I work in a warehouse, a warehouse that distributes Christian books. Which guarantees two things: I have read the description on the back of "The Five Love Languages" book over 6,000 times (not to mention Five Love Languages: For Singles, Five Love Languages: For Teens, Five Love Languages: for Children, Five Love Languages: Men's Edition, The Heart of the Five Love Languages, The Five Love Languages of Apology, The Love Languages of God... you get the idea...) and I get to listen to Christian radio for over twenty hours a week. I haven't listened to Christian radio since the good old days of Britney Spears asking to "give me a sign (hit me baby one more time)" so I'm experiencing a little bit of culture shock. Mostly I get a hearty helping of Christian pop standards, and different renditions of what it would sound like if Pearl Jam converted (admit it... contemporary Christian music owes more to Eddie Veddar than anyone else, if you don't agree you're in denial. This isn't a bad thing, its just a fact. Modern Christian artists love Eddie Vedder and his sweet, deep vabrato.) Sometimes I get to listen to a little bit of Christians Christianizing talk radio. Often they talk about the marriage between culture and Christianity. And nothing is more prominent right now in American pop culture than the literary and cinematic sensation Twilight.
Apparently this radio station does a Friday morning segment on Christianity and film where they discuss how Christians can successfully interact (I use the term loosely) with popular films. While I was nearly herniating picking up a large box of Bible Commentaries and loading them onto the truck I affectionately call the Batmobile I overheard them discussing Twilight. The cinema and faith expert seemed entirely confused on how to address the movie. He stuttered like he didn't even want to talk about it, but since it had already sold out in pre-release in nearly ever theatre in the country he had to discuss it. He first went over Bolt and said how it was amazing and every family should watch it because its family friendly and cute and such and such and blah blah blah. Its a kids movie, there was nothing offensive in it, go see it, was the message I got. Then he got to Twilight, a film not about a talking dog but about a vampire (dun, dun, dun!). The undead creatures of the night who feast on humanity (although from what I understand vampires in this movie, by and large neither feast on humanity nor are night creatures but just sparkle in the day). None the less these are evil creatures.
The man could not in good conscience recommend the movie because it was about vampires. He asked: can Christians support a movie that has good vampires, likable vampires, heroic vampires? Just like Harry Potter who makes witchcraft look AWESOME, Twilight romanticizes the life of the undead. This is a bad thing. We can only conclude that Twilight should be avoided by Christians. Why? Because of vampires. Vampires are evil. Vampires are the undead. So don't be entertained by them. No one mentions the fact that vampires are fiction. But that doesn't enter in. "Don't see Twilight because there are vampires." I'm not really surprised by this, evangelicals protested Harry Potter with more passion then they often worship! The problem is, we're critiquing films on the wrong basis. Disregarding (much less protesting) a film because of witches, wizards, vampires or werewolves is not the right way to go about it.
We act like by watching these movies we are going to want to be a wizard or vampire, as if once I see Harry Potter slap a pig's tale on his cousin I'm gonna renounce my faith, buy a magic wand, and give my jerk cousin an extra piggy appendage. No one was concerned at the release of Lion King that I would start believing animals could talk and convert to animism. Because that would be STUPID! And I am sure that if I really thought I would be like Harry Potter my loving parents would buy me a wand and protective helmet to match.
At the risk of appearing condescending let me explain that these movies are not endorsing wizardry or blood sucking any more than Wizard of Oz supports brainless Scarecrows having political careers. The point, what we learn when we read or watch these things, lives below the surface. Wizards and vampires (and scarecrows... oh my!) are the body of the story, they provide the excuse to tell the story, they aren't the point of the story. Therefore they aren't a great evil to be avoided because they don't really matter all that much. They are the conduit to project values and principles. Its a tool. You can't say "I'm gonna tell a story about gaining self confidence and realizing one's potential" because that's stupid and no one is going to read that book because people want an interesting story line to help them digest the delicious values. But if you say "I'm gonna write a book about a kid who becomes a wizard and fights a guy with no nose" then sign me up! We use these clever story lines to teach, examine, etc. Not to recruit supernatural beings.
