Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp demonstrates a lot of truth about the religious vs. anti-religious debate. Since this documentary depicts the lifestyle of religious people, it demonstrates some of the dangers of buying into religion. Jesus Camp also demonstrates some of the myths that religious nay-sayers buy into without realizing it.

Like most people in the world, Jesus Camp's producers would like to think they're the only objective thinkers in the world. Here is a snippet of truth that may shock you: No regular human being has ever been able to think with flawless objectivity. Yes that includes you. It is healthy as well as realistic to acknowledge this fact. Here, I'll go on record acknowledging this myself: "I, Patrick Roberts, am not objective. Everything I think, say and write is affected by my worldview." There... now can you say this?

Jesus Camp makes two very subjective statements:

1.) Christian parents in America are evil because they train their children to think like they do.

2.) Americans will be free and prosperous to the extent that the U.S. government is unaffected by overtly Christian values.

Being unreasonably subjective can be good. Only unreasonable people would sacrifice themselves for the good of others. Also, it takes an unreasonable person to speak out against wrongdoing or to resist the average mob-mentality. The highest quality people in mankind's history have been those who have held onto a few, basic principles that people nowadays would consider "subjective."

Some of the review-snippets from the front of my Jesus Camp DVD are: "Riveting" (the Washington Post), "Provocative" (Chicago Tribune), "Eye-opening" (USA Today) and "Startling" (New York Times). Without looking at the rest of whatever these well-to-do publications wrote about Jesus Camp, my first impression is that these people must be really gullible. It doesn't take a genious to recognize that Jesus Camp only includes material that complements a mainstram interpretation of Christian-Pentecostal subculture (back to that that objective vs. subjective issue).

It is hard for me to take Jesus Camp seriously is because the kids in that movie don't seem that bad. They all appear to be well-spoken, well-behaved and they seem to think a lot more than the average young person. For example, their parents are teaching them why creationism makes sense and why abortion is bad. As far as I can tell, they have a lot more going for them than the average over-privileged-video-gaming-consumer zombies or the average underprivileged-gun-toting gangsters.

These children, who were so unfortunately born into Christian families, seem to enjoy a high quality of life back at home... I couldn't help wondering, "So what's the problem?" These parents are amazingly dedicated to raising their kids the best way they know how... so what are the makers of Jesus Camp complaining about?

The movie would like to make the statement that Christian parents are brainwashing their children into thinking that abortion is bad, the ozone layer isn't such a big deal and that the Republican party is synonymous with Christianity. I didn't hear anyone in the movive mention the Republican party, but I guess any of these things might come up over dinner, right?

In any case, parents are going to deliberately impress their values upon their children. (Duh) The same thing goes for religious and non-religious people.

The world would be a better place if more parents acknowledged the fact that who they are will rub off on who their children grow up to be. This is why I was impressed with the parents in Jesus Camp. They made a deliberate effort to raise their children in a healthy atmosphere.

It's no accident that the children of divorced parents are more likely to sleep around whenever they feel like it. It's no accident that the children of parents who work hard to advance themselves in some career will grow up to value education and hard work.

As I mentioned, buying into manmade religion is also dangerous. This helped spur on the infamous holy wars, for example. In general, manmade religion is dangerous because it tricks people into thinking they've taken care of business with God while, in reality, the opposite is true.

***

I mentioned that there has never been a regular human being who could think objectively. There is one Exception to this rule: a Man who was capable of being the the Exception because He was not entirely regular. Jesus Christ lived without sin and was therefore free from all that taints normal people's judgments. He knew the beginning and the end of the Absolute Truth, so when He spoke His mind, it was the objective truth.

Iron Man's New Heart

"I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh," (Ezekiel 11:19)

Like most people, Tony Stark's first priority was himself. However the combined force of nearly dying and then benefiting from another man's self-sacrifice inspires Him to start risking his life for other people.

