Saturday, November 10, 2012
Comic Art
SO BAD THEY'RE GOOD
You can never get enough Nazi villain - never and Captain Axis is no exception. Yet another in a long line of evil Nazis, Captain Axis came too late to really catch on. He came as all the old guys were finishing making comics and with them the sensibility that Nazism was the most evil and destructive force in human history faded. Communism, in many ways a reflection of Nazi evil, never really caught on in the world of comics as a source for villains.
Even in the recent Captain America movie, uber-Nazi Red Skull had to become more. He did in the comics, but not during WWII. Comics are pop culture and generally more reflective than leading, but the fact that you don;t see guys like Captain Axis anymore kind of bothers me. Losing the memory of an evil like Nazism means it may once again rise.
Besides, Nazis were the zombies of their day - you did not have to worry if they were really bad or not. Put a swastika on a bad guy and let the beating commence. I kind of miss that to be honest. Zombies are too easy - blow to the head and your done. A known evil that requires the Hulk to administer the beating, and now you have something.
It's a shame really. A Hulk level Nazi would have been interesting. But alas too late.
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You can never get enough Nazi villain - never and Captain Axis is no exception. Yet another in a long line of evil Nazis, Captain Axis came too late to really catch on. He came as all the old guys were finishing making comics and with them the sensibility that Nazism was the most evil and destructive force in human history faded. Communism, in many ways a reflection of Nazi evil, never really caught on in the world of comics as a source for villains.
Even in the recent Captain America movie, uber-Nazi Red Skull had to become more. He did in the comics, but not during WWII. Comics are pop culture and generally more reflective than leading, but the fact that you don;t see guys like Captain Axis anymore kind of bothers me. Losing the memory of an evil like Nazism means it may once again rise.Besides, Nazis were the zombies of their day - you did not have to worry if they were really bad or not. Put a swastika on a bad guy and let the beating commence. I kind of miss that to be honest. Zombies are too easy - blow to the head and your done. A known evil that requires the Hulk to administer the beating, and now you have something.
It's a shame really. A Hulk level Nazi would have been interesting. But alas too late.
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Friday, November 09, 2012
Respect My Authority!
Mark Daniels:
In today’s world, we don’t much care for the whole idea of authority. We don’t want anybody telling us what to do, even when the person in authority seems to know what they’re doing and to have our best interests at heart…even when the authority figure in question is God. It’s so hard for us to trust even the God we meet in Christ. Yet Jesus tells us (and backs up the authority of His words through His death and resurrection): “I am the way, and the life, and the truth. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Do you believe that Jesus has the authority to make that command and that promise? Or do you repose greater trust in yourself, your family, your work, your wits, or your pleasures? Do you believe that Jesus is the one and only "God and human" chain that can connect you to God and the life you were meant to live? The choice between heaven or hell, life or death, purpose or futility, connection to God and others or utter, stark eternal aloneness inheres in the issue of who you will give authority over your life.Note Mark's words, "even when the person in authority seems to know what they’re doing and to have our best interests at heart," when was the last time you actually knew an authority figure that had our best interests at heart. We are all selfish creatures to one extent or another. And note these words, "backs up the authority of His words through His death and resurrection." Christ's authority comes not in the fact that He is God, but in His sacrifice. Christ could indeed have easily stricken all who sought to persecute him and walked away unscathed Yet He chose to set aside the power that came with His nature and proved undeniably that He placed our interests above His own. So many leader claim Christ's authority. So few follow His example. I think the world and the church would be quite different if there ere more of the latter and less of the former.
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Friday Humor
It's strange, I know, but after all these years - THIS IS STILL FUNNY!
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Thursday, November 08, 2012
Requirements
Jonathon Parnell @ Desiring God Quoted Bonhoeffer:
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Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship.
An abstract Christology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace or on the forgiveness of sins, render discipleship superfluous, and in fact they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatever, and are essentially inimical to the whole conception of following Christ.
With an abstract idea it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge, to become enthusiastic about it, and perhaps even to put it into practice; but it can never be followed in personal obedience.
Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.That needs to be repeated - Often.
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Illuminated Scripture
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
I Wonder if the Holy Spirit Was Really Involved?
