a woman can be labeled normal. While such a man may be a healthy and fine human being in every other area of life, and quite possibly more kind, industrious, and ethical than many heterosexuals, in this one area he cannot be called normal. And the reason for considering homosexuality abnormal is not its minority status. Even if the majority of men became incapable of making love to women, it would still not be normal. Men are designed to make love to women, and vice versa. The eye provides an appropriate analogy: If the majority of the population became blind, blindness would still be abnormal. The eye was designed to see. That is why I choose the third response -- that homosexuality is unhealthy. This is said, however, with the understanding that in the psychological arena, "illness" can be a description of one's values rather than of objective science (which may simply not exist in this area).

Man and women He made them

To a world which divided human sexuality between penetrator and penetrated, Judaism said, "You are wrong -- sexuality is to be divided between male and female." To a world which saw women as baby producers unworthy of romantic and sexual attention, Judaism said "You are wrong -- women must be the sole focus of men's erotic love." To a world which said that sensual feelings and physical beauty were life's supreme goods, Judaism said, "You are wrong -- ethics and holiness are the supreme goods." A thousand years before Roman emperors kept naked boys, Jewish kings were commanded to write and keep a sefer torah, a book of the Torah.

In all my research on this subject, nothing moved me more than the Talmudic law that Jews were forbidden to sell slaves or sheep to non-Jews, lest the non-Jews engage in homosexuality and bestiality. That was the world in which rabbis wrote the Talmud, and in which, earlier, the Bible was written. Asked what is the single greatest revelation I have derived from all my researches, I always respond, "That there had to have been divine revelation to produce the Torah." The Torah was simply too different from the rest of the world, too against man's nature, to have been solely man-made.

The creation of Western civilization has been a terribly difficult and unique thing. It took a constant delaying of gratification, and a re-channeling of natural instincts; and these disciplines have not always been well received. There have been numerous attempts to undo Judeo-Christian civilization, not infrequently by Jews (through radical politics) and Christians (through anti-Semitism).

The bedrock of this civilization, and of Jewish life, has been the centrality and purity of family life. But the family is not a natural unit so much as it is a value that must be cultivated and protected. The Greeks assaulted the family in the name of beauty and Eros. The Marxists assaulted the family in the name of progress. And today, gay liberation assaults it in the name of compassion and equality. I understand why gays would do this. Life has been miserable for many of them. What I have not understood was why Jews or Christians would join the assault. I do now. They do not know what is at stake. At stake is our civilization.

It is very easy to forget what Judaism has wrought and what Christians have created in the West. But those who loathe this civilization never forget. The radical Stanford University faculty and students who recently chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western civ has got to go," were referring to much more than their university's syllabus. And no one is chanting that song more forcefully than those who believe and advocate that sexual behavior doesn't play a role in building or eroding civilization. The acceptance of homosexuality as the equal of heterosexual marital love signifies the decline of Western civilization as surely as the rejection of homosexuality and other nonmarital sex made the creation of this civilization possible.

Acknowledgements

Prager, Dennis. "Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality." "Crisis" 11, no. 8 (September 1993).

Reprinted by permission of the Morley Institute, a non-profit education organization. To subscribe to "Crisis" magazine call 1-800-852-9962.

Dennis Prager is a writer, theologian, and daily talk show host on KABC Radio in Los Angeles. He also writes a newsletter, "The Prager Perspective."

This data file is the sole property of CRISIS MAGAZINE. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge.

This data file may not be used without the permission of CRISIS MAGAZINE for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold.

Gianna Jessen Is a Prophet... And a Princess

2010-10-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

Dad's Life- Culture Flow

2010-10-09T15:24:00.001-07:00

That a church was able to write, produce and direct this video is a bit mind boggling. That urban hip hop has so completely infiltrated the suburbs proves that an incredible amount of culture flows out from the city and shapes the rest of the country. Also, it seems interesting to me that suburban culture (just look at the video) does not flow into the city.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Dad Life

Ha ha 

This is dad life It’s how we live 24/7, 365 

Check me

Gas station glasses 

Don’t care what the masses 

Think about me wit my sweet goatee 

I’m rockin’ my Dockers 

With a cuff and a crease 

I got that St. John’s Bay 

And a clip for my piece

I look nice

I got dozens of dollars 

And that’s right 

It goes straight to my daughters and my wife 

I’m a miracle dad 

Makin’ magic with the checkbook is a talent I have

I roll hard in the yard 

With a 60-inch cut 

Zero turn radius 

My neighbors say what? 

They be drivin’ by 

Peepin’ my landscape 

Yo, these greens got nothin’ on my man-scape

Hydrangeas

Begonias

Crape Myrtle

Ornamental turtle! 

Hold up I

s that a weed in my fescue? 

Aw naw, Round Up to the rescue

It’s the dad life, it’s the dad life 

Take my daughty to the potty, it’s the dad life 

It’s the dad life, it’s the dad life 

Shootin’ vids of the kids, it’s the dad life

Roll up to the splash pad, 10 AM 

My whole entourage 

Hops out the minivan 

We splishy splashy for an hour or two 

Then it’s back to the house 

Preppin’ for the barbecue

Brats, dogs, rack of ribs, whateva

Get me on the Weber 

Man, nobody does it betta 

Call me lord of the grill 

I’m king of the coals 

Nana’s secret recipe, you know how I roll

1080p, 16×9 

I’m rockin’ man cave status 

With a screen like mine 

Keep your peanut butter hands 

Off my 50-inch Vizio 

Pop up the corn, roll the Disney video

We got Aladdin, Jasmine Abu, the genie

With kids like mine, everybody wants to be me 

Sing a nigh-night song and then it’s off to bed 

This is the dad life, no more to be said

It’s the dad life, it’s the dad life 

Hit the mall, coaching ball, it’s the dad life

It’s the dad life, it’s the dad life 

Playing rough, fixing stuff, it’s the dad life

It’s the dad life, it’s the dad life 

Yeah, you know how we do it 

It’s the dad life

Chan on Humility at Desiring God Congerence

2010-10-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Desiring God Conference has just come to an end. This year's conference brought minds like R. Albert Mohler, Jr., R. C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, Francis Chan, Rick Warren, & John Piper, talking about The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. To access all audio and video resources click HERE.

Crazy Love author Francis Chan on Humility

Don't Cry- It's the Weepies

2010-10-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Banksy-Galvanized!

2010-07-19T06:10:00.001-07:00

gal·va·nize

Pronunciation: \ˈgal-və-ˌnīz\
1 a : to subject to the action of an electric current especially for the purpose of stimulating physiologically b : to stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock
2 : to coat (iron or steel) with zinc; especially : to immerse in molten zinc to produce a coating of zinc-iron alloy

(The first time I saw Van Goths' Sunflowers, I was galvanized. The first time I listened to Stairway to Heaven I was galvanized. The first time I saw Andy Warhols Screen prints I was galvanized. The first time I saw Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural designs I was galvanized.

Last week, I saw Banksy's Graffiti art for the first time. Galvanized. I am not sure what all this art from high culture to pop culture has in common. I do know the affect it has had on me. It simply speaks of life or beauty, or truth, or justice or intimacy or everlasting life in a way that is galvanizing.

Banksy is a graffiti artist that uses stenciling, humor, and social commentary to damage mostly public property to make very bold statements about government, war, and the human condition. Part anarchist, part guy longing for something meaning in life through art, Banksy, who tries to maintain a cloak and dagger presence (though revealed as Robin Gunningham by press) is selling big and making statements around the world.

Check out his website banksy.co.uk.

One of the really cool things about his site is that he gives us permission to use his art to make our own swag. (See Below)

Life in the Ruins: 20 Dystopian Films

2010-06-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

In 1981, I saw my first dystopian film in the theater. We entered the South Road Mall in Poughkeepsie, NY, for the matinee and hours later emerged with eyes blinking. The film was Mad Max: Road Warrior and it seemed to speak to us as 14 year olds in a way other films couldn’t. Perhaps it was the cold war fears we had buried since birth. It could have been the weird fundamentalist Christianity we had been subject to telling us we were in danger of being “left behind.” It could have just been teenage angst mixed with the growing influence New Wave Punk was having on kids in the late 70’s and early 80’s. However, almost 30 years later, dystopian films still have a powerful affect on me despite the cold wars end, espying fundamentalism as crackpot religion, and becoming a husband, father and leader in my community.

Dystopia Defined

What is dystopia? Ok, first think of utopia-humans flourishing, producing, loving, cultivating… Now think of a nuclear bomb going off, a mass virus killing off 98% of humanity, robots taking over the world by harvesting human beings as a power source or a single corporation-government attempting to control everyone’s thoughts and actions.

Dystopia is Orwell’s 1984 & Animal Farm and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in literature. It's the Clash and the Ramones in music. It’s the sci-fi networks Battlestar Galactica in TV.

Dystopia is a civilization (typically in the future) that is or has been destroyed and is now characterized by mass chaos, poverty, oppression, disease, infertility, violence, control or a need to survive amidst the rubble of a once thriving culture.

20 Must See Dystopian Films by Type:

Many of the films listed below have overlapping emphasis. However, I have placed them into six categories: Technological Dystopias, Biological Dystopias, Post-apocalyptic Dystopias, Corporate-Political Dystopias, Environmental Dystopias, Cultural Dystopias.

