A&D, Night at the Museum 2, and UP

Please forgive the lateness of this entry, but I’ve been preoccupied with some other things on my plate. What better way to start off the summer than with a light hearted blog of movie reviews? Two out of these three films I was, quite frankly, expecting to very much dislike, but I ended up enjoying them very much.

Angels and Demons (A&D) was the sequel to The DaVinci Code (TDC), and I would be dishonest if I said TDC didn’t strongly influence my preemptive feelings towards A&D. TDC book was fast-paced, exciting … a real thriller. But – you knew there had to be a “but” =) – it was filled with so many historical errors and unfounded claims that it should be considered a-historical. If you’re wondering, the author did intend for the reader to understand all historical discussion to be perfectly factual. This is why TDC is a dangerous work. The movie of the TDC was incredibly boring. So-so acting. Lengthy stretches of dialogue. Boooring.

I was hoping for more from A&D, and my expectations were pretty low. Plus, I fully expected the movie to attack Christianity throughout. Instead, the movie was very much in favor of true-religion. It also was very anti-Catholic in a fair way, and who can argue with that? Oddly enough, I thought the movie brought out time and time again how the Roman Catholic Church was not infallible by pointing to their condemnations of Galileo and other scientific advancements. If the Roman Church was infallible how could they be so often wrong about numerous scientific areas, such as the world being round? Ewan McGregor does a superb job; an absolutely wonderful performance.

The original Night at the Museum was okay. Funny, but not knee-slapper funny. Night at the Museum 2 was a huge step up comedy-wise. It wasn’t that Ben Stiller was suddenly more humorous, but rather everyone else in the film was. Honestly, I was laughing so much my sides hurt. Without mentioning any spoilers: the scene where Stiller’s character and Pharaoh are arguing is one of the funniest moments I’ve seen in the cinema. It is also fairly romantic, and Amy Adams pretty much stole the show. Hands down, the movie proved to me that she is an extremely talented actress. I don’t know of anyone else who coulda pulled off that script as well. This is a clean, good and funny movie. Highly recommended.

Last but not least, well actually, it is least (but still good), is the movie UP. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to view it in 3-D, which would have made the experience even better. But still a great show. I had heard the movie was sad, in fact, depressing! I was not looking forward to seeing UP. The story is very much about real life things, and I appreciate that. It is romantic, sentimental and very heartfelt. Yes, I did laugh. Let me just say that the dogs, in every scene, are too good.

Still so many movies to look forward to: Transformers, the Half-Blood Prince, and GI Joes. Am I missing anything?

Thanks for reading,
Rusty

Page Five

My pastor came over to talk with me a couple weeks back and plopped down a book in my lap titled Spiritual-Mindedness by John Owen. He told me he wanted to get me a book to thank me for helping teach our high school and junior high classes. Pastor Fry is such a great guy.

For whatever reason I haven’t gotten around to reading anything by the famous John Owen, although his The Death of Death in the Death of Christ has been on my reading list for years. He was one of the greatest Puritans and I was sure the book would be a terrific read and an encouragement.

Once I finished the latest WoW book I was reading I began Owen’s work. By the time I made it to page 5 I felt an intense amount of conviction and knew I would write a blog about this book. As of right now I’m on page 30, and I love it. Never before have so few words impacted me this greatly, or swayed me in so many areas.

Here’s one portion from page 5:

“Many greatly deceive themselves when hearing the word preached. They agree with the holy truths in their understanding and assent to them as good ‘ideas’. But these truths are not allowed to impress themselves on their consciences nor to judge their present state and condition before God. They think they believe, but in reality they do not. They hear, understand, assent to, and often approve of the things preached, but still they do not believe them so that the truth rules in their hearts. If they really believed the truth as they say they do then they would judge themselves in the light of it. They are like a man who looks at himself in a mirror, and then goes away and immediately forgets what he has just seen (James 1:23-24). They hear the word and agree with it, but their minds are so filled with other interests that they soon forget what they have heard” (Pgs. 5-6).

I don’t know about you, but when I read those words I honestly stopped to think. I really wanted to examine my own life to see whether I truly believed or not – something I’ve done periodically throughout my adult life. If the Devil and his co-fallen angels can mentally assent to God’s truth then surely other fallen creatures can as well. I did not want that to be true of me. Not for one moment.