During one fateful trip into the middle east, terrorists attack Stark's Humvee caravan and take him prisoner. In the process, one of His own weapons explodes near him, embedding a handful of shrapnel into his torso. This shrapnel should have killed Stark as it traveled through his blood stream to his heart, however a kindhearted doctor rigs together a magnetic devise that augments his heart while keeping the shrapnel away. Thus Tony the chance to create another, less cumbersome devise that he inserts directly into his chest (where his heart should be) to power and protect his blood flow indefinitely. Tony's "new heart" is symbolic of a monumental change in his life direction.

As Tony and his doctor friend are escaping from the terrorists' cave, the doctor sacrifices himself for Stark's sake. The doctor's last words are, "Don't waste your life." This as well as the realization that his his weapons are supporting gross injustice inspire Tony to use his engineering skills to defend the people he had (unknowingly) been oppressing.

Changing from self-centered to others-centered requires a monumental change of heart. Most people would even admit that spending one's life in the service of others is a good thing, but they still won't live like this because it is too unnatural. Transitioning to an other-centered lifestyle requires drastic heart-transformation.

Take Tony Stark, for example: only after being blasted by one of his own missiles did he start caring about other people. He wasn't perfect, obviously, but his general life-direction had turned around 180 degrees from before. As long Tony Stark and people like him maintain their others-centered momentum, they will inevitably work out the rest of their distracting little flaws.

Iron Man, by the way, is an awesome super-hero flick. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (who is also Iron Man), Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes (Stark's military liaison), Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane (the deceitful chairman of Stark Industries) and Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia 'Pepper' Potts (Stark's assistant).

Event Horizon

"if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." (Matthew 5:30)

(warning: plot spoilers)

By the time 2040 rolls around, we will at long last be able to create artificial wormholes so we can travel instantly to other galaxies. The Event Horizon is the first spaceship equipped for this purpose. And the ship makes its first trans-galaxy jump successfully, only the artificial wormhole doesn't transport the crew to the galaxy they were expecting... it took them directly into hell (literally).

After seven years everyone is pretty sure they'll never hear from the Event Horizon again, that is, until someone picks up a distress signal from somewhere in the vicinity of Neptune. Enter the rescue vessel named "Lewis and Clark," led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne). Miller and his crew are assigned to look into this signal and take along the Event Horizon's designer, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), who will explain to the crew in the vaguest language possible what they are getting themselves into.

They find the ship without too much trouble. Everyone that was on the ship is now dead, of course. It turns out that the ship deliberately killed them after it was transformed by its sojourn in hell into a living/dead instrument for evil. This is bad news for the crew of the Lewis and Clark, as the ship proceeds to either kill or tear the eyes out of every one who boards her.

Luckily the ship is divided into two main compartments: the crew resides in the front section of the ship while the rear section, separated by a long stretch of corridors, contains the wormhole-jumping apparatus. This design is purposeful so that, in case the ship were to become a killing instrument of Satan, the crew would have the option of blowing apart the middle section, thereby making the living quarters a floating life-pod for another rescue vessel to find. The crew ends up using explosives to separate the front section from the rear, saving themselves from the possessed wormhole-drive. About half of them make it out alive.

This reminds me of the aforementioned quote, in which Jesus illustrates the drastic view we should have toward evil, or sin. It worked out that, about two thousand years later, in the dawn of the space age, Jesus' command saves half of the Lewis and Clark's crew.

Into the Wild

Based on a true story/the book by Jon Krakauer, directed by Sean Penn, starring Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless, Marcia Gay Harden as Chris' mom, William Hurt as Chris's father, Jena Malone as Carine McCandless (Chris' sister), Vince Vaughn as Wayne Westerberg (the farmer who gets arrested), Kristen Stewart as Tracy Tatro (girl who crushes on Chris) and Catherine Keener as Jan Burres (hippie lady).

(warning: plot spoilers)

Chris McCandless desires a more meaningful purpose for living than seeking comfort for comfort's sake. Therefore, to escape everything that might lull him into embracing the materialistic status quo, he sets out to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness.

