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You need to admire this guy's persistence.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Education -- Teen's love of 'Slow Ride' inspires quest

Cross Culture Mash Up: The Predator Vs. Post-moderism

Most Christians view post-modernism in the same way that Arnold Schwartzenegger and Jesse "The Body" Ventura's characters viewed the elusive 1980's sci-fiction monster known as The Predator. The Predator, in its natural state, lurked in the jungle like a chameleon and occasionally came out from hiding to skin people alive for food. When the Predator was attacked it dripped green blood and transmogrified into a hideous looking beast until it could repair itself. The Predator was eventually defeated when Arnold discovered the beasts weaknesses, uses his military survial skills to camoflauge himself and craft crude weapons, and then corners the beast so that it has no choice but to use its internal self destruct mechanism to destroy itself in an atom explosion.

When Christians look at post-modernism many lack the mental faculties to see huge cultural changes and mental shifts that the movement represents. Some "prayer warriors," "power preachers," and "defenders of the faith" see it as an ambigous force than can only be defined by attacking it. They see the unsavory elements of post-modernism drippin with each verbal blow and boycott. However, the real hope is that Jesus will one day come back and, in an atomic explosion of Left Behind novels and Kent Hoven videos, will weed out all of the ugly places that post-modernism rears its ugly head, destroy the earth, and bring forth a new paradise for people who pasted their cars with bumper stickers saying "Let Go and Let God."

A Christian who presents a refreshing alternative to the latter viewpoint is named Brian McLaren. He has written two books, of a genre he refers to as creative nonfiction, titled A New Kind of Christian and The Story We Find Ourselves In. McLarens uses the titles to stir up talk on a wide range of controversial issues that include evolution, drinking alcohol in the church, and fantasy novels. However, the purpose of his scandal and the bulk of his writing center on how Christianity should function in a post-modern world. No person will probably agree with every idea present in McLaren's writing and stylistically the quality of his prose occasionally degrades to that of your average blogger. But, in leiu of an atomic explosion, Christians will eventually have to deal with the emerging post-modern culture and McLaren's writing is not a bad place to start.

Dark Days

Released in 2000, Dark Days is a film about the homeless. Director Marc Singer found an Amtrak tunnel full of homeless people and shot their lives in gritty black and white. The viewer develops a bizarre sentimentalism for the homeless society in the film, as we see them form relationships, take care of their dogs, and cook meals for one another in makeshift kitchens. You almost forget the fact that they live in rat infested squalor, smoke crack, and sell "hot" items. At the end of the film Amtrak is pressured by the government to kick out the homeless and their makeshift dwellings. Fortunately, the film ends happily and we see most of the people in the film moved into clean section eight housing. They realize their new living situation is far superior to the tunnel and look on their past experiences in the tunnel as "Dark Days."
Link
Dark Days

Aljazeera- Fair and Accurate

Lion's Gate Films has made a documentary titled Control Room. It is an in-depth expose of the inner workings of the Al-Jazeera satelite televison network during the American invasion of Iraq. The implied thesis of Control Room is that the controversial television network, Al-Jazeera, provides accurate and well-rounded reporting. I'm not a media expert and, I am only getting my information from one source, but after one viewing of the documentary I believe that its thesis is correct. Al-Jazeera appears to actually include a wider diversity of opinion and a broader range of perspective than most American media outlets. Yes, they have shown some terribly violent images. And no, I don't speak Arabic so I cannot independently analyze their editorial content for overly biased and terrorist points of view. However, I imagine that if you held Al-jazeera up to the same loose journalistic standards that American media outlets comply with, I imagine Al-jazeera would pass the test.

Does anybody have any comments about this? If you feel I am wrong or my analysis of the documentary is shortsighted please post your comments.

Bob Dylan has seen too many movies...

Here is an interesting website.
Film dialogue in the lyrics of Bob Dylan.: "'Well there was this movie I seen one time'"

Daniel 10:4

I was at Wednesday night Bible study last week and the pastor was teaching from Daniel. I had read this before, but as I was sitting bored in church, trying to listen to the lesson, I was absolutely blown away by the image in this prophecy.


BibleGateway.com Passage Lookup: Daniel 10;: "4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. 6 His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground."

Me So Holy!

I don't know if I should be embarassed for Christians or bowled over by this clever example of parody. Either way, when you watch the "Baby Got Bible" video you will laugh. Then you will experience shame... deep, deep shame.

what tian has learned: "Baby Got Book" by Sir Reads-A-Lot: "'Baby Got Book' by Sir Reads-A-Lot"