Children

If mankind is inherently good, why do we have to teach our children to share and not to bite or hit one another?

Film Comment: Doctor Strange (2017)

Doctor Strange (2017), seen merely as  film, is very enjoyable and technically well made. It is equally funny, frightening, visually amazing, and thought provoking. The acting is top-level and the music perfectly fits the film.

The story is based on the comic book character created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in     1963.  Doctor Strange is a brilliant but hideously arrogant neurosurgeon.  He is a totally unlikable man, and is verbally and emotionally abusive of everyone around him, even the fellow doctor who considers herself to be his girlfriend.  As an atheist, he derisively rejects any mention of God or the supernatural. Then, his smug life is totally shattered as his talented hands are mangled in an especially violent automobile crash.    

Stephen’s entire self-worth has been built around what he considers to be his obvious superiority to those around him. He cannot accept that his prior life is gone. He desperately spends his entire fortune on increasingly experimental and questionable medical procedures. He is still broken with no improvement in sight.

Eventually his search leads him to Kathmandu and a secretive school led by a mystic known as The Ancient One. She claims to be thousands of years old. The Ancient One opens Strange’s eyes to the unseen world surrounding him.

This is an origin story and Stephen eventually becomes a Master Sorcerer charged with protecting the world from supernatural threats from powerful otherworldly beings. He has become a full-fledged hero even though he still carries just a touch of his former arrogance.

Doctor Strange is directed by Scott Derrickson, a publicly acknowledged Christian and, while the film is about personal redemption, it is not a Christian film. There is no mention of Jesus at all.

Christians are commanded to stay away from magic and the occult. Magic is essentially the quest to use knowledge of spells, objects, and rituals to cause the universe (read spirits, demons, Satan, and God) to react in specific ways. This is the way in which Stephen Strange becomes a sorcerer. He is merely a man who learns how to manipulate space and time and how to leave his physical body to move about as his spirit self.

The primary sin is to place oneself in the place of God. This is essentially what magic does, harnessing supernatural beings and forces to impose one’s will upon the universe. It has no place in true Christianity.

Some commenters have said that director Scott Derrickson has used Doctor Strange’s eastern mystical roots to hint at a deeply Christian perspective on reality.  For example, the Ancient One teaches Strange that what we see around us is only a small part of reality. Paul says the same thing in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. Some commenters are much more troubled by the film’s roots and some denounce it.

In the film, The Ancient One is discovered to be a hypocrite in that, while fighting for Good, she is drawing much of her power and longevity from The Dark Dimension which is ruled by the utterly evil being known as Dormammu. Since she is their teacher, it must be assumed that the Ancient One’s students, including Stephen Strange, are also drawing power from the Dark Dimension. Surely he understands this once the revelation has been made and yet, he still uses the power.

Strange cannot possibly defeat a being as immensely powerful as Dormammu but he succeeds in outwitting the monster. Though Dormammu repeatedly and violently kills him, Doctor Strange has trapped Dormammu and himself in a repetitive time loop. The only way that Strange will release him from the loop is for the monster to agree to leave. Strange becomes a self-sacrificing savior who returns from the dead. This alone should be a massive red flag for Christians.

If Mankind is Inherently Good

If mankind is inherently good, why do we have to teach our children how to share and not to hit or bite one another?

Elephant Puppets

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is shutting down after May 2017 due to a sharp decline in ticket sales.  It, of course, is not the only reason, but the decline corresponded with the removal of live elephants from the shows.  The elephants had become increasingly controversial due to animal rights groups allegations that the animals were mistreated by the circus workers.

The latest version of the show features life-sized elephant puppets named Queenie and Peanut. While the puppets look to be real it is obvious that they are puppets because the human operators are clearly visible. The audiences love them!

As ringmaster David Williamson says, "You can't tell the story of the circus in America without elephants."

Much the same thing is happening in many of America's churches. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been replaced by other emphases because some see the Gospel message as imperialistic, ethnocentric, depressing, at odds with their belief in the essential goodness of Man, or exclusivist.  On the contrary, there are strong reasons to believe that a Gospel-less Christianity is not Christian.

A Threatening Christian Assault!

At the start of 2017 one of my fellow employees placed a calendar in the employee break room. It featured beautiful high definition photographs of nature scenes. Along with each picture was a single praise verse from the Psalms. The overall tone of the calendar to a non-Christian would have been rather generic, along the order of a sweet Helen Steiner Rice poem.

Last week the calendar was taken off the wall.  The explanation from the supervisors was that there had been a complaint.  Someone had found the calendar to be offensive and threatening. Threatening?  REALLY???