Chris hitchhikes for about a year until he finally makes it to Alaska. Most everyone he runs into along the way takes an immediate liking to him. Hippies and farmers offer him jobs. A talented young singer falls in love with him. One retired man even offers to adopt him. These were all good options, but he refuses to stray from his course.

Chris enlivens the people he runs into by challenging their worldviews. His acquaintances can't help being infected by his tenacious hope and sense of adventure. His words affect people powerfully person's because he doesn't just talk about living free, he active seeks living free.

Chris McCandless was young and inexperienced, but he didn't let that stop him. He didn't have all the answers, but he knew at least that there was more purpose for living than what had been handed to him. Unfortunately, his mission kills him before he gets the chance to mature his life-vision. He finds out just before his premature and lonely death in the Alaskan wilderness that he had missed something. Judging by the statement he writes in the margins of one of his books, "Happiness of only real with shared," his final regret is dying alone.

Another unreconciled chapter in McCandless's life was his relationship with his parents. From this perspective, it would seem that his adventurous pursuits were only a cover for his unwillingness to deal with his relational problems. But I don't fault him for his, as he had just moved out of his parents' house and could hardly be expected to know what being reconciled or "living free" really means. Spending time away from his parents gave him the chance to develop his own identity and equip him for dealing with that relational brokenness. It just so happens that he didn't survive long enough to follow through with this.

He ran away from home, which probably worried his parents to death; but he was practically still a kid... what do you expect?

Chris McCandless caught a vision for his life, which he ran after full speed ahead. This is certainly not something to regret. He had the courage to put his life-purpose to the test and therefore learned more and experienced a fuller life in his two years of wandering than most people ever learn or experience. Practically speaking, if we follow Christ, we should lead a similar quality of life as McCandless, challenging and inspiring the people around us. We should also learn by doing rather than by theorizing.

We should admire the natural universe as God created it and we should embrace a spirit of adventure, but main thing is still God's Big Picture. And the best way to know about God's Big Picture is by learning from God's Spirit directly. All people were created to fulfill some purpose within God's kingdom, which includes admiring God for His creative ability, working, playing, fellowshipping with people and fellowshipping with Jesus Christ (God among us).

Obviously Chris McCandless didn't spend his life vain, as his story continues to inspire people to reexamine their priorities. He did his best with the limited time he had, but his shifting convictions indicate that his purpose for wandering still needed some major revisions. I suspect that his convictions were shifting in a big way, especially as during his final days, cold and alone in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.

Chris McCandless sought solitude, adventure and untainted nature to the point that he died for this pursuit. However, lying there in his cold bus, starving to death, he suspected that he had overlooked something. If he had more time, he might have explored this Something a little more.

Gone Baby Gone

" For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. " -- Romans 2:14-15 (ESV)

(warning: plot spoilers)

Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are private investigators who have worked for collections agencies until a little girl goes missing from the neighborhood and a relative hires them to go looking for her. Kenzie in particular is underestimated by everyone he runs into, either for his lack of experience with missing persons or for his youthful appearance, however he presses onward in any case. He is competent and he knows the neighborhood, but one thing in particular sets him apart from everyone around him: a functioning conscience.

At one point, Kenzie and two police detectives track down a known child molester whom they suspect took the little girl. As they approach his house, a shootout ensues and one of the police detectives is fatally wounded. Kenzie then breaks into the house and finds the child molester in the house, cowering in a corner. This is moments after he discovers the body of another child, whom this man obviously killed. Kenzie hesitates for a moment, then shoots the man in the back of the head. Later on, one of the police detectives, Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) praises Kenzie for "doing the right thing," but Kenzie isn't so sure that murdering this man was the right thing to do. Bressant then gives a passionate discourse about his disdain for everyone who might resist his crusade against kidnappers, but Kenzie points out that murder is murder, no matter who it is, no matter what the circumstances.