What made the list and why?

There are hundreds of dystopian films. Many are b-films that are poorly written, poorly produced, and poorly acted. I am choosing films I found to be intelligent, moving, well produced, directed, and written. This list is not intended to be the last word on Dystopian films so please refrain from leaving comments telling me how Metroplois or THX 1138 should have been listed, etc. Instead, if you have ideas about a best list of dystopian films, start your own list and post it.

Technological Dystopias

The Matrix (1999)

Spoiler Warning: The Wackowski brothers bring us an incredibly intelligent film about a future where machines have rebelled against humanity, enslaving us in harvesting fields while we go about our lives thinking we are free when in fact we are living inside virtual realities while our bodies discharge the needed power to run this brave new world. Outside the matrix, a small band of rebels have unplugged from the machines power and are slowly rebuilding a new society in constant danger of attack.

Blade Runner (1982)

Spoiler Warning: This ground breaking cyber punk picture of LA centers around a band of rebel robots that cannot be distinguished from humans and the cop that is trying to stop them from murdering the humans in their path.

Minority Report (2002)

Spoiler Warning: In the future, your every move will be tracked by retina scans. Pre-cogs know when the next crime will be committed and who will commit it. Everything is controlled and everyone is controlled. Well, not everyone.

The Terminator (1984)

Spoiler Warning: A post-apocalyptic future ruled by machines is threatened by a human rebellion lead by John Connor. When the machines send a terminator back in time to kill his mother, the action begins.

Biological Dystopias

Children of Men (2006)
Spoiler Warning: It has been nearly two decades since the last birth. The British Empire is the last remaining society to cling to civility, though it does so with an iron fist. Without the hope of a future generation, most have given up hope and have become nihilistic. Until…

Gattaca (1997)
Spoiler Warning: In the near future, natural births have been replaced by designer births. Those who still dare to make babies the old fashion way will see their offspring subjected to systematic exclusion. They will be without insurance, working as laborers while their genetically superior neighbors rule the world. In a very tidy future, our genetic problems are disappearing, but what about our souls?

Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Spoiler Warning: This psychological thriller focuses on a prisoner sent back to the 1990’s to discover a virus that forced humanity underground. However, his trips in and out of the decade cause him to question whether he is actually travelling through time or simply stuck inside his own delusion.

I am Legend (2009)

Spoiler Warning: One man attempts to stay alive in a future NYC where a deadly virus has destroyed the world. By day he is free to salvage from the ruins. At night, he must hide from the animals and humans that have been infected. From where will salvation come?

Post-apocalyptic Dystopias

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Spoiler Warning: An amazing film with a devastating ending. Set in the future, NASA space explorers return to earth to find that the evolutionary cycle has shifted. Now, humanity is an ignorant slave class controlled by intelligent apes who remind us of the 1970’s ruling class. Classic lines in this film include, “Get your damn hands off me you dirty ape,” “If this is the best they’ve got, in six month we’ll be running this planet.”

Book of Eli (2008)

An incredible tale of post-apocalyptic America. Eli travels the land carrying a sacred book that he is willing to protect at all costs.

The Postman (1997)

Perhaps the most hopeful of all dystopian films. This incredible story highlights the emergence of humanity’s hope in the face of tyranny as the Postman delivers news of a re-awakened America.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Raw survival in a world that has lost its moral compass.

Corporate-Political Dystopias

Equilibrium (2002)
Spoiler Warning: In this future world no one suffers from sadness, rage, or fear. In this future world no one feels joy, love, or peace. Feelings and all that evokes them in music, art, literature, and other aspects of culture are becoming extinct. Underneath this sterile world, love and beauty and freedom stir and threaten revolution.

V for Vendetta (2005)

A dystopian loves story full of villains and superheroes, corporate thugs and vigilante heroics.

Rollerball (1975)

Comfort is freedom or is there more to life…

Environmental Dystopias

Wall-E (2008)

Spoiler Warning: After consuming ourselves off the planet, humanity takes a 500 year break from terra while the collective soul of man shrivels into a piece of plump juicy white meat. Meanwhile back on earth one lone robot continues to steward the earth. His reward… a soul.

Soylent Green (1973)

Spoiler Warning: NYC has quadrupled in population, there is a massive divide between the ruling class and the poor and the masses are fed from four kinds of soy. In the midst of the chaos, a cop tries to solve a murder and discovers more than he can swallow.

Cultural Dytopia

Idiocracy (2006)

Spoiler Warning: A sophomoric movie not fit for consumption. But, the premise is too good to pass off as nonsense. Humanity has devolved over 500 years as the stupid make babies and the rich make wise investments. Two hibernating government experiments awaken to find that they are the smartest people alive. “It’s got electrolytes.”

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

A poorly adapted film version of Ray Bradbury’s brilliant novel where future society has rejected the written word and traded in their hearts and souls for cheap consumption.

The Dark Night (2008)
A chilling look at the heart of evil in the heart of man.

Honorable Mention:

Sleepers (1973)

Total Recall

Mad Max

Tank Girl

Dennis Hopper Recites Rudyard Kipling's IF

2010-06-02T13:27:00.001-07:00

No Wonder People Hate God- Legion & Gabriel

2010-05-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Because popular culture has a profound ability to shape our beliefs, I am often obligated to watch movies that have overt spiritual messages dealing with themes of God and Angels.

In 1998, I watched City of Angels. It had some redemptive qualities as a love story. As theology, it tended to reinforce the "Uncle Larry is and Angel" belief. What's that? It is the popular belief that our beloved relatives are changed into angels after they die. In the case of City of Angels, the Uncle Larry is an angel belief was reversed. An angel is bad and falls. Hence, he becomes one of us and falls in love with Meg Ryan. Bad theology. Why? Because angels cannot undergo ontological changes of their nature anymore than an orange can change into a poodle. If a supernatural being like an angel falls, he becomes a fallen angel not a lovesick man. We call these creatures demons. If your uncle Larry dies, he does not turn into an angel. He stays a human soul and either turns into fertilizer or enters into union with God or rebellion against God. We call these categories nihilism (nothingness), heaven, or hell.

Ok. Jump a decade. In 2007, a film called Gabriel comes out and it is about a whole bunch of angels that fall- one stays true. Like City of Angels, the angels in this story fall and lose their "angel powers." However, writers must be sensing that we are bored with the story. Not only do fallen angels become men and men angels, but God is now a Dark and Distant Lord of Torment that has turned his back on men and angels and is apparently busy doing other things. So, we are left to duke it out in the blackness of human and angelic depravity. No wonder some people hate God.

Recently, the movie Legion came out. The whole thing was bizarre, creepy, and completely painted God as an absent father that sends Angels (presumably good angels) to possess weak people like old ladies, ice cream men, and little kids and then kill everyone in a creepy zombie like mode because God has lost faith in humanity. Huh? At least they don't turn into men. No, they just possess us so that they can use our bodies as moving targets? Oh, but wait. There is one angel that has not "given up on God or mankind." Rather than obeying his errant Father (God), he cuts off his wings and saves them- he is going to give God what he needs not what he wants. Again, huh? Now, I would normally not even comment on a stupid movie like this. But, I am seeing a trend of implausible idiocy coming out of Hollywood that makes me ask, "How are these films making any money?" As stories, they are shallow, creepy, overly violent, and make no sense on too many levels to even take seriously. Come on. If you are an all powerful being with angels that have the ability to fly and completely devastate anyone in their path, why would you send them down to earth to possess people who can be shot like road sign on the side of the highway? It's just so stupid.

Ok. I feel better now. Don't bother seeing Legion or Gabriel. Neither of these movies will do anything to make you a better human being- or an angel.

Johnny Cash (American VI: Ain't No Grave)

2010-03-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

Just finished listening to the new Johnny Cash release American VI: Ain't No Grave.

Ain't No Grave is by far the stand out on this album and is reminiscent of songs like God's Gonna Cut you Down, and Ring of Fire. In Johnny's Old age he had a deep wise and even eerie resonance that was absent in his early work. Other endearing songs on this album include Sheryl Crow's 1996 Redemption Day, Bob Nolan's desert mirage song Clear Water, and Hank Snow's 1954 It Don't Hurt Anymore. The other tracks on this album, though they do not fall flat, lack a depth in their arrangements and tend not to have that JOhnny Cash "bite" that makes you feel like the songs came straight out of his soul. Finally, though it could not be accused of being flat, Aloho Oe, Johhny's nod to Hawaiian folk songs proves that he was never afraid to cover any song he wanted. Anyway, I am sure happy to have more of Johnny Cash and thrilled to add Ain't No Grave to the Regular Playlist along with Going to Jackson, Hurt, Ring of Fire, One, Folsom Prison Blues, Get Rhythme, God's Gonna Cut You Down and I Walk the Line.

Come On Come On and Join the Band!

2010-02-25T09:07:00.001-08:00

Colonizing the Cosmos combines folk and space-rock

Preview

Thursday, February 25, 2010

By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Colonizing the Cosmos: Josh Gates, left, Josh Moyer and Michael Savisky.

It's a good rule of thumb that when you name your band something like Colonizing the Cosmos, you're obligated to come up with something, well, cosmic.

