Wrote a small book review

For one small moment today I overcame my laziness and wrote a brief review of a book I just finished.

Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films With Wisdom and Discernment by Brian Godawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow… Finishing this book is like losing my movie-going innocence. I see how naively I drank in everything from the theaters without considering the message behind the movie. We’re talking complete stupidity here–I was able to get through the Truman Show without realizing it was an allegory.
Anyway, I have read a couple of Christian-based movie critiques now, (see also The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite and Through a Screen Darkly) and Brian Godawa is by far the most insightful. He goes beyond the surface level and accurately assesses the world views of the people making the movies and the message they convey.
The scope of this book is much wider than a reference for movie reviews. Godawa teaches you what to look for, how to analyze a movie’s plot, and gives you a primer on virtually every type of philosophy you will find in today’s movies. He also gives some eye-openening examples of passages in the Bible that would totally shock the cultural anemics who argue that Christians should have nothing to do with movies, and a very brief defense for why it is necessary that we familiarize ourselves with our culture.
I recommend this book to every Christian. It is indispensable for parents who need to be aware of the subtle messages their children are imbibing in the seemingly innocent movies they watch; or really anyone who is serious about interacting with their culture. My only regret is that Godawa seems to be done, at least for now, with movie criticism, focusing on other pursuits, instead.
View all my reviews >>

The Kindle–It’s Not Just a Device

OK, so I have “tweeted” a couple of links to some great free Kindle books and thought I should mention something in case not everyone out there realizes it.  You don’t have to have one of those little white Kindle electronic devices from Amazon to read Kindle books.  Personally, I read Kindle books from Amazon’s free iPhone app, but there are many other platforms that free Kindle “reader” software can be downloaded to, Mac, Windows, Blackberry; Android and others are coming soon.

I posted a link to Prayer, by Philip Yancey recently, when it was available for free.  It has gone back to $9.99, the usual Kindle book price, which is a good deal, still, but you can’t snooze on those free book offers, they only last a couple of days.  I have about 30 books in my Kindle library, most of which I obtained for free, including Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Haley’s Bible Handbook, The Naked Gospel, and some books by Rob Bell, John Piper, and on and on.

Even if you don’t currently have a Kindle, I would start building up your library in case you ever do get the Kindle software on one of your devices.  The free book deals are really too good to pass up.  Follow me on Twitter–I post links to them when they are made available.

Another thing I should mention in passing… Amazon recently added a cool new feature.  You have the ability to highlight text in your Kindle books, and now if there is a common passage that other users are highlighting, it will give it a faint underline in your reader.  It is kind of cool to see what other people find noteworthy in a book.  I almost never highlight the same portions for some reason.  I always suspected I was playing to the beat of a different drummer…

Paralyzed by Perfectionism

Monica was pointing something out about herself (and me) the other day when talking about why we don’t tend to go to the gym as much anymore.  It’s a character flaw (trait?) that says it’s “all or nothing”.  We were going to the gym about 3 times a week for two hours.  Once that started slowing down and we lost a day, we would not go for the rest of the week because, “why bother?”

Of course, the answer is that we should have gone, even if we wouldn’t have done our full weeks worth of workout.  What about if we have less than 2 hours?  We don’t go.  Why bother going for 1 hour if we can’t do our full two hour routine?

When you write it out like this, it just seems so ridiculous that we would be subject to it, but I was thinking this morning that it goes way farther than the gym.  It actually encroaches upon every part of my life.  We have stuff that needs to be done all over the house, and I’m always waiting for that perfect day where I will have “all day” to tackle a big chunk of the projects all at once.  Well, guess what–that day doesn’t really exist.  I have four kids, after all.  In reality, if I want to get anything done, I’ll have to take 20 minute snatches of time here or there.

How about blogging?  I rarely have time to blog, so I never blog.  It can hinder a relationship with God as well–I don’t have an hour to read my Bible and pray this morning, so why bother doing it for 20 minutes?

Here’s a good one… I can’t think of a way to wrap this post up in style, so I’m just not going to publish it.

“Telling a white lie sends you to hell” — And Other Myths

A classic article has been reposted on Parchment and Pen (after having been destroyed by hackers a while back).  It’s somewhat controversial, but raises a good point.  A person who gets sent to hell for telling a “white lie”, but otherwise lives a sinless life is something you may encounter in a gospel presentation, but really it is a meaningless hypothetical.  The “white lie” is only a symptom of the true disease, which is living without recognizing God as Lord of all, and this is what secures your eternal destination.

Parchment and Pen » “One White Lie Will Send You to Hell For All Eternity” and other stupid statments.

The On-line King James Bible Summit

There is a poll at:

The On-line King James Bible Summit.

Don’t forget to vote and let them know “why you use the KJV”.

Google Book Search Settlement Agreement

Google Book Search Settlement Agreement.