Our national tradition in the United States is freedom of religion and a separation of church and state. Some have begun to believe that this means that any mention of religion must be removed from public sight.  Religion must be stifled and repressed.  Utter hypocrisy!

They, in effect, do what they accuse others of doing; they impose their religious view (agnosticism, humanism, or atheism) on others. They deny to others the right to practice or express their religious views.

Liberals and progressives scoff at and ridicule the idea that there is a War on Christianity in all corners of the United States.  In ways large and small, the evidence is ample and glaring that they are wrong or disingenuous.

Fairies Wear Boots

Fairies Wear Boots (1970) is a song by the rock music group, Black Sabbath, about a man who insists that you must believe that he saw “fairy boots” dancing with a dwarf. “You gotta believe me … I tell you no lies … I saw it, I saw it with my own two eyes.”

The lead singer of this song, Ozzy Osbourne, says that he has no idea what the song is about since he wrote the lyrics during a night of hard drugs and drinking. The only reason he knows that he wrote the lyrics is that his friends told him so. 

Goin' home, late last night

Suddenly I got a fright

Yeah I looked through a window and surprised what I saw

A fairy with boots and dancin' with a dwarf,

All right now!

Yeah, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me

Yeah I saw it, I saw it, I tell you no lies

Yeah Fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me

I saw it, I saw it with my own two eyes,

Oh all right now!

Yeah, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me

Yeah I saw it, I saw it, I tell you no lies

Yeah fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me

I saw it, I saw it with my own two eyes,

All right now!

So I went to the doctor

See what he could give me

He said Son, son, you've gone too far.

'Cause smokin' and trippin' is all that you do.

Fairies Wear Boots lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

In legal usage, eyewitness testimony is considered to be admissible evidence but it must be consistent with known facts, not fanciful, and the eyewitness must be examined carefully to ensure that the chance for intentional or even unintentional bias is minimal. Ancient Jewish practice insisted that eyewitness testimony must be provided by two men of unquestioned character before it could be believed.

Of course, some people will believe in almost anything (ghosts, visits by extraterrestrial beings, telepathy, fairy folk, etc.) just because someone adamantly insists that they “saw it with their own two eyes.”

Religious movements have sprung up around charismatic individuals. These movements seem to be primarily cults of personality, based primarily on the individuals themselves. The founders claim, with no verifiable proofs, to have seen visions (Edgar Cayce), or mysterious holy objects (Mormonism). Some claim to have met Ascended Masters who gave them messages for the world. There are at least twenty religions based on the UFO phenomenon. 

Christian belief in the Resurrection of Jesus is itself based on eyewitness testimony, but with a major qualitative difference. In the Bible, there are numerous reported post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus, one to a group of over 500 people AND there is even an implied challenge to naysayers. If most of the 500 were still alive at the time of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, all anyone had to do was hunt them down and ask them what they saw.

"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;"    1 Corinthians 15:6

Christians

Jenna Elfman: b. 1971, California State, USA. (aka: Jennifer Maria Butala Elfman). American television and film actress. She is married to the musician Bodhi Elfman. Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, she is now a member of the Church of Scientology.

Jeri Ryan: b. 1968, Munich, Germany. (aka: Jeri Lynn Zimmerman) American film and television actress. Roman Catholic Church.

Kate Mulgrew: b. 1955, Iowa State, USA. (aka: Katherine Kiernan Maria Mulgrew) American film and television actress. Roman Catholic Church.

Dakota Fanning: b. 1994, Georgia State, USA. (aka: Hannah Dakota Fanning) American film actress. Southern Baptist.

Elle Fanning: b. 1998, Georgia State, USA. (aka: Mary Elle Fanning) American film actress. Southern Baptist.

United States Tax Code and the Bible

"The tax code in America is ten times the size of the Bible with none of the Good News."
Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence.

Absence

I apologize for the recent lack of posting on this blog.  I have been undergoing a series of eye surgeries. Posts will now return at least weekly.

Amazing Grace on the Kalimba

The kalimba is one of the thousands of variations of the mbira. The mbira is a member of the lamellophone family of instruments and consists of a flat board onto which are mounted metal tines of various lengths. The tines were originally made of bamboo but about the year 700 the bamboo was replaced by metal strips. The tips of the tines are plucked with the thumbs. The mbira is sometimes referred to as a “thumb piano.”

The mbira is very common in the Democratic Republic of Congo and among the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

Arrogance On the Road

                                                           Arrogance on the

                                                   road.  A blinding flash of light.

