Splitting Hairs

I posted a blog on my other site that is probably more geared to this one, so here is a link.

Along For The Ride

As a Campus Life director, I am always looking for media clips that will help illustrate a point. You know, that scene that makes the idea I'm speaking on come to life, and allows the students to identify more practically with the subject matter. Creating this connection between a thought being conveyed and the audience is key to any speaker.

There is a plethora of scenes that portray moral, heart-felt words that demonstrate virtuous characteristics and world views. I have a library of clips in my head, categorized by topical affiliation. It struck me, despite the total lapse in morality in today's movies, I can so easily find moments of moral integrity in almost any film. It seems so paradoxical.

I have stumbled upon some very sensitive material that Hollywood doesn't want you to realize. That's why I'm going to be writing a book called "Hollywood Insights 'They Don't Want You To Know About,'" seeing as how this format is working so well for Kevin Trudeau.

Movies take you for a ride, and they don't drop you off at the destination they promise. Here's a common layout for modern day comedy. Introduce the protagonist (or antagonist who gradually becomes a protagonist), who is currently living in a state that is obviously off from what is the proper way to live. The movie will make light of the character's lifestyle, but indirectly assume that there is something fundamentally superficial; enjoyable, yet ultimately unfulfilling about this person.

We embark on a journey that saturates us in immoral lies about actual life. The character lives in a greatly exaggerated state of how some actual less-than-righteous individuals might think or live. Since a major goal of cinema is to immerse the watcher into the movie, the audience member's reality becomes the movie for it's duration. Anytime you are immersed into anything, something is bound to stick (whether good, bad, or neutral). In most cases someones guard is not completely lifted, but softened during a movie; giving way to susceptibility.

You will notice that the bulk of iniquity is found near the beginning or middle of the movie, while the end has a twist of uprightness. It's about taste. A sweet morsel covers a bitter taste, so you forget it was ever there. As the movie ends and your mind is freed up to process what you have just taken in, you remember the good, and can deem it an acceptable film. But the quotable moments, or those you will laugh at and are embedded into your mind consist of the vulgar, the unrealistic, the stuff your grandmother would not approve of.

In the end, the protagonist has gained a compromised perspective of right and wrong. It's better than where they started, and it has relics of admirable qualities; however, the final product is only good in a relative sense to where they started. There is a great lack of true virtue. But because it is more easy to identify things in a relative fashion than a static way, guided by truth, faith, and philosophy, we are more likely to applaud the "moral of the story." And realize it or not, our understanding of right and wrong has been tweaked.

The ride is from a place of perversion to a place of middle ground. We pick up all the junk along the way and are fed a spoonful of compromised morality. Bravery, friendship, acceptance, education, maturity, and dedication are good things, but they are not inherently good. They are good when the are coupled with truth and love. Movie emphasize the former and neglect the latter. Thus we look for the right things in the wrong places and expect a Hollywood ending.

Media greatly determines what we will accept as our next reality. Remain skeptic of a movie's moral finish. Discern what is truly right, wrong, good, and bad... then hold everything up to that light. Don't just go along for the ride, have an intended destination.

Role Playing

I've been intrigued for the last few years at the idea of roles. Every one of us has roles that we inherently need or at least desire to be filled in our lives, whether we realize it or not (more often than not we don't).

There's a great deal I'd like to write about on this subject int he future, much of which can appear disheartening or cruel, but it really isn't.

Anyway, I'm here to request feedback from you, the people. I'm hoping to gain some insight from your answers as to what these roles are really about, and why some alter or misuse these roles.

1. What is the role(s) platonic friends of the opposite sex offer one another (male to female, female to male)?
2. What is the role(s) platonic friends of the same sex offer one another (male to male, female to female)?
3. What is the role(s) of a sexual (or non-platonic) partner (male to female, female to male, male to male, female to female)?
   
4. What is the role(s) family members of the opposite sex offer one another?
5. What is the role(s) family members of the same sex offer one another?
6. What is the role(s) of a mother to her child(to male, to female)?
7. What is the role(s) of a father to his child(to male, to female)?

I have my own thoughts and answers to these questions, but I understand that because of anyone's individual experiences, thoroughness and objectivity are hard to come by.

If you choose to answer, please try to distance yourself from the questions and as much as possible give broad, universal answers that are for the most-part not contingent on age, race, or economic status. Also I am looking for the distinguishing roles that are acquired almost exclusively from the group related to the question, not every single role they possess.

You can either leave comments on this blog or e-mail me at steve@causenfx.org.

Thanks y'all.

Hands Full Of Shells

Do you ever just feel like weeping when you realize how far your life is from where you know it ought to be? It's like you can grasp the life that you know is best, but you can't seem to bring yourself to extend your hand.

I am in a guilty, lonely, awful place right now; and yet, my life appears to be going very well. I am volunteering, I'm doing a lot with Campus Life, I'm spending time with the kind of people Jesus would spend time with, I'm getting enough sleep, I'm getting work, etc, etc, etc. But in all of this I have such little time to spend with Jesus because I'm too busy convincing myself and everyone else that I am Jesus.

To be like Jesus means to make everyone happy, right? Wrong! However, I can't seem to convince myself of that. I can't say no. It's like deep down I either believe that every opportunity to do a "good deed" is divine providence, or I believe my worth comes from people liking me and stroking my Christian pride. I'd bet it's both, but far more the latter than the former.

I am overwhelmed with stress, and yet when I step back and look at my life... yes, I'm quite busy... but not as busy as I feel. I sincerely believe that I am destroying my spirit by being a control freak and not taking a day of rest. I haven't taken a Sabbath quite some time. I haven't poured over the Word like I should and like I used to. I believe that if I don't do something, it won't be done right. And for some reason I believe that deadlines are just that, a timeframe where if I do not accomplish a task by its required date, somebody else or myself will indeed DIE! It's common sense really, considering that I am the most important man in the world.

I've known about this problem. I've done a lot of pondering over a simple answer. I have wallowed in the waters of my discontent, barely stirring toward the obvious solution of that which my heart shreiks in indignation over.

Tonight, at the near pinnacle of guilt, stress, and unsatisfaction, I took a few minutes to watch this Nooma video I had not viewed yet. I had no idea what the subject of it was, and it spoke very directly to the issue I am facing. My hands are so full of stuff I want to do, that I'm largely ignoring the purpose God has called me to.

I'm not going to say that everything Rob Bell says is completely without flaw, but the idea is very true, even if the connotation of the wording is slightly misleading at times.

Maybe you're in a similar place I'm at, and need to lose control. Maybe you're in a healthier place and can give a word or two of advice and encouragement to those like me, prone to relying on works and not on grace and peace. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, he is the One Thing.

Shalom