Fortunately, this Pittsburgh band delivers by taking the endearing folk-pop of Paul Simon, adding the chamber-y Sufjan Stevens treatment and topping with a splash of Flaming Lips space-rock weirdness, all now captured on the band's debut, "The First Frontier."

The core of Colonizing the Cosmos is singer-guitarist Josh Moyer and Michael Savisky, who adds banjo, guitar, ukelele, cello and dulcimer. They met at a church and started playing coffee shops and clubs early last decade, and then prepared for their album debut by trading melody and lyric ideas on their phones and laptops.

The first songs had titles such as "If I Had a Spacecraft" and "The Saturnine Starfarer's Society," with arrangements full of spacey reverb and electronic accents contrasted with Mr. Moyer's sweet folk style.

Colonizing the Cosmos

Where: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Shadyside.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Admission: Free.

"Each track was approached differently," Mr. Moyer says. "Sometimes an interesting vocal phrase or a line of lyric became the backbone for an entire song. Other times a title alone inspired a bit of melody, or a bit of melody inspired a page full of lyrics. From a technical standpoint, we used a Mac, the GarageBand program, a few $100 mics and a third floor bedroom."

In terms of the concept, they wanted to explore space while avoiding sci-fi cliches and keeping it on a human level.

"We wanted to explore the way enormous, universal ideas relate to the individual," he says. "For instance, 'space' is often thought of as this vast expanse light years away -- but, isn't it also right here, right now, where we are sitting drinking coffee and typing on our MacBook? We also wanted to explore the concept of exploration itself. Why do we put so much thought, time and effort into going to the moon? For that matter, why do we put so much thought, time and effort into going to the mall? And how do our efforts in these areas affect us, and for that matter the rest of universe? We found both the micro- and macroscopic concepts equally fascinating, and tried to work them all into the music."

They drew on influences that came most naturally.

"I have been a fan of Paul Simon as long as I can remember," Mr. Savisky says. "What originally drew me to him was the way in which he combined folky American guitar music with soulful, rhythmic South African music. I had never heard anything like it, and it made me really think about genre for the first time and how artists often become pigeonholed in it. I didn't want to get stuck that way, and I think Colonizing the Cosmos became a perfect platform for mixing all kinds of instruments and genres -- something we hadn't been able to do with other bands we'd been a part of."

Their influences, though, went well beyond just one or two artists. Plus, they have enlisted Josh Gates (keyboards, electric guitar, backing vocals), Brian Powers (trumpet), Alex Peck (drums) and Tony DePaolis (bass) to round out the band and bring their own touches.

"During album production we listened to a lot of random stuff: Celtic music, film scores, German pop, instrumental jazz -- not exactly what it ended up sounding like. But that's our favorite part of writing new music: taking bits and pieces of all of this and combining it in a new, exciting way. And because Josh and I worked so closely on this album, his completely different set of influences came into the mix, and the result is just a whole lot of crazy fun."

Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com; 412-263-2576.

LOST: The Light House (6x5)

2010-02-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

The Lighthouse had me laughing at pop culture references and thinking deeply about the aches of the human heart.

Pop Goes the Forest Gump-ish Hurley

In true Forest Gump fashion, Hurley continues to carry the pop culture flag for Generation X (Thanks Chip Webb for pointing this out a while back).

In The Lighthouse, we get AWESOME pop culture references like, "I'm just, you know, looking because I'm a big fan of Temples and, like, history and Indiana Jones stuff."

And, "He's kind of dead. He turns up whenever he wants like Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Also very funny was Dogen saying to Hurley in Japanese, "You're lucky that I have to protect you. Otherwise I'd have cut your head off."

And then Hurley saying, "I just lied to a samurai."

Brilliant from a geek perspective and one of the things that makes LOST so great.

You Have What it Takes: Resolving Daddy Issues?

In "The Lighthouse" the LOST writers are using Lewis Carrol and his Alice in Wonderland's through the looking glass to point to Jack, Christian, and David Shepherd's desire to resolve "Daddy Issues." The Alice metaphors seem to be used to point to our need for having our questions about our worth answered.

Notice that the Lighthouse (where we literally get to see through the looking glass) is closely connected to the "White Rabbit" episode of Season One where Jack has a flashbacks to the time he stood up to a bully and then went home only to have his father tell him that he does not have what it takes.

This episode, I thought, centered around Jack reconciling, "What was broken." What is it? Well, clearly it is the vow that his father has passed on to him that his does not have what it takes. This issue has been haunting Jack his whole life as we saw in "The White Rabbit" when Christian Shepherd says to young Jack, "And even when I fail, how do I do that, Jack? Because I have what it takes. Don't choose, Jack, don't decide. You don't want to be a hero, you don't try and save everyone because when you fail … you just don't have what it takes."

However, in the flash sideways of "The Lighthouse" he breaks the family curse that his father passed on to him by refusing to pass this onto his son, David.

Note the biblical reference to David Shepherd who might now compare to King David who was anointed by God and described as a man after God's own heart. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want..."

Says Jack in this very exquisite piece of television, "Jack shakes his head and sighs. "You know, when I was your age, my father didn't want to see me fail either. He used to say that I didn't have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don't ever want you to feel that way. I will always love you. No matter what you do, in my eyes you can never fail. I just want to be a part of your life."

In this Episode, Jack tells his son what he wanted to hear from his father. This is what brings Jack back to the Island and it is what Jack is looking for at the Lighthouse when he sees his childhood home (folks may see whatever they are most longing for both in the looking glass and in the island).

As a benevolent Spirit guide (demigod) Jacob sees that Jack needs to answer this question and he acts as guardian-surrogate daddy to help him get his question answered. Says Hurley to Jack earlier at the temple, "I told him you'd say that, so he told me to tell you, 'You have what it takes."

In The Lighthouse, I really think the writers did a great job of looking back into the shows own past and tying things together in a very powerful way.

In the flash sideways world, Jack Shepherd has answered his question by answering his son's question. Beautiful.

On the Island, Jack Shepherd still needs to find out, "Do I have what it takes?" When he answers this, and I believe that by the season finale, he will, Jack will have found the freedom that he is looking for.

Lost's The Moth- Suffering and Choices

2010-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

Lost is Epic Television. In honor of the final season, I have been working on highlighting some of the seminal themes and characters that have emerged over the past six seasons. The first of these highlights is a remix of Season One Episode Seven, "The Moth" In this episode, we see some of Lost' core themes developed through Charlie who must choose between remaining weak, addicted and comfortable or strong, free and one who undergoes suffering in life. Enjoy.

2010 Super Bowl Commercials

2010-02-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

Some years are better than others. This year, godaddy made us feel uncomfortable around our moms, a lot of companies used creepiness to get our attention, and a few surprised us ny being able to tell compelling stories that capture our lives in a minute or less. Here is a quick reformedanglican look at this year’s super bowl best and worst commercials.

BEST

1. Most Classy
This is Google’s first TV ad and it was great- elegant, romantic, and it told a wonderful story.

Google: Parisian Love

2. Most Funny
Just really good comedy delivered in a way that did not violate us or creep us out like so many of the other ads did this year.

Snickers: Betty White

3. Most Surreal
Funk music and some stuffed animals fuel the imaginantion on a road trip to Vegas… or the grocery store.

Kia: Joy Ride

4. Most Heroic
Subtle and bold with zero yuck factor. Take that planned parenthood!

Focus on the Family: Tim Tebow

5. Most Psychologically Effective
An ad that just sold you confidence in under a minute.

Cars.com, 'Timothy Richman
'

6. The Most Cinematic
Just beautiful.

Coca-Cola: Sleepwalker

7. Most Politically Incorrect
I laughed hard.

MetroPCS: The Shaming

8. Most Underdog-est
A little creepy and lacking in plausibility (the dog has no thumbs) but still very clever.

Doritos: Underdog

9. The Most Forrest Gumpish
You got to love The Who and you gotta love a good review of the past 40 years or so.

Flo Tv Moments

10. The Most Revenge of the Nerdiest
Icky that Teleflora can’t just make us feel happy about the beauty of flowers but the story line was pretty excellent.

Teleflora: Talking Flowers

HONORABLE MENTION

The Second Most Funny
You just gotta laugh.

KGB: Sumo

Most Stick It to the Manish
Ok so it is yet another commercial that has a creepy feel to it. But, it really did tell a good story about the work place.

CareerBuilder.com: Casual Friday

WORST

1. Most Idiotic
Worse than a bad talent show. It cost them millions.

Mobile Boost: Shuffle

2. Most Exploitative
When did it become ok to exploit kids to make a point. This is just not right.

Doritos: House Rules

3. Most 1984ish
IWe have come a long way to help people to love God’s creation. This took us back 100 years. Absolutely creepy.

Audi: Green Police

4. The Most Misogynistic
Not helpful to real men and not helpful to any women.

Flow TV: Injury Report

5. The Second Most Exploitative
He was cute at first with his double entendre. It is not funny now.

E*Trade: Girlfriend

6. Most Creepy
Weird and creepy and…

Emerald Nuts and Pop-Secret: Awesomer

7. Most Huh?
“Huh?” Agian I say, “Huh?”

Monster.com: Beaver

8. The Most “This is Our Gov’t?”
Irony works for twenty somethings but it does not work for the government

US Census: Sanpshot of America

10. The Most Pittsburghesque
You gotta love the Steelers and you gotta love the Burgh. But that little Polamalu is going to give my kids nightmares.

truTV,: Troy Punxsutawney Polamalu

HONORABLE MENTION

The Most Beer Commercial Like
I like the narrative and I like the feel of the commercial- but they were talking about soap gentleman, soap.

