Unusual Christian Places: Notre Dame du Haut

Notre Dame du Haut is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage chapel built in 1955 in Ronchamp, France by “Le Corbusier.”  The pseudonym belonged to the Swiss-French architect Charles-Edouard Jenneret (1887-1965).  

The chapel is a totally concrete structure with walls which, in places, are ten feet thick.    The building is on the site of a 4^th century church destroyed during World War II.

The slanting concrete roof guides rainwater so that it appears to come off the roof like a fountain onto concrete slabs below.

Links

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/ronchamp/

http://www.archdaily.com/201296/video-le-corbusiers-chapel-notre-dame-du-haut/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_du_Haut 

Book Comment: The Baptist Faith and Message

In this book Pastor Herschel H. Hobbs takes each of the points of the Baptist Faith and message and amplifies upon them.

Baptists are non-creedal and, so, there is no "official" statement of what we believe.  Hobbs points out that "in no sense is this work a binding statement of faith and message," but that it "is a statement in agreement with the faith and message of Baptists everywhere."  Following E.Y.Mullins, Hobbs sees the one distinctive Baptist belief as "the competency of the soul in religion."  We believe that each Christian may approach God directly without an intercessor.

The Fire of the Faith

“Christians, like coals of fire, cease to glow when they become separated from the group.”  Herschel H. Hobbs (1907-1995) 

Hobbs was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1962-1963) and was the chairman of the Baptist Faith and Message committee.

Film Comment: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

The video clip below is from a cult classic movie named Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989).  The film is truly hilarious because it is so ridiculously mindless and vapid.

In 2688 AD/CE, Rufus is chosen to save the Utopian future by using a time traveling phone booth to go to 1988 and to ensure that the Two Great Ones, Bill and Ted , are able to form the rock music band Wyld Stallyns (Wild Stallions) because their music is destined to save the world. To preserve the future, Rufus has to help the two empty headed boys make a passing grade on their high school history project.

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“I think they want us to say something.”

“What should I say?”

“Make something up!”

“Be excellent to each other!”

“Be excellent to each other!”  This is excellent advice but is a very naive basis on which to build a society because of the fallen nature of man.  History has repeatedly proven that we will not “Be excellent to each other!”

Only a complete change in our nature, a total transformation in our understanding of the nature of reality, will suffice. We need to be of one mind about things.  Christians are capable of this because we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  We have the Mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:10, 2:16; Philippians 1:27)

“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 1John 3:10-11

The Difference Between Presbyterians and Baptists

A Presbyterian friend of mine told me this joke.  Baptists (the religious tradition in which I grew up) have a reputation for being very straight-laced, almost Puritanical.

The Joke:
What is the difference between Presbyterians and Baptists?
Presbyterians will say hello to you when you run into them at the liquor store.

Its Never Too Late

"I lived all my life not knowing God ... so at age 58, after losing my ability to work, my health, home, and all else, I didn't think God had much use for me ... until I met His Son through Brother Bryan Mission."

The statue above sits in Five Points South in Birmingham, Alabama in a mixed area of restaurants, nightclubs, music halls, tattoo parlors, synagogues, and churches.  The man commemorated by the statue is Rev. James Alexander Bryan (d. 1941).  Brother Bryan, as he was known, was an ordained minister who spent many years working among the poor and homeless of the Birmingham area.  He was known for giving away his coat and/or his shoes on even the coldest days.  Like his saviour, he "went around doing good." (Acts 10:38)  He often quoted Matthew 25:35-40.

As he lay dying, his one request was for the establishment of a place for homeless men.  The Brother Bryan Mission was the result.  Read more about Brother Bryan here .

Film Comment: Beauty and the Beast

La belle et la bête (1946, Beauty and the Beast) is a black and white film created in France by the poet Jean Cocteau.  This is a truly beautiful film which shares its title with the children’s story but is decidedly for adults.

To save her father from the imposition of a death sentence by a frightening werewolf-like beast , a beautiful young woman must agree to substitute herself as the beast’s victim.  When she gets to know him, she realizes that the beast is actually not beast-like at all; he is a sensitive caring being.