Owen’s application from James of the man who looks at himself in a mirror but forgets what he looks like also aided me in understanding just what that passage meant. Sure, I’ve read it before, and probably even used it in one of my lessons. But I don’t think I fully grasped what James was getting at. How many times have I read the Bible, prayed, or heard a sermon and immediately afterwards put thoughts of God out of my mind? I’m taking James’ words as a warning to those of us who let this happen, because as Owen goes on to say, the Christian naturally thinks about spiritual things.

Owen continues in a later chapter:

“The well the Samaritan woman drew water from was a lifeless, earthly thing, of no use unless buckets and ropes were used to draw the water to the surface. But the ‘living water’ Christ gives bubbles up continually within us and is for our spiritual refreshment. This is the secret of the person who is a new creation in Christ and who has a new spiritual nature. The Spirit with his graces is the source of true spiritual life in believers. This spiritual spring bubbles up of itself without the need of any outward influences to draw it into holy, heavenly, spiritual thoughts. The spiritual man has within him a spiritual spring which ‘naturally’ bubbles up spiritual thoughts and desires” (Pgs. 11-12).

Shortly after this, he makes the point that men may think about spiritual things when they have outward influences, like sermons, to give them spiritual ideas. But the true Christian needs no external influences for his thoughts to turn to God and His truth. Spiritual-mindedness is natural for the one who has been born by the Spirit.

As I’ve asked myself, let me now ask you: do your thoughts naturally turn towards spiritual things? Or do you rely on others, church, sermons, or whatever else it might be to cause you to think about God?

Pastor Fry will often say to our congregation: “I assume that you prayed throughout the course of this week…” Why would my pastor say such a thing? Because he knows that the one truly believing in Jesus will pray. Prayer is not a duty to be quickly fulfilled, but rather a joy that is as necessary as the food we eat.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church to examine themselves to see if they were truly in the faith. I believe Christians today should examine themselves as well, unless they find, as Paul said, they fail the test?

“But let us not think that we can truly examine ourselves and arrive at the right conclusion about ourselves without the help of God. We need to pray with the Psalmist, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead in the way everlasting’ (Psa. 139:23-24)” (Pg. 20).

I’ll end with this: “So our thoughts are the best and surest way of showing us what we are in ourselves. ‘As a man thinks in his heart, so is he’ (Prov. 23:7)” (Pg. 7, Bold Mine).

Thanks for reading,
Casey

A Fantastic Tale, Full of Adventure

This is one of the most sought-after events of the year, hosted by a highly regarded company in its industry. Her products have tested the limits of popularity and leave their customer base with an ever growing desire for more. To what am I referring? Blizzard’s annual celebration conference: BlizzCon 2009, August 21-22 in Anaheim, CA.

A number of us were lucky enough to make it to last year’s BlizzCon and we all decided to repeat our geeky experience. There was only one problem: 20,000 tickets, but tens of thousands (maybe more) who wanted them. Pulling some stereotypical “Casey-isms,” I did my research. Why? … I had to know what I was up against and how to best accomplish the rigorous task of purchasing tickets. Last year the tickets sold out in about 12 minutes! I was determined to again be one of those people.

Since Blizzard only sells BlizzCon tickets at their online store, you can imagine what might happen when thousands upon thousands upon thousands try to visit a website at once. Last year the website continuously crashed upwards of two days =). Twas quite the mess.

This year, they upgraded their system and set up a queue once you login to their website. It worked much better. I tested the queue days before the release of the first batch of tickets which would be on March 16th with my preferred browser, Google Chrome. Both Chrome and Firefox were giving me a hassle so I decided to use IE *sigh* - but it worked! I also set the homepage to the Blizzard Store, and had links on the toolbar directly to the BlizzCon tickets page, to the BlizzCon main page and even to the BlizzCon forums so that I might stay up to date on what was goin on – didn’t wanna miss any updates from a “Blue” =).

