Courageous Christian Nursing Values

http://youtu.be/zaallbOpCNY

Flight - Movie Review of The Way, the Truth and the Life

Last night we rented Robert Zemeckis' film Flight, a peerless character study of an alcoholic airline pilot which featured a dazzling performance by  Denzel Washington. The reviews and reviewers are split. Those who wanted an action movie and special effects got more than they bargained for. :

Here's a good, brief review: 

A knockout that soars. An absolutely riveting and unforgettable masterpiece. Director, Robert Zemeckis crafts one of his most nuanced and extremely capable films ever, its certainly one his finest films as a director. A bold, strong and very powerful movie that has a deep and emotional story along with incredible character development. Especially on Washington's character, it shows his struggle to contain his addiction and what is left of his damaged soul. Denzel Washington gives of of his best performances ever, it surely one for the books and that will be talked about for years. A commanding and brilliant performance. Kelly Reilly is excellent. John Goodman is terrific. Bruce Greenwood and Don Cheadle are fantastic. A nail-biting and powerful thriller that will keep you in the edge of your seat. It delivers big with suspense, a great soundtrack and deeply compelling human drama. An amazing movie. A spectacular and tremendously entertaining film.

God has favored me with a ministry to men, discussed elsewhere on this blog. This film brings a lot of things together for me: alcoholism, evil, pride, a culture of lies, and the moment of truth that brings the Way, the Truth and the Life together to save a soul. I've heard this story so often, yet it is always inspiring. As Denzel Washington's character approaches the "moment of truth", I almost whispered to my wife "Here comes the truth".

Culture Stratification - the symptoms

A recent conversation with my sister-in-law showed me the progress of cultural stratification as it effects my family. We discussed several topics over lunch after a long absence. The topics she introduced were revealing. First she indicated that we have lost more soldiers to suicide than to combat in the last year. This was to indicate, I believe, her commitment to global world peace through unilateral disarmament, as in "War is never the answer", showing that our armed forces are obviously involved in unhealthy behaviors that cause them to kill themselves, proving our moral inferiority. I replied that I had read in the last year that though the suicide stat may be true, it was apparently also true that the suicide rate at the same demography in our culture was actually much higher than that for service personnel. She did not comment in reply.

Next we discussed the profession of one of my wife's relatives, an outfitter for elk and buffalo hunters in Colorado and New Mexico. She was very disdainful of his choice of profession. Her facial expression was painfully distressed. I mentioned that without a natural predator, the elk were overpopulated and needed culling annually to keep the herds healthy. Again, no comment.

Finally, we were discussing tax reform in passing, since our conversation was in late December when the nation was approaching the much ballyhooed "fiscal cliff". I expressed some opposition to tax increases that were not offset by spending cuts and lamented the burgeoning size of the government. That did it. She replied with a sneer, "Where do you get your news? Is any of it from someplace besides Fox News?" I told her that I listened to NPR and read blogs on the internet besides a nightly dose of Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly when I had the opportunity. She did not comment further.

Our interaction and her mystification that I held such radical views led me to assert that our culture is now strictly stratified. The ruling class watches NPR, reads the New York Times and watches MSNBC. The rest of the country wants more conservative opinion than what is afforded by the liberal media  (which she believes to be a myth). She said, "I get conservative opinion". I said, "Where"? She said, David Brooks is a conservative commentator she listens to. I said he was a Republican, not a conservative. She said she would have to think about that. Had I had time, I would have mentioned the names of all the liberals on Fox News. But, time was short and I don't think she would have heard what I had to say.

I see stratification here. To get a voting coalition, the liberal elites (the NPR and NY Times folks) need to appeal to a larger segment of the population than they themselves represent. Mainly, they do so by vilifying the wealthy, not on the level of ideas, but in order to generate the common ground of class envy. Never mind that the wealthiest congressional delegation is the Democrats, not the Republicans. Democrats attract minorities with a similar tactic. Conservatives (synonymous with Republicans to them) are vilified as racists, homophobes, sexists and bible-thumping gun=toters. This wins for their side most blacks, a majority of Hispanics, GLBT folks and the environmentalists, and solidly holds the teachers. The trial lawyers and government workers/ trade union leaders are added to the collective with bribes.

How can we overcome this divisive environment in 2013 America? With active opposition of the major media, academia and Hollywood, we're going to need cultural change. Without the presence of voices from the right, the left will hold the culture hostage and take us to socialist tyranny. In short, we need more Andrew Breitbarts.