Unlike the Disney studios version, this 1946 fairy tale film was never intended for viewing by children.  The visual and poetic beauty of the film cannot obscure  the fact that it deals with many adult themes such as familial duty, longing, frustration,  the real possibility of sudden deadly violence, and a strong undercurrent of repressed sexuality.  The film also has as one of its main characters an animal.

We may not like to acknowledge it, but, biologically, we are animals.  The lesser animals are innocent in their selfishness, but we are not.  We are a mixture of the Law of the Jungle, survival of the fittest, and of our higher impulses.  By our own power, we cannot overcome our self-centered natures (the true essence of sin and separation from God).

In the film, the Beast is redeemed by the pure self-sacrificing love of the Belle.  We are redeemed by accepting the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice and sanctified by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;   And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;   And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24

Notes on the film:

Some of the very creepy visual effects may be frightening for children.  Some more conservative viewers may object when they learn that the beast (Jean Marais) and the film’s director, (Jean Cocteau), were longtime homosexual lovers.

Other films:

Beauty and the Beast (1987)  The pilot film for the same named romantic fantasy television series.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)  The animated musical version made by the Disney studios. 

Film Comment: The Judas Project

The Judas Project (1990) is a "modern version" of the Jesus story about "Jesse" and his followers.  Much of the dialogue, escpecially Jesse's is paraphrased directly from the Bible.  The director seems to have intended the film to be a presentation of the life of Christ in a modern setting.   What if Jesus came for the first time ... today?

"Treypole," an IMDB (*) commenter from Texas is a Christian and a filmmaker who said, "Both parts of me were offended by this well-intended turkey."  He describes Jesse as sensitive and weepy-eyed.

Several commenters noticed what they perceived to be a subtle anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish bias in the film.

One commenter describes the film as  a Christian Ed Wood production.  Ed Wood was the nearly legendary exuberant but utterly incompetent director of such hilariously inept films as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda?, and Bride of the Monster.

* IMDB = The Internet Movie Data base.

Amharic Gospel Singer Samuel T. Michael

Samuel T. Michael, popularly known as Sami, is an Ethiopian gospel music singer singing in Amharic.  This song is "Melkam Neh."  I have been unable to find a translation of the lyrics but the song is about the love of God for us in the womb and even before we are in the womb.

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And a beautiful worship song by a singer named Awtaru Kebede.

“Udelsam” on You Tube has provided this translation of the lyrics:

“You are mine to me, 

my pride, my fortress, 

it never discomforts me, 

carrying your cross on my shoulder,  

You shield me from the strength of

the burning sun, and thus 

I live my life free of worry.

When we try to describe how great You

are our God, 

words fail miserably 

and are incapable to grasp Your mightiness.

Above our Earth and below our Earth, 

God you are great, and therefore I praise

You day and night.

You are so good to Your children 

God almighty!!!!”

Rise Above Hate

Today I saw a young man wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo “Rise Above Hate,” a truly laudable sentiment. As with many things, though, in this modern world, there is more to the story, hidden below the surface.  The phrase, “Rise Above Hate”  has become a code phrase for the moral relativist movement.  This philosophy, which leads to the world view called postmodernism, has become the prevailing sentiment of the modern world's culture.  Pope Benedict clearly understands; he has called it the "dictatorship of relativism." 

Postmodernism is the newest and the most rapidly growing of the modern world views challenging the Christian ἐκκλησία, and potentially the most dangerous.  It has permeated modern Western culture, even making its way into the thinking of many professing Christians.  Postmodernism rejects human reason and logic as a source of truth because it declares that there is no absolute truth.  Since there is no absolute truth, ethics are relative, all religions are equally true, and personal experience is more important than any external authority.  There is no ultimate basis for proven knowledge of any kind.  Modern  Western culture is seen as repressive to the individual.  There is a deep anti-intellectual distrust of reason and logic; truth is subjective, pluralistic, and collectivist, and is not reachable by reason.  One of the favorite phrases of the postmodernists is "Your truth may not be my truth."

Two films on which I have commented clearly express this world view: Crash Test and Rubber .