Initially, they didn’t announce at what time they would be selling the tickets on the 16th, so I was planning to stay up all night to refresh the page. Thankfully, late Friday night they announced they would be selling them at 9am PDT. This allowed me and my brother (who was also going to buy a set of tickets) to get some shuteye. Both Cory and myself were up by 8am and started checking the page. With twenty minutes to spare, I was continuously refreshing the page … still not fully trusting that Blizzard would begin selling at 9am on the dot. Turns out I was right, and they went up for sale at approximately 8:58am.

Immediately I joined the queue and selected to buy 4 tickets. Already I was in 3000th place! I quickly called Cory to see where he was at, and he wasn’t too far behind me. We both were able to secure our tickets, which was followed up by calling the rest of our party.

The tickets sold out after about 28 minutes, I believe. The second batch was sold on the 30th, and are now sold out. Of course, some are selling tickets on Ebay for a significant profit margin =)

This year: me, Emily, Cory, Melissa, Scott, Mindy, Mrs. Nelson and Jennifer.

I believe I speak for our entire party when I say: and verily, much w00tage did thus fill the land =)

Upholding Dalaran by the power of the Kirin Tor,
Rusty

Statement from the White House

Hat tip to Dr. James White who posted this on his blog:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009- - - - - - -BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PROCLAMATION

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society....
Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security....NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

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For our regular reading audience, commentary is not necessary. You know how unbiblical this is. This is discrimination that gives a super-rights status to everyone but straights and Christians. What good can the promotion of sinful lifestyles bring about? Nothing … nada. I don’t know about you, but I am extremely thankful our God is in control of all things, especially every step by our leaders.

Rusty

Half Right

One of my two suggested activities for our trip to Washington was visiting Mark Driscoll’s church. From the beginning, I’ve read his books and listed to his sermons. I even follow the guy’s blog from time to time. I’ve had a renewed interest in him ever since his “Acts 29” network of churches has become rather popular in Phoenix.

We mapquested. We came. We saw.

I had expectations, and quite honestly, it was better than I thought it would be. Once inside, I couldn’t help but chuckle at how much it looked like BlizzCon. The room was dark with blue spotlights shining along the walls. There were at least eight projection screens: six leading up to the front and two at the front. My rough guess would be that the room can hold around 3000 people, and it ended up being packed that particular Sunday morning. We went to the second service and were a bit disappointed that Mark Driscoll was traveling. One of the other pastors did preach in his place, and it is to that sermon, as well as Mark Driscoll’s usual ministry that the title is attributed.

Everyone was asked to stand as they read from the Psalter – I was pleasantly surprised at this point. We sang a song or two, both of which were excellent. A little too showy, with guitar solo’s etc, but the song content was spot on.

Then we arrived at the sermon. It was … well, even now I’m uncertain how I feel about it. It was about half right. This does also mean that he was half wrong in his methodology and in the content of what was said. Here’s another rough estimate: 7 minutes is the total time spent reading and interacting with the Scriptures, including an explanation of its historical background. What I mean by this is that for the rest of the 53 minutes (it was quite a long sermon) he spent on rabbit trails and eisegetically applying untruths to the text. He focused quite a bit of time explaining his understanding of how to balance theology and doctrine with experience. In the end, he sided with strong leanings towards emotionalism and experience – and apparently, “charismatic” is the healthy balance between crazy Pentecostals and Cessationists.

Our post-service experience involved going into the bathroom to check out the tile … remember that in Radical Reformission Driscoll talks about how even the tile in the bathroom should be culturally relevant to better reach the world. It was a pasty brown color and didn’t seem any more appealing than any other bathroom =).

Definite attempts were being made to appear “cool” to the world, and it was fascinating to see Mark Driscoll’s philosophy being played out. Emily’s conclusion served me better than all my dramatic formulations when she said, “That felt like an oversized high school youth group.” I laughed … a lot … when she said that. But you know what? She’s right. For those of us who have grown up in mega churches where the services are geared at attracting young people, we know exactly what she means.

This brings me back to the title of this entry: Half Right. The sermon especially, but the whole experience was only 50% good.

Let me ask a provocative question: if a pastor, like Mark Driscoll, delivers sermons that are only about half beneficial – with the other half giving negative effects – would you say such a man is qualified for the ministry?

Thanks for reading,
Casey