One might think, from Bressant's impassioned speech, that his heart is in the right place, that he really is a crusader for The Right. But it turns out that Bressant came up with the idea to kidnap the little girl in the first place. Even the local police captain, Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), is involved. Granted, Doyle had planned on raising the girl in a better home than she would have had with her natural mother, but the fact still remains that he stole someone else's daughter. Kenzie gets the chance to walk away from the whole situation and let Doyle raise the girl in a much better environment than the girl would have had with her natural mother, but he chooses to turn in the captain. Kenzie had to make this decision alone, even against the wishes of his girlfriend/coworker. His decision does not win him any popularity contests (his girlfriend ends up leaving him because of it), but the little girl's mother seems to be changed by the whole ordeal to the point that she will raise her daughter with much greater care (of course the movie ends here, so it's unclear what the girl's future will actually look like).

People might argue that bending the rules is necessary for the greater good or for progress, however this is the opposite of progress from God's point of view. God's Way, which is moral perfection, is infinitely superior to the morality of natural men, which is to compromise however they, in their limited perspectives, see fit. God's Way is obviously more difficult than man's way. In fact, God's Way impossible for any person left to themselves, therefore faith is required. Obeying God in every aspect of life requires an abiding trust in His ability to work things out for the greater good. This makes sense as God is best equipped to know what the greater good is. Kenzie understood in his conscience that he should first do what is right in the little things, then "the greater good" will fall into line.

During Casey Affleck's brief narration the beginning of Gone Baby Gone he says,

" When I was young, I asked my priest how you could get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God said to His children. 'You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.' " (the last part is quoted Matthew 10:16, Jesus' words to his disciples)

John McClain and Charlie Wilson

Bruce Willis took the leading role in Die Hard as John McClain.

Tom Hanks starred in Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.

The directors of Die Hard and Charlie Wilson's War make a point of showing the imperfections of their leading men. Both Wilson and McClain feel inadequate for the difficult job ahead of them, but they do their best with all the resources and skills available to them. Both McClain and Wilson struggle, they both want to give up, but they both end up succeeding.

John McClain and Charlie Wilson demonstrate true heroism by sacrificing their own priorities for the good of other people. They weren't extraordinary men except for one thing: They both had the chance to make a difference and they took it.

McClain and Wilson exemplify practical courage by taking action for other people's sake despite the inconvenience and pain they had to endure as a result. This is real heroism. It's not physical or intellectual power, but the willingness to sacrifice oneself that makes a hero.

Die Hard and Charlie Wilson's War also demonstrate a genuine quality of manliness. John McClain doesn't want to be stuck in a skyscraper with a dozen well-trained terrorists, but he deals with it anyway. He doesn't enjoy pain and he doesn't want to die, but he faces death and pain anyway for sake of those hostages. McClain is supposed to play the American cowboy-type to some extent, but overall he manages to avoid excessive pomposity. He jokes around, for example, because he might otherwise have a nervous breakdown. We might compare the unassuming, original John McClain to the more pretentious versions that appear in the next three installments (sellout versions) of Die Hard.

The most impressive accomplishment that Charlie Wilson credited to himself was getting re-elected five (or six?) times. He seemed to be good for little more than partying, boozing and womanizing. But he was well-liked. And he happened to sit on the crux of all the U.S. agencies that might help the Afghans fight off the invading forces of Soviet Russia. The magnitude of the suffering and injustice that the Soviets were inflicting on the Afghan people inspired him to realign his priorities and take action. He ended up working night and day for a cause that few people could appreciate to make a difference in millions of lives and, ultimately, help turn the tide of the Cold War.

The Oracle Explains Faith

Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, has inspired my last few posts to address faith in a Creator vs. faith in science (atheistic science in particular). An oft-repeated demand from skeptical scientists has been "Show me God!" or "Give me measurable evidence for a Creator!"