God's Farthest Limit

"Imagine what you think might be God's farthest limit, and you will find Him present there." Hilary of Poitiers (ca. 315-367) in On the Trinity 2.6.

Constantine Was Not the First?

The conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 380 is considered to be one of the watershed moments in Western history.  It may surprise you to learn that Constantine was not the first Christian ruler, or the second, or even the third.  Those places of honor belong to King Tiridates of Armenia, who in 301 declared Christianity to be the country's state religion; the number two position belongs to King Mirian III of Georgia, who, in 319, declared his country to be Christian; followed by Queen Sofya of Ethiopia in 325, converted by her son's Christian tutor, Frumentius.  Sofya's sons Ezana and Se'azana both became Christians.  Ezana ruled as a Christian king.

Put On the Full Armor of God

“Soldiers don’t arm themselves partially leaving the rest of their bodies unprotected.  For if they received their death wounds in the unprotected area, what would be the point of their partial armor? … The gospel implies that those who try to build a tower, but spend all their time on the foundation and never finish, are ridiculous.”  Gregory of Nyssa (330 – ca. 395) in On Virginity, 17.

Gregory was talking about those who never develop in their Christian understanding past that of infants, babies, the ones which Paul said were still drinking milk when they should already have been eating meat (1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12).

The reference to the soldiers calls to mind the instructions of Paul that we should put on the full armor of God in our battle, and whether or not we realize it, we are in a battle.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.   For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,   nd with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.   In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”  Ephesians 6:10-18

“He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.  For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:3-4

God has given us powerful spiritual armor and weapons for our fight.  Our real enemy is a person, Satan.  It is not popular to say this.  Satan has been able to convince the world that he does not really exist.  We don’t regularly see exorcisms and demonic activity (thank goodness) because Satan, the deceiver, knows that it is much more effective to work “under the radar.”  When we think of Satanic rituals, Rosemary’s Baby, little red devils with horns and spiked tails, and all the other popular images, we think of the devil as silly, funny, or entirely superstitious and fictional.  This is one of his strongest weapons.

“Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.”  Psalms 33:20

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”  Hebrews 4:12

“O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”  Psalms 140:7

“He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”  Isaiah 59:17

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”  Ephesians 3:14

Satan wins by deceit, lies, and half-truths, not by courage.  He is a master manipulater and wins his arguments.  Do not waste your time arguing with him.  Never yield in any degree.  Instead, look him in the eye, and, with the name of Jesus on your lips, walk toward him.  He runs from the name of Jesus.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7

Jesus' Crucifixion in Anime

This is a very literal rendering of the Crucifixion story into animated form.  You may or may not wish to read the comments on You Tube about this video.  Some of them are quite sarcastic.

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1000 Hours of Staring

The multimedia artist, Tom Friedman , has unwittingly produced what I believe to be the ultimate statement of modern Western popular culture; his artwork, “1000 Hours of Staring .”  The concept is that the work, a 32 inch square of white paper, creates “the history of an object.”  It expresses intense concentration and mental activity.

Personally, I believe that, like the films Video Fireplace  and Video Aquarium, “1000 Hours of Staring” expresses the total vacuity and emptiness of much of modern popular culture.  The modern culture pursues fame, money, fun, and “self-realization.”  The underlying constant is SELF.

The Christian realizes that the true meaning of life is the expression of the GLORY OF GOD .

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.  They are included under their most commonly known name. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Mortimer Cherry: (b. 1925, Alabama, USA – d. 2012; aka: “Mort”) U.S. Marine Corp veteran, steelworker, deacon.  Baptist.

Saint Apollonia: (d. 249, Alexandria, Egypt) Virgin martyr.  Since all of her teeth were violently broken and pulled out during her martyrdom, she is regarded as the patron saint of dentists by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and the Copts.  She jumped into the fire which the mob built to burn her.

Jennifer Carole Ledger: (b. 1989, United Kingdom) Drummer and vocalist in the Christian rock music band, Skillet.

Adam of Eynsham: (b.ca. 1155, England – d. after 1233)  Roman Catholic monk, abbot of Eynsham Abbey, historian, hagiographer.

