The Giver

Today I went and saw the movie The Giver and thoroughly enjoyed it.  So if you don't read any further please let me tell you that you will not be disappointed if you spend the money at the theater to see this movie!  This is the best adaptation of a young adult book that I have seen in a very long time and I now look forward to reading it as my most excellent wife has been telling me to do for quite awhile.

Now I would like to take a moment and explain why I enjoyed this movie.

1. The story is not about overthrowing a corrupt post apocalyptic government like so many others in this genre.  Instead, it is about what sacrifices would we have to make to live in a Utopian society.

2.  It engages you to think about emotions.  Are they good, bad, neither, or both?  What would happen if we got rid of these emotions?  Would we be better or worse?

3.  It engages a the Christian to think about the duty that we have to educate people why some actions are evil.  The reason is because without knowing if something is good or bad how can we expect them to do the right thing.

4.  Cinematicly speaking the story was told very well.  The Cinematography was very good and almost always helped the story to progress while not being a distraction.

5.  The acting was done at a high level.  Nuff said.

6.  Lastly, it made me what to talk about the numerous themes afterward.  I could tell that the source materiel was extremely good.  The story stuck with me and was not forgetable like many YA movies today.

I look forward to reading the book and seeing the similarities and differences.  I hope that you give this movie a chance.  If you have teens in your home take them to see this movie.  This is the type of movie that deserves to be supported at the box office.  If you see it, please let me know what you thought of it.

UPDATE:
Read the book, and not surprising I greatly enjoyed it.  I would definitely recommend reading it.  The ending was a lot more interesting in the book!

I am currently on the second book in the in The Giver Quartet -- Gathering Blue.  What I like is that it doesn't continue with the same story, but actually looks at similar issues from a different point of view.  Once again a very good book.

Be Wary of Familiarity

Familiarity with a person, especially your spouse, can be dangerous.  It's dangerous because we get lazy in our relationship with this person.  We stop listening intently to what the other person is saying because we assume we know what he/she will say.  While we may be right most times there are two big problems with this approach.

The first is that we should be constantly striving for better communication.  If we get lazy there is a good chance that the margin of error will slowly increase.  Not to mention it will cause consternation for the other person.  

The second is that we stop trying to get to know the other person.  This has two negative aspects.  First we miss out on learning new stuff about this person.  The second is that we can become arrogant assuming that we know what the other person wants in any given situation and we stop asking the person what they want.  As a result, when he/she rejects the decision, or even gift, another rift is formed in the relationship with both finding wrong in the other.

However, this is not true only of human relationships, but it is also true when it comes to our relationship with God.  Case in point, I lead a small group of men in Bible study on Thursday nights.  We recently started going through the Gospel of Mark.  We got to 2:1-12 the story of the man paralyzed and lowered through the roof by his friends and healed by Jesus.  It's easy to almost skip the story assuming you know what it is about.  I was tempted to skip my study on this passage and wing it because I have heard this story since I was a child.  I'm sure glad I didn't, because God taught me things that I had never noticed before.

Here are just a few bullet points of what He taught me:

1. The paralyzed man and his friends were looking for physical healing. Jesus was concerned with spiritual healing.  Initially all he does is forgive the man his sins.  He does not heal him.
2. The Pharisees where indignant towards Jesus for doing what they though only God could do.  (Indeed God is the only One who can truly pardon our wrongs.  However, He does call us to forgive one another repeatedly...even the sin of familiarity.) 
3. The reason that he healed the paralytic was so that the people there would know that He had authority to forgive sins.
4. This paralyzed man received a blessing from God beyond forgiveness.  This blessing was to reveal Gods glory to everyone who was watching.  It was primarily for the benefit of the people watching and secondarily for the man who experienced the healing.

However, this is not out of the norm in scripture.  Recently, I have been trying to escape being overly familiar with God and seeking Him out in new ways.  As a result,  I spent the last month and half going through the book of Ezekiel for my devotions.  God flat out states this in the passage below.

Ezekiel 36:23 (ESV)  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

In the verses that follow God explains how He is going to restore the nation.  However in verse 32 He reminds the people that it is not for their sake that He is restoring them.  Instead, it is because He is concerned with His glory primarily.  His secondary reason is so that the nations will know that He is the one true God.