However, I will not participate in providing cultural/political opposition to this fight. In a change of approach, instead I intend to comport myself as a Christian rather than a conservative. I will be an ambassador for Christ, not a foil for liberal political tactics and divisive vitriol. If I am going to make a contribution to the culture, it will be to use my influence to get our attention back to God where our founders believed it had to be in order to keep our Republic.

Batman v. Spider-Man

The Weekly Standard has a great article by Travis D. Smith assessing the comparative super characters of Spidey and Batman. Really worth reading. Here's the link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/batman-v-spider-man_690831.html
I would like to summarize the main points here:

Batman is an elitist liberal modernist. He has visions of changing the world. He is a relentless technophile, mastering everything, has changed every cell phone in Gotham to a spying device so he can monitor evil everywhere. He sleeplessly opposes evil. He has no loving relationships, though he enjoys the company of the glitterati. He is wealthy, beyond imagining, all of which he seems to have inherited. He is a humorless utopian with a dark presence, because if he succeeds in opposing evil, it may extend to tyrany of Big Brother.

Spidey is a traditional everyman, emphasizing the duty and fundamental importance of good character. He helps everyone, even his enemies. He tries to live up to his uncle's expectation that "to whom much is given, much is expected". He isn't trying to change the world. He's trying to do good in his spare time, struggling with the rest of us. He ekes out a living selling photos of himself which are usually used to indict him as a villain. His good humor is unrelenting and endearing. He's a mensch.

Thanksgiving is good for the soul. The fullness of life is celebrated, with food and family fellowship; the blessings of God fill us up. Our family revels in it. 

This year, the winter solstice of 2012 is also the last date on the Mayan calendar. Now what? Apocalypse? How do we celebrate our thanks on the year that time may end? The Mayans flourished during Europe's Dark Ages, which were ironically the time of Western history when Christianity developed to penetrate European society.

Will the world end? Jesus told us the no one knows the day or the time.  Today's enhanced spirituality coinciding with religious apostasy and political transition to secular-scientism may open either a religious "do over" or a terminus. What should our response be?  I say, let's thank God for whatever He has in mind. 

If the apocalypse is the end of time, as outlined in the book of Revelation of St. John the Divine, I'm ready. Are you? .

 

Lies, Damn Lies and a Spirit of Confusion
A recent essay in The Catholic World Report by Anthony Esolen is a must read. Esolen is one of the editors of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, one of the best journals in Christendom, in my humble opinion. He takes on the issue of living in a world of lies and half truths, one of the hallmarks of a fallen world.

I'm linking to it above for comment. Please comment if you feel led. 

I've blogged previously on the issue of "language bending" and the curious charge that a hater is someone who supports marriage between one man and one woman, of which I am guilty. I am also not a big fan of unrepentant sin practitioners who require me to alter the bible to lower the bar on some sins because they are "are the way I was made". In an earlier blog post, I mention that I was made to sin, also. I try my best to admit my sins, confess them and do penance for their persistence in my life. It would be politic for me to claim that I was obviously made this way and start a club of unrepentant lustful, prideful men, but I've not had enough spiritual self-delusion to do so, praise God. And, to be honest, I don't like lustful, prideful men, even though I am one. I won't seek their company, unless I can encourage their repentance and pursuit of God.

I believe strongly that Pilate's confusion about what is truth when it stood before him is evidence of the persistence of the primacy of lies on earth. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life", and meant it. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, there is often truth in abundance, shared in accountability and in confession. Truth is god's way and leads to eternal life. To bend or distort language, to lie and obfuscate, is the worldly way.

Lord give us the discernment to see lies and to oppose them with truth in love.

Why is the church so strong in the prison?

I am devoted to prison ministry. I've been a mentor to a man in Maryland through Prison Fellowship, and that was educational. I've been a Kairos volunteer in Colorado for a number of years and love that ministry. Both do good work, and we support both of them.  Why? You can look it up at Matthew 25: 31-46.


Kairos puts on a four day "Short Course in Christianity" over the weekend in most prisons twice a year, sometimes more. It is lay lead. In the Sterling Correctional facility where I volunteer, we invite 42 to join the 30 of us and about 15 inmate graduates who serve snacks and meals and pray-up each talk. We form six inmates to a table of nine, to form families during the weekend named after apostles and saints (the table family of St. James, etc). Each table stays together during the weekend, learning to help and be brothers to each other as they learn about the love of Jesus and his forgiveness and his offered salvation. We come from all denomations and from community churches, usually vital churches where men do not sit, they do. 