                                                          Saul has become Paul.

Ramones

The Ramones were, like Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, a rock music band of enormous musical influence but extremely limited commercial success. (At the Ramones first major concert, ten people showed up.) To be clear, there is nothing Christian about either band but they are reflections of the worldview of many millions of people. 

The music of the Ramones is minimalist to almost absurd levels. Their songs often use only a few chords, a hard driving beat, and almost all the songs check in at under three minutes in length. The songs are very fast and very short. Many of their concerts lasted only seventeen minutes. Who were these guys?

The band was begun in 1974 by four totally unrelated men who all took the surname Ramone, wore long black straight hair with long bangs, black leather jackets, and usually wore sunglasses regardless of the weather or time of day. They basically acted as if they were nihilistic and were bored out of their minds.  As band members cane and went, they too, all became Ramones. Even women who married the band members became Ramones. Rolling Stone Magazine lists the Ramones as number 26 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time." The VH1 music television network names the Ramones as number 17 in their list  of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock." The original four members (Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, and Tommy Ramone) and later drummer, Marky Ramone, have all been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Much of this was a stage persona. Some of the band members were progressive in their views while others were much more conservative. The band was in constant inner turmoil with arguments, jealousies, resignations, firings, and hostilities which occasionally erupted into violence. Some of the disputes resulted in legal actions.

All of the original four founding members of the Ramones are now dead so we may never know for certain whether or not they were consciously satirizing the modern relativist culture or were merely reflecting that they were part of it.  Or both.

Their music perfectly reflects the vapid meaninglessness of modern relativistic society. The songs take vicious jabs at the facades and hypocrisy of many elements of modern western culture, exhibiting a total lack of respect for any forms of authority or societal norms, including the family. An example is the song, We're A Happy Family.

"We're a happy family

We're a happy family

We're a happy family

Me mom and daddy

Siting here in Queens

Eating refried beans

We're in all the magazines

Gulping down thorazines

We ain't got no friends

Our troubles never end

No Christmas cards to send

Daddy likes men

Daddy's telling lies

Baby's eating flies

Mommy's on pills

Baby's got the chills

I'm friends with the President

I'm friends with the Pope

We're all making a fortune

Selling Daddy's dope"

Other songs reflect the cultural acceptance of violence which can result from the dehumanizing effects of relativism. To me, Beat on the Brat With a Baseball Bat brings to mind the horrors of child abuse and the casual murders committed by the for profit abortion industry.

"Beat on the brat 
Beat on the brat 
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh

Beat on the brat 
Beat on the brat 
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh 
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh

What can you do? 
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back 
What can you (lose?)

What can you do? 
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back 
What can you (lose?) lose?"

One response to the utter anti-intellectual emptiness produced by the relativist philosophy is to become totally passive and uninvolved, as in I Want To Be Sedated.

"Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated

Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated

Just get me to the airport put me on a plane

Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane

I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain

Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go....

Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane

Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane

I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain

Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated

Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated

Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show

Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco

I can't control my fingers I can't control my toes

Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go...

Just put me in a wheelchair...

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated"

Another response seen in modern culture is boredom and the inability to form meaningful relationships. People drift from situation to situation, from person to person, and from one drug of abuse to another. Other people are seen as useful to relieve the pain. The anomy and emptiness can often devolve into lawlessness and violence.  I Just Want To Have Something To Do!

"Hanging out of Second Avenue

Eating chicken vindaloo

I just want to be with you

I just want to have something to do

Tonight, tonight, tonight,tonight,tonight,tonight

Well allright.

Tonight, tonight, tonight,tonight,tonight,tonight

Wait-Now

Wait-Now

Hanging out all by myself

Cause I don't want to be with anybody else

I just want to be with you 

I just want to have something to do

Tonight"


The answer is the total rejection of the relativist ideology. There are NOT many different relative truths. Truth is NOT determined by societal consensus. There is such a thing as absolute truth and it is, to an extent, knowable and intelligible to the human intellect. We could not have found this absolute truth on our own but we were created in such a way that we are completely capable of perceiving it. the unknowable has been made knowable.

The unknowable God has made Himself knowable to us by first preparing us through His progressive revelation of His nature to the Jewish people. He is one. He is our creator. He is all-powerful and all-knowing. He knows each of us as individuals. He is holy and expects us to be holy. He is not impressed by our political power, our wealth, or our knowledge.  He expects us to understand that we belong only to Him. He intends to bless the entire world.

After this preparation through the Jewish people, God's final perfect revelation of Himself came through the Messiah, Jesus of nazareth, who was, is, and always will be fully human and fully divine. We are to become conformed to Him.