Ezekiel 36:32   It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

Both accounts teach us the same thing.

1. The greatest blessing an individual can receive is forgiveness of sins.  
2. If God decides to bless us beyond this than we should ask what is the reason that God has chosen to bless me.  Is it primarily a loving gift from Father to child, or is meant to bring glory and lead people to Him?  If it is the latter than we should ask how we can join Him where He is working.

So if you have become familiar in your relationship with your parent, spouse, or child please take time to sit down and listen to them.  Ask them what they want to do sometime and do it with them.

If you have gotten a little to familiar in your relationship with God I encourage you to listen to Him and seek Him out in a place you haven't in a long time.  That might be extended periods of prayer, on a personal retreat, a new devotional, or a book of the Bible you haven't read in a very long time.

God has blessed me greatly as I have gone through the book of Ezekiel, which I ignored for a long time, I hope that He uses this to bless you also!

R.I.P. Makes No Logical Sense

Whenever a famous person dies, Robin Williams being the most recent, my Facebook newsfeed blows up with statements like R.I.P. ____________.  However, it makes no sense to say Rest In Peace no matter what your worldview happens to be.  Let me break down my reasoning.

First, if you are a Christian like me than you should already know that there are only two options.

1. You believe that the person who died was a believer in Jesus Christ.  As a result, it is assumed that person will enter into paradise/heaven and be not just at peace, but he/she will be rejoicing forever in God's presence.
2. You believe that the person is not a follower of Christ.  As a result, that person will experience everlasting torment because they are forever separated from the grace of God.  This is a sad moment and in this life I do not rejoice over anyone who has failed to turn to God.  But it is truth that this person will in fact Not Rest In Peace.

Second, if you are a Spiritualist / New Age in your personal philosophy then everyone just becomes one with the great spirit in the sky and you loose all sense of your individuality.  As a result, you do Not Rest In Peace.  You no longer exist as an individual anymore.

Third, if you are an Atheist, as it seems Robin Williams was, then you believe you cease to exist.  It's not even like you went to sleep without waking up.  Because sleep means you have the chance to dream.  Everything you were becomes dust and forgotten.

If in fact Robin Williams was an Atheist I believe that he has now become a Theist: For every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.  Sadly, it is to late for him if this is true.  I hope it is not.  But if it is true he is Not Resting In Peace.  Instead, he is experiencing the absence of the grace of God.  If you want a picture of what that looks like rent the movie What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams.  It has horrible theology and is filled with syncretism.  Worldviews mashed up together as many in America do daily, not knowing how they contradict one another.

In the movie Williams character is traveling through hell to try and find his wife who went there because she committed suicide (Not an unpardonable sin as this movie states).  He is trying to retrieve her.  However, she is lost in a world of grey and black depression.  Everything is hopeless.  Hope is not even a word in her vocabulary.  She is lost in misery and regret.  That is an accurate depiction of what hell could be like.

So I want to encourage you to take this time to think about life and death.  It will certainly come for you whether you like it or not.  Think through it logically.  If I am wrong then I am surprised that we don't see suicide as a common thing because of all the emotional and physical suffering that happens in this world.  If instead I am right about Jesus and life after death, then I encourage you to start asking questions about God.  It can't hurt you.  Because in the end you, me, and even famous entertainers such as Robin Williams will be forgotten eventually (and sooner then you may think).

I dare you to ask me about the hope that I have in me and why I believe that I will do more than just Rest In Peace when I leave this world behind.

Updated:
I hope that I am wrong and that at one point in his life he did cry out to God for salvation but slid away from Him because Satan got a hold of him through depression. However, we live in a world where everyone wants to believe that everyone is going to have a happy afterlife Christians included. My point is that not everyone will. We sing songs about our faith and how 'when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be.' Well for some it will be a day of mourning. That is why it does grieve me whenever I hear that someone has died without Christ. That goes for both Williams and the latest inmate to die on death row. For we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we all need the Christ as our Savior. So my hope in pointing this out with a real person is that this will become more real to people. My prayers are with his family and friends. May they reach out to Christ and I hope that the Church will reach out in love to them as His arms and feet! Lastly, I am sorry if I came across with no heart for the man and his loved ones.