Dove: The Journey to Comfort

The Most Testosterone Filled
I would never be caught dead driving a Prius but I would also never want to associate my car with having to “put up with my wife.” Real men know how to love their wives.

Charger: Man’s Last Stand

If you would like to see all the commercials for the 2010 Super Bowl, Time has done a great job of presenting the commercials for this year’s game. They are presented in the order shown with a pretty well written review of each.

Acura, 'Exclamation'
Alice in Wonderland
Audi, 'Green Car'
Boost Mobile, 'The Boost Mobile Shuffle'
Bridgestone, 'Whale of a Tale'
Bridgestone, 'Your Tires or Your Life'
Bud Light, 'Asteroid'
Bud Light, 'Bud House'
Bud Light, 'Book Club'
Bud Light, 'Stranded'
Bud Light, 'Voice Box'
Budweiser Select 55, 'Ice Bottle'
Budweiser, 'Bridge'
Budweiser, 'Fences'
Careerbuilder.com, 'Casual Friday'
Cars.com, 'Timothy Richman'
Coca-Cola, 'Hard Times'
Coca-Cola, 'Sleepwalker'
Denny's, 'Chicken Birthday'
Denny's, 'Chicken Warning'
Denny's, 'Chickens Across America'
Dockers, 'Men Without Pants'
Dodge Charger, 'Man's Last Stand'
Doritos, 'Casket'
Doritos, 'House Rules'
Doritos, 'Snack Attack Samurai'
Doritos, 'Underdog'
Dove for Men, 'The Journey to Comfort'
Dr Pepper Cherry, 'Dr Love — Little Kiss'
E*Trade, 'Girlfriend'
E*Trade, 'Tears'
EA Sports, Dante's Inferno
Emerald Nuts and Pop-Secret, 'Awesomer'
FLO TV, 'Injury Report'
FLO TV, 'Moments'
Focus on the Family, 'Celebrate Life, Celebrate Family'
GoDaddy, 'News'
GoDaddy, 'Spa'
Google, 'Parisian Love'
HomeAway, 'Hotel Hell Vacation'
Honda, 'Accord Crosstour 2010'
Hyundai, '10 Years Strong' Featuring Brett Favre
Hyundai, 'Built by Hand'
Hyundai, 'Painted Hyundai Sonata'
Intel, 'Lunch Room'
kgb, 'Sumo'
Kia, 'Joy Ride'
Late Show with David Letterman
MetroPCS, 'Tech and Talk: Shaming'
Michelob Ultra, 'Little Bumps'
Monster.com, 'Fiddling Beaver'
Motorola Featuring Megan Fox
NFL, 'Best Fans on the Planet'
Papa John's, 'Better Pizza'
Prince of Persia
Robin Hood
Roundup
Shutter Island
Skechers, 'Shape Ups'
Snickers, 'Game'
Taco Bell, 'It Rocks, It Rocks' Featuring Charles Barkley
Teleflora, 'Talking Flowers'
Toyota
truTV, 'Troy "Punxsutawney" Polamalu'
U.S. Census, 'Snapshot of America'
Universal Studios, 'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'
Vizio, 'Forge'
Volkswagen, 'Punching Game'

LOST: We’ll Need Answers- at Least 50 Answers

2010-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

After six years, a number of questions have remained unanswered for us hardcore LOST fans. With only 18 hours to do it, the LOST writers will have to answer a lot of unresolved questions. Even though the Season Six Premiere only gave us a few answers- namely, who the "smoke monster" is- we still have a lot of questions and an alternate "scooby doo" ending that we have to track while we see things come to a close.

So, here are the 50 questions, among a ton that are swirling around in many fans minds, that I want answered by the end of the season. I have broken them into a Trinity of Good Vs. Evil (to cover the Epic battle that has taken place between the camps of Ben and Charles, the others and the 815 survivors, Jacob and Esau), Man of Faith and Man of Science (to cover the exploration of the supernatural and the technological that plays out each week), and Mythology (to unearth the Myst-like role of the Island and its folklore that leave us begging for an eteology around every temple).

Good Vs Evil

1. Who are Jacob and Esau (man in black)?

2. What is the essential struggle between Jacob and Esau?

3. Who is working for who (Jacob, Esau, the Island- Charles Whitmore, Ben, Richard, Eloise Hawking)?

4. How is Esau able to take on Locke's physical likeness (or others)?

5. What's Richard's real connection to Jacob, Esau and the Island at large?

6. Why did Esau have to convince Benjamin Linus to kill Jacob — why couldn't he do it himself or another way?

7. What is the significance of using ashes (at the cabin around the temple, around people) to protect against Esau (Smoke Monster)?

8. Why did Jacob visit and touch Jack Shephard, Kate Austen and several other of Oceanic Flight 815's survivors?

9. Did Jacob really create lists for the Others, and if so, how did he choose which people to include on his lists?

10. Why does Esau (the Monster) condemn some folks while apparently sparing others — what are his standards for who lives and who dies?

11. When Eloise Hawking told Desmond that the Island wasn't done with him, what did she mean — what role is there left for Des to fulfill?

12. What drove Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore apart?

13. How did Charles Widmore, who lived on the Island his entire life, become so rich after his banishment as the leader of the Others?

14. What is the nature of Widmore's feud with Ben and how will it resolve itself?

15. What happened to Annie, Ben's childhood sweetheart?

16. How did Ben become the leader of the Others?

17. What is Christian Shephard’s connection to the Island?

18. Why did Christian take Claire to Jacob's cabin?

19. Where is Claire and what is her story?

Mythology (Myst)

1. What is the Island?

2. What is the temple’s origin?

3. Who are the Adam and Eve skeleton discovered in the cave in season one?

4. Why is the Island filled with hieroglyphics and other Egyptian influences?

5. Is there any functionality and significance behind the four toed statue, other than the fact that it's extremely bizarre?

6. What happened to the missing portion of the four toed statue?

7. How did the Black Rock wind up in the middle of the Island?

8. What is the origin and significance of the cabin?

9. What is the mysterious "sickness" that we've heard about?

10. How long have the Others existed on the Island?

11. How did the DHARMA Initiative find the Island?

12. What is the connection between the Hanso Foundation and the DHARMA Initiative’s work on the Island?

Man of Faith Vs Man of Science

1. To what is "the magic box" metaphor really referring, or how does the island manifest supernatural occurrences like the appearance of Locke’s father or miraculous healings?

2. How is the Island able to heal wounds and ailments?

3. How was Locke able to recover from paralysis?

4. Why did the Island refuse to heal Ben's cancer?

5. Why can't women give birth on the Island?

6. How is the Island able to travel through time and space?

7. How does Eloise know so much about time travel and the rest of the Island's oddities?

8. What is the significance of the numbers?

9. How is Jacob eternally young?

10. How can Hurley communicate with the dead?

11. How can Miles speak with the dead?

12. Why do certain characters have visions, like Mr. Eko's vision of his brother and Ana Lucia? 13. How about Richard Alpert — how is he eternally young?

14. How did the frozen donkey wheel arrive on the Island and how can it move the Island through time?

15. How is Jacob able to travel on and off the Island?

16. Why can't the Monster-Esau travel through the sonic fence?

17. Why was the fortune teller so emphatic about Claire raising Aaron all by herself?

18. How is Walt able to do the special things he does, like animal communication and telepathy?

19. Why was Michael unable to kill himself after he left the Island?

LOST- Deep TV and the DVD

2010-01-30T05:53:00.001-08:00

I am seriously excited about this Tuesday's Season 6 premiere of Lost. The show has proved that TV can move beyond being a device that can only provide shallow entertainment to being a truly deep, thick, reflective device that can hold enough collective memory and enough story line that it is actually giving the novel a run for its money. Who would have thought that this could be possible. But, the invention of serial television has proved that TV can be deep. Of course, without the DVD set to take home just as one would a good novel, this would not have been possible. The story line would get buried in the television graveyard. Now, with serial shows like Lost we have amazing threads of character development, plot lines, and the pressure on writers to offer viewers really thoughtful ideas about the meaning of Life.

Here is a Season 6 promo

There is Blood on My Door: A Review of Colonizing the Cosmos, Wood and Stone

2010-01-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

To hear this song, Click Here

Some songs are playful. You hum them while you vacuum or run on the treadmill. There are other songs that force you to stop because they are like waking from a dream that will not let you forget or being punched in the face by a person whose been waiting for you around a corner because of what you said about his sister. Yeah. Colonizing the Cosmos song, Wood and Stone is like that. It wallops you. It wakes you up from your dream and you cannot forget it.

For the unsuspecting listener Wood and Stone immediately forces you to start asking questions. Wait a minute, “I can’t live without you/ That’s how I know your killing me.” What is he talking about? A girl? A career? A drug? Maybe we will get the answer from the next line? “You were a princess/ Looking for some love/ I made you a King/ that’s where I screwed up.” Yeah, it could be a girl, but then he says “I made you a King” so it is metaphor, pure metaphor.