The prison has informed us that our work is successful and that lives are being changed. So do the inmates. So are the lives of those volunteers who get the honor of interacting with them. We come back a week later for a Saturday extension to show how to do table fellowship in our absence. Then we come back every month to a reunion to meet the church as it develops around the chaplain and other programs inside.  


I've been giving some thought lately as to how and why Kairos works. I think it is a combination of the power of discipleship and the development of true Christian community inside. When men submit, it is a big thing. If not followed by discipleship, they will wander and back-slide. Jesus has been very clear about this, saying that where two or three are gathered together in His name, he will be there also. That is the truth. I've seen "Lone Ranger" Christians fail many times, but those with whom they fellowship love them back to faith when they fall, by helping them understand what the leading is in God's word, and supporting them as they recover and try again. It is the same reason that gangs are successful. Peer support shows the power in that we are all made for community. If we put Christ in the center of that community, it is a beautiful thing to see. 


How do you make friends inside? You prove to be a friend, just like the Boy Scouts taught you. You develop the character traits worthy of trust. You are trustworthy because you are loyal, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Discipleship aims at aiding the Spirit of Christ to be formed in you....fully as shown by these gifts. This is true transformation, transformation to a reflection of God's presence.

It appears from the inside that Christ came especially to prisoners. After all, he died in His century's version of the electric chair, convicted of a crime He did not commit, after a trial full of lying witnesses and corrupt judges. He was prepared for his death by sadistic guards, scourged with a whip that tore His skin off in strips, abandoned by His friends, nailed to a cross and speared in the heart. In short, he was a criminal, dying a criminals death. But look over the rest of the bible. What of Joseph? Moses? Paul? David? The giants of our bible heroes were flawed men, including killers and prison leaders, escaped murderers, and adulterers. Many, besides Jesus, were wrongly convicted and imprisoned. All but one of his apostles were killed by the establishment of the church and their political keepers.

I have a friend inside who occasionally shows up at our monthly reunions with a very ripped and discolored bible without a cover. He calls himself "the angry Christian". His incarcerated brothers agree and this bible is his evidence. He refers to it as his "throwing bible". He reads, reflects, and then...exasperated, throws the bible at his cell wall with the epithet, "Got me again, Jesus". I've been to countless reunions where the topic was, "Thank God for Jail". Is it any wonder that "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is one of the most requested hymns in prison.

If you can find it in your heart to obey Matthew 25: 35 - 41, come join us. You'll get no thanks, Kairos forbids it. We believe that we are truly blessed to do God's work. The whole program is considered to be His work. Why is prison ministry so transformative? Because the body of Christ is there, inmates are filled with God's word and the Holy Spirit, and because of the discipleship time available through Kairos Prison Ministry, Prison Fellowship and many other Christian ministries available there.

Jeremy Lin, Tim Tebow and ... Eric Metaxas

Is God raising up bold believers in our time? These three men are turning the world upside down in their respective areas of expertise. The first two are athletes. The last is a rarer bird. He's an intellectual Christian. But he's not an intellectual first, buried in the doctrinal confusion that is so fashionable in academia. Instead, he is a passionate disciple of the heart, having come through Yale apostasy to Christ through a dream filled with symbols and yet clearly resolving his search for God. Go listen to his personal testimony  http://newbirthportraits.com/gallery/10 . Metaxas has delivered two epic biographies, one of William Wilberforce and one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Both burrow into the role of the living presence of Christ in the lives of these men. Warriors for Christ.

When Tebow kneels, when Jeremy acknowledges his two loves, basketball and Jesus Christ, and when Eric Metaxas, whose early claim to fame was as a Veggie Tales writer raises up historic heroes of the faith, we are witnessing God's presence among us in three of his high profile heroes. Learn from them. Imitate them.

Tim Tebow inspired a nation with his faith and humility and became in one year the nation's favorite athlete. Lin is inspiring the basketball world in the same way. Metaxas gave the keynote address at this year's National Prayer Breakfast. See him speak truth to power here: http://www.ericmetaxas.com/blog/the-blurb-worth-a-thousand-words/ .

Now, whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever your sphere of influence, go and do likewise. We're being called to service, noble warriors. Gird your loins and prepare to defend the faith by giving an account of the hope that you have in Jesus Christ.