At the risk of being even more condescending let me ask this question: Who cares? So what if a kid thinks it'd be awesome to go to Hogwarts (funny how that name isn't flagged by spellcheck anymore... congrats Harry Potter mythology) or to be able to read minds and live off of the blood of animals. ITS FICTION!!! After watching Star Wars I sat for hours trying to use the force to move crap... it didn't work. I was sad. I learned a hard lesson. My parents thought it was funny. Good times for everyone.
So what should Christians be asking about these movies? What we need to be asking is what are these movies teaching us? Twilight is not teaching youngsters that vampiring is awesome. It was not written as a recruiting manual for the undead. The movies are teaching us something however, (whether on purpose or not, we are learning). What are these movies teaching us about love? Relationships? Family? Sex? Masculinity? Femininity? Truth? Life? Death? Sacrifice? Loyalty? You get the idea. These movies can also be indicative of where our culture is at (youth pastors listen up! you can learn a lot by paying attention to what kids are into and what it says about them). For example, what does Twilight say about what girls find attractive in guys and how does that effect both sexes when it goes to relationships and expectations? We need to move past the surface and consider what movies are teaching us beneath. When that happens perhaps we will be able to actually engage the culture in a constructive manner.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Performance of a Lifetime (Lepers not welcome!)
wash down some Dramamine
with six shots of caffeine
don't i look pristine
doesn't my skin glow?
veneered and smiling
a wit that beguiling
countless lies are compiling
no one will know
"Come join us" they whisper
"there's a part you can play:
'the content little preacher
with nothing to say.'"
Be beautiful
appealing
aesthetically pleasing.
Be loved
or be cherished.
Be nothing at all.
My words can be Prozac
mounting Hell onto man's back
kill the mood with a voice crack
my true feelings would show
life just like fame
gone as quick as it came
better my words than my name
be remembered after i go
I like being ugly
and I'm proud to be crass
i'm the leprous warrior
battling the snake in the grass
with six shots of caffeine
don't i look pristine
doesn't my skin glow?
veneered and smiling
a wit that beguiling
countless lies are compiling
no one will know
"Come join us" they whisper
"there's a part you can play:
'the content little preacher
with nothing to say.'"
Be beautiful
appealing
aesthetically pleasing.
Be loved
or be cherished.
Be nothing at all.
My words can be Prozac
mounting Hell onto man's back
kill the mood with a voice crack
my true feelings would show
life just like fame
gone as quick as it came
better my words than my name
be remembered after i go
I like being ugly
and I'm proud to be crass
i'm the leprous warrior
battling the snake in the grass
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Useless Words
Words are important!
At least words used correctly are important.
When words are used flippantly or without thought they become meaningless.
In making words meaningless we strip speech of its beauty and words of their effectiveness. We make communication relative, and once communication is relative what is the point? Why even speak when the words that are used are completely subjective? We create ourselves into the people constructing the tower of Babel, where no one person is able to understand the other as we each carry around with us our own personal dictionary full of words defining words that are defined by us and have special meaning only to us.
Plus its just annoying!
There are two words in particular that have become completely useless in American pop culture: 1) "Feel" and 2) "Need." These two words have become overused to the point of being useless and I am not sure either really relates their intended meaning, as I will explain further...
But first, a tangent:
I am trying to anticipate arguments. The first I am trying to help as much as I can. I am sure there are those who are picking apart my own writing to show how ridiculous what I am saying is; they will try and find any misspelled or misused word and in doing so they think they have deconstructed my argument. In truth you've only discovered that I am slightly stupid or maybe dyslexic, you haven't really deconstructed the overall point that is made. You've proved the author is dumb, not the writing.
The other argument is in my choice of words to criticize. People may say that "like" should be involved in this list. That might be and there is an argument that can be made for it, but I would disagree. "Like" is not a useless word. It does not show our tendency to use words without regard to meaning and it does not try to communicate one thing while actually (if one is paying attention) communicate another. It is not useless. The problem with "like" is that it is entirely useful, and that is the terrible tragedy of it all. "Like" is used as a filler; it fills the silent beats between the necessary words. It is indicative of our fear of silence, rather than of our inability to properly communicate, or understand what it is that we are communicating. We should not fear silence in conversation, and we should not fear to take a second to respond. We would all do better to use "like" less often and let the silent beats exist. It gives us time to think about a response, about what is being communicated, about anything or everything. "Like" is a stupid word, but it is not useless.