I noticed on the Google Books site an exciting announcement.  A groundbreaking settlement has been reached that will allow Google Books to index and make available more out of print books than ever before.  An option will even be added to purchase an out of print book where I assume it will be printed “on demand” and shipped to you.

Google Books has not received nearly the recognition it deserves.  It has always been my primary source of research when I dig into things.  It has now gotten many times more useful…

A New Hangout For Reforming Fundamentalists

Come join the revolution!  Transformed by Grace is a new social network of bloggers, pastors, and other everyday people who seek to grow closer to God through His grace and seek His truth with an open mind.  A lot of us are either present or former Fundamentalists who would like to see the movement take a more Christ-centered approach, and we hope to be a resource for people with questions or struggles.  Right now we have many discussions open dealing with subjects ranging from Church history to King James Onlyism to prayer and legalism.  Come join and check it out!

Why you should immediately delete your Facebook account

A popular blogger has gone and posted 19 rock-solid reasons you should delete your Facebook account.  At the end of his post, he says he could have listed more, and that got me thinking… What other reasons could there be?  So without further ado…

20. Facebook opens the door to ecumenicalism by allowing people of any denomination, be they Lutheran, Catholic, or even Southern Baptist to specify their religion as “Christian”, but not forcing them to specify exactly what type of Christian they are.  Before removing one of my former “friends” (he had bought himself an iPod), I tried to edit his profile to add the word “carnal”, and it said I was not allowed to make that change.  This totally flies in the face of biblical Christianity.

21. Facebook blurs the distinctions between male and female.  Before you upload a profile photo, your picture is displayed as a unisex silhouette that could be taken for either male or female.

22. Facebook says that gross, wicked people are my friend.  If I accidentally accept a friend request from a sinner, Facebook now claims that person is my friend, when this could never possibly be so in real life.  (Oh, sorry, this is a duplicate).

23. The infinitesimally small amount of times a Bible verse comes up on Facebook, it is never from the AV 1611.

24. Facebook is how “the world” communicates.  Since Facebook came around at some point after the 1950′s, it must be classified as “worldly”, along with such other things as movie theaters, NFL football, and the Bangels.  As you know, James 4:4, friendship with the world is enmity with God.

25. It encourages you to do things Jesus Himself would not have done.  He wouldn’t have been caught dead hanging around all of the sinners that infest Facebook–everyone knows He would have gone from one speaking engagement to the next, preaching at  IFB revival conferences.

What do you think?  Between the two of us, have we covered all of the reasons, or are there any that we are missing?

Salvation as an emotional experience (thinking out loud)

Can true, “saving” faith (that is, faith that is part of a restored relationship with God) better be described as a set of likely emotions rather than just a mental assent to something?  For example, we all know people that have professed to believe all of what can be considered the “required” points of the gospel, but later, they inexplicably turned away.

Maybe what we should have focused on was their reaction to their sin; was it disgust?  Frustration?  Then how did they feel about their chances of making it on their own… Hopeless?  Then, when they found out there was a way, that God had come to earth to pay the price for their sins that they couldn’t; profound joy and gratitude?  And finally, a sense of commitment?

These are the genuine reactions to our need for a Savior.  What if any of them is missing?  Can you replace disgust and hopelessness with something else; oh, let’s say “fear”?  In other words, you shortcut the gospel message and instead of telling someone how bad their sin is, you present Jesus as nothing more than a “get out of Hell free” card.  Without feeling disgust at sin, is true repentance possible?

Best of the Web for Week 5 of 2009

• How the Stimulus Bill Could Kill You

  tags: politics, economy, stimulus-package, liberalism

  • One has to keep a keen eye out for the components of the bill that don’t just steal your money, but that may actually do you great physical harm, if not kill you outright.
  • Section 9201 of the stimulus package establishes the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research."  This body, which would be made up of federal bureaucrats will "coordinate the conduct or support of comparative effectiveness and related health services research."

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    Once a panel of government experts decides what is and what is not cost-effective by their definition, the government will stop paying for treatments, medicines, therapies or devices that fall into the latter category.

  • Thus, if a handful of government employees deem a therapy not cost effective, no health insurance will cover it and it will become virtually unobtainable to patients at any cost.
  • If the feds step in and say, no, that new treatment is too expensive, it will never have the chance to become better, the supply will not increase and it won’t become more cost-effective.  It will just die on the shelf, and so will the patients who potentially could have benefited. 

• Mars Lander Discovered AMD Phenom II

  tags: no_tag

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  • Washington, DC — NASA released a report this week confirming that the Phoenix, known simply as The Mars Lander by most, discovered the equivalent of a AMD Phenom II processor (a computer chip found in many Dell laptops) during its visit to Mars last year.
  • 
    Physicist Dr. Smithy Peters, principal investigator and leader of the entire mission, explained, "I believe the correct combination of elements came together in a cosmic storm about 14.7 billion years ago. After the puddle died down, a perfectly formed processor was left, identical to an AMD Phenom II chip."

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.