All Star-Spangled Banner lyrics below the fold. Continue reading "Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation."
Relying Not on Ourselves
2 Corinthians 8-10 ESV–For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
I’ve been praying during the night for a few people who would identify with Paul’s suffering, but beyond that the applications are legion, aren’t they? Self-serving officials, the mess in the gulf (now being called a dead zone), crime in our cities, conflict in our families, illnesses or injustices or simple unemployment among our friends and acquaintances. No matter what the next step may be for one of these problems, it is to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He is all-sufficient, merciful, and righteous.
You Are What You See, by Scott Nehring
Scott Nehring is a sometime film writer and current film critic, who blogs at GoodNewsFilmReviews.com. He is also a Christian, concerned about re-taking popular culture—if not necessarily for Christianity (in the sense of making every movie have a gospel message), but at least for the encouragement of positive movies that elevate people’s lives.
You Are What You See (you can order it here, in electronic or softcover form) is his manifesto. (I need to mention that I received a free review copy.)
It would be easier to praise or pan his book if it had been the sort of thing I half-expected—either a call to “come out and be separate” from popular culture, or a point-by-point, guaranteed-or-your-money-back blueprint for cultural revolution. Instead, the author leaves a lot of room for individual decisions. Because freedom is part of the deal, and every Christian has his own gifts, strengths and weaknesses.
This is good. But it means the reader has to do a fair amount of work, forever asking himself “How does this apply to me, if at all?” “Where do I fit in the scheme of things?”
That, however, is the price of honesty and biblical fidelity. Continue reading You Are What You See, by Scott Nehring
Is Some Art Too Complicated?
Complication is not the same as complexity. There are many complex works–novels, paintings, musical compositions–which are not easy to comprehend, but rich and enjoyable to work with. Like the stuff Loren Eaton writes: I mean at first you’re like Wuh?! and then you’re like Dude!! and then you’re like Whoa! That’s where it is.
Terry Teachout talks about art complicatedness in the wake of James Joyce and Bloomsday. “Are our brains simply not big enough to process the prose of Joyce or the music of Boulez?” he asks. “And if not, then why have such similarly complex artistic creations as the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock succeeded in finding an appreciative popular audience?”
Locus Awards for Sci-fi, New Pratchett Prize
The winners of the 2010 Locus Awards have been announced. Winner of best fantasy novel is this metaphysical mystery by London author China Miéville:
The best science fiction novel is this steampunk tale called, Boneshaker
Also of note: there’s a new contest for new novelists of the U.K. and Ireland. It’s The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. Wild acclaim and fortune will attend the winners of this soon-to-be prestigious honor.
Interview with a Legal Ukrainian Immigrant
“It’s so hard to watch these Americans, who have so much, toss it away by voting for imbeciles. I am American now and these people have no idea how good they have it.” Kevin Jackson posts an conversation he had with a Ukrainian businesswoman who was a Republican, because she knew where liberal ideas led.
Revisiting a Classic on It's 50th Anniversary
What ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Isn’t
Allen Barra writes, “Georgia had Flannery O’Connor and Carson McCullers; Mississippi had William Faulkner and Eudora Welty; Louisiana inspired the major works of Kate Chopin and Tennessee Williams. Alabama had. . . Well, while Zora Neale Hurston and Walker Percy were born in Alabama, those two great writers didn’t stick around my home state for long. And as for Harper Lee—Alabama born, raised and still resident—she doesn’t really measure up to the others in literary talent, but we like to pretend she does.”
Power Players Encourage Racial Tension
I heard the author talk about the ideas in his book on Brian Kilmeade’s show this morning. He was the one who broke the story on Obama’s long-time radical pastor. That’s what starts this video. Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal – America’s Racial Obsession
Infamy
I attend a Lutheran congregation in north Minneapolis, one that belongs to the church body I work for. It’s large but not huge. The senior pastor has made himself visible in the media for a number of years as a critic of the liberal church, and of modern trends such as universalism, women’s ordination, higher criticism of the Bible, and the normalization of homosexuality. He is a single man.
Last night, while watching local news on television, I discovered that he’d been “outed” as a homosexual.
He was not discovered in a “gay” bar. He was not discovered having sex with another man in a public rest room.
According to the news accounts I’ve seen (emanating from liberal sources) he was discovered attending a support and accountability group in a Roman Catholic church. He was speaking honestly, to men he trusted, about his struggles, slips, and temptations.
In other words, he was doing precisely what people on our side of the argument say a man in his situation ought to do. He is the very opposite of a hypocrite.
On the basis of the accounts I’ve read, the “journalist” who produced the story infiltrated this accountability group, lied about his purposes, and then broke the promise of confidentiality he made to get in.
The television story pretended to be a high-minded think piece about whether it’s ever appropriate to “out” someone against their wishes.
I don’t believe that was the real purpose of the story. I believe it was to splash my pastor’s picture all over TV screens in our state, with a metaphorical scarlet letter on his chest.
My pastor has my full support, and my prayers. God bless him, and all godly men in his situation.
Book illustration pratfalls
Well, that’s serendipity. Phil links to a source of good book illustration, and I just found a source of bad science fiction book covers. Of which there is apparently an inexhaustible supply. Thanks to Loren Eaton of I Saw Lightning Fall for the tip.
I haven’t gone through the entire inventory, so I don’t know if they’ve included a particular cover that even its publisher admitted, in the cold light of the morning after, was probably a mistake: Continue reading Book illustration pratfalls