On Interpreting Scripture and Why We Are Screwed

So, I was looking through my RSS feed (man, I love that thing) and Christ and Pop Culture put up a link to an interview with Jennifer Knapp, talking about her life, her Sabbatical from Christian music, and her coming out of the closet. First, that makes me sad. I'm not a fan. I picked up one of her albums because it was free and have heard her music on KSBJ (before the advent of the iPod I used to listen to the radio; it's crazy). But from what I hazily recall, she did good work. But even had she not, she claims to be a Christian and I want good for all who make such a claim. And homosexuality is not good, it's not beneficial, and there will be a cost.

I am also perplexed. I read in Scripture a very strong and clear condemnation of homosexuality. It is a sin. So how do you go from Scriptures condemnation of it as an unnatural lust to it being acceptable and good? So, I read a bit of her interview and even a link to a gay christian website. That is when I got mad. Essentially, they accuse me of being fearful and bigoted, persecuting them like the Pharisees persecuted Jesus. Now aside from not liking being called a Pharisee...

...DON'T SAY THAT YOU ARE BEING LIKE CHRIST WHEN YOU ARE TWISTING SCRIPTURE TO JUSTIFY YOUR SIN!!! It's kind of like when a rich white guy compares himself to Rosa Parks (I cannot tell you how long I have wanted to use that reference) except INFINITELY worse because you are comparing yourself to our perfect Lord.

And that will end the screaming portion of this post. Because once the anger is acknowledged, the sadness returns. I don't know how it happened or when, but people who acknowledge a need for Jesus and for grace and for mercy have been deceived. It was Satan's first tactic and with it he excels. Satan was so bold as to attempt such a maneuver against Christ Himself. It's not a surprise that it worked on them or anyone else. It is so much easier to convince someone of a lie. There are people smarter, wiser, more informed, and have read the Bible more than me who are Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Atheists. Just talking to one person who is sure that they are right makes me wonder if I'm the crazy one. But again, the unbelievers don't sadden me. And they certainly don't scare me. Because if you want to look at something truly terrifying, it is this:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" -Matthew 7:21-23.

That someone could wield power in the name of God and not be saved, that they could go to their deaths convinced that they were Heaven-bound only to find that they were absolutely wrong. There is no metric for salvation save a relationship with Jesus. And without that, there is no revelation, no truth, and no hope.

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. -Proverbs 29:18.

The Heavens Declare...

One of the sites I frequent is Astronomy Picture of the Day. They show a picture a day with a brief description from an astronomer. Whether you read the description or not, the images are gorgeous. This is one of those images (click said image if you want a better look at it):



"In the heavens there is nothing accidental, nothing arbitrary, nothing out of order, nothing erratic. Everywhere is order, truth, reason, constancy ...I cannot understand this regularity in the stars, this harmony of time and motion in their various orbits through all eternity, except as the expression of reason, mind and purpose ...Their constant and eternal motion, wonderful and mysterious in its regularity, declares the indwelling power of a divine intelligence. If any man cannot feel the power of God when he looks upon the stars, then I doubt whether he is capable of any feeling." -Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods.

There exist in creation so many things that bring about awe and wonder, that speak of transcendence. I don't know how anyone can escape that greater things are happening than can be accounted for by simply "matter plus energy plus chance." And on a lighter note because I just love this song:

I feel bad for George Lucas

I should preface this by saying that it is not entirely out of left field or out of some desire to establish nerd-cred. A few weeks ago, this article was posted on io9.com, which is a wonderful site for all things geek. And a week or so before that, my brother showed me this video. The article is about the fan reaction to Lucas' actions since the special edition of Star Wars and the video is about the "Han shot first" debate. And these have got me thinking about Mr. Lucas and the impact that he has had on my generation.

One of my first memories is of me, my brothers, and my cousins watching Star Wars. According to my parents, it was just about a daily occurrence. My Dad relates how we would have him read to us the opening lines of the title crawl, including "dot, dot, dot" for the ellipsis (I had to look that up to make sure I was thinking of the right term) at the end. Not "dot, dot." Not "dot, dot, dot, dot." This was important and had to be done right. I remember our cousins owning what seemed like thousands of Star Wars toys, including the Falcon and an X-Wing. I remember sitting on the bus when some jerk kid spoiled that Darth Vader was Luke's father (I realize that I didn't put a spoiler alert in that myself but it's been two decades and four films; I think you've had time to see Empire Strikes Back by now). I remember reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye, one of the first (if not the first) of the Star Wars novels, and the first book I read on my own for fun. Star Wars has had a huge impact on how I view heroism, the importance of narrative, and even how you should organize the Church (change "Master" to "Elder," "Knight" to "Deacon," and "Padawan" to "Layperson" and you pretty much have an ideal setup for making disciples). All of that is to say that this battle from a long time ago and a galaxy far, far away is a very large part of my life. I feel indebted to George Lucas and this funny little idea he had of a fantasy space opera. Which is why I feel bad for the man.