The Oracle is a character from The Matrix. Neo approaches the Oracle wanting to know if the rumors are true... is he the One? The Oracle says to Neo,

" I'm going to let you in on a little secret... Being the One is like being love. No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones. "

Many people assume that Neo represents Jesus Christ, which seems true in a lot of ways... but Neo more consistently resembles an average Christ-follower. Consider Neo's faith-awakening for example... Jesus never needed anyone to say, "Hey Jesus, you're not gonna believe this, but you, like seriously, are God!"

Later on Neo embraces such a powerful quality of faith that he out-fights the agents hand-to-hand, dodges bullets and even develops the ability to fly.

This brings us to the most measurable aspect of faith. As Jesus said, "By their fruits shall you know them."

Who wouldn't want to follow in Neo's footsteps? Who doesn't want to do the crazy things he can do? So also the substance of our faith will become evident by the fruits of our lives.

If I believe in something inherently powerful, then the fruits of my life will be powerful (though not to my credit). On the same note, if we believe in something that is weak or evil or inherently misguided, then the quality of our lives will reflect this.

In the same way that the genuine condition of our hearts surfaces eventually, so also quality of our lives over the years proves the substance of whatever we put their faith in.

If you are a skeptical scientist and your mind immediately zeros in on manmade religion to fuel your opposing arguments (skeptical scientists tend to do this), then go ahead and apply the same rule... The fruit of any faith-based system (either scientific or theistic) will prove it's validity.

Genuine Christianity will be almost invisible to the world, as true Christ-followers should prefer humility and self-abasement over self-promotion and artificial amplification.

Does a certain belief-system wage war on people? Does it impose itself on people through intimidation and deceit? Does it say one thing and do another? If so, then this system is a man-made religion.

System of a Down -- "Science"

System of a Down is one of the most musically innovative, all-around talented bands I have ever heard. They recently broke up (went on an indefinite hiatus) after ten years of playing together.

System of a Down has written songs in protest to pretty much every authority, whether governmental, religious or intellectual. Their name implies (correct me if I'm wrong) a general rebelling agains "the system."

I should make it clear that System of a Down is thoroughly antagonist toward everything Jesus Christ represents. Like most people, they would rather worship themselves than God. It just so happens that some of their lyrics hint at something spiritually productive. As a general rule, rebellion against "the system" can lead to the most useful outcome of all, which is a casting-off of this world's priorities in favor of God's priorities.

However System of a Down resembles the majority in that they have never moved past the young-and-rebellious stage. In this way many people want something better than life-as-they-know-it however, they won't surrender to Jesus Christ therefore they will never escape the futility of life apart from God.

That said, here are the lyrics to System of a Down's "Science" :

" Making two possibilities a reality
predicting the future of things we all know

Fighting off the diseased programming
of centuries, centuries, centuries, centuries

Science fails to recognise
the single most potent element of human existence

Letting the reigns go to the unfolding
is faith, faith, faith, faith

(chorus)
Science has failed our world
Science has failed our mother earth
Spirit moves through all things
Spirit moves through all things
Spirit moves through all things "

Right away, by their reference to "mother earth," it's obvious that System of a Down doesn't care to acknowledge God, who "is spirit" according to Jesus (John 4:24).

But their statement, that "science has failed our world," is still valid. The overall message of this song is, "People have a spiritual element that science, by itself, cannot address." Granted, there are many scientists who embrace the fact that "spirit moves through all things," however this song is referring specifically to that breed of science that denies spiritual realities.

"Science fails to recognize the single most potent element of human existence" ... This is a amazing statement! Consider that alongside, "Spirit moves through all things."

I am still amazed by the rudimentary chemistry I learned at Arizona State University. Every atom is a miracle, from the electrons that spin around its nucleus to the unique properties of different molecules, which split apart and re-align depending on the temperature or whatever other molecules they might collide with. Who knows how much more I would have learned about God's miraculous power if I had continued on into second year chemistry (I changed majors halfway through my engineering degree).

