Why Vote?

In all of the back and forth punditry about who to vote for this election, a thought occurred to me. What do folks really think they accomplishing by voting for one candidate or the other? I thought about the single issue voters, the party-liners, and the folks trying to weigh the issues. But one more basic question kept coming up. Does any of this voting really produce any results locally? Or do we vote trusting that our one active move at the ballot box is going to be one that makes a difference?

What I am more or less asking is, is voting a way for middle class American Christian to avoid getting their hands dirty? Are they (subconsciously or not) trusting in the system to fix things when they should be taking action personally? Put another way, are American Christians guilty of the same skepticism of the gospel that some first century jews were when they expected the messiah to save them militarily or politically?

I guess what I am saying is that I think Christians ought to do much more locally to combat the problems they see. Voting once every four years instead seems like a way for your average Christians to pat themselves on the back and do nothing again until the next election. Am I wrong? Why?

Life changing experience

I am still not sure if this is true, but a church brother sent it to me.

Teasers

It’s bliss. When you’re watching a movie, and all the pieces fit together perfectly, it’s bliss. Nothing is wasted. The scene at the beginning that you thought was irrelevant was key. At the end of the story, you see the author’s handiwork. I expect that we like this because it’s how history will ultimately work. What doesn’t make sense now will seem like an essential part of the divine tapestry at the end of all things.

When a story builds you up with all sorts of teasing moments, you expect a payoff. You expect that all the details will be woven together right. Take Harry Potter, where the details were painstakingly put together so that the ending would work. And it did.

When a story teases you with these sorts of moments and then the end of the story doesn’t pay off, there’s a huge letdown. You feel betrayed. What about … what about … ? You thought that it would all tie together, and be part of some larger purpose in the story. Did it all mean nothing?

And that’s pretty much why I hated how Lost: Season 4 ended.

Some more books

Since I haven’t posted in more than a month, I might as well pretend like I was too busy to come by because of the books I was reading (even though that isn’t true: I have no excuses).   So here goes.

For fun:

·    The Making of Star Wars.  This was a lot of fun, with good pictures and background to the original film.  I can’t say I learned anything new, but it was still fun.  Now I’ve got to find the one on Indiana Jones.
·    Fast Food Nation. Second time through, I’m still amazed at what we do with food. Interesting read.
·    Summerland.  Children’s fantasy.  Good guys defeat the devil.  Harry Potter uses some British archetypes (e.g., boarding school); Chabon uses American archetypes, such as Bigfoot and the Puget Sound.  Baseball is key to the story.  Pretty good.
·    Water For Elephants.  Interesting setting (the circus), well-worn story (young man falls in love with another man’s wife).  I was interested enough to finish, but not much more.  No weight to the story, really.  And far too much (read: any) graphic sex.
·    New England White.  This was a wonderful read.  600 pages long, and worth it all.  I remembered enjoying Carter’s first novel a few years ago, but not this much.  This is a story of a murder at an Ivy League college, and the college president’s wife is curious.  One scene was a delightfully suspenseful night-time visit to the dead man’s home.  The cast of characters is enormous, and Carter wields it easily.  Recommended. (In contrast to the previous book, this was thoroughly clean, to the point of almost lacking profanity)
·    Inca Gold. Good old Clive Cussler.  Can’t really beat this, as long as you don’t read more than one a year.
·    Still haven’t gotten back to Galileo’s Daughter, which is a shame.

For Class:
·    Summer for the Gods. This was a summary of the Scopes Trial, and particularly how the trial has assumed a mythology of its own that is not what the original trial actually achieved. This book is readable and interesting.
·    Breaking the Spell.  Daniel Dennett is another silly atheist, and he’s also rather wordy.  His most interesting point: conceding that those who hold the Bible in high esteem might as well not bother reading his book.
·    Selections from a few others, but nothing worth mentioning.

On deck:

· The Italian Secretary
· Bambi vs. Godzilla

Amusing Ego

So Samuel L. Jackson was being interviewed by MTV when his cell phone went off. It was his ‘Ezekiel’ monologue from Pulp Fiction. I’m a sucker for Sam, but I have to admit, that’s pretty ego maniacal.

The Dark Knight

Having read more reviews for this than any other movie, I have to say something explosive. Within the confines of mortal creatures telling a Christian story, The Dark Knight is a great Christian story, starring Batman as a type of Christ.

The Joker is the Devil. He tempts and loves destruction. Batman is not a hero, as Gary Oldman says, “he is the guardian and protector that we deserve.” Seems similar to we “we despised and rejected of man.” Batman does not rack up a body count, in fact he spends a lot of time arranging things for his followers the cops. I think that this could be stretched into a triune role of batman, coordinator, defender, inspiration. Or Lucius, the Butler, and Master Wayne. For all you paedos, notice that the children see and understand more than the adults do.

Batman takes the sin of Two-Face, the ultimate metaphor for sinful man upon himself. For that, he is justifiably pursued, Two-Faces sin cries out for judgement. Batman cannot die, but he can suffer pain, including the pain of exile and derision that was inflicted on Christ.

The only great sticking point that I see is Batman’s assertion that the Joker forgot about the basic good nature of the people. I would point out that if Batman is a type of Christ, and Gotham is his city, then his people are by definition taught what is right, and shown the way to do right.

This is all somewhat tongue in cheek, I know that it is not scripture. But it is some of the more thought provoking filmmaking that I have seen, and as such, it calls for interaction. Like Signs, it makes me think that there are either more Christians than we know in hollywood, or God can use even vessels of wrath to sound the note of truth.

History Reapeats Itself

Time to wake up and smell the formaldehyde/sulfur people. We live in strange times.

For Provision & Protection

I’ve gotten involved in a discussion over at The Cedar Room about toy guns and the apparent related issues. It’s interesting and infuriating at the same time.

My basic thought is that if you avoid educating your children about guns when they’re young (when they have toys or sticks), then they are probably going to take they’re cues from Grand Theft Auto, Hip Hop, and neo-cons when they hit college. If instead you teach your kids about the importance of using guns for protection of loved ones (home protection gun) or provision (hunting), you can communicate the appropriate use of this weapon. My parents never owned guns growing up, but I had water guns, paintball guns, and had the opportunity to shoot a .22 and .45 with my youth pastor. As a result I have a great respect for guns and am a big advocate of appropriate safety guidelines. What’s so hard about this people?

Two Things

1. This is awesome, the last newspaper reminds me of the “class 3 killstorm.”

2. After following sports for about the last year, I have realized that it is basically celebrity watching for men. I am interested in what you non sports followers think about that.

The Search Continues

For something to fill the holes in their souls. Two things prompted this.

First up: How did the Olympics (and sports in general) acheive this religious status? This story is really about the separation of religion and state. It is two steps from recognition of the true place of things, and as such, it blows me away.

The second is the movie “The Bucket List”. Jack and Morgan travel the world in search of meaning. Boomers everywhere live vicariously through these aging actors and their (non-cg?) backdrops of Egypt. The premise was thin, the plot is weak, and the script was heavyhanded where it should have been deft and clever. As I watched it, I thought that a journey through the mortal delights should give us a sense of emptiness. But this movie was more than a sense of emptiness. It was emptiness that thought it offered meaning. Maybe the writers began to believe themselves, but I think people will know better than being told that it is okay for an agnostic to have a chance to believe, but to walk away, and then die well because he had his eyes open, or that it is okay to galavant the world in a selfish denial party.