Now I realize how odd it is that I, a 28-year-old unemployed man living with his parents, feel bad for a 60 or 70 year-old-billionaire whose work has had a global impact. So let me explain that a little. There was a time long ago and far away where there was a guy named George who made movies. He had all these stories he wanted to tell, personal stories. The problem was that before working on all those other personal stories, he made Star Wars and it forever dominated his destiny. I don't know how Mr. Lucas feels about Star Wars, if he thinks it is the greatest story he could tell or just an easy way to make money. But whatever he feels about it, Star Wars owns Mr. Lucas. If anybody else surrounded themselves with as much Star Wars memorabilia as he does, we would call them obsessed, imbuing a love of Star Wars with religious fervor. We would pity them for not being able to differentiate between real life and fantasy. At the very least, we would say that they were stuck in the past.

The fan reaction to his new work doesn't help in the slightest (as illustrated in the io9 article). I don't know how you feel about the new trilogy but I hope that you can agree that the fan reaction is more than a little over the top (I don't know what surprises me more, that the term "George Lucas raped my childhood" exists or that it has been used so much). I won't say that I love the new trilogy. I don't. But I don't hate it (and actually, after reading the novelization of Revenge of the Sith [yes, I watched the movie and read the book; sue me], I appreciate what the overall story was accomplishing much more; I might even say that I liked it…might). I certainly don't feel any of the vitriol that so many of my fellow nerds feel. But I think I understand it.

I remember reading some article around the time the prequels were announced that put forth the argument for a sequel series instead. By this point, dozens of books following the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, and company had been published. There was a wealth of source material to draw on for a sequel and the original actors were still available and young enough to take part in the endeavor. The prequel could be explored through other means, whether books, TV or some other media. It was a convincing argument to me, a chance to see something new. Instead, Mr. Lucas went back to scripts supposedly thirty years old. He was stuck in the past.

So, that is why feel bad for the man: he is a slave to his own success, shackled to a monument for over thirty years, and very alone. What is the Gospel for him? Jesus is not just bigger than your sins, bigger than your failures. He is bigger than your success. Bigger than your fame. Bigger than your ego. Bigger than Star Wars. And He won His battle a long time ago and very far away.

Quick Interlude

I realize that this is not about George Lucas. I started collecting my thoughts, walking and talking and recording. I finished my ramblings to find that I had recorded over twenty minutes of material, and that was incomplete. So, I'm going to have to break that up into a few posts. In the mean time, a brief account of what I did yesterday.

My brother was expecting an iPad at the shop yesterday but he was going to be tied up with new member class at church. So I go into the shop for 4 hours to wait for the delivery, only for it to arrive 10 minutes after he shows up. But the iPad (or as my little nephew calls it, "Daddy's big phone") is very nice. I wouldn't have any use for it right now but Apple makes pretty tech. But truth be told, I don't like the idea behind owning an Apple computer. The Mac versus PC argument is about freedom versus convenience. A Mac will do pretty much everything the average consumer wants it to do (except play most video games but consoles are so common that it isn't that big of an issue). And a Mac will do it fairly well, but you can only do it one way. If that one way doesn't work for you, you are boned. A PC can do everything that anyone wants it to do but the more customized you want it, the more work it takes. Truthfully, it isn't that I have done anything on my laptop that I couldn't have done on a PC (except, again for the video games). But having freedom I don't need right now is better for my sensibilities than having a shiny package I don't care too much about (blah blah blah, Calvinism reference). And I can still use my iPod Touch so best of both worlds.

Anyway, from the shop I went to the comic book store and picked up the last issue of Blackest Night (don't worry, K, no spoilers here). Since Blackest Night leads right into Brightest Day, it's no surprise that the final issue did not end the story arc. It was still a satisfying conclusion. Oddly enough, it was an ending like this that caused me to leave the Avengers after Secret Invasion. Well, that's not entirely true. The ending of Secret Invasion was much grimmer in tone. But what got me was that Secret Invasion, a story which spanned some dozen books a month, was leading directly into Dark Reign and another dozen or so books a month. And with that, I left.

Some breaks from books are longer than others. I left X-Men because Cyclops was telepathically cheating on Pheonix with the White Queen and then ended up with the White Queen after immediately after Pheonix's death. I mean, her body wasn't even cold, yet. Spider-Man made a deal with the devil (not figuratively, like the Green Goblin or Dr. Doom, I mean the Marvel universe's representation of the actual devil). And whatever rationale they have tossed out since then, heroes don't make deals with the devil. Period. These are big issues for me, what actually makes someone heroic. And though I have no doubt that such thins will be fixed down the line, until they are I am keeping my distance. But with all that said, I would pick up the Avengers right now if money weren't an issue. But since it is, I go with the mega-story arc that I prefer, where the heroes are just a bit more heroic.

But all of that is not what I wanted to talk about. For yesterday, April the Fourth, Addo Domini MMX, I began the most nerdy of all my endeavors: I spent multiple hours trying to decipher a made up language from a comic book (actually, spending some 50 hours working on an Excel D&D spreadsheet may be nerdier; I'll have to wait on the judges' decision). The whole process intrigues me: it's problem solving; it's storytelling; it appeals to my language skills; and it draws me into a conversation over a subject I like. So, anyone who possible stumbles onto this seeking clues to the meaning of the Indigo Tribe language, here are a couple good
places I have come across.

Well, so much for quick. Blessings.