A devotional prayer from Peter Marshall

“. . . But whether on the mountaintop or in the valley,

may we ever be aware that Thou art walking beside us.

And if Thou art with us,

what difference does it make where we are?”

I think I’ll probably have to stop watching the TV show Bones again.

I stopped a while back, but was seduced in again, because there’s nothing on at that time that I’m interested in watching (or there didn’t used to be; I need to check the new schedule). I was lured back because a) I’m fascinated by that whole forensic science business (as long as it’s on TV and I don’t have to smell the evidence), and b) the star, Emily Deschanel, is smoking hot—not in the reconstituted Pam Anderson style, but in the exquisite Ingrid Bergman style.

The thing that bugs me about the show is that it has religious overtones. Not constantly, but one of the running themes is the conflict between Dr. Temperance Brennan’s atheism and FBI Agent Booth’s easygoing Catholicism. Booth generally gets the best of it too, as it’s obvious that he’s happier and better adjusted than she is.

The show even makes efforts, now and then (and this is fairly rare on television), to present practicing Christians as fully-rounded, sympathetic human beings.

And that’s the problem. Because the show has a definite opinion on what a real Christian is. Continue reading Include me out →

Just keep them as words. Good “in theory”

From the current First Things:

Mormon beliefs diverge widely from historic Christian orthodoxy. The Book of Mormon, which is Mormonism’s principal source for its claim to new revelation and a new prophet, lacks credibility. And the Jesus proclaimed by Joseph Smith and his followers is different in significant ways from the Jesus of the New Testament: Smith’s Jesus is a God distinct from God the Father; he was once merely a man and not God; he is of the same species as human beings; and his being and acts are limited by coeternal matter and laws.

The intent of this essay is not to say that individual Mormons will be barred from sitting with Abraham and the saints at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are saved by a merciful Trinity, not by our theology. But the distinguished scholar of Mormonism Jan Shipps was only partly right when she wrote that Mormonism is a departure from the existing Christian tradition as much as early Christianity was a departure from Judaism. For if Christianity is a shoot grafted onto the olive tree of Judaism, Mormonism as it stands cannot be successfully grafted onto either.

Voice of the Marytrs reports:

On August 23, widespread violence erupted against Christians following the assassination of World Hindu Council leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, the alleged mastermind behind the December 2007 attacks on believers in Kandhamal, Orissa State. Saraswati was killed with four of his followers. 30 men believed to be Maoist extremists, stormed a religious center in Kandhamal and opened fire.

Despite the evidence that Maoists killed the leader, Hindu are taking their revenge on Christians. Several people have been killed, including at least one Hindu woman suspected of being a Christian. Churches have been torched or vandalized. Police have been sent unarmed to watch the rioting as if ready to intervene, and government officials, I believe, have spoken against the rioting, but done nothing to stop it. The violence has spread to other Indian states. I am told many Christians are hiding in the jungle to avoid the militant Hindus.

Rescue us, Lord. Put our enemies to shame. Deliver us like you have many times in the past. (Psalm 71)

Phil’s question about your favorite film Jesus got me thinking about the guy we both favor, Bruce Marchiano, who played Him in both The Visual Bible: Matthew and The Visual Bible: Acts.

My first reaction when I saw Machiano in the role was, “Wow! Finally a Jesus who looks like He could possibly be a Middle Eastern Jew!” In spite of the fact that I’m a Republican (and so obviously a racist and anti-Semite), I’ve always been irritated by blonde, blue-eyed Jesuses.* Even when Hollywood set out to produce a biting, “realistic,” debunking portrayal in The Last Temptation of Christ, they cast blonde, blue-eyed Willem Dafoe.

I suppose there’s no point throwing mud at an icon unless it’s iconographic-looking.

Anyway, I liked that about Marchiano. But even better was his ground-breaking portrayal. His Jesus is full of life–an open-hearted, easy-laughing man who clearly lives each moment to its full potential and views everyone He meets as a gift from God. His suffering in His Passion is all the more wrenching for the contrast.

This, in my view, is precisely what Jesus must have been like. That’s why people were impelled to follow Him–“In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

*Yeah, yeah. I know Marchiano’s got blue eyes. You can’t have everything. Especially when you’re looking for a man to play God.

Christianity Today published a list a couple years ago of its top ten movies about Jesus. In this list, I learned that Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings was so moving, no one made another movie about the Lord until after the director died. Not on this list are the films made by The Visual Bible, which I thought were very good.

Have you seen any of these? Which is your favorite or perhaps least disliked? What do you think generally about movies depicting Christ? Are they bound to get it all wrong from the start, or do you think it’s possible to make a good one?

Lutheran and otherwise great fellow Gene Edward Veith agrees with The Vatican’s latest pronouncement: The name of the Lord Almighty, spelled YHWH, should not be spoken. I don’t know what to think about this. I love the names of the Lord. I think modern Christians would have a closer relationship with Him if they knew several of his glorious names, which mean The Lord who see, The Lord provides, The Lord is my peace, The Almighty, and The All-Sufficent. Didn’t the Lord tell Moses His name when he asked, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3)

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Remembered but never spoken is awkward.

Jimmy Davis gives six excuses for not praying, and as if that wasn’t good enough, he follows it with 17 reasons to pray.