The answer must be yes, it is a girl, a job, a drug. Is he saying that anything we cannot live without is a god and that those gods let us down because they cannot pull off being an ultimate in our life? Oh, ok, so maybe that’s why he calls the song Wood and Stone. Manmade gods. I did not see that coming at first. Subtle. Multi-layered. POW!

But it just gets worse (or better I guess) because I can’t stop listening to this song. “You are my theology/ My compass star/ My art and vanity/My family history.” Moyer has listed a few of the things we depend on for life. And what do we give in exchange? He says, “I gave you my firstborn/ Left you in charge/ Let you into my bedroom/ Where I showed you my scars.” This seems pretty self explanatory as multiple images pop up- a father who virtually ignores his family for a career that takes him over for 90 hours a week or a women who loses her marriage for the affair that is going to solve everything or the addict who loses everything for more of whatever he or she is a slave to.

Ok, so now the song takes another turn and gets mysterious. Josh starts yelling, “But now there’s blood on my door/ Can hear me? But now there’s blood on my door/ And I know you can hear me.” Is he saying that the idol has wounded him? Is he crying out to his god in anger or remorse? Or, is this a veiled reference to something ancient and redemptive? “There is blood on my door/ Can you hear me? I know you can hear me? The Jew, the Christian, the student of things ancient and sacrificial might see this as a reference to “The Passover” where God’s people place blood on their doors so that when He passes over their homes, they will not receive judgment but pardon? Maybe. Or maybe he is just being poetic? Maybe.

Wood And Stone

I can’t live without you/ That’s how I know you’re killing me/ You were a princess/ Looking for some love/ But I made you a King/ That’s where I screwed up

Oh oh oh oh oh/ How it pains me to love/ Oh oh oh oh oh/ How it pains me to forgive

You are my theology/ My compass star/ My art and vanity/ My family history

I gave you my firstborn/ Left you in charge/ Let you into my bedroom/ Where I showed you my scars

Ooooohhh/ Ooooohhh/ But now there’s blood on my door/ Can hear me?/ But now there’s blood on my door/ And I know you can hear me

Bishop Martyn Minns is Interviewed About the March for Life

2010-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

Bishop Martyn Minns, who is also my father-in-law, had the honor of delivering the opening prayer at this years Washington DC March for Life. It was nice to see him act as a voice of reason in an interview covering the March.

No one calls Martyn Minns "Marty" so it was funny to have the reporter introduce him in this way (lol).

Secondly, I think that we need to step back from Roe V Wade as a law that makes women feel that they are justified in making a choice to kill a living child that they are carrying just as we have stepped back from making such things as slavery a law that permitted the degradation of humans. Laws do not justify immoral acts. Secondly, I wonder why no one ever goes back to the choice of having sex as a basis for a women's choice and the control of her body. We all have a choice about whether we want to engage in a sexual act and that is where the control of our bodies needs to begin. Let's encourage people to take control of their bodies by starting with the basic fact that sex makes babies. Come on people! Obviously, rape is another tragic question to have to deal with. But, as Bishop Minns points out, we are making abortion equal to birth control which is so tragic.

Me-Harmony or...

2010-01-23T11:42:00.001-08:00

There is more to marriage than compatibility. How about changing one another into the likeness of God.

Ephesians 5:25-33 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.There is more to marriage than compatibility. How about changing one another into the likeness of God.

Week Three- Wednesday: The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World (Voddie Baucham)

2010-01-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

The Desiring God Conference of 2006, focusing on postmodernity, was GIANT. If you have never accessed this incredible influential resource, please do so.

The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World

2006 Desiring God National Conference

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

First Saturday Morning General Session

Voddie Baucham

Listen Watch Download

Week Three: Tuesday- Singleness - The Biblical Guidelines cont. (Tim & Kathy Keller)

2010-01-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

RPC-Singleness-The_Biblical_Guidelines_cont.mp3

Timothy and Kathy Keller continue to discuss the biblical view of singleness and marriage in an open forum setting. Topics discussed include the biblical passage on eunuchs, coping with romantic rejection, spiritual growth as a single person, seeking a spouse, making an idol out of a romantic relationship, meaningless romantic relationships, dating non-Christians, and myths about both singleness and marriage.

Week Three: Monday- The Biblical Guidelines for Singleness (Tim & Kathy Keller)

2010-01-18T06:36:00.001-08:00

RPC-Singleness-The_Biblical_Guidelines.mp3

Timothy and Kathy Keller discuss the Biblical view of dating, sex, and romance; the goodness of singleness; and the Christian ordering of the different types of love. This talk was done in an open forum setting and is followed by a Q&A.

Week Two: Friday- Give the a Field not a Loaf (Haddon Robonson)

2010-01-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

Give them a Loaf not a Field

Not a sermon (today), but a sermon resource from Haddon Robinson at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. This is a part of a series of preaching tips and is helpful for all communicators. I have used the same idea with the metaphor give them a gold ring in a box wrapped in fine paper rather than gold you just pulled out of the mine.

Week Two: Thursday- Has Grace Transformed the Way You Live? (John Sartelle)

2010-01-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

Has Grace Transformed the Way You Live?

This sermon is classic John Sartelle from Ephesians 2:1-10.

John Sartelle is a great southern presbyterian preacher. His prayer preceding his sermon are amazing. He is also a great orator and most importantly really understands the Gospel and the role of grace in our lives. About five years ago, I think I listened to about fifty of his sermon in a month.

About Third Millennium Audio- This resource is a mixed bag. Some of the preaching is dismal. Some of it is quite good, and a few of the folks in the mix, such as John Sartelle, are really good preachers. Overall, it is good reformed preaching with sound doctrine.

Week Two: Wednesday- Were You There (The Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall)

2010-01-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Were You There (Peter Marshall)

Here is a classic sermon from The Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall, definitely one of the top ten greatest preachers of the 20th century.

I remember listening to Peter Marshall tens years ago, completely gripped by his oration. Peter Marshall served as pastor of the New York Avenue Church in Washington D.C. and chaplain of the United States Senate. Senators always made it a point to be on-hand for his morning invocation. Peter Marshall died in 1949 but his voice lives on in few recordings of his amazing voice and preaching.

Week Two: Tuesday- Judah and Tamar (Mark Driscoll)

2010-01-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

Genesis 39: Judah and Tamar

In this sermon, Mark Driscoll unravels the Judah and Tamar story with the brutal force of an mixed martial artist grappling for five rounds in the octagon. This sermon is not for the faint at heart. If you tend toward wanting things to be PC, or get easily offended, this sermon will infuriate you. However, that is Marks point- sometimes the best thing that can happen to us is to become scared as hell. On a negative note, Mark tends to offer the solution for many of our sins as confess, repent, and do not sin anymore without really getting into the mechanics of HOW to repent and stop sinning. It is well known that Mark has an iron will and this is probably all that is needed for him. If it is sin, stop. That is it. However, there are tons of cases where folks know something is sin, and yet they continue- pride, jealousy, greed. At any rate, this sermon is worth listening to on many levels and classic in your face Mark Driscoll.

Week Two: Monday- Love, Lust, and Liberation (Tim Keller)

2010-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

RPC-Love_Lust_and_Liberation.mp3

Lust exists, it is powerful, and we must respect its power. The Bible rejoices in sex and sexual desire, but lust is an impersonal, inordinate desire and an idolatrous search for meaning. Lust can be overcome if you esteem Jesus as your bridegroom and the lover of your soul.

It's Called a Phenomenon- RED, Black, Taupe, Nude

2010-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe seeing an overwhelming number of posts on Facebook with a single word like, red, black lace, taupe or nude- sporty, is not the same as the entire country of Iran rebelling against the government with Tweets (twitter text messages) but yesterday an overwhelming number of women who are tapped into social networks like twitter, Facebook, and even old fashioned email, showed their support for the victums of breast cancer by updating their Facebook profile (a message that tells people what you are up to or stand for...) with the color of the bra they were wearing at the time of the post.

This is what we call a phenomenon. The wave in a football stadium is a social phenomenon seen in organized sports. Uggs are a phenomenon of the fashion world. You get the idea, I hope. At any rate, it was a blip in time but consider the implications of this.

Thousands to hundreds of thousands of women across the world all speak at the same general time in support of a cause. Albeit, it was a playful way of showing support and a bit of a racy way of getting folks to pay attention. It was also a bit cryptic for many evoking a lot of, "Hey, why is everyone just posting a color? What does this mean?"

But, these were all factors in what made the expiriment work. That, in fact is what made it a phenomenon. Sorry, I digress.

More on the implications of this as a social phenomenon. What if the whole world could be mobilized to draw attention to the water problem in Kenya, or the trafficking of children in China by posting an idea or opinion on Facebook. See, Fcaebook and Twitter can be shallow or even narcissistic forms of communication that simply distract people from "really relating." But, yesterday, women across the world showed us that a new way of communicating is heading our way.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Week One: Friday- Forgiveness (Rob Bell)

2010-01-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

Forgiveness - Rob Bell Slides

The thing that makes Rob Bell so great as a preacher is that he does massive amounts of work on the historic context of Jesus and the world that he lives in. I love his language studies, his sense of humor and his ability to make the connection between their culture and ours. Additionally, Rob is such a great communicator. His section on forgiving others with the snorkel example is profound.