Christian Post:
What?! you think my question sacrilegious? I'm not being - it is a serious question. I believe that the Holy Spirit works - miraculously. But when He does, I do not believe He would do so in a fashion that results in injury, even the specious types of injuries that lawsuits like this generally involve. In fact, I think it is one of the ways we can avoid confusion between when the Holy Spirit is at work and when we think the Holy Spirit is at work.
Worse yet is the resort to litigation to resolve a dispute from something that apparently happened under the auspices of God. At best such matters should be settled in the church itself - but who are we, in the end, to question the actions of the Holy Spirit.
I take a lot of heat 'round these parts becasue I am highly suspicious of Pentecostalism. This story is chief among the reasons I am.
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A St. Louis woman is suing an Evangelical church over injuries she sustained when a fellow member caught the Holy Spirit and lost control of herself.
Cheryl Jones filed a complaint in December that while visiting the Disciple Fellowship Christian Church in East St. Louis, another member received the Holy Spirit and fell backwards, causing her injury, according to ABC News.
In the complaint, Jones mentioned that there were no ushers or other members to assist the lady who became overcome by the spirit. She blames the church for failing to protect her.Would the Holy Spirit really allow injury?
What?! you think my question sacrilegious? I'm not being - it is a serious question. I believe that the Holy Spirit works - miraculously. But when He does, I do not believe He would do so in a fashion that results in injury, even the specious types of injuries that lawsuits like this generally involve. In fact, I think it is one of the ways we can avoid confusion between when the Holy Spirit is at work and when we think the Holy Spirit is at work.
Worse yet is the resort to litigation to resolve a dispute from something that apparently happened under the auspices of God. At best such matters should be settled in the church itself - but who are we, in the end, to question the actions of the Holy Spirit.
I take a lot of heat 'round these parts becasue I am highly suspicious of Pentecostalism. This story is chief among the reasons I am.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Not Either/Or - Both/And
Christian Post:
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What's more important? Reaching the lost or growing the reached? Over the past two weeks, the ongoing debate between discipleship and evangelism took center stage during one megachurch's Code Orange Revival.This is not an either/or question! It's pretty simple really. The church is the body of believers, so the church ministers to the believers, the believers add to the church. Put another way, "growing the reached" results in "reaching the lost." Biologically, babies cannot make babies...make sense? The problem is threefold. One, a lot of Christian babies do not want to grow up, so the leadership feels like they have to do something. Two, it is easier to reach the lost that grow the reached. Three, those numbers create a spotlight and spotlight's are just flat-out cool things. Let's look at these in reverse order. The spotlight problem is indicative of the bigger problem. If you need the spotlight you are not mature - keep reading. Just as it is easier for teens to just go ahead and make babies, it is easier for the church to keep reaching out. Problem is, eventually we will run out of grown-ups (grandparents if you will) and the babies will have big problems on their hands. Finally, the thing to do when babies want to stay babies is to help those that want to to grow up. There is nothing like a older sibling to call the kids forward. Not to mention the fact that the ones that do grow up will make more babies - that's what adults do. The road to reaching the lost lies down the path of growing the reached. It really is as simple as that. At least if your object truly is evangelism and not just the spotlight.
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Kity Kartoons
Monday, November 05, 2012
Making Sure God Is Glorified
Dan Dezell asks:
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How do I know if God was glorified and if He did a work in my soul through a particular message from a preacher? Well....did I come away marveling at the preacher, or marveling at God? As a result of the message, am I enthralled with the man or with the Lord? Who stands out more in my mind and in my heart? Who have I been more inspired to talk about to others.....the Lord, or the preacher?Dezell goes on to quote Oswald Chambers:
Oswald Chambers provided these insights on the matter: "The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher. Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the Gospel of God being presented." Chambers then states this incredibly important truth: "Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the Gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work."This is a difficult equation for much of the decision about who is glorified lays with the hearer, not the preacher. Ultimately the preacher has to judge his own heart. I have known preachers that talked about themselves incessantly. Most of them justified it by saying they wanted the congregation to take the journey with them - it was an effort to "connect." But at some point in there, narcissism take over. At some point the pastor is preaching not to the congregation but to himself. Which brings up a good test. Is the preacher attempting to meet the congregation where it is, or is he attempting to bring the congregation to the same place the preacher is? In the end, preaching is a service, not a reward. In this media intensive age, the desire for spotlight is intense. Preaching of necessity involve a spotlight, but such is not the point. Someone once said of a preacher I knew that "he took the job very seriously, but himself not at all." Sounds right to me.
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