Better Villan: Lex Luthor or Joker?

After watching the new Batman, I came across a discussion forum on whose the better supervillain. Joker is kind of seen as the ultimate villain, and after watching Batman I can understand why. Yet, some faithful Superman fans have made the argument for Lex Luthor. So...which one is the better villain?

Do I choose to be a Calvinist?

This summer I have been really delving into a lot of Reformed writings/teachings and the more I do it the more I find I am surprised no one ever presented these views like this. If they had been I might have not been so against Calvinism. At least in the strictest sense of the word anyway?

I am not sure exactly where I stand on a lot of the issues but I heard a podcast today that showed me how I may not fall in line with Calvinism on salvation (at least not yet) but I'm an excellent Calvinist in other areas.

I struggle with the idea of God being the grand "puppet master" and my choices/will only being the result of His inklings or notions. Then it kind of hit me. I do things, which I lie to myself saying that these things are out of my own will, which in someways control me anyway. Wither it's being angry at something dumb which was said and causes pain. That has control over me. Or if I see a pretty girl and my mind starts to wander. That has control over me. In fact, it seems that when we sin we always make excuses for how deceived or how we lost control and by our own admission we state that it "controlled" us. Maybe having God be the puppet master isn't so bad a thing after all? What is the alternative if He is not?

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12

Daniel and the British Lions Den

This story caught my eye with the following bi-line:

"Two boys were punished this week for refusing to kneel on prayer mats and worship Allah during a class demonstration on Islam, the Daily Mail reported."

This happened in Merry-ole Britain and the boys refused to kneel and say Islamic prayers while facing Mecca. This religious diversity experiment happened in a religion class. The school administrators had the following to say:

"Educating children in the beliefs of different faith is part of the diversity curriculum on the basis that knowledge is essential to understanding."

Now I have no problem with this idea and I have no idea with people learning about Islam. The funny thing is this situation is almost a verbatim reading of the book of Daniel. Obviously detention is better then lions but could it possibly escalate from there? By not participating are you guilty of thought crimes demeaning Islam? A grandfather was quoted as saying the following: ""But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion, there would be war," the grandfather of one of the students said." Exactly! Kudos to the two boys for standing in this modern example of an old story. I don't know if they are Christians but I can only hope all of us would have their courage!

Jesus resurrected and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt!

"And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." 1 Corinthians 15:14

Good news, Jesus' resurrection isn't really that amazing! Don't believe me? Read the following:

"Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism," Boyarin said."

Why is such a tablet a possible "shock" for the Christian community? Here it is:

"A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days."(emphasis mine)

The article goes on to say that the resurrection of Christ might not be much of a big deal because the Christians were just stealing Jewish folklore and making it their own. Therefore, they just expanded on a myth that was told to them since they were children! What they don't tell you till further down in the article is the following:

"Much of the text, a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel, draws on the Old Testament, especially the prophets Daniel, Zechariah and Haggai."

So, the spin of this article is that instead of the Old Testament prophesying the events of Christ's death the disciples and Jesus Himself STOLE ideas for His death/resurrection from their own culture and Scripture. Jesus could not have risen because then it would have been foretold! Something which obviously is mindboggling to those who don't have faith! Yet, here is another example of the solid ground that those of faith stand on!

Quiver Full of...DEATH

So my title is a bit of an exaggeration but I ran across an article entitled "Does having children make you happy" in Newsweek and had to post some thoughts about it.

"In Daniel Gilbert's 2006 book "Stumbling on Happiness," the Harvard professor of psychology looks at several studies and concludes that marital satisfaction decreases dramatically after the birth of the first child—and increases only when the last child has left home. He also ascertains that parents are happier grocery shopping and even sleeping than spending time with their kids."

The first thing worth mentioning here is that there might actually be some truth in this. Again, I seem to be commentating from the sidelines on this issue but there is no doubt, from what I garner of my view from the bleachers, that kids are definitely a handful. A testament to that is the coffee shop I'm in now has about 7 pregnant ladies meeting together barely able to get up from their booth. It seems it just gets harder from there!