Note: One of the basic premises of this sermon is that "religion has evolved." For philosophy-theology types, this is way too Hegalian for me. Progressives who reject Jesus' death on the cross think that religion has evolved and that is why we no longer need the atonement. We are "past" that. I do not think religions have evolved. We are the same spiritual beings as our ancient forefathers. We just couch our spirituality in secular terms rather than physical-supernatural terms. Do not misread me, Rob believes in the atonement as is made clear in the sermon. And, he preaches that we have a need for the atonement in order to be redeemed. But, I think he is being sloppy or has read too much progressive commentary, when he says that religion has evolved.

Week One: Thursday- Cultivating a Healthy Marriage (Tim and Kathy Keller)

2010-01-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

RPC-Cultivating_a_Healthy_Marriage_Part_1_-_Lecture.mp3

Using the metaphor of cultivating a garden, Timothy and Kathy Keller address methods of cultivating healthy marriages by exploring eight practical areas in marriage: planning and planting, roles, headship and submission, fertilizing and watering, love language, sex, conflict resolution, forgiveness and repentance, and spiritual life together. This talk is followed by a Q&A.

Week One: Wednesday- Jacob and His Two Wives (Mark Driscoll)

2010-01-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

Jacob and His Two Wives

Mark is Hysterical in this sermon. At times, the sermon feels more like stand up than preaching. Yet, in the laughter, there are vivid and deep insights into the human condition. This sermon is great for men struggling to "stand up" and be men (what Driscoll sermon isn't good for this) in the midst of their relationships with the opposite sex.

To Read the Scripture (Genesis 29:14-35)

Week One: Tuesday- The Struggle for Love (Tim Keller)

2010-01-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most gripping moment for me in this sermon is the point where Tim Keller draws from Earnest Becker and the New York Times to point out that Jacob and Leah's desperation and longing for meaning and ours are no different. Think the Bible is irrelevent, oudated, something we have "gotten over." Think again.

The Struggle for Love (Genesis 29:15-35)

How can a human being be a god-like ‘everything’ to another? No human relationship can bear the burden of godhood, and the attempt has to take its toll in some way on both parties…If your partner is your ‘All’ then any shortcoming in him becomes a major threat to you…This is the reason for so much bitterness, shortness of temper and recrimination in our daily family lives. We get back a reflection from our loved objects that is less than the grandeur and perfection that we need to nourish ourselves. We feel diminished by their human shortcomings. Our interiors feel empty or anguished, our lives valueless, when we see the inevitable pettinesses of the world expressed through the human beings in it. For this reason, too, we often attack loved ones and try to bring them down to size. We see that our gods have clay feet, and so we must hack away at them in order to save ourselves, to deflate the unreal over-investment that we have made in them…After all, what is it that we want when we elevate the love partner to the position of God? We want redemption—nothing less. We want to be rid of our faults, of our feeling of nothingness. We want to be justified, to know that our creation has not been in vain. We turn to the love partner for the experience of the heroic, for perfect validation; we expect them to ‘make us good’ through love. Needless to say, human partners can’t do this. The lover does not dispense cosmic heroism; he cannot give absolution in his own name…Redemption can only come from outside the individual.” (Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, pp. 160-70)

Week One: Monday- An Immigrants Courage (Tim Keller)

2010-01-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

RPC-An_Immigrants_Courage.mp3

(To download, right click and "save as".)

Ruth is a story of redeemers. Ruth teaches us that friendships can change the world (as with Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer), and that we can and must reach across spiritual and cultural barriers to do so (as with Ruth, the hidden redeemer). Both Boaz and Ruth point to Jesus, our true Redeemer. Once we realize that, we can ourselves reach across barriers to engage in spiritual friendships and be true disciples of Jesus.A beautiful sermon on the three redeemers found in the story of the Ruth and Boaz. Tim does a fantastic job of telling the story of Ruth as well as showing us how the story points to Jesus Christ and to the way the Gospel relates to us in everyday life.

Top 30 Films of the 2000's

2010-01-03T20:41:00.001-08:00

Here are my top Films of the decade. These are films that I have watched and loved because of there ability to capture life, love, truth, beauty, justice and the longing for life ever-after.

Gladiator (2000)
Family Man (2000)
I am Sam (2001)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Donnie Darko (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
In America (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Crash (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Garden State (2004)
First Fifty Dates (2004)
Napolean Dynomite (2004)
The Notebook (2004)
The World’s Fastest Indian (2005)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Blood Diamond (2006)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
There will Be Blood (2007)
Juno (2007)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Grand Torino (2008)
Wall E (2008)
Slumdog Millionare (2008)
Up (2009)

Daily Devotions, Spiritual Disciplines, and Your 10,000 hours to achieve greatness

2010-01-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

I have been reading and listening to great sermons almost daily for the past twenty years. It started for me in college. I read volumes of Jonathan Edwards, Martyn Lloyd Jones, John Stott, and JI Packer sermons. Then, I began listening to Tim Keller, and Later William Willimon, Peter Marshall, John Piper and more recently, Rob Bell.

In 2009, Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller comprised the majority of my listening. Presently, I listen to at least three sermons from Tim Keller each week with about 700 audio sermons in my itunes library.

If you are interested in developing spiritually in 2010, consider listening to sermons. You might listen to one a day in the car on the way to work, while you exercise, or during a morning quiet time.

If you are a pastor and want to become a great preacher, I would implore you to devour as much great preaching as possible. Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers, points out that great men and women, from hockey players to violinists to computer hackers, spent 10,000 doing their craft before they could become great. One way to gain a huge edge and develop both your craft and your heart is to hear great preaching.

The following sermons are free and represent, the men that I believe, are the top five preachers alive today:

150 FREE Tim Keller Sermons

From Old School to New School and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly- Find it at Sermon Audio

Colonizing the Cosmos: Join the Colony!

2009-12-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

Ever wake up with a song in your head? I woke up a few weeks ago singing Colonizing the Cosmos "Join the Band." The lines from this very "sticky" song say:

A mother gives away her child into a trashcan

And a ruler pulls the switch upon his foe

Raise a finger cause he didn’t let you in man

We all laugh raise a glass and we toast

What is the difference between big and little evil?

Where lies the difference in it all?

Our hands are taken orders from our evil organs

We need a heart transplant y’all

Come on come on and clap your hands, clap your hands man

Come on come on and join the band

Come on come lift your hearts up out of the sand man

Come on come and clap your hands

After listening to the pre-release for the past month, there are songs on this album that will be a permanent part of my playlist.

Here's why/ Colonizing the Cosmos makes music that will make your heart soar, ache, and yearn with lyrics that will make you want to dance, cry, and fall in love. Cynics will read this and say, "yeah right" but after a few listens, if there is still a bit of soul left in them, they will be melted and will dance, sing and join the colony. For the innocent who have not yet been jaded by the hardness of life on earth, this music will cause you to take it all in, rise up, and then absorb the truth, beauty, intimacy, justice, and life-giving power of Colonizing the Cosmos freshmen effort. Hurray for CTC. Join the Band!

Go hear a A FREE Download of Give Yourself Away.

Josh Moyer, Michael Savisky, and Josh Gates are Colonizing the Cosmos.

Visit them:

CTC On Facebook

CTC On Myspace

CTC On the Web

Introducing Krista Vossler

2009-12-17T06:03:00.000-08:00

Krista Vossler was six years old when I graduated from high school. Her dad was the principal of the private school that we attended and influenced my life in ways that are not measurable by human standards. Through the many times I visited "Mr. Vossler's" office during high school, it became very clear to me that his persistence in loving me was based on a hope- that in directing me toward a vision of godly manhood, I might become a better human being.

25 years later, Greg's daughter, Krista, is making music in the Austin, TX indie scene. Like her father, she has hopes of changing people's lives through the work that she offers to the world. Her hope is being realized, I think. If you want deep, honest, beautiful music, give Krista Vossler's piano driver indie-folk a try. You will be humming "Can't Help but Notice" all day long.

A Darkar Moon- Baaba Maal

2009-12-17T05:52:00.000-08:00

Senegalese singer, guitarist and percussionist, Baaba Maal was featured on the World Cafe Yesterday. When he sang Dakar Sky, I stopped everything and just took this song in. Below is a live version of the song done in NYC as well as the world cafe session in its entirety.

George MacDonald

2009-12-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

George Mac Donald was a Scottish writer from the Nineteenth Century. Though forgotten by three generations, his writing and his theology are profound. I first discovered George Mac Donald through C.S Lewis who referenced him as "my master." Phantastes, which is arguably the basis for both Lewsi' Chronicles of Narnia and perhaps Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, was the first Mac Donald book that I read over two decades ago. If you are new to George Mac Donald, I would recommend that you read Phatastes, then Lilith, then Sir Gibbie. I have just completed a little known Mac Donald Trilogy based on the life of the fictional Anglican Priest, Thomas Wingfold who makes his way to Christianity after confessing to his congregation that he is an agnostic. If you have ever struggled with unbelief, this series will speak to your heart and mind. Additionally, if you come from an Anglican background denominationally, this series will feed your Episcopal sensibilities in a big way:

Thomas Wingfold, Curate (1876) (republished as The Curate's Awakening)

Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879) (republished asThe Lady's Confession)

There and Back (1891 (republished as The Baron's Apprenticeship)

Nataly Dawn- Great Covers

2009-12-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

Cover songs are an acquired taste. I love covers songs mostly because I am not sentimental about my music. I like to see songs change with time, take on new faces (or voices) and surprise me with new ways of saying what was once said by another. Nataly Dawn, an Indie artist (the other half of Pomplamoose) that has made some amazing youtube video songs, does some of the best covers I have heard recently. Go to Natalie's MySpace Page for Free downloads of her covers and while your there, check out her original stuff as well. She has an amazing voice and is a refreshing artist among the swarm of artists that are self-producing these days.