Tangent completed, on to useless words:
1) "Feel": When asked what he felt was a Biblical view on capital punishment in the "Moody Student" (Moody Bible Institutes' student newspaper) a student replied: "I will always be an advocate for rehabilitation rather than capital punishment. I feel it is an Old Testament principle, but not a New Testament principle."* What in the name of Poseidon's trident does feeling have to do with any of that?! You feel pain, love, anger, joy! You don't feel whether or not capital punishment is a Biblical concept. I am not saying that feelings can't be objective realities I am saying that they are based on internal instinct and reaction. If I get a present, I feel joy, I cannot quantify that joy. I can manifest it with a smile, but I can't give proof of it. I can give proof that there is no such thing as an Old Testament concept that isn't also a New Testament concept(but that's a horse of a different color all together). Feelings are based on emotion and are, by consequence, fleeting. Those feelings are not lasting until partnered with a cognitive choice. Love is fleeting if not accompanied by the choice to show characteristics of love long after the feeling fades. Feelings are dangerous things. If we make decisions based on our feelings we are in a world of trouble. If we rely on how we feel to make a decision, rather than having reason and proof, then we are going to make poor decisions. I don't feel like working, but if I don't I will have no money. I don't feel like loving other Christians, but if I don't my witness is destroyed. We cannot base our lives on feelings. And if we are Christians trying to understand Biblical values through our feelings soon we are going to be very, very wrong. We're better off just reading the book and leaving our feelings out of interpreting Scripture.
If I can be blunt: It does not matter how you feel! Soon we will all die. When that happens this world will forget about most of us... probably all of us. It does not matter how you feel in the eternal perspective of things. All that matters is the truth. Lets not confuse our feelings with what is true. Be people who confess truth, not feelings.
And if you don't mean feeling in this sense than don't use the word! "Think" or "believe" are perfect words to use instead.**
2) "Need": Where to even begin with our shameful obsession with the concept of need?! I've spent enough time waiting tables at restaurants to hear my fair share of people say "yeah... I'm gonna need another soda." What a foolish thing to say! No one needs another soda! We live in the most wealthy country in the world. Even the poorest of us are the richest people in the world. We, as Christians are the most opulent Church this world has ever known. We don't need anything!!! To say the word need is an insult to those who actually experience need, those who go days without food, who wonder where they will sleep, and wonder how they will keep safe at night. To be honest with myself, I don't think I've ever needed anything. There was never an instance where a need of mine was not easily met. We need to be more grateful for the things that we have, and realize that they are blessings above and beyond what any of us need. We don't need soda with our meals, much less refills. We don't need beautiful cars or additions on our houses. We don't need seconds at dinner! But thanks be to God, who out of His abundance gives us all we need and more. I am concerned that this kind of language can make us ungrateful. We need to recognize our blessings and thank God for them. Not take them for granted. We need to start using the word want or desire more often, and stop mistaking our wants for needs.
Believe what you will about what I've said. But it is not a waste for me to emphasize:
Words are important!
*this quote is filled with all sorts of problems that can be dissected with whole blogs (forget that, even books!) dedicated to explaining how its wrong. But for our purposes I'm gonna focus on the word "feel".
** but even if that student thinks or believes that capital punishment is an Old Testament concept alone, and not a New Testament concept he is still wrong... just thought I'd throw that out there.
At least words used correctly are important.
When words are used flippantly or without thought they become meaningless.
In making words meaningless we strip speech of its beauty and words of their effectiveness. We make communication relative, and once communication is relative what is the point? Why even speak when the words that are used are completely subjective? We create ourselves into the people constructing the tower of Babel, where no one person is able to understand the other as we each carry around with us our own personal dictionary full of words defining words that are defined by us and have special meaning only to us.
Plus its just annoying!
There are two words in particular that have become completely useless in American pop culture: 1) "Feel" and 2) "Need." These two words have become overused to the point of being useless and I am not sure either really relates their intended meaning, as I will explain further...
But first, a tangent:
I am trying to anticipate arguments. The first I am trying to help as much as I can. I am sure there are those who are picking apart my own writing to show how ridiculous what I am saying is; they will try and find any misspelled or misused word and in doing so they think they have deconstructed my argument. In truth you've only discovered that I am slightly stupid or maybe dyslexic, you haven't really deconstructed the overall point that is made. You've proved the author is dumb, not the writing.