All that to say, science should be a stronghold of spirituality. Scientists are blessed with an abundance of opportunities to witness God's amazing creativity. Scientists, especially chemists, have to wonder, what holds everything together? Why are there different elements? Why do some elements attract and other do not? What are atoms made out of?

Few people acknowledge the integral role of faith in our daily lives. We have faith that our cars' wheels will stay attached to our car as we speed down the freeway at 70 mph. We have faith that money is worth something so we keep going to work to accumulate more of it. We have faith that our friends will stay faithful to us even when times get tough. These small steps of faith should lead us toward having faith in God, who created all things, who continues to hold all things together.

Ben Stein's Expelled -- Science Ain't Expained Nothin'

Ben Stein exposes the forces that dominate American academia in his new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Ben Stein is obviously well-informed. He has even earned the respect of the intellectual community (up until this movie came out).

Stein also demonstrates childlike wisdom, which is equally good if not better than typical "grown-up" wisdom. It's his childlike wisdom that's going to get him in trouble.

Children can't help asking "Why?" because they are genuinely interested.

Picture a child interrupting a scientist to ask, "Why is the sky blue?"
The scientist might answer, "That's the way the light reflects off of the atmosphere."
"Why?"
"That's the nature of light."
"Why?"
"Because that's the way light evolved... oh wait, wrong explanation! Just get away from me kid, I'm working here."

Science left to itself does not explain anything. Science can only observe and then report on those observations.

Scientific observation is supposed to be totally impartial, but this is impossible. As was pointed out in Expelled, secular scientists can't help imposing their secular worldviews on their observations. But let's not be too hard on those poor scientists... they're only human after all. We all filter our daily experiences and observations through our uniquely developed worldviews. It just so happens that many atheistic Darwinists are in denial of this fact.

Expelled depicts scientists saying, "The ingredients of life are carbon, protein and water." Okay... nice observation.

Here's a personal favorite: "Gravity is the power of attraction that occurs between two masses." Again, this is only an observation. Suppose I asked a secular scientist, "why does gravity have this power of attraction?" The secular scientist might answer, "I just told you, it occurs between two masses," but that does not answer my question. The question is: Why does this invisible energy called "gravity" exist? For what purpose? Who or what jump started this universal attribute shared by everything that has mass?

If evolutionary theorists want to keep their jobs, they have to be selective about when and where they are truly scientific. Atheistic Darwinists know that they'll get into trouble if they think too much about the ultimate origin of all things.

If no human can ever learn one millionth of a percent about anything, then rest assured that the First Cause of all things must be even more incomprehensible to our limited intellects. We cannot measure this First Cause; we cannot confine Him to our mortal brainpower. We cannot reduce Him to any theory or math equation.

Faith in God is not intellectually limiting... it is liberating in every way. Acknowledging God's greatness is the smartest thing that anyone could ever do while, for an atheistic Darwinist, this would be the scariest thing in the world.

Ironically, secular science becomes religious whenever it can't explain "why things are the way they are." Indeed, we might call any institution "religious" that tries to squeeze reality into that box called "human intellectuality." We might call any explanation "religious" that interprets reality as it would be convenient for a certain group of people.

One of the most legitimizing aspects of faith is that it lifts up God, not man. A man of faith believes in and trusts God, but this can be inconvenient in many ways. Faith makes sense on an eternal level, but that doesn't necessarily make this life any easier. Secular science, on the other hand, is driven by an admiration for human intellectuality. Mainstream science lifts up the individuals who make discoveries, however these discoveries should inspire us to praise God for His amazing creativity.

Faith in God is superior both practically and intellectually. Practically, having faith in God is the best way to deal with circumstances that we cannot control. Intellectually, faith is the healthiest way to embrace life's mysteries.

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If you disagree with what I have written here and you would like to respond, then great.

I would love to hear from you as long as you:

First: Take a deep breath.
Second: Try to express some kind of original and/or enlightening insight (something more than "you're wrong and i'm right").

Anyone takers? Please speak up.