Wee House

2009-12-06T19:07:00.001-08:00

So what do you think of a pre-fab house that is designed by really imaginative architects in the same vein as those who produce mobile homes? Is it possible for a modular home, known as an icon for low culture, to enter into the world of high culture? Introducing the Wee House. I have fallen in love with these homes and think that they could be a really cool alternative for Christians who want to live out there lives employing the Spiritual discipline of simplicity. I just wonder, could they make them in Xtra Tall? Go See the Wee House

Jennifer Knapp is Back!

2009-12-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Knapp is a legendary figure in the eyes of her fans. She has an ability to deliver honest, gritty, and beautiful lyrics that combine with a musical excellence that is unparalleled. She took a break from music for a few years but has recently emerged and is playing shows around the states.

Carter Hulsey

2009-12-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

I am listening to Carter Hulsey on his myspace page (Oh My Sweet Carolina is Sweet). He looks like a scene kid but he sounds like a rambler. Check out before we go down:

Good Night States- Only Thing

2009-12-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Good Night States is an amazing band. Substantive lyrics from Steve Gretz and incredible hooks and caverns from the band that make each listen an new experience. I just love this band. They are from Pittsburgh and should be heard by the world. If you have not checked out GNS, try this really well Vid by Dave Mattson:

Indie- Mad Indie Skills!

2009-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Much thanks to my friend David Sadd for sending a link to Pomplamoose. The inter-world has been so good to really talented indie artists and Pomplamoose are evidence of that. PLEASE listen to this great duo.

Counterfeit Gods- Tim Keller's New Book

2009-10-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for this book for twenty years.

In the late eighties, Richard Keyes wrote an extended essay on Idols called, “The Idol Factory.” For me, it was breakthrough.it created a way to engage Scripture with real life in a way that I had not encountered in the past. In 1992, it appeared in No God But God: Breaking With the Idols of Our Age. Keyes work showed the power of idols, not just as graven images that ancients bowed down to but as oppressive inordinate desires within our own hearts that ruled over us and shaped our identities. In doing this, he removed idols from their place as obsolete relics from the past and revealed the haunting dilemma of modern man- we all have functional gods that we serve and they are the result of our out-of-control-desire to find an identity that will satisfy us. In short, Keyes showed that the "god problem" that post-enlightened man thought he had shed was merely hiding within the human heart. Suddenly, Donald Trump's work obsession, Madonna's intense desire to be a success and Michael Jackson's inability to come to grips with his own body image became relevant public symbols that the Bible was revealing as the true gods of our age.

At the same time, David Powelson developed a penetrating approach to counseling using a technique that I have come to be referred to as idol theory. His essay, Vanity Fair: Idols of the Heart he showed (just as Keyes had) that our idols were the result of inordinate desires that ended up enslaving us rather than fulfilling their promises to bring us freedom.

During this time, while I was studying at The King's College, Tony Carnes (who then chaired the department of Solciology) used God and idols to approach a Christian view of sociology. He was friends with Tim Keller and went to Tim's church (Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC). After I graduated, my wife and I began to attend Redeemer in NYC.

One Sunday in 1993, I sat down in the Hunter College Auditorium in NYC (where Redeemer had just moved) to hear Tim Keller preach at the 4:30 service. In the middle of his sermon, Tim began to preach on God and idols. I nearly dropped to the floor. I had heard idols mentioned in upper level sociology classes and discussed them in relation to a Christian approach to sociology over a beer with friends. Idols mentioned in obscure journals and in counseling friends about the nagging sins that resulted from idolatry was on thing. But, to sit there in NYC, as a young hungry intellectual, amidst like 600 twenty somethings, and to hear Tim clearly explain the power that the Gospel has to reveal and remove idols was amazing. It was like seeing BMX get to the olympics!

More than twenty years later, Tim has published his third book. Counterfeits Gods is extraordinary. Unlike the niche of intellectuals to whom Reason for God is written, this book is designed for everyone. And rightly so since every human heart is swimming with false gods that are promising fulfillment and offering despair. If you chose to read this book, be prepared to be disenchanted by the power of false gods and to be enchanted by the power of the true God.

Tinted Windows- STOCK!

2009-10-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

My daughter refers to music that lacks the excellence and creativity that will make it a classic as "stock." When I received Tinted Windows in the mail from a friend, I scanned threw the tracks. My instant read on the band was, "Sounds like the Tubes, or maybe Cheap Trick... very mid eighties." Ok, so tonight I listened to the whole album. In terms of song writing the whole album is about teenage angst and the inability to understand the basics of relationships and or the opposite sex. But this is not a boy band (guys in their 30's and 40's should not be referring to their wives? as "my cha cha.") There really is nothing here that will make you a better person. Musically, the band sounds like a combination of eighties and nineties rock- that is because it is. Of course, this could create a really dynamic sound. After all, the band combines members from bands that include Smashing Pumpkins, Fountains of Wayne, Hansen, and Cheap Trick. But, in the end, it is just STOCK. Guys, drop the yeah yeahs and the ooh oohs and the na nah's and the whole I can't get over losing you's and make a mature album.

Exploring Belief and Unbelief

2009-09-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

For the past month I have been exploring a set of arguments against religion in general and Christianity in particular by "The New Atheists." The phrase doesn't describe their argument as much as their style, approach, and stance toward religion. Put quite simply, the new atheists hate religion, have charisma, and know how to market the legitimacy of their claims through "lifestyle politics." Bill Maher for instance, a savy, bright, and funny guy, calls religion a brain disease. Because the volume of material in question is greater than I could include in a post, I have started an informational blog called, Balam's Ass. My hope is to post resources that help folks interested in the claims and counter-claims of belief in God to be able to have a clear and well-ordered portal in which to gain more knowledge about these new kids on the intellectual block.

Outliers- Moses and Such

2009-08-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to use the phrase and such and now I have done it! If you grew up in Western PA, then you are wondering, "what is so exciting." Well, and such is an anomoly to this region. People will throw in an and such when describing something that they do not want to extend a lot of energy on. I was going downtown to see the Steeler play an such. And, we couldn't find a parking spot. Something like that, and such. Speaking of anomolies, Malcom Gladwell's book, Outliers is a book worth reading. It shows how the anomolous people in or culture- those who achieve greatness, do so because of a variety of circumstances outside of mere genius and natural talent. Here is a great interview to wet your whistle.

The Ragamuffin Gospel

2009-07-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

In the late eighties, Brennan Manning spoke at my college (The King's College). After his talk, I left staggered. He was brilliant, humble, down to earth, and deeply knowledgeable of the Gospel of Grace. I immediately read his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel. A few years later, Catherine (my wife) and I would read Lions and Lambs together while dating. Since then, Brennan has written Ruthless Trust and The Furious Longing of God and has traveled the world as a ragamuffin evangelist. His words and work are incredibly relevant today and I would encourage anyone who has lived with the context of a strict religious environment where grace was absent or anyone who has lived within a strict religious environment where grace was cheap, to consider reading some of Brennan's work. it will do your soul well.

Justification by grace through faith is the theologian's learned phrase for what Chesterton once called "the furious love of God." He is not moody or capricious; he knows no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance toward us: he loves us. He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners. False gods — the gods of human manufacturing — despise sinners, but the Father of Jesus loves all, no matter what they do. But of course this is almost too incredible for us to accept. Nevertheless, the central affirmation of the Reformation stands: through no merit of ours, but by his mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of his beloved Son. This is the Good News, the gospel of grace. Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)

No Greater Love: Gran Torino

2009-07-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my step-dad (dad to me) used to quote a variety of lines from cowboy, action, and car chase movies, One of his favorites was the Clint Eastwood line from Sudden Impact, "Go ahead, make my day."

Watching movies with dad was an important part of our relationship and I treasure the times we went to the theater to watch films like Rocky, First Blood, Walking Tall and Dirty Harry and Crazy Mary (a 70's B movie). As I look back, I realize that almost all the movies my dad really liked were movies were a man made a strong stand against tyranny or corruption in the midst of huge amounts of personal sacrifice. As I look back my dad's life so far, I realize that the stories that he loves are stories that he has lived. Perhaps not with a gun in his hand (maybe a shovel or a lug wrench!), but definitely with a stance against tyranny and corruption and a willingness to sacrifice tons for his family and the people he has called friends and neighbors.

When I recently watched Gran Torino, tons of memories of watching Eastwood films with dad came back to me. And, when the film ended, I realized that it was a fitting example of the life of my dad- a life of sacrifice and valor (fought out in the garage and on the front lawn) for what is good, and right and true.

If you have not seen Gran Torino, watch it. Excusing the language, it is an amazing film about what it means to be a man (an American man) who loves through his life and actions far more than his words and intentions.