The other argument is in my choice of words to criticize. People may say that "like" should be involved in this list. That might be and there is an argument that can be made for it, but I would disagree. "Like" is not a useless word. It does not show our tendency to use words without regard to meaning and it does not try to communicate one thing while actually (if one is paying attention) communicate another. It is not useless. The problem with "like" is that it is entirely useful, and that is the terrible tragedy of it all. "Like" is used as a filler; it fills the silent beats between the necessary words. It is indicative of our fear of silence, rather than of our inability to properly communicate, or understand what it is that we are communicating. We should not fear silence in conversation, and we should not fear to take a second to respond. We would all do better to use "like" less often and let the silent beats exist. It gives us time to think about a response, about what is being communicated, about anything or everything. "Like" is a stupid word, but it is not useless.
Tangent completed, on to useless words:
1) "Feel": When asked what he felt was a Biblical view on capital punishment in the "Moody Student" (Moody Bible Institutes' student newspaper) a student replied: "I will always be an advocate for rehabilitation rather than capital punishment. I feel it is an Old Testament principle, but not a New Testament principle."* What in the name of Poseidon's trident does feeling have to do with any of that?! You feel pain, love, anger, joy! You don't feel whether or not capital punishment is a Biblical concept. I am not saying that feelings can't be objective realities I am saying that they are based on internal instinct and reaction. If I get a present, I feel joy, I cannot quantify that joy. I can manifest it with a smile, but I can't give proof of it. I can give proof that there is no such thing as an Old Testament concept that isn't also a New Testament concept(but that's a horse of a different color all together). Feelings are based on emotion and are, by consequence, fleeting. Those feelings are not lasting until partnered with a cognitive choice. Love is fleeting if not accompanied by the choice to show characteristics of love long after the feeling fades. Feelings are dangerous things. If we make decisions based on our feelings we are in a world of trouble. If we rely on how we feel to make a decision, rather than having reason and proof, then we are going to make poor decisions. I don't feel like working, but if I don't I will have no money. I don't feel like loving other Christians, but if I don't my witness is destroyed. We cannot base our lives on feelings. And if we are Christians trying to understand Biblical values through our feelings soon we are going to be very, very wrong. We're better off just reading the book and leaving our feelings out of interpreting Scripture.
If I can be blunt: It does not matter how you feel! Soon we will all die. When that happens this world will forget about most of us... probably all of us. It does not matter how you feel in the eternal perspective of things. All that matters is the truth. Lets not confuse our feelings with what is true. Be people who confess truth, not feelings.
And if you don't mean feeling in this sense than don't use the word! "Think" or "believe" are perfect words to use instead.**
2) "Need": Where to even begin with our shameful obsession with the concept of need?! I've spent enough time waiting tables at restaurants to hear my fair share of people say "yeah... I'm gonna need another soda." What a foolish thing to say! No one needs another soda! We live in the most wealthy country in the world. Even the poorest of us are the richest people in the world. We, as Christians are the most opulent Church this world has ever known. We don't need anything!!! To say the word need is an insult to those who actually experience need, those who go days without food, who wonder where they will sleep, and wonder how they will keep safe at night. To be honest with myself, I don't think I've ever needed anything. There was never an instance where a need of mine was not easily met. We need to be more grateful for the things that we have, and realize that they are blessings above and beyond what any of us need. We don't need soda with our meals, much less refills. We don't need beautiful cars or additions on our houses. We don't need seconds at dinner! But thanks be to God, who out of His abundance gives us all we need and more. I am concerned that this kind of language can make us ungrateful. We need to recognize our blessings and thank God for them. Not take them for granted. We need to start using the word want or desire more often, and stop mistaking our wants for needs.
Believe what you will about what I've said. But it is not a waste for me to emphasize:
Words are important!
*this quote is filled with all sorts of problems that can be dissected with whole blogs (forget that, even books!) dedicated to explaining how its wrong. But for our purposes I'm gonna focus on the word "feel".
** but even if that student thinks or believes that capital punishment is an Old Testament concept alone, and not a New Testament concept he is still wrong... just thought I'd throw that out there.
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