He Numbers Your Hairs

                                                               He numbers your hairs

                                                 Birds sing to please Him.  He smiles.

                                                              The stars His garden.

All This Just For Us?

 

                                                      All this just for us?

                                               Glory of God's nature shows His

                                                        smiling love displayed

"Amazing Grace" Performed by Alabaster Box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjOlytm3CA

Alabaster Box is a four man Ghanian a capella singing group founded by Samuel Narku Dowuona. The other members of the group are Gideon Allotey, Michael Allotey, and Horst Ayub. The African musical instrument sounds which you hear are all made by the men.The group is often referred to simply as the Box.

Alabaster in its purest form is a snow-white mineral which is especially useful in sculpture.

Book Comment: The Rise of Benedict XVI

The full title of this 2005 John L. Allen book is The Rise of Benedict XVI. The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church. I am not a Catholic and so have no standing one way or the other on this. I do not wish to offend. But, speaking as an outsider, as one of the “separated brethren,” I personally think the tragedy of this book is that Benedict did not ultimately complete the promise of his election. He did speak about the problem on numerous occasions. Then, he resigned eight years into his papacy.

I am sure that I am not alone as one who was thrilled at the thought that a champion of the faith had arisen. Joseph Ratzinger, elected as Benedict XVI, had identified relativism as the “gravest problem of our time.” 

Many thought that he would marshall the resources of the Catholic Church to battle what he called  the “dictatorship of relativism.” Many conservative Evangelicals understood this phenomenon by a different terminology, the “war on Christianity”

Exactly what is relativism? It is the idea that objective truth does not exist or that, if it does exist, it is not attainable by the human mind. Truth is defined as it is determined by the community. Sometimes the community is as small as one person. That is how one can hear the absurd statement, “Well, that is your truth. That is not my truth.”

Proponents of relativism talk about tolerance, pluralism, avoidance of imperialism and colonialism, and of non-interference in other cultures. All of these things are good but the relativists go even further. 

They utterly deny and even condemn the possibility of any absolute truth which is valid for all people in all cultures and for any time in history. This is a direct hostile frontal challenge to Christianity which is based on an absolute truth claim. The claim is this: God has revealed the Truth about Himself and about humanity in the revelation presented in Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. As Jesus said, “No man comes to the Father except through me.”

Relativism attacks Christianity in several ways.

1. It denies the exceptionality, the exclusivity, and the universality of Christianity. It sees Christianity as just one religion among many, all of which are equally valid.

2. It declares evangelism and missions to be imperialistic and colonialistic. It sees them as an attempt to force our beliefs and culture upon others.

3. In its zeal to be “tolerant” relativism seeks to punish and suppress those whom it defines as intolerant; such as those who wish to not be involved in cooperation with same-sex marriage.

4. Relativism can lead to totalitarianism because it removes any legitimate basis for moral judgement over the limits of state power used to enforce "tolerance."

5. Relativism’s removal of moral limits has caused a cheapening of human life. This has led to the abortion and human cloning controversies. Human rights are seen as being determined by social convention rather than by any absolute intrinsic human value.

As Benedict XVI said, “All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way. They justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the crucified, not by those who crucify. Pray for me that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”

Pray for all of us that we may not flee for fear of the wolves!

____________________________________________________________________________

Back to the book.

The Rise of Benedict XVI is a fascinating unfolding of the history of the events and politics which swirled around the last days of John Paul II, the various factions, the leading papabili (papal candidates), a discussion about how Joseph Ratzinger was viewed before his election, why smoke is used to signal the populace of Rome about the progress of the conclave, the meaning of various rituals and declarations, why three sets of robes are prepared for the incoming pope, and why the Cardinals are locked into the conclave rather than other people being locked out. There is also speculation about what Benedict might do as pope.

Back to the concern which began and ended this post. Why did Pope Benedict resign and who  are the wolves he referenced? Benedict XVI was the first pope to resign in 600 years, citing waning physical and mental powers. This flew in the face of the adage, "The Pope is not sick until he is dead."

John L. Allen, the writer of the book being discussed, was present at the papal announcement and says that as soon as Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and said the name "Ratzinger," several of the monsignors from the Secretariat of State turned around and went inside the building.  Benedict's butler, Palo Gabriele, leaked documents which exposed numerous Vatican power struggles. Benedict's successor, Pope Francis, has declared that "the court is the leprosy of the papacy." Cardinal Carlo-Maria Martini is quoted as having told Pope Benedict, "The curia is not going to change, you must go ..."