Film

In a few short months, and a couple of long ones, there's going to be a gathering of old friends at Clearnote Church, Bloomington called the Homecoming. You might think you know everything about Clearnote, but don't be too sure. Take some time to watch the following video and ask us your obvious questions. You can send them here. Jon and Nathan are committed to getting you the not-so-obvious answers to your obvious questions. And, who knows, we may all learn something along the way.

A PCA pastor who did several tours over in the Mideast forwarded this review of American Sniper by Brian McLain. Another brother wrote an excellent response to this review and I hope to be able to publish his response here, also. Anyhow, Brian McLain begins his review:

Thinking back over Clint Eastwood's film-making career - particularly the later years - there has been a reccurring theme of fathers abandoning their children.

A few paragraphs into the review, McLain...

(TB: this is a guest post by Pastor Lucas Weeks) 

Three weeks ago, Invisible Children, Inc released a video entitled Kony 2012 about Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in central Africa. (If you haven't heard about the Invisible Children, or about Joseph Kony, you can check out the back story here on Wikipedia.) The aim of the video was to raise awareness about the conflict and about the children that suffer in its wake. The movie has garned lots of attention, including over 17 million views on vimeo and many millions more on youtube. It has even been called "the most viral video in history". Not all the attention has been positive, though... 

(Tim) With sincere apologies to all the wee ones and their mothers, I think Disneyworld is too similar to hip preachers with full-service video venues to take the children for a visit. Really, do you want Disney's moral and spiritual authority to accrue to our Evangelical/Emergent theme parks?

Taryn Simon is a photographer...

(Tim) Rob Bell's got some really cosmic bad karma. During our new member class here at Church of the Good Shepherd, Pastor Dave Curell uses Bell's video Bullhorn Guy to deconstruct pomo churches and pastors, showing the souls in each class...

(Tim: this from Pastor Dave Curell on the ClearNote Fellowship Blog)

...There’s always that one guy who not only attacks the morality of

the film, but also claims an absolute authoritative

understanding of what is morally acceptable. He doesn't simply imply

that, in his view, something is right or wrong, but he claims his view is the authoritative view. And by this piece of chutzpah,

he becomes the worst of the killjoys—the dogmatic one. Why? Because his

conviction calls into question every piece of entertainment we consume. Nothing's sacred or safe any longer. Seriously, if he casts down Avatar, won’t Star Wars soon fall along with

it?

Christians hate such killjoys. They're cosmic bummers.

Why doesn't someone throw them down a well. (read the post)

(Tim) A friend writes: "These are actual quotes from people who have seen Avatar":

QUOTE: After reading though all 50 pages and debating if I should say

anything, I have decided that I will step up. I too have felt...different after watching Avatar. When the last scene

finished it felt like I woke up from a wonderful dream. At first I was

excited and full of energy but then I started to realize that none of

it was real and that I would never be able to visit Pandora or the

Na'vi. I have been feeling rather down every since and not much seems

to make it feel better, I just hope that it will leave in time. I am somewhat relieved to see that I am not the only one. It was

embarrassing for me to feel this way about a movie when no one else

around me felt the same. I constantly think about the movie wherever I

am, and doing so just makes everything seem so gray and sad. As dorky

as this sound there have been times where I just want to cry ><

QUOTE:

do you guys also get the thoughts of sucidal? i dont mean to sound

creepy or emo...

(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla) If you want to begin to understand our day--the switch of the central currency of cultural engagement from the Bible to moving pictures, the use of film clips in Gospel preaching, the building of congregations around virtual images of themselves on the movie screen each Lord's Day employed by men like Mark Driscoll and John Piper, and the gift our head of state and his wife gave the Queen, recently--only two things are necessary: first, read the Second Commandment; and second, read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.

And while we're talking about the gifts the monarchs exchanged...