WORD FM: The Richness of Relationships

2009-07-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

On Friday, July 10th, at 5:10 I will be on the John and Kathy show (101.5 Word FM). We will be talking about the richness of relationships (as in human contact, human service, the human family, etc) in a world that presses us to make power, prestige, possessions, and experience or main priorities.

The subject for this show came to me after hearing Shannon Tanner sing the Trace Adkins Song, Your Gonna Miss This while I was on Vacation in Hilton Head Island, SC. All of us grown men sat there crying and I thought, "Yup, this is what it is all about. We just need to store up our treasures in heaven by investing in the people we love and the people we live with and around. That is what makes life rich."

Tune in Live by clicking HERE

ASA Anglican Spirituality in America

2009-06-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

My father-in;law is an Anglican Bishop (Martyn Minns). It's funny because there will be times when I say to Catherine (his daughter), "Oh, I will just call Martyn about..." and she will say, "Oh, he is in Nigeria. You can't get in touch with him. He will be back..." Nigeria is like Ohio in the new Millenium and as the Episcopal Church goes the way of the Unitarians who fled from Christianity two centuries ago, I think we will begin to see more and more from our brother and sisters in Africa and Asia. This week, I put a video Mash-up together using a new artist that I heard on 91.3 WYEP. Her name is ASA and her music is beautiful spiritual and provocative. Here are two songs that are getting a lot of coverage. Oh and I posted my new video mash-up as well. I dedicate it to three warriors of Anglicanism in our generation- Archbishop Peter Akinola, Archbishop Robert Duncan, and Bishop Martyn Minns.

Mavasio-Like Tom Waits and Smooth Jazz

2009-04-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Alright, I have been listening to a lot of Malvasio lately. He has a great vocal quality and interprets songs in an incredibly creative way. From Bert B to Amy Winehouse.

Check out his version of Mad World by Tears for fears

Bent

2009-04-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jay Slocum

I live in a bent world.
I live in a land were everything is crooked.

But, it is not that simple.
For, I can tell that this world was not always bent.
It is as if the trees are crying out.
They are screaming to be unbent.
Every rotting stump.
Every fallen branch.

And yet my people keep telling me that this world is not bent.
They say that the world was meant to be this way.

Well, I know this is not true.
I will tell you that I have seen the clouds ripped open.
I have seen the clouds fall away and I have seen the sun shine through to cast light on all things.
And in seeing this, I have turned from the shadows of the cave that I once lived in.

I have seen little babies wrap their tiny fingers around their daddies hands, and without speaking, but, with deep longing in little eyes they say,
“Daddy, I was not made for this bent world. I was made to be loved by you.”

I have seen weddings where eyes have met, with a hope so strong, so new, so brilliant that no one could imagine that this bond could be broken.

I have seen people, both young and old, pulled down into the waters, blessed waters, and brought back up, cleansed and as new as the light of morning.

I have seen old broken drunks, come wrestling with the fumes that are seeping from their bones.
I have seen them turn to the light.
I have seen them embrace the real world.
The world that refuses to believe in the bent as normal.

These instances I hold so deeply in my hands, in my heart, in my head.
I cannot escape them. They are just as powerful as all of the tragedies:
the Columbines, the Jeffrey Domers, the natural born killers, the crack addict next door.
But, the news papers cannot see these events, these amazing events. Events of healing, miraculous appearences. It is not turning water to wine. But, it is just as miraculous. Maybe more so, that God could act in the ordinary things; in addictions, in cleansings, in hand holding.

I believe that this world is bent, but we were not made for a bent world. Oh, how i wish that you could see what I see.

Miriam lulls me

A man holds his boys hand, and does not let go…

Amazing Covers of Bruce Springsteen

2009-03-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Woody Guthry had a profound impact on a generation. He was an American legend. Johnny Cash had a profound impact on a generation. He too is an American legend. Bruce Springsteen has and continues to impact this generation.

Recently, a number of artists covered some of the great songs that Bruce has created over the past 35 plus years. The effort is called hanging out on E Street. Enjoy the legend.

againstme.net
Tom Gabel from Against Me! covers "Reason to Believe"

matkearney.com
Mat Kearney covers “Atlantic City”
"He reminds me of a Johnny Cash or someone who can just continue to do what he does it just resonates with people"

Bouncing Souls cover “Growin Up”
bouncingsouls.com
"He helped you dream your dream. You've been down those actual roads he's talking about."

theavettbrothers.com
The Avett Brothers cover "Glory Days"

gaslightanthem.com
The Gaslight Anthem "Backstreets"
"And there was just this guy with this leather jacket that kind of looked like my dad..."

Ted Leo covers “Dancin’ in the Dark”
tedleo.com
"It's really, really fun for me to be able to play the covers, the songs of other people that have moved me so much over the years."

julianahatfield.com
"Juliana Hatfield performs "Cover Me""

peteyorn.com
Pete Yorn covers "Your Own Worst Enemy"

U2: No Line on the Horizon- A Vertical Release

2009-03-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Few albums these days are worth a total purchase. NLOTH is an exception.
This clearly reflects Bono's maturity as a song writer and U2 maturity as a band. The album overall will make you a better person for listening to it and though Bono might flip you the bird if you try to pin him down on his Christianity the album is incredibly vertical in it scope. Perhaps the no line on the horizon demands that we look up. That, it seems is where Bono is looking. To the heavens, that is.
Rather than droll on about "texture" and "genre" and "tonality" and blah blah blah. I would recommend just getting the album. Here are, however, some samples of the deep lyrics that we have come to expect from U2.

No Line on the Horizon
Bono sings, "I know a girl with a hole in her heart/ She said infinity is a great place to start/ Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh." St. Augustine says, (and everyone after him) "Our hearts are restless until we rest in the infinite."

Magnificent
Bono sings, "I was born/ I was born to sing for you/ I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up/ And sing whatever song you wanted me to/ I give you back my voice/ From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…/ Only love, only love can leave such a mark/ But only love, only love can heal such a scar/ Justified till we die, you and I will magnify/ The Magnificent/ Magnificent"

Moment of Surrender
Bono sings, "I was speeding off the subway/ Through the stations of the cross/ Every eye looking every other way/ Counting down till the pain will stop"

Unknown Caller
Bono sings, "Cease to speak that I may speak." Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Bono sings, "3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face/ Go, shout it out, rise up/ Oh, ohhh." Psalm 33:3 says, "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy."

I know I'll Go Crazy
Bono sings, "Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear?" 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

Richard Foster- The Spiritual Disciplines

2009-03-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you want to get into good shape, really good shape you need a exercise regime. Maybe you need to hire a personal trainer. Want to go far in your career or field of expertise? You are going to need to get extra training, read up on the best practices in your field, and be intentional about staying on top of your game.

What about your soul. For centuries Christians have invested in training up spiritual warriors by working what we call, The Spiritual Disciplines. One of the best introductions into the disciplines is the concise book by Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline. I read this book cover to cover for about three years running twenty years ago and still return to it for insights and honing. If you need a course of focus this Lent, or just want to hone your soul, try Foster's book. The Celebration of Discipline.

Here is a quick list of the disciplines mentioned in Foster's book

Inner Disciplines
The Discipline of Meditation
The Discipline of Prayer
The Discipline of Fasting
The Discipline of Study

Outer Disciplines
The Discipline of Simplicity
The Discipline of Solitude
The Discipline of Submission
a valuable but often-abused discipline.
The Discipline of Service

Corporate Disciplines
The Discipline of Confession
The Discipline of Worship
The Discipline of Guidance
The Discipline of Celebration

George Herbert-- You the Man!

2009-03-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

He was probably the Bob Dylan of his era- Geroge Herbert that is. Who is Herbert? Well, he is one of the Anglican Divines. Yeah, but was is that, or who are they? They were a group of English religious writers and thinkers from the 16th and 17th century. Herbert left a government career to become a country pastor. He also wrote amazing poetry and his book, The Temple is filled with some pretty powerful verse.

Here is my favorite George Herbert Poem

Confession

From The Temple (1633), by George Herbert:

O What a cunning guestIs this same grief! within my heart I made

Closets; and in them many a chest;

And, like a master in my trade,

In those chests, boxes;

in each box, a till:

Yet grief knows all, and enters when he will.

No screw, no piercer can

Into a piece of timber work and wind,

As Gods afflictions into man,

When he a torture hath designed.

They are too subtle for the subtlest hearts;

And fall, like rheumes, (seep like glue into) upon the tendrest parts.

We are the earth; and they,

Like moles within us, heave, and cast about:

And till they foot and clutch their prey,

They never cool, much less give out.

No smith can make such locks but they have keys:

Closets are halls to them;

and hearts, highways.

Only an open breast

Doth shut them out, so that they cannot enter;

Or, if they enter, cannot rest,

But quickly seek some new adventure.

Smooth open hearts no fastening have;

but fiction

Doth give a hold and handle to affliction.

Wherefore my faults and sins,

Lord, I acknowledge;

take thy plagues away:

For since confession pardon wins,

I challenge here the brightest day,

The clearest diamond: let them do their best,

They shall be thick and cloudy to my breast.

Please Listen to What Josh is Saying

2009-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

It just doesn't stop with Josh...