I think there are some interesting presuppositions in this article and the main one has to be that happiness is equated with monetary/material things. If that is the requirement then there is no doubt that children will not (most likely) lead to happiness. However, your material possessions disappear with your death and do not carry on your legacy/personality. I think of the old days (sorry) when it was important for a king to have a son because it carried the family name. Now we seem to think that my 401 K is more important? I guess I just rely still on the Scripture:

Psalms 127

3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Obama on Gay Marriage

I am constantly reading blogs and postings stating that there are other issues in the world besides homosexual marriage (HM). It has been labeled as overly decesive, bigoted, and homophobic to state that you oppose HM. If you even state you will not vote for someone because they support HM then you are looked at as archaic and not very well endowed intellectually. I have even heard Christians state that there are other things which should grab our attention and that this issues isn't really an issue. The irony though is that the breakdown of the family is at the root of any issue and marriage is the building blocks of civilization; period.

Barack Obama has stated before that he thinks homosexual practice is not immoral and the Bible is very clear about these type of men:

"Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter." Isaiah 5:20

That stated, the instant rebuttal for this would be that no matter who you vote for there are going to be issues which don't line up with the Christian faith. This is true but it is to easily used today. Obama states that he is a born again Christian and even if he wasn't a Presidential candidate he is deceived on this issue and the Bible is clear to go and tell a brother or sister who supports sin of their fault.

Barack has up to this point been against HM but it seems that when he's in front of an audience in San Fransisco, his political philosophy changes to "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Barack stated the following:

“And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states,”

California is going to vote in November on wither or not to make marriage defined as one man and one woman and this is what Obama is rebutting in his letter. The funny thing is that Obama said this to Larry King about two years ago: "I am somebody who has not embraced gay marriage," he said. "I've said that it's not something that I think the society is necessarily ready for. And it strikes me that in a lot of ways for a lot of people it may intrude in how they understand marriage."

Unlike many of my fellow Christians, I do not concede the fact that "marriage" really isn't that important and we need to get onto other issues besides this divisive one. If a man who is running for President is calling sin, not sin, then that is a legitimate issue for a Christian when considering his/her choices for President. When we concede the marriage issue we should realize that those who are trying to change marriage into something it's not are not letting up with their endeavors. While Christians sleep in the light, the very thing which we all claim to want for everyone, a godly family, is being torn and ripped right from our fingertips. I think it's time to wake up!

Complementarianism Strikes Back (2.0)

I found this article to be interesting. I have had a couple of discussion on the issue below and I would like to thank the ladies who commented on my earlier post along similar topic lines. I have found that the issue of women "complimenting men" has become more and more of a discussion now and it isn't shut down as quickly as it was during my Bible college days. I still don't have a problem with women in ministry (I hate the fact this sounds like such a knee jerk reaction) but I also find that a part of me agrees with this blog post from reformation21.org. I think a lot of guys may think along the same lines but are afraid to admit it because they (we) don't want to remain single. It's hard to recover when your labeled chauvinist, especially (and you know its true) given how quickly ladies can spread the word. The take away question is, are men/women "coming out" of the egalitarian closet and if they are, does this necessarily lead to barefoot and pregnant? Read and let me know what you think!

"Among them were two young couples (early to mid 20's), who fit a mold that I increasingly observe. First, they are very theologically motivated and speak with great doctrinal intensity. Second, feeling welcomed and accepted is enormously important to them. Third, they all evidence a very strong, biblical, and beautiful commitment to gender complementarity. In separate interviews, two young wives said, "I completely agree with my husband. But I also trust his judgment and want to following his spiritual leadership."

I point this out because I think there is a misconception on the gender issue, namely, that if we want to be considered relevant by the young then we cannot afford to be openly complementarian. The great majority of my experience (and admittedly, this is among people who are attracted to a church like ours) shows exactly the opposite. The young people I meet are fed up with the egalitarianism of their upbringing and yearn for counter-cultural biblical authenticity. I would suggest that the examples of younger preachers like Josh Harris and Mark Driscoll, both of whom are in-your-face complementarians and draw in flocks of young people argues in the same direction. Based on these examples, I suspect that the gender debate is much more of a baby-boomer issue. Of course, the ultimate standard is the clear teaching of God's Word. But if we are going to talk sociology, I want to put my two cents in.

P.S. The young people joining our church also say that they are blown away by classic, historically-rooted (i.e. traditional) worship. This, too, is now counter-culturally Christian."