Phoebe: (fl. 1^st century AD/CE Greece) Phoebe is mentioned only in Romans 16:1,2.  She was either the first, or one of the first deaconesses.  She was serving the church in Cenchrae (the modern village of Kechries, Greece), the port town of the city of Corinth (the modern city of Korinthos, Greece).   Paul sent Phoebe to carry his letter (Romans) to the church at Rome. 

Christian Illustrators: Stephen S. Sawyer

Stephen S. Sawyer (b. 1952, Kentucky, USA) is a commercial artist, portrait painter, and motivational speaker. His most frequent portrait subject is Jesus Christ. Many of his Jesus portraits are traditional in nature, but a few are not, such as his "Undefeated ," which presents Jesus as very muscular and handsome, 
in contrast to many Jesus portraits which emphasize His gentleness.


You may find "Undefeated" to be unsettling. The reality is that Jesus was probably not handsome, He was probably very average or even unattractive in his physical appearance. He was  
someone who no one would have expected to be the Messiah. That is how God works. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Isaiah 55:8.


On the subject of His masculinity, Jesus was surely not in any 
way physically effeminate. He grew up doing carpentry, a very hard, heavy, physical craft.

The Religious Affiliations of the Presidents of the United States of America

George Washington (1789-1797) Most probably Deist.
John Adams (1797-1801) Unitarian.
Thomas jefferson (1801-1809) Deist.
James Madison (1809-1807) Unknown.
James Monroe (1817-1825) Episcopal.
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) Unitarian.
Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) Presbyterian.
Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) Dutch Reformed.
William Henry Harrison (1841-1841) Episcopal.
John Tyler (1841-1845) Episcopal.
James K. Polk (1845-1849) Presbyterian.
Zachary taylor (1849-1850) Episcopal.
Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) Unitarian.
Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) Episcopal.
James Buchanan (1857-1861) Presbyterian.
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) Unknown.
Andrew Joihnson (1865-1869) Non-denominational Christian
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) Methodist.
Rutherford B. Hayes )1877-1881) Methodist.
James A garfield (1881-1881) Disciples of Christ.
Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) Episcopal.
Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) Presbyterian.
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) Presbyterian.
Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) Presbyterian.
William McKinley (1897-1901) Methodist.
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) Dutch Reformed.
William Howard Taft (1909-1913) Unitarian.
Woodrow Wilson (1913*1921) Presbyterian.
Warren G. harding (1921-1923) Baptist.
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) Congregational.
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) Quaker.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) Episcopal.
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) Southern Baptist.
Dwight D. Eisenhower )1953-1961) Presbyterian.
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) Roman Catholic.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) Disciples of Christ.
Richard Nixon (1969-1974) Quaker.
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) Episcopal.
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) Baptist.
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) Disciples of Christ/Presbyterian.
George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) Episcopal.
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) Baptists.
George W. Bush (2001-2009) Episcopal/United Methodist.
Barack Obama (United Church of Christ/non-denominational Christianity.

The Faith Statement of U.S. President Barack Obama

"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."^[297]

... "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me." U.S. President Barack Obama

God Chooses to Use Whomever He Chooses

God seems to always choose the most unlikely person. Read the post below from The Jesus Site.com.

http://www.jesussite.com/blog/2012/02/think-god-cant-use-you/

You may wonder why this is.  My understanding of this is that if God used the obvious people (kings, military conquerors, politicians, the most beautiful women in the world, men as handsome as movie stars,  the richest and most powerful people, etc) everyone would "understand" why they were successful.  God's glory is magnified when He uses unexpected people to achieve His plan, because it is obvious that the actions come from God: a small teenaged boy used to defeat a giant, a donkey used to deliver a message, a frightened concubine used to save an entire nation, a brutal pagan absolute ruler used to take Judah into captivity to cause them to depend on Him, and a hate-filled persecutor used to become his doctrinal interpreter.  If God can use any of these people to bring about His purposes, He can use you to bring about His purposes.

The World's Oldest Existing Christian Church Structure

The world's oldest existing Christian church structure is Thiruvithancode Arapally (aka: Thomaiyar Kovil) in the village of Thiruvithancode in Tamil Nadu State in India.

The Lord's Prayer in Classical Chinese

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